Focus and other problems with the A620

[BlaineIII]

These photos are the first time I have ever photographed a basketball game with any type of camera.

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Indianola%20basketball/Picture057_1.jpg

The first photo data:
Manual


# Camera make: Canon
# Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
# Date/Time: 2006:11:03 21:18:12
# Resolution: 800 x 600
# Flash used: Yes (manual, red eye reduction mode)
# Focal length: 29.2mm (35mm equivalent: 560mm)
# CCD width: 1.88mm
# Exposure time: 0.017 s (1/60)
# Aperture: f/4.1
# Whitebalance: Auto
# Metering Mode: matrix
# Exposure Mode: Auto bracketing
ISO 400



As you can see it is completely out of focus. Motion blur is part of it but not all.



http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Indianola%20basketball/Picture016_1.jpg

The second data

Auto

# Camera make: Canon
# Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
# Date/Time: 2006:11:03 20:54:27
# Resolution: 800 x 600
# Flash used: Yes (auto, red eye reduction mode)
# Focal length: 29.2mm (35mm equivalent: 560mm)
# CCD width: 1.88mm
# Exposure time: 0.017 s (1/60)
# Aperture: f/4.1
# Whitebalance: Auto
# Metering Mode: matrix

Slightly better focus on one subject but still unacceptable.

]
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Indianola%20basketball/Picture050_1.jpg

The third data:



Manual
# Camera make: Canon
# Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
# Date/Time: 2006:11:03 21:14:33
# Resolution: 600 x 800
# Flash used: Yes (manual, red eye reduction mode)
# Focal length: 8.5mm (35mm equivalent: 162mm)
# CCD width: 1.88mm
# Exposure time: 0.017 s (1/60)
# Aperture: f/4.0
# Whitebalance: Auto
# Metering Mode: matrix
# Exposure Mode: Auto bracketing
ISO 400
You can see that a static shot focus is much better but I am still not satisfied with the sharpness


http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Indianola%20basketball/Picture025_1.jpg


The 4th data:

Auto
# Camera make: Canon
# Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
# Date/Time: 2006:11:03 21:00:22
# Resolution: 800 x 600
# Flash used: Yes (auto, red eye reduction mode)
# Focal length: 7.3mm (35mm equivalent: 140mm)
# CCD width: 1.88mm
# Exposure time: 0.017 s (1/60)
# Aperture: f/2.8
# Whitebalance: Auto
# Metering Mode: matrix

Static shot focus better.

I edited these in photoshop with auto adjustment level and using the sharpen filter once. The camera is slow to recycle when using flash, I am thinking that I am demanding too much of this camera to photograph a fast moving basketball game which requires the use of flash

One thing I don't understand is why the flash does not freeze motion as it would in a film camera.

I was a professional photographer years ago but I have to admit that I am not a sport photographer and that the photos I took of a basketball game using professional 35MM and strobe were not much better, although the focus problems were not as great.


These taken of practice

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Indianola%20basketball/McAlester%20Basketball/Picture009.jpg

# Camera make: Canon
# Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
# Date/Time: 2006:10:27 14:57:41
# Resolution: 600 x 800
# Flash used: Yes (auto, red eye reduction mode)
# Focal length: 21.7mm (35mm equivalent: 416mm)
# CCD width: 1.88mm
# Exposure time: 0.017 s (1/60)
# Aperture: f/3.5
# Whitebalance: Auto
# Metering Mode: matrix

The above was a static photo but badly out of focus

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Indianola%20basketball/McAlester%20Basketball/Picture013.jpg# Camera make: Canon
# Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
# Date/Time: 2006:10:27 15:08:40
# Resolution: 600 x 800
# Flash used: No
# Focal length: 17.3mm (35mm equivalent: 332mm)
# CCD width: 1.88mm
# Exposure time: 0.067 s (1/15)
# Aperture: f/3.5
# Whitebalance: Auto
# Metering Mode: matrix

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Indianola%20basketball/McAlester%20Basketball/Picture016.jpg

# Camera make: Canon
# Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
# Date/Time: 2006:10:27 15:14:12
# Resolution: 600 x 800
# Flash used: Yes (auto, red eye reduction mode)
# Focal length: 17.3mm (35mm equivalent: 87mm)
# CCD width: 7.21mm
# Exposure time: 0.017 s (1/60)
# Aperture: f/3.5
# Whitebalance: Auto
# Metering Mode: matrix

I do not know why the last one in this practice series is in focus and the others not.



125194

[Croasdail]

Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you. First the bad news.... with the camera your shooting, your getting about what I would kind of expect. First of all, your shooting at 1/60th of a second. Any motion - subject or you - will likely show up. The first two you are zoomed all the way out - 35 equivilant to 560 mm. With out a tripod\monopod or Image Stabilazation, at this shutter speed this is what your going to get, even in daylight. There is a rule of thumb that your shutter speed needs to be at atleast equal to if not double you focal lenght to reduce the chances of camera shake impacting the image quality. The second thing going on in the first two images is that the flash is also semi-freezing motion. The exposure you are getting is just slightly low. So if I can explian this correctly, you essential have an exposure within an exposure here. The base image is shot at 1/60th where you are getting a lot of blur. When the falsh pops, it give you effectively a much faster exposure speed due to the length of the blast of light. High end flashes actually have very fast burst - 1/800th or better. Sports shots that you see are sharp are sharp not because of the shutter speed selected but rather the duration of the flash giving you an effective shutter speed. The down side to this is your flash has to be strong enough to overpower the ambient lighting by at least 2 stops to cancell out the ambient lighting - preventing the ghosting. So what you are seeing for the most part is too low of shutter speed plus a flash that is not strong enough. It is likely that when you were shooting professionally you were not using a 500 plus mm lens - which is a huge contribustion here.

The posed shot is typical of an af camera getting it wrong. With the strong contrasty lines in the background, the camera was just suckered into the wrong subject and DOF is what almost got the player in focus. Also remember at ISO 400 - this camera is going some serious in camera noise reduction which is also softening up the images.

The last one almost worked simply because you were closer, and flash echo effect was gone.

The good news, if you just resist staying away from the zooming all the way out, you may be in ok shape. The camera really wasn't designed for indoor sports, most of these events are shot as ISO 800+, often much higher. All is not lost though. If you concentrate on motion that is coming toward you versus across you, you can get away with a lot slower shutter speeds. I would play with the camera in manual, or surpressing the flash and see what happens. I am willing to bet that with your old film camera, while the flash might not have been brighter, it's flash burst might have been faster. And like said, you weren't shooting such long glass either. Keep at it... you will likely not be able to get Sports Illustrated quality images, but I do think you will be able to get a lot better then you think you can based on these. It will just take some patience, and throttling back on some stuff. Cheers.

[SuzyView]

Blaine, I agree with Mark. I have the 510A and I have used the other P&S of this size many times to help people out, and you know, you pay $250 for a camera, it really should take good pictures. :( But your little camera has a manual that goes with it. The flash is very small, only about 12-18 feet at it's best. Taking pictures in a gym, no matter what the lighting, is usually a problem for pros. The white balance is always bad. You mainly get yellows so people look sickly. That can be delt with in post processing. The zoom, although great for portraits will not get you good sports shots. 1/60 with the flash on is the usual setting, so don't think it's just you.

My suggestion, if you are eager to get into shooting sports, sell the little camera and get yourself something that you can control the shutter speed and flash. The Canon S3 is really a nice camera for around $350. Go to a very reputable camera store, talk to the manager about your issues, and they can steer you better. I know I have a little picture of a runner on my dial that I use then I'm outdoors using my P&S and that helps. Indoors, I can't imagine it being any better than what you got. Sorry for the news.

[BlaineIII]

Thanks for the advice. What I am working on is a concept for a "coffee table" type book combined with a gallery show of 11X14 Cibachrome prints.

Now I used a Nikon FE with MD-12 motor drive with Sunpack 544 strobe , 35-105 Nikon Zoom, 85-300 Nikon Zoom lenses to photograph the same game. The images were all too dark and badly focused. The fastest film I had available was Kodak Elite chrome ISO 400

However I found that even this set-up is inadequate for basketball since the power pack does not recycle fast enough to keep up with the 3.5 per second frame speed of the motor drive. I need a digital SLR setup which will allow offset flash bracket that will synchronize and recycle at 3.5 frames per second at least. even faster would be better.

I just need a few shots of basketball, I am covering a great variety of rural and small town life, which includes ranch life, barrel racing etc.

Below I show what I consider a happy accident of a usable image to publish. I set the Powershot A620 on continous shooting and aimed the camera where I knew the horse would be coming through the gate. At that time of day the horse was backlit, there was fill light reflecting off the sand of the arena, plus the horse had white spots which showed up nicely.

As I told the basketball coach I need as much practice shooting basketball as his players do, and he gave me free reign to come in and shoot the practice every day. Practicing with film would get too expensive and I am not sure I could get 3 or 4 usable images with this camera no matter how hard I try.But at least the pixel space is free as opposed to film! :)





http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n108/WilliamIII_01/Barrel%20racing/Picture219.jpg


Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot A620
Date/Time: 2006:10:08 15:19:37
Resolution: 800 x 600
Flash used: No
Focal length: 7.3mm (35mm equivalent: 62mm)
CCD width: 4.23mm
Exposure time: 0.0025 s (1/400)
Aperture: f/8.0
Whitebalance: Manual
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure Mode: Auto bracketing

[SuzyView]

Can't say you are in good shape with only the A620. What software are you using to post process?

[Croasdail]

However I found that even this set-up is inadequate for basketball since the power pack does not recycle fast enough to keep up with the 3.5 per second frame speed of the motor drive. I need a digital SLR setup which will allow offset flash bracket that will synchronize and recycle at 3.5 frames per second at least. even faster would be better.

That is going to be one tall order. A flash that cycles at full power at 3.5 times a second is going to be a real tough nut to crack. When using lighting, getting really good at timing your shots is going to be key - not shooting tons of frames. When you see those strobes going off at college and NBA events, they cycle anywhere between 1and 5 seconds, so the pros have to rely on a single well timed shot - not many shots. The strobes, even the big ones just can't pump them out that fast. Capacitors need to charge. The stronger the flash, the bigger the capacitors, the longer it takes to fully charge them up. You may want to rethink how your trying to do what your doing.

[BlaineIII]

Can't say you are in good shape with only the A620. What software are you using to post process?

Photoshop 9 CS.

I am not an expert at Photoshop by any means. My expertise was black and white film shooting in extreme low light conditions.

My old boss in the Audio Visual dept said, cynically I thought, that the difference between a good photographer and a bad one was the amount of money available for their equipment, and I think there is something to that.

[dshootist]

My old boss in the Audio Visual dept said, cynically I thought, that the difference between a good photographer and a bad one was the amount of money available for their equipment, and I think there is something to that.
Quite untrue, in my experience. More expensive equipment has the potential for creating the opportunity for making better images, but not necessarily the images themselves; that rests solely on the photographer. Otherwise, I'd be out spending a fortune and taking on the likes of Jay Maisel and Walter Iooss after picking up a 1D for the first time. Sounds like your boss was a little more than frustrated with his turn behind the lens.:)