Ghost Skater

[Baadil]

Hi,
I tried to take a few pics at a local skating event using my good old Pro 1 but no matter what I did, I could not get and any decent pics. Most ended up having ghosts. Am I simply stuck on this becasue I do not have have a better Camera? Any ideas?

here is a sample...

Thanks.

[Tancor]

Hi Baadl,

This probably needs to get moved to the sports section, but ultimately your problem is too long of a shutter speed.

Looking at the image, and what exif info is there, you're shooting at 1/2 second shutter speed, that is way too long to stop the action of someone in motion such as your skater. You'll need something much faster, probably have to bump up the ISO and use flash if possible.

-Tony

[Baadil]

Thank you Tancor.
I tried increasing the shutter speed but I was getting very dark images. I didn't change the ISO because of two reasons, #1, I am not sure how much noise I will get #2. I forgot :-)

Anything else I could have done? would a better camera have helped me here?

Thanks.

[RockSlut]

Anything else I could have done? would a better camera have helped me here?

Yes, using flash might have helped also, but in the published image you were probably too far away for flash even with an external speedlite.

A better camera would also help but there is also a lot to learn. Shooting action in low light is difficult at the best of times let alone without flash. I doubt that many photographers could pull off great results in those conditions, not without getting in a lot closer to the action.

[Skip Souza]

Unfortunately the Pro1 just cant give you the right combination of shutter speed, aperture, ISO for this shot. Heck, I could not nail this shot with my equipment. :-(
1. You need a camera that will handle High ISO (800-1600) with little or no noise. The Pro1 suffers mightily above ISO 100.
2. You will need a fast lens like an 85 f/1.2L or a 135 f/2.0 L. You might be able to get away with an f/2.8 lens but I doubt it.
Such a camera/lens combination will allow you to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action and will also focus faster using AI Servo to keep the subject in proper focus.
The Pro1 is a wonderful camera but like all cameras it does have its limitations.

[Matatazela]

You should also look at getting a powerful accessory flash, like the EX580...

That will increase your range considerably and allow faster SS.

[eastcoast909]

Well, as Skip has all ready said, the Pro1 nice as it is is beyond its capabilities in this situation. :( :(

This venue is even worse than the normal skating rinks and it seems that the lights have been turned down for this skating demonstration?

Light is our friend and we don't have it here. The only ways to get more light are to use a flash (forbidden at any figure skating I've attended),

up the iso settings (yes you will get more noise and it may be unacceptable with this camera at higher settings). Most people who take pictures in rinks use at least iso 800, probably mainly 1600 and sometimes 3200. The 20D handles the higher iso speeds very well, the Drebel not so well (you can use noise reduction software) and I have not seen or heard about the Rebel XT at these iso speeds so I can't give you an opinion on that camera.

Slower shutter speeds, but you need faster speeds to get stop action and no blurring of the skater as they do their elements and jumps which leads to faster shutter speeds (typically 1/250 second or faster probably 1/400) which leads to,

Fast glass (means ususlly major $$) with a maximum aperature of f2.8 or bigger, the bigger the better! Even the nifty fifty can be used if you can get close enough! :) :)

Unfortunately all this means more $$ :mad: . You may be able to get some shots with the S1 with a lot of practice and perserverence but I think that ultimately you will end up going to the DSLR and fast glass if you want to shoot these types of events.

Good luck and post more.

[DavidEB]

in addition to the exposure problem as explained by everyone else, you are too far away from your subject for the picture to be captivating even if the skater was crisply imaged. You need a longer focal length lens for this. Shooting across the short length of a standard ice rink you'd need about 135m (on a 35mm camera) for a skater to fill the frame, shooting across the longer dimension of the rink, 200-300mm. It's not easy. You might do better waiting till her routine takes her closer to you.

Another problem: your camera has focused on the ice close to you. The area near the skater is out-of-focus. you can tell by looking at the loss of clarity in the tracks on the ice as you follow it back from the bottom of the frame. Focusing on fast-moving objects in bad light is very difficult.

[Baadil]

Thank you everyone for great comments. they all help.
I think somehow, I will have to wait for my b-day to get any DSLRs :)
I will have to try higher ISO to see what I get. Light there is poor and no, it was not turned down, this is how it is.

About the comment that skater was too far when I was shooting. I did try taking snaps when she was closer but she was too fast. She was so much ghosted that you could barely see even the ghost. This is why I tried to take when she was away and did not zoom in hoping that I could reduce the ghosting a bit. I am attaching an example.

Camera was set to auto-focus and they were too fast (with low light) to focus on properly.