 Posted 3/21/2008 5:24:16 AM
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Have a quick question. I am looking to buy a new lens and am unsure of what to get. Im looking for something that will take fast moving photos further away (2-300mm zoom) such as birds or other animals at a medium to high rate of speed. I have found with the lenses I have that they come out more blurred than I wish them to. I have a Nikon D80. I find nearly every time I take a longer shot it comes out out of focus. I dont know if this is me, my camera or the lens. Me I cant fix but the lens and camera I can. Any advice would be great. Thanks!
Leah Keese, Photographer, Dreamer, Obnoxious Redhead.....
"No one wants advice - only corroboration"
~John Steinbeck
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Posted 3/21/2008 5:43:30 AM
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| Leah, There are many answers to your question. Basically the sky is the limit as far as glass goes. The Nikkor Super Telephoto AF-S VR G IF-ED Lens (300mm, F/2.4) goes for about $4500 and it's not even the highest priced lens. It might be better if you told us a price range that you can work in and what lenses you have now. Buying glass can be quite confusing.
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Posted 3/21/2008 5:55:32 AM
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| Post an example of an image that illustrates the problems that you are experiencing. Include the exif data or list the exposure settings and lens used with your post. . Sometimes, technique and exposure settings can be the reason behind for soft shots with long lenses. Nothing wrong with long fast glass (I buy a lottery ticked every night!) but first let's make sure you are using your current equipment to its best advantage. . Possible improvements there could save THOUSANDS! (Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 ~$4.5K, f/4 ~$1.2K, Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 ~$8.5K & f/4~$5K, Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 ~$2.7K)
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Nikon D300 - Nikon D70 - Nikkor 20mm - Nikkor 50mm - Nikkor 24-120mm - Nikkor 28-70mm - Nikkor 85mm - Nikkor 80-200mm - Nikkor 70-300mm - Sigma 400mm
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Posted 3/21/2008 6:26:49 AM
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OK, this was taken off my porch onto the grass, zoomed almost all the way in, Nikon -55-200, its not that far but still blurred. For shots like these its impossible to use a tripod on a moving subject (specially these guys that move so dang fast), it looked great through the view finder and even on the LCD but when I put it into the computer it was blurred. I have really good high speed SD cards so I dont think its that, but any advice would be great. I nearly always take multiple shots of each subject just in case and know that not every shot will come out but would like more than are coming out to come out, um, that made more sense in my head than when I wrote it so hope ya understand. I go out and photograph nearly every day but if Im doing something wrong in my basic shooting any advice would be great.
Leah Keese, Photographer, Dreamer, Obnoxious Redhead.....
"No one wants advice - only corroboration"
~John Steinbeck
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Posted 3/21/2008 6:40:22 AM
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Do you use a tripod? Or, do you intend to always use handheld?
ISO speed? Is your electronic noise acceptable at ISO 400?
Sharpness on wildlife images is a function of adequate shutter speed (1/1500s), avoidance of camera shake and freezing motion.
Spending a lot of money on longer focal lenses can be a solution, if you've solved the technical aspects mentioned above. However, I routinely see people in my nearby wilderness shooting in low light situations with 500mm lenses handheld. Even with image stabilization, no one has that steady of a hand.
If you ever have your hands on a laser pointer, try to hold the laser point steady on a wall 20 feet away. One's muscle vibrations are magnified.
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Posted 3/21/2008 7:00:21 AM
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Your exif data from the sparrow image....
Exif Sub IFD
* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 10/800 second = 1/80 second = 0.0125 second
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 56/10 = F5.6
* ISO Speed Ratings = 400
* Original Date/Time = 2008:03:15 02:51:29
* Flash = Flash did not fire
* Focal Length = 2000/10 mm = 200 mm
* Image Width = 1632 pixels
* Image Height = 1084 pixels
Several items of advice from me.
1. 1/80s will very rarely capture the motion of any animal. Animals move a lot. I'd recommend as much shutter speed as you can muster. I don't know if f/5.6 is your wide open aperture, but if you had more aperture available, you should use wide open.
2. With a focal length of 200mm, the minimum shutter speed you could expect to capture a handheld shot with sharp focus would be 1/200s. And, I believe for your Nikon d80, the lens conversion factor is 1.5x. That means your apparent focal length is actually 300mm and that would boost your minimum shutter speed to 1/300s to capture a sharp image handheld.
3. All lenses have a sweet spot. For zoom lenses, it almost never at the full lens focal length. You should try to discover at what focal length the lens produces the sharpest images. Probably around 150mm.
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Posted 3/21/2008 7:05:49 AM
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| Shutter Speed seems to be the problem here. Tough to hand hold a long lens steady at lower shutter speeds. Add the fact that the subject is also moving and a sharp capture is even more difficult. . The exposure data for this shot shows 1/80 sec @ f/5.6 ISO400 200mm lens. . Without image stabilization, the rule of thumb for hand held shots is a shutter speed of at least the reciprocal of your focal length. A 200mm lens would require at least 1/200 second or higher shutter speed to reduce the possibility of movement. The faster the better. . Here you are shooting at f5.6 (likely wide open) so you can gain no more light for your exposure there. You choice would be to increase the sensor sensetivity by raising the ISO. If you went to ISO1600 you would pick up two additional stops to allow a shutter speed of 1/320 second for an equivalent exposure. . The higher ISO will introduce additional noise into your image. Another alternative would be to shoot under brighter light conditions.
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Profile - Top 24 - All Images
Nikon D300 - Nikon D70 - Nikkor 20mm - Nikkor 50mm - Nikkor 24-120mm - Nikkor 28-70mm - Nikkor 85mm - Nikkor 80-200mm - Nikkor 70-300mm - Sigma 400mm
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Posted 3/21/2008 7:44:40 AM
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OK Im going to try all this and report back to you guys, if that is alright. I do have of course the MASP features, am still learning about the different settings I have, or I can use the "sport" setting. I will try both and see which works better. Also, I have some questions about setting shutter speeds. First, a ss of 1.5 means what? I understand the 200 300 etc but when it gets to the lower ones, what is the actual second conversion? Also, on the other end of ss, I would like to try star trails when the summer comes (germany in winter its too dang cold to be goin out for hours at a time at night) I cant seem to find the "bulb" setting on my camera, have tried several different things and cant seem to find it. Also once I do find it how to I set lengths of time? I.E. 50-90 minute ss. I have looked in several books, online, etc and cant seem to find an answer to this. Sometimes I do think I rely on auto" settings too much and am working on improving this. In my studio it doesnt matter because truthfully most times I have all the time in the world to get the right shot. Working on getting out of there and learning more manual techniques. Any and all advice here is more than welcomed. I have some more questions as well if you all dont mind indulging me for a few moments. I dont understand the correlation of ISO vs aperture and ss. I want to go to school for all this but we are stationed overseas and these types of classes arent offered so any info, any resources, practical excersizes, etc. that I can go to would be welcomed. Money isnt really an issue, unfortunately deployments are well paid, not the best of exchanges but it has worked well for my husband and I (I just got out last year, he is still in and due to go back again later this year - I cant say when of course). Sorry for the "sob story" Im in no way complaining about my life, just dont really understand some things and need some help. I dont speak german fluently enough to apprentice here so any info would be so appreciated. Thank you again for your indulgence and take care
Leah Keese, Photographer, Dreamer, Obnoxious Redhead.....
"No one wants advice - only corroboration"
~John Steinbeck
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