Camera Labs

Hi all,

I bought my first DSLR camera last year, Panasonic Lumix G1. I'm looking to upgrade it as I am unhappy with the result it gives me. I take a lot of pictures of my dogs running, jumping, rolling etc and landscapes. My photos with the G1 always comes out blurry when there's a fast moving object and the continuous button sometimes freezes.

I'm still very new to the world of photography and am looking for a mid range dslr. I'm quite interested in the Canon 550D but have read that these aren't the best for taking action shots and was told that Nikon is pretty good (can't remember the model).

If anyone could give me some suggestions or a guide of which camera would best suit me would be much appreciated. I am a self learner and so don't want anything too difficult.

My requirements are:

Budget around £700
For taking action shots and everyday shots
Must have video recorder
Mid range DSLR

Thanks

before you start thinking your dslr is bad, maybe you could give us information on photo mode and other setup used for taking pictures. when taking photos with dslr don't expect wow results out of auto mode, they are meant for manual control.

what i think caused the blur in your dogs photos is a slow shutter speed, set your mode to s and set speed to 1/500, no more blur..
80% of time when a photo goes bad it is the photographer to blame, not the equipment..

_________________
nikon d90 --->af-s dx 18-105mm; tamron 90mm macro

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I agree with what bakica said. Try using shutter priority and using a fast shutter speed. If that doesn't work then you might want to consider a new camera.

_________________
Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

You may want to also try the following:

1. Try moving the camera with the subject.

2. Set your focus to manual and pre-focus in advance on the target spot and set your fps setting to hi-speed.

_________________
Olympus e-620 / 14-42mm / 40-150mm
Metz 48 AF-1
Kata 3-N-1 20, LowePro Orion Mini, LowePro Nova 2
My Flickr

Welcome to Cameralabs....
I agree with the posters above about the motion.

Also you say the continuous button "freezes"...this could be the camera attempting to stuff the info from the pics into your mem card.
The cam can only take so many shots and then has to get rid of the stored info.
A faster mem card may be all you need to fix that problem.

Head over to the wildlife threads and have a look at some of the gear we use there some posts have the photo info posted with them which could giva an idea of the diff settings that will work in differant situations.
"Duck of the day" or "Birds" comes to mind...

_________________
Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 17-70mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm

Hello katsdesign, and welcome to the Cameralabs forums!

About your blurry images, were you using the camera on Auto mode? If you were, the camera may have selected a shutter speed that's too slow for the situation. Perhaps you could use manual or shutter priority mode and get the shutter speed to something suitable for what you're taking a picture of, or you could even try the Sports scene setting.

For the continuous shooting, the buffer is full, essentially meaning that the memory card is writing. How many pics do you generally get before it starts to freeze?

_________________
-Evan

Gear: 7 Nikon Nikkor AI-S and AF-S lenses, SB-700 flash, Nikon D7000, Nikon FM, variety of accessories

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams

Given all the above advice/suggestions, I would be inclined to not look at replacing the camera until I had fully investigated all options in terms of controls, technique, etc.

_________________
Olympus e-620 / 14-42mm / 40-150mm
Metz 48 AF-1
Kata 3-N-1 20, LowePro Orion Mini, LowePro Nova 2
My Flickr

Another to throw onto the pile of people saying 'don't replace your camera just yet'. It sounds like there could be some experience issues that might be contributing to the issue more than the camera body, and you might be setting yourself up for some disappointment switching to a mid-range body and expensive lens only to discover the results aren't any better.

Shooting action involves special techniques, settings, and skill - but can be done with nearly any camera body...no need for mid-level cameras for that. The lens can play a part, depending on the light when you're shooting, and the camera body can sometimes help increase your odds or improve your controls...but they won't necessarily do any better than an entry level and can also do just as badly.

Post some sample shots, and include all the EXIF or camera settings for the shots...ISO, aperture, shutter speed, mode, focus area, focus mode, metering mode, metering area. Give some idea of the time of day, lighting, and a little of what you did when you shot (did you stand in one place and shoot in one direction, or move the camera along with the moving subject, did you half-press for focus and exposure lock first, then press to shoot, or just press the shutter all the way down, were you in a continuous burst mode or just pressing the shutter often, etc.

Though your camera isn't designed to be a pro-level sports camera, it can still capture action shots - with a lens sufficiently fast (bright) to deal with the lighting conditions, and a shutter speed of 1/500 or better, even a P&S camera can capture an animal in action with decent results. And what you want to achieve in an action shot can differ - do you want the subject isolated from the background and completely frozen, do you want some background motion blur to imply the movement of the subject, do you want everything crystal clear and in focus including the background, do you want the subject to have some blur at the feet or body to give the feeling of movement?

_________________
Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

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