S230 Action Photo / Shutter Speed question (with example)

[Scott in Houston]

I used my camera at the track (auto) this weekend. This was the first time taking action photos.
It was raining, so the cars weren't going as fast, but it was still quick.

I searched this board and didn't find an answer, so I'm posting:
"How do you best get action shots with this camera?"
I can't find out how to speed up shutter speed manually, so do you have to trick into quicker speeds?

Here's a couple of examples what I got. I wasn't pleased with them.

www.snjvogan.com/DE0203/misc_action.jpg

www.snjvogan.com/DE0203/misc_action2.jpg

[JohnMN]

I'm not a sports photographer but how far away were you when you took those pictures? Did you use the full zoom? Is it possible to get any closer to the cars so they fill more of the frame? Unless you can get 'trackside' I think that's the correct term, and get up really close and personal you will be stuck with the images you have. To blur your pictures use a 1/60 or 1/100 of a shutter speed to emphasise speed or if you want a 'sharp' car or cars then use a higher shutter speed such as 1/500 or higher. Is there no manual mode on your camera where you can go through a selection of shutter speeds? There is on the Canon A40, with a mixture of slow and fast speeds to choose from.

JohnMN

[Jerry Vanderberg]

With a film camera, a way of doing this was to take the picture while you were "panning" the camera to keep the moving object in the center of the field. In this way you could get the feeling of speed by keeping the moving object in sharp focus while blurring the background.

[Scott in Houston]

John,

That's as I could get that day. Other days I'll be closer.
On the S230, I can't find a way to select shutter speed manually. That's my one gripe about this camera.

Jerry,

That is a good suggestion! I'll try that next time I'm put there.

[hoogwegt]

Hi,
on the S230 (In Europe Ixus V3) there is no way to choose the shutterspeed manually. But if you wish to get a shorter shutterspeed, choose a higher ISO-number (camera in manual setting, menu).
Succes,
Jan (Netherlands)

[Tom W]

hoogwegt wrote:
Hi,
on the S230 (In Europe Ixus V3) there is no way to choose the shutterspeed manually. But if you wish to get a shorter shutterspeed, choose a higher ISO-number (camera in manual setting, menu).
Succes,
Jan (Netherlands)

I agree - while the camera does change aperture at times (and I am still learning to predict those times), the general trend is that the shutter will speed up with higher ISO speed. This is at the expense of a slightly more "grainy" picture.

I have a few series of test pictures taken in various lighting conditions. In on bright directly sunny day, the aperture held steady at f-7.1 while the shutter speed varied from 1/1500 to 1/200 as I stepped the ISO from 400 to 50. This was an exceptionally bright subject in direct sunlight.

I ran another series in bright-cloudy conditions and had a 1/320 shutter, f-3.5 at 100 ISO, a 1/640, f-3.5 at 200 ISO, and (surprise) a 1/200, f-9.0 at 400 ISO. I haven't quite figured out how to predict when the camera will adjust aperture, though I suspect that it does attempt to keep the shutter speed in a specific range.