JohnnyGalaga wrote in post #3868295
But if I turn the shutter speed to a faster speed, the picture gets way too dark. If I open the F to a lower number like 2.8 or whatever, the focus is not consistent from one side of the picture to another. How do I adjust the focval length? If I increase the ISO then the stupid picture gets really dusty looking. It's like there's no way to win.
And what's a "P&S camera" ?
Johnny,
You're asking good, but very basic questions.
If you raise the shutter speed to better capture action, you are cutting down the amount of light that gets into the camera. Therefore, you need to increase the ISO (sensitivity) and/or widen the aperture. As you discovered, raising the ISO increases the sensitivity to light but at the cost of increasing the amount of noise in an image (you called it "dusty looking"), and opening the aperture up decreases the Depth of Field.
You say "It's like there's no way to win", but there is: you are bumping into the limitations of your camera, and discovering why DSLR's and their associated lenses cost so much more than your camera did. However, there are ways to improve your shooting and get better results. You just need to learn how to use the camera you have. Have you read the manual?
As mentioned above, DSLR's tend to handle higher ISO's better than P&S cameras, but getting a noise reduction program like Neat Image or Noise NInja will allow you to shoot at higher ISO's and fix the noise in post processing.
You are limited in how wide of an aperture you can shoot at - limited by the integrated lens on your camera, but you should still be able to shoot in Aperture Priority (Av) or Manual and set it to its widest (smallest number) setting.
I did a little research and found that your lens length is the equivalent of a 35-210mm zoom. 210mm is a little short to shoot football, especially from the stands. So, as suggested, you might want to explore getting closer to the sidelines.
In addition, maximum apertures vary from f/2.8 to f/4.8 across the zoom range (the smaller apertures are what you will get at the longer focal lengths). These are not bad for a P&S..
The ISO range equivalent is from 80 to 800, while shutter speeds from 1/2000 to 15 seconds are possible.
Automatic, Program AE, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual exposure modes are available. This is all in your manual which you might want to read.
You ask how to change the focal length, which leads me to believe you haven't read your operations manual . Have I mentioned you should read the manual?!
According to the online manual I found after a 20 second Google search, "Zoom Lever: Surrounding the Shutter button on the top panel, this lever controls the optical and digital zoom while in Record mode." Speaking of zoom, the first thing you should do is disable the "Digital Zoom" as this "feature" produces garbage results.
This should get you started...
Dennis
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