Wrong lense choice!

I was recently trying to take some photo's of my dog while she was playing around, but almost every photo was blurred from her movement.

What lense would you require for this kind off shot, as the light conditions were dimm.

The other thing I struggled with was with the focusing speed.

I have attached a couple of pics so you can see for yourself.

Thanks

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

The lens is fine.... I'm afraid it's pilot error. we've all been there.

You need to get your shutter speed up to stop the movement. Try increasing the ISO to 400 or 800 then use TV (shutter priority) mode with shutter speed set to 1000'th. yes, you'll get a little grain, but that's much better than any unwanted movement blur.

On shot 2, you focused on the grass. If you have it set to multipoint, switch it off... Set to central point single shot. Often it's easiest to pre-focus using a half press of the button. Obviously the dogs face will be one dog height closer, so move closer by one dog height, lock focus and then re-position and call the hound...

Hope that helps
Baz

Okay, your first shot was at f/8. However, it was shot at 1/15 of a second. Nearly impossible to handhold at 1/15. You were at ISO 100, so if you wanted f/8, you kick the ISO up to something like 400, and you'd be fine.

Second shot, better at 1/160. But since a dog is very jumpy, you probably want to kick up the ISO if you still like that f/8 it was giving you, better shutter speed.

What lens is it?

Nat

My bet, 28-135.

Well, I have plenty of dog action shots from my 28-135, so if it is, it's definitely user problems

Nat

As they've allready said - you have GOT to get the shutter speed up to stop the movement blur.The first thing to do is raise the ISO setting.
If the light is too dim to get the shutter up to 1/60th -at the very least- then consider a flash (not a nice option) or simply wait until you can shoot in bright daylight.

The other issue is the focus speed.Shooting moving dogs is a *really* difficult thing for AF to cope with so don't be surprised if alot of shots are not quite focussed right.
Manual focus may be a better option.Either way be prepared to shoot alot to get a few good ones.......

I figured out what your problem was. It was choosing to use a lense instead of a lens!!

That was a joke, but I do hate the "lense" spelling for the word lens.

Like the others said, you were using too slow a shutter speed and focussing on the wrong thing in the first place. Actually, I find the full automation of exposure and focus to be extremely frustrating. The problem is that the camera cannot know what you want out of a photo. You have to learn how to control the cameras choices for it. It isn't a simple task to learn all you need to know, but it will come.

I use the M mode for exposure control more than any other mode. I also switched the auto focus to the * button (by setting Custom Function 4 to "1"). This way I can control things to my liking.

For dogs and small children you need a high shutter speed. Whether you take the high ISO route or the wide aperture route, you do need at least 1/250 sec for the motion. Although it's hard to be sure, it looks like the first shot might be suffering from camera motion as well. Just an impression from the nature of the blur. 100% crops of either would help isolate things better though.

You are right. She shot at 1/15.

We all hate it when someone says, "That's a great picture, you must have a good camera" because we know the picture is a result of our skill, not quality of the camera that makes the difference.

When we get a bad picture we can't blame the camera or the lens, but have to look first at our own technique.