help me with this problem, lens,camera, or operator

ok so i just got the 70-200 f 2.8 is lens, and i just traded out my 40D for a new one last week, so here htere are 2 brand new items, and me, I have been shooting for 2 years now and think i have a pretty good concept and grip on how to take pictures,

so heres the problem, my wife wanted to go to the zoo today so i figured great what a good chance to try out the new 70-200.

we went to the zoo, i snapped about 200 pics, sll at about 1/160 of a sec with IS on, all around f-6.3 to f-10 all pretty much in TV mode, ISO 100. and almost all about 2 /3rds came out blurry and just horrible. i cant figure out why, i took my time, framed the subject, sometimes even used something to prop on, and still most came out blurry, some came out spot on, what would cause this, who can help. thanks for any info you can give me.

examples below

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1/160th of a second on a 70-200 lens? I'd have gone at least 1/200th or 1/250th. Does this lens have IS? Were your autofocus points appropriately selected?

One thing about the 40D - it DOES require a little bit of sharpening post production on the computer.

Exif from these images:

1. 1/160s; f/5.0; 100mm. Looks okay I think.
   
2. 1/160s; f/2.8; 70mm. Looks okay.
   
3. 1/125s; f/4.5; 200mm. Bit of camera shake, focus might be a bit off.
   
4. 1/160s; f/8.0; 200mm. Bit of motion blur, focus might be a bit off.
   

As always, IS does not account for subject movement... in some of these it certainly looks like the things you were taking pictures of were moving, and 1/160 is often not fast enough to stop action.

Complacency is sometimes the worse enemy of premium gear.

I find that when I'm lazy and treat my gear like a P&S camera, I get P&S quality shot out of it.

Howver, if I really think and concentrate on what i'm doing with it, I get great results out of it. I guess some of thise could be down to simply holding the camera more steady or concentrating on focusing that much more (and taking your time getting things right), but to my mind there's a certain mentality that you need to be in.

Use the Zen.

If you are using a tripod, or another fixed support, remember to turn the IS off.

My experience is..... hand held with IS on you should be able to shoot at 1/160 sec and even lower without any noticeable degredation in IQ. That's not to say I would expect IQ to be as good below about 1/100 sec or 1/80 sec. YMMV dependent upon the circumstances you are shooting in.

yeah thats what i was thinking for the motion ones was the 160th wasnt fast enough, but i wasnt sure cause on my 24-105 is it certainly would have been but this is longer though.


my auto focus point were selected appropriately, according to what i was aiming for.


how does one do a focus test, i have an idea, but can you explain. maybe i should do one, i have heard of front and back focusing, but never had a lens with that problem.

lol, maybe this was the case, i was sort of just shooting, now that i think about it the ones that i actually concentrated on, and didn't just click, click, click away came out much better, maybe state of mind played a part, cause when i am getting piad to shoot, or actually setting everything up, i don't get these results either. thanks again

Pete wrote in post #5765642
Complacency is sometimes the worse enemy of premium gear.

I find that when I'm lazy and treat my gear like a P&S camera, I get P&S quality shot out of it.

Howver, if I really think and concentrate on what i'm doing with it, I get great results out of it. I guess some of thise could be down to simply holding the camera more steady or concentrating on focusing that much more (and taking your time getting things right), but to my mind there's a certain mentality that you need to be in.

Use the Zen.

Rule = Shutter speed needs to be equal to or greater than the focal length of the lens.

... however, even with that being said, from my experience, it seems that the digital cameras seem to be even more sensitive to motion than the film cameras (even with IS). .. so I almost always increase the shutter speed even higher than I would w/film.

Playm wrote in post #5765666
Rule = Shutter speed needs to be equal to or greater than the focal length of the lens.

... however, even with that being said, from my experience, it seems that the digital cameras seem to be even more sensitive to motion than the film cameras (even with IS). .. so I almost always increase the shutter speed even higher than I would w/film.

now how would that work if i was at an indoor wedding using this lens in low light, shutter couldnt be at over 100 or so. is is this rule for outdoor motion.

akhoopes wrote in post #5765688
now how would that work if i was at an indoor wedding using this lens in low light, shutter couldnt be at over 100 or so. is is this rule for outdoor motion.

It isn't a rule, it's just a very loose guideline. The limits of hand-held shutter speeds depends largely on the abilities of the photographer.

How were you focusing? all-points / nearest AF point / central AF point and recompose? One shot or AI servo?

1/160 is a bit slow for animals and can cause a little softness in parts if the critter isn't standing very still, especially with a longish lens.

akhoopes wrote in post #5765546
ok so i just got the 70-200 f 2.8 is lens, and i just traded out my 40D for a new one last week, so here htere are 2 brand new items, and me, I have been shooting for 2 years now and think i have a pretty good concept and grip on how to take pictures,

so heres the problem, my wife wanted to go to the zoo today so i figured great what a good chance to try out the new 70-200.

we went to the zoo, i snapped about 200 pics, sll at about 1/160 of a sec with IS on, all around f-6.3 to f-10 all pretty much in TV mode, ISO 100. and almost all about 2 /3rds came out blurry and just horrible. i cant figure out why, i took my time, framed the subject, sometimes even used something to prop on, and still most came out blurry, some came out spot on, what would cause this, who can help. thanks for any info you can give me.

examples below

your shutter speed is waaaay too slow. you have tons of light and i would at least quadruple the shutter speed.

shoot in AV. raise your iso. it's you !

ed rader

This thread's a duplicate of one in the EOS section (which has more replies).

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=523882

You can't necessarily take pictures at 1/160 of moving subjects, regardless of the focal length of the lens and IS.

It seems like you were under the impression that if you have IS on that you can shoot relatively slow shutter speeds without considering subject movement.

Personally I wouldn't shoot any animal less than 1/250 for any focal length or IS.