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Photography Question 

Alicen Holmes
 

What am I doing wrong?


I rented a Canon 70-200mm f.2,8 L lens (no IS) to take shots at a night football game (specifically my daughter during the halftime performance). The sole reason for renting the lens was to get much crisper shots using a faster lens. My Canon 7D camera was set on Aperture-Priority, f/2.8, ISO 400, auto white balance, AI Servo and every single photo came out blurry! These are the exact settings I used in years past with my 75-300mm lens and at least many of those shots were good. I have one more game to shoot before I have to return the lens next weekend. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.


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September 10, 2011

 
- Gregory LaGrange

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  One thing is you aren't using the exact settings as before because a 75-300 doesn't have f/2.8, even at 75mm. So more than one thing is different than what you did before, I'm sure. You could be zooming in closer this time, since you do have f/2.8, maybe making the blur that was there last time, more noticeable.
You could've had the camera on program the previous time, and zooming out with the 75-300 made the camera choose it's highest iso.(I don't know what the 7D goes up to)
Good light at a high school stadium will give you 125th with iso at 400, f/2.8. And there aren't many that have good light. You need to put the iso all the way up.


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September 10, 2011

 
- Bojan Bencic

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  In addition to what Gregory said, you might consider using a tripod or monopod. It gets shaky at 200 mm without IS.


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September 11, 2011

 
- Dennis Flanagan

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  Bump your ISO to at least 800 and shoot on either manual or shutter priority at 1/125 or 1/250, depending on how fast of action you are trying to stop. Use a monopod or some other stable base to reduce shake. If you shoot in RAW, you have added latitude in Photoshop to correct for being under exposed.


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September 13, 2011

 

Randy A. Myers
  One option is to go manual, set the shutter to 1/250 sec. or whatever you require to combat camera shake, set the f-stop you want, 2.8 or whatever gives you enough DOF and then set the cameras ISO to AUTO. This technique allows you to control camera shake and DOF. The newer lower noise cameras make this a handy tool. A lot of people ridicule AUTO ISO but they haven't changed their thinking to match their equipments abilities. I started using this a couple of months ago while shooting macro. It has worked out very well for me.


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September 14, 2011

 
- Carlton Ward

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  Hi Randy,
I have the 5D Mk II and hope it has the "Auto ISO" setting as it would be real handy - Can you tell me how you set this on your 7D ?
Thank you,
Carlton


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September 14, 2011

 

Randy A. Myers
  Hi, Carlton. I don't have a 7D. I'm a Nikon shooter. The 5D Mark II and the 7D has it. I'm not sure how you set it on a Canon, but I think it's really worth looking into and is a idea whose time has come in a lot of situations. All my macro shots for the last few months were done this way as well as my sports shots. See my gallery for results and that's with a fairly noisy D200. Check out AUTO ISO and let us know what you think.


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September 14, 2011

 
- Carlton Ward

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  Thanks Randy, its a matter of selecting the ISO and dialing it to "A" - I didn't even know I had this feature - maybe I should re-read my manual :)
I'll be using this a lot this weekend for another festival, laserlight-show & SeniorPortrait shoot (and possibly as a last minute replacement for a wedding shoot) Friday night as well.
Thats it - I am too busy to read my manual - lol...
Cheers,
Carlton


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September 14, 2011

 

Alicen Holmes
  Thanks, everyone, for your help. I boosted the ISO up to 800 and set the shutter speed to 1/250 and every shot was picture perfect! I am thrilled! Thank you again.


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September 17, 2011

 

Peter W. Marks
  And a thank you Randy from this humble 50D user. Yup, there it was on page 64, all fifty words and a tiny diagram. But I am not complaining as at least Canon gave a whole half page telling me how to attach the strap.


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September 20, 2011

 

Randy A. Myers
  The Auto ISO feature is not for every use, but like I said, I think the time has come to put it into our arsenal. We generally set two of the three parameters for exposure all the time. That is ISO and aperture for most people and we let the camera pick the shutter. With auto ISO we are still picking two of the three parameters, but we are swithing the parameter the camera picks. We had to set the lowest ISO possible in the past because of noise. Now that noise is not as large of an obstacle, I think it just makes sense to control DOF and motion sharpness in some situations. Would love to hear other peoples opinions.


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September 20, 2011

 

Lynn R. Powers
  Carlton,

To get Auto ISO on the 5DII select ISO move the wheel on the right side toward the lens, CCW from your POV. the setting below ISO 100 is "A". That better stand for "Auto" because to set it for ISO 50 it is necessary to go into Cfn.

I used Auto ISO at the Marine Aquarium in Monterey, CA. It wsas a lot easier to go from indoors shooting into dark tanks to outdoors. It wliminates a lot of hassel. But I would only use it in extreme cases like this.


Lynn



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October 09, 2011

 
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