lense advice * totally puzzled*

MrcValets

hi

i have a canon 1000d but im looking to upgrade my lense , i take alot of photos in mondello and i find that my current lense (canon zoom lens ef 75-300mm 1 :4-5.6f) takes ages to focus and i cant get the clear sharp images i want .

i have a budget of around 500+

what sould i be looking for , i want something with a good zoom like what i have . and how do i know if a lense if good etc

thanks

Old Perry

Not sure if a new lens may be the answer to your problem but heres this anyways, http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/155727/art/canon/ef-70-300mm-f-4-5-6-is-us.html, rear focusing USM delivers fast, silent auto focus. Hope this is'nt the lens you already have.

pixbyjohn

Have you tried manual focus yet ? You may well be surprised how it can improve your photos. Go on try it.

blackbird98

If you're not getting sharp images, is it a focussing problem, or a shutter speed problem? To get clear sharp images in the likes of Mondello you need a fairly fast shutter speed.

Using the widest aperture possible to get a shutter speed of 250th / 500th of a second, or more, depending on light and speed of vehicles.

Whenever I'm in mondello, if i'm shooting on a fast part of the track, I switch to manual focus, pre-focus on a particular part of the track and shoot when the vehicle enters to focus zone.

bear in mind that a wide aperture will give you shallow depth of field. you could also increase your ISO, which will up your shutter speed

MrcValets

i see where you are coming from here are some examples , i can only really get good shots on bright sunny days , when its over cast i can seem to get the shot i want , a big problem for me is the focus being so slow









the 3rd and 4th pic where on a overcast day .

all advise welcome

thanks

blackbird98

do you use a monopod / tripod?

have a look at the metadata and see what your exposure settings are.

stick them up here and we'll have a look

goldseeker

I could sugest Canon EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM
It is about 450euro from ebay.Or on adverts there is one for 400 euro.
Chears

FoxT

Per the EXIF data your shutter speeds are 1/125,1/100,1/250,1/250. The first 2 photos are about as sharp as I would expect to see at that shutter speed.

This is a reasonable speed range for panning shots, but if you want absolute sharpness then

- shoot at the widest possible aperture ( lowest f/number)
- increase the ISO to get a shutter speed in the 1/1000 sec range

I have a 70-300mm IS, you can see some pics I took with it here:

http://bit.ly/bfLnWR

(It is a great general purpose lens but I would prefer a wider aperture at the long end for sport photos. )
When shooting sport I use Aperture priority, keep the lens wide open, and initially set the ISO to give a shutter speed to about 1/1000th. I continually monitor shutter speed. depending on light available I try to keep the shutter speed in the region of 1/1000th. If the speed drops below 1/500th I always go to a faster ISO. If I am at the max ISO then I put my camera away & light a fag. If the speed goes faster than 1/2000th I will reduce the ISO. This works better than shutter priority.

I also use a monopod quite a lot. You don't strictly need one, but I find it helps.

If you do not need to zoom as close as 300mm than I suggest you also look at the non-IS 70-200mm f/4 L lens, which is about the same price.

Finally, for panning shots I will use shutter priority and let the aperture vary. Generally I have found that between 1/125 and 1/250 is a good start here. If they are too blurry, go for a faster shutter speed, too sharp, a slower one.

I suggest you work on using faster shutter speeds before parting with your 500 quid!

Regards,

- FoxT

FoxT

...I like #1 above - Nice one!

MrcValets

thanks for that great reply foxt .

what metering mode should i use also?

and here is a lense i was advised http://www.simplyelectronics.net/mainproduct.php?pid=646

Old Perry

Do a search on Simply Electronics before buying anything from them.

FoxT

I generally use evaluative metering. Centre-weighted is probably OK too.
If there are very bright highlights ( the front of the car on #1 , or, in my case, shooting players in white kit on a sunny day) Then I will set the exposure compensation to -1/2 a stop, and keep an eye on the histogram to ensure no blown highlights.


Other settings
- I always use 'Back-button AF' If the 1000D supports it, I recommend it. Basically you use a separate button to turn AF on & off. (Google it, otherwise I will be typing all night!) The shutter button has no impact on AF. It is a great feature because you can do stuff like
*Prefocus on a certain spot then shoot away as your target approaches the spot.
* Easier to fire up AF before you start shooting - gives the AF time to lock on the target. I prefer this to the 'press the shutter button half way' method
* If somebody or something gets between you & the target then you can keep shooting but turn off the AF so the target is still in focus. This happens in soccer a lot, probably less so in motor sport.



- I enable all AF points, but I mostly aim the centre AF point at the subject.
- I use AI servo. In this mode, if you are shooting a moving target the camera will focus first using the centre AF point ( assuming the target is on this point) and if the target moves, it will 'hand off' the AF to other points as required. I find this works well with practice. To practice with it, You can try this on static subjects & move the camera around

- I use continuous shooting mode. The 40D runs at about 6 frames per sec. At a soccer match I will generally shoot 400-1000 photos but end up with keeping only about 40-50.
- I do not shoot RAW, only jpegs, because in RAW mode the frames per sec is much slower.

That's as far as I've got!

- FoxT

Cook my sock

when did you get rid of the d60?
If you still had that I use the 55-200 in mondello and it does the job.

MrcValets

Cook my sock wrote: »

when did you get rid of the d60?
If you still had that I use the 55-200 in mondello and it does the job.

whos this?? got rid of it a while ago swapped my sister for her canon


also did a serch on simply electronics . i dunno a friend has spent over 6k with them and never had one days trouble