a noob and action shots

Shoehorn O' Plenty · 12th of August 2004 (Thu)

hello all. im new to the board and the whole photography hobby. i have a canon s500, i really wanted a g5, but at the time the s500 was a more practical buy. any hoo, i was wondering how do i take action shots with this camera. im mainly interested in taking shots of cars in motion, but i dont know how. any help would be great.
tia

Jon · 12th of August 2004 (Thu)

You'll have to use Manual mode, use the largest aperture (lowest f/stop number f/2.8 to f/4.9 on your camera) you can, then adjust the shutter speed until it "looks right" on the LCD. This will let you set the fastest shutter speed the lighting conditions will allow. You may find after the first pictures that you want to adjust the settings a little - unfortunately, there's no real reliable way of manually setting the exposure on this camera. You'll need to "pan", keep tracking the car you're photographing before, during, and after you take the picture. And there's a problem you'll run into called "shutter lag" - the camera won't actually take the picture when you press the shutter release, but a short, noticable, time after. So you'll need to anticipate when you want to take the picture by a little.

If you want the car to be clear, with a streaked background, you can get this by using a slower shutter speed, but still panning with the car.

Saudidave · 12th of August 2004 (Thu)

Jon is spot on with his advice but perhaps hasn't realised that the S500 has no true manual mode, there is no choice of aperture or shutter priority, nor selection of aperture or shutter speed, thus choosing the aperture isn't an option!

I have an Ixus (S) 400 and to take action shots I use the high speed continuous shooting selection in "manual" mode. Refer to the manual!

Works a treat

Dave

Shoehorn O' Plenty · 12th of August 2004 (Thu)

thanks for the replies.
like dave said, the s500 doesnt really have much a manual mode. can the the high speed continuous shooting still have the blurr in the background?

Saudidave · 15th of August 2004 (Sun)

yes it can if you have a wide enough aperture. In order to achieve that, keep the ISO rating as low as possible. You will have to experiment a bit

djdino · 28th of August 2004 (Sat)

Jon is right on the money.

Littlenose · 29th of August 2004 (Sun)

Not sure what it says in the manual, but the one thing not mentioned so far that i found extremely useful is... i found that through trial and error, that using the optical viewfinder rather than the LCD greatly improved results....

Here's one i took last year of similar subjects with my ixus400... World Superbikes

Molydood · 30th of August 2004 (Mon)

pah! rubbish, can't even see any flames coming out of his exhaust.

only joking, excellent shot littlenose

Shoehorn O' Plenty · 31st of August 2004 (Tue)

thats some awesome pics.

i agree with the optical view finder, its so much more useful when it comes to night shots. what was your settings for those pictures?

btw my camera doesnt have an aperture setting. i wish it did, but sadly it doesnt. sucks...

Littlenose · 1st of September 2004 (Wed)

Heh heh, well, what cna i say MolyDood, the exhaust flames were pretty hard to catch, but i did get a couple

But we won't go there, as I'll freely admit your pic of the smae subject was better

For the record, here's mine... Flame

The settings i used from the EXIF info are...

Exposure 1/200th
F-Stop 4.9
Shutter Speed 1/202
Aperture 4.6

But as it was the ixus, i didn't have direct control... it was basically in manual mode, I think i set the ISO to 200, and i locked the aperture and the focus on where i expected the bike to appear [racetracks help this] so as to make the time lag shorter.

Hope that helps.

Shoehorn O' Plenty · 2nd of September 2004 (Thu)

did you have to pan?

Littlenose · 2nd of September 2004 (Thu)

oh yes, panning was required, but i think the blurred background adds to the sense of speed.

Molydood · 2nd of September 2004 (Thu)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Littlenose

Heh heh, well, what cna i say MolyDood, the exhaust flames were pretty hard to catch, but i did get a couple

But we won't go there, as I'll freely admit your pic of the smae subject was better

I thought they were pretty similar, but if you insist...

I would always say use the slowest shutter speed you can handle, otherwise the cars look like they are stationary, which you don't want. 1/250th second will give good blurred backgrounds/wheels at 50-100mph. Or if you don't have direct control over shutter speed, try putting the ISO to the lowest number as Littlenose says. The camera will compensate for lower sensitivity (ISO) by keeping the shutter open longer, and produce noise free pictures into the bargain. Of course if you go too far (1/30th second for example) you will end up with blurry everything

Expect to get a lot of bad results too as it's very difficult to get the panning perfect, but when it works it's worth the effort

Shoehorn O' Plenty · 3rd of September 2004 (Fri)

ive been practicing panning with random cars driving by. i hope they dont think im some sort of perv.
my results arent very good. i can get the blurred background, but i cant seem to get the car in focus.

Molydood · 3rd of September 2004 (Fri)

hehe.. good idea.
try increasing ISO until you can get some pictures with the car in focus, and then work your way towards the lower ISO shots. Like I say though, it's not easy so just keep trying it, and make sure you use the viewfinder not the LCD. Post some pictures when you get one :P

12th of August 2004 (Thu)	#1
Shoehorn O' Plenty Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 51	a noob and action shots hello all. im new to the board and the whole photography hobby. i have a canon s500, i really wanted a g5, but at the time the s500 was a more practical buy. any hoo, i was wondering how do i take action shots with this camera. im mainly interested in taking shots of cars in motion, but i dont know how. any help would be great. tia

30th of August 2004 (Mon)	#8
Molydood Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Essex, UK Posts: 603 IMAGE EDITING OK	pah! rubbish, can't even see any flames coming out of his exhaust. only joking, excellent shot littlenose __________________ My real name is Martin 20D (FS 300D), fifty, 18-55, 70-200 f4, tubes

3rd of September 2004 (Fri)	#15
Molydood Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Essex, UK Posts: 603 IMAGE EDITING OK	hehe.. good idea. try increasing ISO until you can get some pictures with the car in focus, and then work your way towards the lower ISO shots. Like I say though, it's not easy so just keep trying it, and make sure you use the viewfinder not the LCD. Post some pictures when you get one :P __________________ My real name is Martin 20D (FS 300D), fifty, 18-55, 70-200 f4, tubes

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12th of August 2004 (Thu)	#2
Jon Moderator Cocker Spaniel Mod Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Kensington, MD USA Posts: 65,125	You'll have to use Manual mode, use the largest aperture (lowest f/stop number f/2.8 to f/4.9 on your camera) you can, then adjust the shutter speed until it "looks right" on the LCD. This will let you set the fastest shutter speed the lighting conditions will allow. You may find after the first pictures that you want to adjust the settings a little - unfortunately, there's no real reliable way of manually setting the exposure on this camera. You'll need to "pan", keep tracking the car you're photographing before, during, and after you take the picture. And there's a problem you'll run into called "shutter lag" - the camera won't actually take the picture when you press the shutter release, but a short, noticable, time after. So you'll need to anticipate when you want to take the picture by a little. If you want the car to be clear, with a streaked background, you can get this by using a slower shutter speed, but still panning with the car.

12th of August 2004 (Thu)	#3
Saudidave Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Poynton, Cheshire, UK Posts: 415	Jon is spot on with his advice but perhaps hasn't realised that the S500 has no true manual mode, there is no choice of aperture or shutter priority, nor selection of aperture or shutter speed, thus choosing the aperture isn't an option! I have an Ixus (S) 400 and to take action shots I use the high speed continuous shooting selection in "manual" mode. Refer to the manual! Works a treat Dave

15th of August 2004 (Sun)	#5
Saudidave Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Poynton, Cheshire, UK Posts: 415	yes it can if you have a wide enough aperture. In order to achieve that, keep the ISO rating as low as possible. You will have to experiment a bit

28th of August 2004 (Sat)	#6
djdino Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Los Angeles (Echo Park) Posts: 376 IMAGE EDITING OK	Jon is right on the money.

29th of August 2004 (Sun)	#7
Littlenose Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Surrey, UK Posts: 469 IMAGE EDITING OK	Not sure what it says in the manual, but the one thing not mentioned so far that i found extremely useful is... i found that through trial and error, that using the optical viewfinder rather than the LCD greatly improved results.... Here's one i took last year of similar subjects with my ixus400... World Superbikes

31st of August 2004 (Tue)	#9
Shoehorn O' Plenty Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 51	thats some awesome pics. i agree with the optical view finder, its so much more useful when it comes to night shots. what was your settings for those pictures? btw my camera doesnt have an aperture setting. i wish it did, but sadly it doesnt. sucks...

1st of September 2004 (Wed)	#10
Littlenose Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Surrey, UK Posts: 469 IMAGE EDITING OK	Heh heh, well, what cna i say MolyDood, the exhaust flames were pretty hard to catch, but i did get a couple But we won't go there, as I'll freely admit your pic of the smae subject was better For the record, here's mine... Flame The settings i used from the EXIF info are... Exposure 1/200th F-Stop 4.9 Shutter Speed 1/202 Aperture 4.6 But as it was the ixus, i didn't have direct control... it was basically in manual mode, I think i set the ISO to 200, and i locked the aperture and the focus on where i expected the bike to appear [racetracks help this] so as to make the time lag shorter. Hope that helps.

2nd of September 2004 (Thu)	#11
Shoehorn O' Plenty Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 51	did you have to pan?