Question about the XT

[billrhea]

I just bought a Rebel XT from a friend and love it. I think I am finding out how much the kit lens sucks. When I take pictures about 1/2 of them are coming out blurry . I want to get the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS lense runs about $400. If I get that lens would most of that blurriness go away? I love the camera and see no need to upgrade yet but seems like the lens SUCKS. Just want to know if the IS in the EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS make a big diff?
Thanks for all your help.

[Ridebmx]

first question.

post a picture and exif data.

aperture, iso, shutter speed.

if your shooting at 1/60 100iso, its not going to be as sharp as 1/1000 400iso

the lower the number, the longer its open, and captures more movement of the camera.

fill us in on this before purchasing a lens, it will help, but if your settings are all done wrong its not going to make it a whole lot better

because honestly, you can capture great images with the kit lens if you know what your doing.

if you really need to, you can use a tripod or monopod, its a "cheap IS" for any lens

[billrhea]

I am kind of new to all of this so please forgive me for sounding stupid. I just really want to figure this all out. If I am shotting in the house with house lighting and I set the Camera to TV my ISO is 400 and set it to 1/1000 they come out dark but when I put on the flash I can only do 1/200 it seems to not want to go higher unless you turn off the flash? Does 1/200 sound about right?

[Ridebmx]

1/200 is what it syncs to with the flash, because the flash will freeze any motion of the subject, and shutter speed isnt really something to worry about.

you have to use the light meter in the view finder, if its at +0 your good to go, if its at -1 you need to lower shutter speed, bump iso up, or run the aperture wide open.

tv=shutter priority, for when you absolutley need shutter speed set, and dont need to worry about DOF

av=aperture priority, for when you need a certain DOF, and dont need to worry about shutter speed.

[dmayesjr]

Indoors with the kit lens, you'll more than likely need to use the flash. You said you're new to it, so try some of the other settings and see what happens. Try putting the ISO at 800, maybe put the shutter at 1/60 - 1/125. You want to let as much light in as you can. Keep an eye on your viewfinder, it'll let you know if an image is going to be under or overexposed without the flash. And like RideBMX said, use a tripod or just try holding still.

[Ridebmx]

you can also use the invisible tripod method, by bracing yourself on any near object, like a table, chair, tree, any stationary object you can brace to stop your hands from shaking.

a lens with IS= I Shake

ISO speed=I Shake Often

poking fun at it.

a fast shutter speed will stop most blur, but too fast, and you wont get it exposed inside a house, the fastest i recall using without a flash inside my house is 1/125 at iso 100-200 range.

you need to watch the viewfinder before taking the picture when in manuel mode, otherwise you wont expose it properly just going off what you think will work.

in av/tv mode you still need to watch it.

anything below 1/125 you run into the risk of blur unless you have steady hands.

ive ran at 1/60 and 1/80 inside the mall, but at a higher iso of 800, f/5, flash bounced at FEC +1

higher the iso, the better it stops motion blur, and allows for a higher shutter speed, BUT the downfall is more noise in the photo=no good

[billrhea]

So would it be safe to say try to get the fastest shutter speed where the picture is bright enough to keep them from getting blurry? by the way Ridebmx do you ride old school. I have a few old school BMX bike from the late 70's early 80's

[penagate]

The kit lens is fine. Practice, discover its limitations and how to work around them, and you will be a better photographer and will better appreciate more expensive gear.


Cameras and lenses are just tools. You can get good results with any tool if you know it well enough.

[skipper34]

A general rule for hand-held shots is 1/lens focal length. If you can't get a proper exposure in AV mode using this rule, then you need to use a tripod or use flash.

[penagate]

or increase ISO if possible.

[billrhea]

The kit lens is fine. Practice, discover its limitations and how to work around them, and you will be a better photographer and will better appreciate more expensive gear.


Cameras and lenses are just tools. You can get good results with any tool if you know it well enough.

Thanks for the tip. Yeah I am just one of those guys that needs it now. I am sure everyone takes more then their fair share of shots to get that one good one. I will tell you this my XT take WAY BETTER pictures then the sony POS I have.

[Ridebmx]

i ride new school.

i wouldnt say try to get the fastest shutter speed, but the higher the better,

think of it as a triangle, iso, aperture and shutter speed are the 3 points, if you change one too high, its not balanced anymore.

you want a good shutter speed, lowest iso, and aperture for your shot. if you go wide open, the DOF will be shallow, if you go closed it will have everything in focus.

shallow DOF= 1.2,1.4,1.8,2.8 low numbers
everything in focus= f/8, f/11, f/16 high numbers.

the lower the number, the shallower DOF, but the more light it lets in
the higher the number, the more focus range it has, but way less light.

you can get away with 1/80 shutter speed at 800 iso and not have blur
but if you try 1/80 at 100iso, youll run into blur.

for daylight, i like to be 100-200iso, theres not much diffrence in noise, and run a high shutter speed wide open if i want. it all depends, since i do bmx, i tend to be at f/4-8 and around 1/500-1/2000 depending on the light.

i keep my iso low, unless im doing an action shot with a moving subject, then im at 400iso or more

a high iso helps for moving objects

[HoosierJoe]

There is a whole thread dedicated to pictures taken with a kit lens. Most of them are really good shots. You can take good pictures with that lens. I Shoot a lot indoors and rarely use a flash. Of course my main lenses for this open up to 1.8 and 2.8 respectively. But I never use Tv for indoors. In fact I almost never use Tv for any reason. Mostly I shoot with Av and sometime P. If you dont like the f stop or shutter speed I change it with the wheel in front of the shutter release.

I would recommend you do some reading. Some of the publications by Amherst Media could help you out. They should be available from your local library.

Keep at it!

[gregnash]

I recently read something good on ISO choosing when shooting for manual and it made sense to me...(of course can't remember where I saw it or read it as there was Aperature and shutter speed stuff too)
ISO 100 = Outside on a bright sunny day
ISO 200 = Outside on a cloudy day or inside with very bright lighting
ISO 400 = Inside with decent lighting or outside in late hours of the day
ISO 800 and up = Inside, with increasingly lower light (the higher the ISO you will need)
Now there are exceptions to this as RideBMX said, if you are outside and want to really stop fast motion you can use a higher ISO with lower f/ and fast shutter speed to get good pics. Conversely, you can use something like a 50mm f/1.8 and work it enough to take a decently clear picture (with some noise) where there is little illumination in the room.
Best bet is just to play with different settings and see what you can do, it is digital photography after-all so you aren't paying for film and wasting it.

[Bob_A]

You've been getting lots of good pointers here but can you post two or three problem images along with the exif please? We can help you a lot more that way. :)