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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Blurry photos...what might be the cause?
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 12/02/2006 08:27:33 PM · #1
Hi all,

I'm hoping that some of you can help me out. It seems that a lot of my shots are coming out blurry or slightly out of focus, almost as if the camera is autofocusing on the wrong part of the scene. I'm pretty sure it's something that I can correct by changing a setting on my camera, rather than attributing it to the camera or lens. Other shots taken in the same shoots seem ok, but there are an awful lot of these blurry shots (close to 50%). I've attached some examples below and would appreciate any help or suggestions.

All of these were taken with my e-500 and the kit lens (40-150mm).

Thanks in advance,
Mike

//i75.photobucket.com/albums/i290/PSUlion01/PA222132.jpg
40-140mm @150mm f/4.5 1/200sec ISO 200

//i75.photobucket.com/albums/i290/PSUlion01/PA222025.jpg
40-140mm @150mm f/11 1/50sec ISO 200

//i75.photobucket.com/albums/i290/PSUlion01/PA222022.jpg
40-140mm @84mm f/9 1/100sec ISO 200

//i75.photobucket.com/albums/i290/PSUlion01/PA222011.jpg
40-140mm @40mm f/9 1/40sec ISO 100

//i75.photobucket.com/albums/i290/PSUlion01/PA151947-01.jpg
40-140mm @40mm f/5.6 1/6sec ISO 100

//i75.photobucket.com/albums/i290/PSUlion01/PA151945-01.jpg
40-140mm @81mm f/7.1 1/80sec ISO 100

Message edited by Manic - keep images under 500px/30kb or post links/thumbs.
 12/02/2006 08:33:48 PM · #2
A lot of those shutter speeds are pretty slow for hand held, so could be just camera shake. Bump up the ISO and/or lower the f-stop so you get the shutter speed up higher. Try using a shutter two or three times the focal length and see if it improves. The experiment until you see how much slower you can get with your hands.
 12/02/2006 08:37:23 PM · #3
Originally posted by robs:
A lot of those shutter speeds are pretty slow for hand held, so could be just camera shake. Bump up the ISO and/or lower the f-stop so you get the shutter speed up higher. Try using a shutter two or three times the focal length and see if it improves. The experiment until you see how much slower you can get with your hands.


I thought this might be the cause. Should I be shooting stuff like this with a flash to correct the problem, or will that give unnatural effects? I think I had one or two shots with the camera's flash and the lighting was really harsh. Would I need an external flash with a lightsphere or something to diffuse the light, or does that not really work when outdoors?

Thanks for the quick response!
12/02/2006 08:43:58 PM · #4
Bump up your ISO to 400. That may help you getting faster shutter speeds.

A good rule of thumb is to double the quickness of your shutter speed when comparing it to focal length.

Example:
shooting at 200mm, use 1/400th shutter speed or faster
shooting at 50mm, use 1/100th shutter speed or faster
 12/02/2006 08:50:40 PM · #5
You could use flash but if you do don't use full power but use it as fill at a lower power (I presume there is a camera option for fill but I don't know your model at all).

An external flash would likely be better then the built-in one as that is true for all models for the most part. External units tend to be more functional and have more power. Because they are further away from the lens axis, they tend to avoid red eye type of deal as well. An external will also let you bounce it rather than directly at the person.

I personally an not a huge fan of flash, so I would just keep an eye on the speed and make sure you keep it - say - double the focal length. Then let it drop and see what happens - some of us have steady hands and can get very low while others of us have permanent shakes and need fast speeds :-)
 12/02/2006 08:53:02 PM · #6
You have to remember that on you E-500, any given focal length is effectively double what is shown on the zoom ring. So in 35mm terms, your 150mm lens is 300mm. This means that you'd have to use at the very least 1/300s if you have VERY steady hands. Hope that helps some. The 2/1 rule is I think a sports shooting method to help photogs guarantee they get the shot, but is often over-used IMO. I've gotten goo results keeping things just over 1/(focal length) for most applications.

Actually, is shot this at 1/320 on my 300mm, which translates to 450mm in 35mm terms. The picture is pretty sharp full sized, the lens used has more to do with the sharpness than any motion blur. BUT, I had the time to steady myself and hold the shutter for a few shots. For a moving target (my kids) at the long especially I use faster shutter speeds.

Message edited by author 2006-12-02 20:54:06.
 12/02/2006 10:27:48 PM · #7
Originally posted by wavelength:
You have to remember that on you E-500, any given focal length is effectively double what is shown on the zoom ring. So in 35mm terms, your 150mm lens is 300mm. This means that you'd have to use at the very least 1/300s if you have VERY steady hands. Hope that helps some. The 2/1 rule is I think a sports shooting method to help photogs guarantee they get the shot, but is often over-used IMO. I've gotten goo results keeping things just over 1/(focal length) for most applications.

Actually, is shot this at 1/320 on my 300mm, which translates to 450mm in 35mm terms. The picture is pretty sharp full sized, the lens used has more to do with the sharpness than any motion blur. BUT, I had the time to steady myself and hold the shutter for a few shots. For a moving target (my kids) at the long especially I use faster shutter speeds.


Thanks... So would things be easier with a different camera that didn't have a 2x crop factor? What I mean is, if you and I were taking the exact same shot, would your 1.5x crop factor allow you to get a crisp shot using a slower shutter, smaller aperture, or lower ISO? Or is it all the same, because if my lens was at 150mm and your lens was at 150mm, the actual composition would be different (i.e. we're not really taking the same photo b/c of the crop factors)??

Sorry, I think I just confused myself. Just trying to wrap my brain around how everything computes... Thanks again! I'll keep trying...the nephews are coming over tomorrow so i'll see what I can do!

12/03/2006 12:58:41 AM · #8
the 35mm film rule was 1/focal length. on the digital SLRs with a craop factor of any kind it's been debated if you should stay the old simple way or compensate for the crop factor.

How knows.
I do know that I do better with a heavier lens - be that because I hold it differently due to the weight or the weight has some stabilizing factor that offsets my shake.

I went from a 70-300 4-5.6 1 pound lens to a 3.1 pound 70-200 2.8 and what was once a 1/500 or better I can now get 1/100 pretty consistently!

I did get to try a canon 17-55 2.8 IS - I handheld that at 50mm at 1/4 second and got sharp shots! It's on my list for after tax return time!
 12/04/2006 09:20:31 AM · #9
ok another question... Should i be shooting in full manual mode in order to fix this issue? I tried taking some shots yesterday (indoors) just to mess around, and in A mode the shutter speed wasn't anywhere near 2x the focal length (obviously i needed the flash indoors, but this got me thinking...)

for the shots I took outside, the camera was set for proper exposure on all of them (or very close to it). So how do I compensate for the slow shutter speeds? If i were to have shot in M mode, and adjusted everything according to the rule, most of the shots would have been way underexposed. I found this out with some test shots yesterday. Set in A mode (wide open) and checked the shutter speed dictated by the camera. It was maybe 1/40 with my focal length at 50mm. The rule would say I need to shoot at 1/100 in order to be safe, right? So I switched to M and took the shot at 1/100. Result = way underexposed. This was with ISO around 400 or so, and I could already see the noise. Granted, shooting in a poorly lit living room wasn't exactly a normal test environment, but it baffled me.

Can someone explain how I would be able to increase the shutter speed, while also wide open (or close to it), when my ISO setting is pushing the limit? I think I already know the answer though -- At this point I've basically gone as far as the camera will allow with the given light, so a flash would be needed, right?

On the flash topic, I notice that many of you don't like using one when natural light is available, but why do I see a lot of pros (newspaper guys, etc) at events such as parades, shooting candids with a flash, even on a sunny day? I just feel like i'm missing something here...not fully understanding what i'm doing wrong.

Thanks again and sorry for the run-on post.

-mike
12/04/2006 08:27:51 PM · #10
Hi Mike,

As you've apparently figured out, the three variables you can adjust are aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Instead of going to manual mode on a shot, I leave it in aperture (A) mode, but I notice what the shutter speed is set to before I shoot. If the shutter speed is slower than the focal length of the lens, I adjust either the aperture or ISO (or both). If aperture and ISO are both maxed out, then I need to either get a faster lens, a tripod, or more light. Fast lenses are expensive, so we'll leave that out for now. A tripod will work well in low light for subjects that don't move much. For shooting kids, you should probably go with more light, because kids tend to move around too much. There are more ways than just adding a flash to get more light. One of my favorites is to drag everyone outside. But when all else fails, a flash will do the job, especially if you're just taking family snaps.

Also, take a breath, hold it, and squeeze the shutter release slowly.

-Ann
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