Eliminating blur in action shots - help needed

The Canon manual really isn't much help and the Canon 50D books haven't been much help either so I was wondering if someone here may be able to help me.

I regularly photograph a local monthly professional wrestling show and normally use the action pre-set. However many times the wrestler's actions causes blur even at the action pre-set.

Can anyone give me a step-by-step procedure on how to get my camera to be able to capture fast action better and save it to one of the programmable settings? I am a novice photographer and am clearly not an expert in the technical aspects of photography (although I am trying to learn from books -- I learn better from hands-on tutoring but I know of no one locally doing that).

Welcome to the boards!

I'm going to assume you know what the terms shutter speed, f-stop and ISO are. If you don't understand those terms then I think a beginning photography book is something you should pick up.

So, the reason your shots are blurry is because your shutter speed is to low. When you put it on "sports" mode you are letting the camera guess what what you need to stop the action and it is obviously guessing wrong.

I've never shot wrestling but I assume you'd want your shutter speed to be 1/640 at a minimum. The other 2 variables (f-stop and ISO) are going to be dependent on the amount of light at the venue.

What I would do is

1. Put your camera in Tv mode and set your shutter speed to 1/640. This fixes your shutter speed and lets the camera determine the correct f-stop
   
2. Set your ISO to 3200 (assuming fairly low light gym).
   
3. When you look through the viewfinder if you see that the camera is flashing at you it means it cannot set the camera to do 1/640 with the current settings. If that is the case then bump up your ISO until it stops flashing at you.
   
4. If it never stops flashing lower your shutter speed to 1/500. If it is still flashing with your highest ISO and 1/500 then you'll need a different lens (that lets in more light)

palmor wrote in post #13841497
Welcome to the boards!

I'm going to assume you know what the terms shutter speed, f-stop and ISO are. If you don't understand those terms then I think a beginning photography book is something you should pick up.

So, the reason your shots are blurry is because your shutter speed is to low. When you put it on "sports" mode you are letting the camera guess what what you need to stop the action and it is obviously guessing wrong.

I've never shot wrestling but I assume you'd want your shutter speed to be 1/640 at a minimum. The other 2 variables (f-stop and ISO) are going to be dependent on the amount of light at the venue.

What I would do is

1. Put your camera in AV mode and set your shutter speed to 1/640. This fixes your shutter speed and lets the camera determine the correct f-stop
   
2. Set your ISO to 3200 (assuming fairly low light gym).
   
3. When you look through the viewfinder if you see that the camera is flashing at you it means it cannot set the camera to do 1/640 with the current settings. If that is the case then bump up your ISO until it stops flashing at you.
   
4. If it never stops flashing lower your shutter speed to 1/500. If it is still flashing with your highest ISO and 1/500 then you'll need a different lens (that lets in more light)

What lens are you using now?

I hope that at least points you in the right direction!


John

Thanks for the info. Second part of my request...how do I set the programmable settings so it will remember those custom settings (so I won't have to reset each time).

And regarding the lens I am using...since I bought this as a package deal from Amazon it's the EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens I believe (I do not have the camera with me at the moment but this is the one Amazon advertizes so I assume it's the one I have at home).

palmor wrote in post #13841497
What I would do is

Put your camera in AV mode and set your shutter speed to 1/640. This fixes your shutter speed and lets the camera determine the correct f-stop

That would be "Tv Mode" (shutter priority mode).

Av mode (aperture priority mode) is where you set the aperture and the camera does the rest of the auto exposure.

Either one will work here.

But if you set the dial to Tv, then set the shutter speed to 1/500" or 1/640".

If you set the dial to Av, then set the aperture wide-open (as wide as your lens will support... e.g., 3.5 if it's a f/3.5 lens).

Both modes will require setting the ISO... since you're in a gym, it'll probably need to be at least 3200. IIRC, "Action Mode" (aka "Sports Mode" or "Running Man" icon on the dial) will limit the ISO to 800, which is insufficient in a gym, so you'll get motion blur.)

Beukeboom wrote in post #13841649
...Second part of my request...how do I set the programmable settings so it will remember those custom settings (so I won't have to reset each time)...

Page 186 of your 50D User Manual shows how to register user-defined settings to one of the Custom positions on your mode selection dial. Keep in mind that there's no "one size fits all" settings - you'll have to tweak them for different lighting conditions.

As far as the first part of your question, others have already explained the problem - your shutter speed is too slow. As Clarence said, you can use either Av or Tv (there are proponents of both), but the important thing is to get your shutter speed high enough to stop motion blur. That will require adjusting your aperture and ISO until you can get those shutter speeds.

clarence wrote in post #13841660
That would be "Tv Mode" (shutter priority mode).

Av mode (aperture priority mode) is where you set the aperture and the camera does the rest of the auto exposure.

Duh, yes of course... Editing original post