S3 HELP NEEDED

[powerShooter]

The Canon S1 IS has taken some great sports photos for a P&S at full zoom. I just bought a Canon S3 IS and I find that the photos are grainy when viewed at full size.

Does anyone know why this might be? It appears the S3 camera is choosing a smaller aperture (f8 instead of f4 on the S1), but I don't really understand aperture and shutter speed. I always leave ISO and White Balance on AUTO.

I would think that if I choose the same mode (in this case sports=fast shutter) on both cameras, the S3 would produce the sharper pic.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Goofas]

The camera will choose the "best" iso and shutter speed combo for you in "sports mode". I also used this mode once and got grainy pictures. Now when I am indoors at a baseball or football game; in poor lighting conditions, I use iso 200-400 and shutter speed 1/125 - 1/160. Here is an example at full zoom hand held in terrible light.

[powerShooter]

Thanks. That's good to see. (I'm a big Matt Schaub fan from his days at Virginia).

Yesterday, I shot outdoors in bright sunshine and still had problems with noise.

What do you mean by "best"? Best for the situation or does it have a default ISO that it always chooses in sports mode? One problem is that when using AUTO or Sports mode, I have no idea what ISO the camera is selecting.

If I knew what ISO the camera was using, then I could adjust it to compensate.

[ms3]

powerShooter wrote:

Thanks. That's good to see. (I'm a big Matt Schaub fan from his days at Virginia).

Yesterday, I shot outdoors in bright sunshine and still had problems with noise.

What do you mean by "best"? Best for the situation or does it have a default ISO that it always chooses in sports mode? One problem is that when using AUTO or Sports mode, I have no idea what ISO the camera is selecting.

If I knew what ISO the camera was using, then I could adjust it to compensate.

If you put the camera in P mode, you can lock the ISO so you avoid the noise. I use 100, some use 80, you just have to test on the photos you are going to take.Second (middle)button on the back next to the LCD screen allows you to choose the ISO. 200 is kind of the tipping point, higher noisy, lower better, 200 so/so on noise.



You can see your camera settings on the screens if you scroll thru the display button (on the back also, at the bottom), till the info shows on the screen. Then you know what settings you are shooting at.

[powerShooter]

Thanks MS3,

If I set the ISO low (80-100) on P mode, will I be able to take action shots that aren't blurry? Especially when using the 12x zoom?

[ms3]

The full zoom will be a problem in gettingvery clear photos no matter the ISO due to the limitations of the image stablization and the lens abilities at full. Try a slightly shorter zoom, it helps and stay at 100. The camera will compensate as best it can for action by upping the shutter speed, etc.

Do some test shots and see what happens. At some point you may want to try the TV mode so you can choose a faster shutter speed (to stop action)yourself. But for now, try it at 100 ISO for starters. There is an S5/3 site dedicated to these things here:

http://www.s3users.com/forum/index.php

and the people there are excellent sources of help for your questions.

[Goofas]

If you are outside in great light...yes

[JohnG]

ms3 wrote:

The full zoom will be a problem in gettingvery clear photos no matter the ISO due to the limitations of the image stablization and the lens abilities at full. Try a slightly shorter zoom, it helps and stay at 100. The camera will compensate as best it can for action by upping the shutter speed, etc.

Do some test shots and see what happens. At some point you may want to try the TV mode so you can choose a faster shutter speed (to stop action)yourself. But for now, try it at 100 ISO for starters. There is an S5/3 site dedicated to these things here:

http://www.s3users.com/forum/index.php

and the people there are excellent sources of help for your questions.

A few comments to add here.

When shooting action, the challenge you face is motion blur - not camera shake. You really want shutter speeds around 1/500 or better. So even at full zoom camera shake isn't the primary problem. SO IS isn't really a big help - if your shutter speeds are slow enough to need IS then they're too slow to stop motion blur for the most part.

As for shooting modes - I recommend AGAINST using tv mode for action photography. I know it sounds backwards - after all TV lets you dial in a fast shutter speed. The problem with that approach is it allows you to dial in a shutter speed that may be TOO fast for what your aperture and ISO can give you. When TV mode IS good is when you want to set a LOW shutter speed to show motion blur. In most sports though you don't. Instead I would recommend aperture priority - AV mode. Dial in your widest aperture (lowest f-number). For a given ISO that will guarantee you get the fastest shutter speed possible while still not under-exposing the image. You then bump up your ISO as needed to get 1/500 shutter speeds (by the way the 1/500 is just a general guideline - actual shutter speeds needed vary depending on the motion - stopping motion on a major league pitcher for instance you want around 1/4000 shutter speeds).

Hope that helps!

[Goofas]

1/200 th 400 iso

[JohnG]

Goofas wrote:

1/200 th 400 iso

If that is in response to my post I would point out a few things:

1. The pitcher is in the stretch - try 1/200 at the point of release.

2. What little you can make out of the hand is blurred.

This is at 1/1000 (although with a different camera - the principle is still the same):