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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> How did this happen?
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04/06/2006 01:18:56 PM · #1
Up until now, I've always used full Manual mode and natural light with my 20D. I've had a major problem getting sharp focus; so I searched the threads and discovered that many people use AP. Hoping this would help, I started this yesterday. I'm guessing I still didn't have it stopped up enough, because my shots are showing motion blur.

I tried using the flash while taking some snapshots of my best friend and got this shot:


Stopped it up and got this one:
Still some blur.

I don't usually use my onboard flash, but I'd like to know what I did wrong. Happy to RTFM and google; but would someone please give me some insight into what is causing this?

Is it my focal length, aperture setting or some flash setting (which I don't have a clue about)?
04/06/2006 01:34:28 PM · #2
It appears to be the shutter speed. The aperature priority mode allows you to set the aperature, and the camera decides on the shutter speed based on ambiant light. It does not take into account the use of the flash. There is a custom function that sets the shutter to 1/250 when using a flash in AP mode.
The flash used in this mode is used to light the subject independantly of the background. There is a great tutorial demonstrating this on the Canon website.
04/06/2006 01:49:55 PM · #3
Thanks lawless. That makes sense. I'll check out the tutorial.
04/06/2006 02:03:05 PM · #4
yea...the shutter is way too slow.
04/06/2006 02:06:24 PM · #5
You should use the fastest shutter speed possible when using the flash unless you want to expose the background more than what the flash does... usually that will result in motion blur unless the camera is on a tripod.

I usually set it to M mode and 1/200th (my camera's fastest sync speed) and adjust the aperture to whatever I specify on the flash. There's also a custom function to use the fastest sync speed in Av mode but it probably only works on fancy E-TTL flashes (doesn't on mine).

Using an external flash is really great, it's a lot more powerful than the onboard flash and should let you stop the motion pretty well indoors or in fairly low light. Won't work too well outdoors in mid-day though, I've found. You have to dial down the power of the flash so that you don't overexpose most of the time, and it doesn't stop the motion as well.
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