Camera Labs

I hope somewhere here there is someone who's doing pet photography, because I can't get good shots of my dogs. I'm using A580 with 75-300mm lens on 'A' mode at iso about 800-1600. But all photos are blury.
Hope to get some advice.
This is the best i can get.




THANKS

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Sony α580 | 18-55mm | 50mm F1.8 | 70-200 F2.8 |

You need a faster shutter, somehow. Looking at the exif for that sample shows 75mm f/4.5 1/160 ISO 6400. Was that a gloomy day or particularly early/late when there wasn't much light? On a brighter day, try shutter priority mode from 1/500 to 1/1000 or more and see how that goes.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Thanks for advice. It's hard to find good day, when you are living in UK.

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Sony α580 | 18-55mm | 50mm F1.8 | 70-200 F2.8 |

Hi Hunker,

I suggest you try the shutter priority mode and set it for 1/250 of 1/500, depending on the speed of movement of the dog.

But, experiment and you will be able to approximate the required shutter speed to freeze motion for different subjects.

Cheers

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Nikon stuff and other stuff, but not nearly as much stuff as I really want!

faster shutter speed is needed, shoot in shutter priority so you can keep the fater speed or use aperture priority and have a wider aperture with iso 400 or so. that should give you the shutter speed you need

Thanks everyone. I'll go out today, and see how it goes.

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Sony α580 | 18-55mm | 50mm F1.8 | 70-200 F2.8 |

Went to park today, finally weather was nice enough. Maybe it's just me, but they are not 'clear', if you know what I mean.







Any advice will be appreciated.

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Sony α580 | 18-55mm | 50mm F1.8 | 70-200 F2.8 |

They look pretty sharp to me - I like the second one!

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Flickr

In that kind of shot, it is not unusual for the AF to pick the grass in front than the subject, resulting in the focus being slightly off. So do select a single point AF if needed and check where it is.

The other thing about "clear" could be the lighting. A black subject can be tricky in harsh light. You might be able to make the shadows less extreme by playing with shadow recovery in processing.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

2nd shot is great

here's my 2p's worth

I'd definitely back up using the single point focus option in your camera setting. With 'action' I use this then crop afterwards for a nice frame.

When shooting I'd also recommend thinking about the direction of the movement in the frame. If something is moving towards you it will be 'moving' less than if its moving across the shot. Its easier to get a sharper image this way.

Something else to look at when looking at focusing on moving images is the focus setting. On my Canon I think its Servo for continuously adjusting focus on a moving subject.

Lastly think about using the 'continuous shooting' option. Take LOTS of photos and then ditch all but the very very very best when you upload to the computer. If the subject isnt in focus then ditch them straight away, dont waste any time on shots where the subject isnt in focus. Other things may be sorted on the computer.

If your camera has a 'sports' setting have a root around in the menu's and see what it sets the camera to do. You can learn a lot about the way your camera works by looking at the pre programmed settings and a read of the camera's manual at the same time

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Canon EOS 550D (with Magic Lantern)
18mm - 135mm Kit Lens, 50mm f1.8, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM
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Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 with 496 Ball Head. Gorilla Pod SLR
Canon Powershot A720IS with CHDK and intervalometer script. Pentax Optio W90

My Blog - http://www.ianganderton.wordpress.com

I just had a look at your exif data. The focal length you used is not going to give you a small dof. With your 75-300 try stepping back more, but not too much,shoot closer to 300 and at 5.6 aperture with spot focus on the dog`s face.
The dog will then stand out more as anything in front and behind will be blurred out. The dog will appear sharper.

I hope the Sony 580 is faster at focusing with that lens than my A100. Continues focusing on my Sony 100 with the 75-300 is a bit slow, ah pedestrian, more like asleep pedestrian..

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 7D, 15-85, Canon 85 1.8 USM, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L IS Macro, Canon 70-300L IS USM+Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

uuupps sorry wrong topic

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/stoencha/

Canon 1D mk2
Canon 5D
Canon 24-105mm f/4
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS

@maxjj
how do you look at the exif data? sorry hunker7 did'nt mean to go off subject

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Sony A77, Sony A580, Sony18-55,Minolta AF28-85,Minolta AF 75-300,Minolta AF 50mm f2.8 Macro,Minolta MD 50mm f1.7,Minolta MD 135mm f2.8,Image MD 28mm f2.8,Minolta MD 50mm1.2
http://s1131.photobucket.com/home/bundy58/index
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67754225@N05/

Hi hunker7,
I think where your dog is so black in the shadows it would be harder to get good shots, my dog is light brown and so photogenic its not so hard to take good photo's.

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Sony A77, Sony A580, Sony18-55,Minolta AF28-85,Minolta AF 75-300,Minolta AF 50mm f2.8 Macro,Minolta MD 50mm f1.7,Minolta MD 135mm f2.8,Image MD 28mm f2.8,Minolta MD 50mm1.2
http://s1131.photobucket.com/home/bundy58/index
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67754225@N05/