Dog action shots - finally!

[Hiawatha]

Lakeensea, based on the EXIF data these were shot in manual mode at f5.6, 1/1000s and ISO800. The shutter speed needs to be increased in order to capture the motion. Fill flash might be of assistance, and of course boosting the ISO....but 800 is getting up there. It's not that the HS10 can't handle higher ISO's but the common variances which factor into high ISO's may negate IQ expectations.

All of this aside, I think you did a great job in capturing the moment.

[Cresho]

I shoot kids running at 800 iso during the day on the s200exr, it's pretty noiseless.

[Mark1616]

Originally Posted by Cresho

in day time, to avoid blurr shots, you can use 800 iso easy i think. 400 will be fine.

This isn't a blur issue but rather a focus one. The shots were 1/1000s already with ISO800 but as the OP points out the trees in the background is where the camera focused.

I'm not sure what options there are with the HS10 so won't go into any detail but either pre focusing on the point where the dog should be (hmmm, not really easy) or if the AF Continuous works OK then use that with the centre point for focus and keep the dog in the middle.

I still find megazooms hard for this sort of thing as the AF isn't as fast or accurate as we would like.

[shoturtle]

I think the AF is not fast enough to keep up with the dog at just steam. I does look like a AF problem like Mark pointed out. But as I was inform a dog can move 2.5 times faster then a person. And you may have issues trying to freeze the movement at 1/1000. I have found for faster moving animals. 1/3000 and better are need at times. No sure if the OP wants to push the ccd sensor to 1600iso. To try to increase shutter speed.

[Mark1616]

Originally Posted by shoturtle

I think the AF is not fast enough to keep up with the dog at just steam. I does look like a AF problem like Mark pointed out. But as I was inform a dog can move 2.5 times faster then a person. And you may have issues trying to freeze the movement at 1/1000. I have found for faster moving animals. 1/3000 and better are need at times. No sure if the OP wants to push the ccd sensor to 1600iso. To try to increase shutter speed.

As long as the photographer is panning with the subject then that won't be an issue at all, there might be some movement in the legs but that just helps to add to the shot rather than freezing everything.

[shoturtle]

Sometimes you want to freeze, sometime not. Also I am not sure how fast the AF system is to keep a running dog in focus during a pan on the HS10. If it can not keep up, freezing may be the better option vs showing movement.

[Mark1616]

Sure, but freezing isn't something to get bogged down by especially when currently the main aspect is focus which won't be assisted at all by shutter speed. If focus is set correctly initially then during a pan of the dog running across rather than toward there shouldn't be too much issue as distance isn't changing much and with the HS10 the dof isn't that shallow so some varience is fine.

Here are a couple of shots at about the same shutter speed to see the amount of blur to expect:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebai...33857/sizes/o/ 1/1000s
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eag/4509163979/sizes/o/ 1/800s

Lakensea, if you find that you are not getting the shots you want due to AF tracking not keeping up then you can select a point to focus on (manual focus) and wait for the dog to be that distance away and then shoot.

[shoturtle]

That is not fair, you have a 1D and a 5D both have very good AF systems.

Something from your SX would be a better example.

[Mark1616]

Neither were mine and wasn't worried about AF as there are ways around that using MF and waiting for the action, but was wanting to demonstrate that the 1/1000s shutter speed was fine as long as the subject is in focus.

[shoturtle]

Yup the key is get it in focus. With the shot with the dog running toward you, it would be tough for some dslr, let alone a megazoom.

But that is funny, I was just reading a thread about manual focus and timing your subject to get into you set focus with old manual focus lenses on a dslr.