Sports Mode problems :(

Ok, first post, hope it is in the right section. First off, I am just a simple photographer, I use my camera to take shots of my dogs and holiday shots. I have no idea how to use the functions on the camera and at my age and stage of life, feel it is far beyond me. I use the pre-set functions on the camera, and have been very happy using them, up till the last couple of months. I have a Canon EOS 500D with a Tamron AF18-270mm lens attached. The lens is set on AF and VC. The problems is that I am finding that all the pictures I take in the sport mode [mostly of my dogs playing and running] are coming out blurred - pictures that in previous similiar circumstances would be beautiful and clear. At first I thought the problem was with me - I am getting on in years, and thought that I was not holding the camera steady enough, so I have tried using a tripod and following the dogs but this has made no difference to the pictures either. So,I wonder if anyone has any ideas what is happening in the sports mode? or has any ideas how I go about fixing the problem please? I am thinking maybe something is wrong with alservo aspect of the camera, maybe it is not shooting fast enough or something? but i have no idea really. Please don't ask me complicated questions, I cannot answer them, neither can I tell you if the pictures are blurry if I manually set the camera - I have no idea on earth how to do that. Many thanks.

Can you post an example?

ive pm'd you......steve

If it is subject blur you are referring to, you need more shutter speed. Get out of 'sport' mode. Set ISO to 6400, camera mode to Av, aperture to f/5.6. That will give you all the shutter speed you can get with your equipment. If you are processing the shots, set +2/3 EC. If the shutter speed is staying faster than 1/800, you can turn down the ISO a bit. 3200 may work just fine, if you have enough light.

You also want to set the camera to 'continuous' shooting mode and AI-focus. If you are really brave set the "*" button on the back to handle focus. That allows you to maintain continuous (as much as possible) focus and press the shutter button whenever you want without worrying about focus.

If none of this helps, you need a faster (lower f/number) lens. An f/2.8 70-200 (don't need IS for sports) lens will help a lot, if you have $1,000 to spend.

Posting examples with EXIF attached will greatly help us to analyze your situation, as otherwise we are just guessing as to the nature of the problem.

" (don't need IS for sports) "

I have been doing some 420 sailing team photos at 250mm from the shore and actually am thinking that the IS is detrimental to pinpoint action. shutter speed on 'sport' mode generally 1/1000 and 1/2000 and in-between, but some shots are right on and others are not ... What complicates this is that autofocus at a distance is not all that accurate ... and you have to have the shutter half depressed for the IS to work and it seems to be tied randomly into something other than what I am focused on.

So today I was manual focusing but with IS on ... next time I am out I will try with IS off as well as AF off. AF is a problem when we are trying to target one boat out of 3 when they are moving somewhat closely together.

Almost like the IS is searching for a lock and not making it sometimes.

Later I tried shooting a truck coming down the street and it was dead on for 5 shots crossing a prefocused point.

Does anyone know exactly how the IS works? other than the canned "gives you 3 stops" which obviously doesn't apply when we need 1/1000 to stop subject action.

I'm thinking that each photographer just has to figure out the half dozen alternatives to find what works for his shot. not as easy as the old days when it was just match needle on exposure, preset to 1/1000 and MF. Does sport do much else than float between 1/1000 and 1/2000 on a normal sunny day?

T3i/ 55-250mm iso 3200

In general IS will actually aid AF at long FL's. It does this as it also stabilises the image on the AF sensor, as well as helping you keep the AF point over the target correctly. IS works by moving an optical cell with high speed servo motors. There are two IS modes, mode one for stationary objects ( when the camera should not be moving at all). The second, Mode 2 is for tracking moving objects by panning. This detects the major movement, and only applies the IS to the small movements in the other non moving plane.

I would also suggest using Back Button Focus. BBF allows you to remove AF from the shutter release and start/stop the AF by pressing/releasing either the AF Start or Exposure Lock button depending on which camera model you have. This takes a bit of getting used to at first though. IS can then be started by either a half press of the shutter along with the metering, or it will start with a press of the AF button.

This is how I shoot Airshows, but I usually shoot those in manual exposure mode as the light is pretty constant.

Alan

Back button focus is the only way to go in my opinion, I never have IS on when shooting sports.

For the original poster, can you share some examples please?

I always assume IS was for handheld single shots, anything continuous was IS off.

InfiniteDivide wrote in post #16662131
I always assume IS was for handheld single shots, anything continuous was IS off.

Stabilization is for when you want a shutter speed slower than what you can handhold without shake induced blur for the focal length and intended output. One shot, five shots, 100 shots....makes no difference.

A lot of people use image stabilization for panning situations, shooting movement while following the subject. Such shooting is often best with bursts because the desired look can be a bit chancy.

As for the OP - most likely situation going on here is that the scene is dark enough that the camera is running into the lens aperture limit and the 'sports mode' upper end ISO limit before it is able to achieve a high enough shutter speed. But that's a guess until we see a sample image.

Bingo27 wrote in post #16661650
" (don't need IS for sports) "

I have been doing some 420 sailing team photos at 250mm from the shore and actually am thinking that the IS is detrimental to pinpoint action. shutter speed on 'sport' mode generally 1/1000 and 1/2000 and in-between, but some shots are right on and others are not ... What complicates this is that autofocus at a distance is not all that accurate ... and you have to have the shutter half depressed for the IS to work and it seems to be tied randomly into something other than what I am focused on.

Remember that the focus mechanism needs a contrast in the shot to get to grips with before it will work. I often use the contrast of the sail numbers against the white mainsail. I've certainly never found IS a problem, more than that, for shooting high performance bikes and cars its essential, as is AI Servo.

be sure having AI SERVO mode on, also stop using automatic "sport" mode.. as EOS5DC already said, try using Tv priority instead with AutoISO enabled (range 100-3200 ISO) and set the shutter speed to 1/600-1/1000, which should be enough and still have some additional light to work with. I would certainly turn VC off during fast shooting. I never used 18-270mm, not sure if USD or micro-motor enhanced, but it makes a huge difference with TELE-photo lenses.

mrrikki wrote in post #16662117
Back button focus is the only way to go in my opinion

I'm not a big fan of back button focus, but I would have to agree it is a very powerful option to use. You get AI Servo mode just by holding the AF-On button and can concentrate on keeping the AF on the subject instead of holding a half pressed shutter.

BigAl007 wrote in post #16662108
There are two IS modes, mode one for stationary objects ( when the camera should not be moving at all). The second, Mode 2 is for tracking moving objects by panning. This detects the major movement, and only applies the IS to the small movements in the other non moving plane.

Alan

This is not true for most IS. I know that my 70-200 f4 IS has both modes, and a switch to throw when panning, but my 17-55 f2.8 IS just has the normal stabilization function. My understanding is that most IS is just to reduce shake blurring and doesn't do anything in particular for for panning.

from Canon