New Camera - Crap Weather

[Dennis]

The S feature on my cam seems to blur the pics a bit, and sometimes completly over exposes them

When using shutter or aperture priority, auto-bracket the exposures if you find you are having problems with over or under exposure. Also, keep in mind that faster shutter speeds will need a wider aperture; not good if you are after the greatest depth of field (although this is not such a problem for train shots, particularly if you have multi-point focussing).

 

[yorkie]

S for shutter, means you shutter speed is to slow therefor blurring the image.
You need to up it to around 250 of a second to stop a moving train (depending on train speed)

Yes, 1/250 sec is probably ok for about 40mph, 1/500 sec for 80mph, 1/800 sec for 125mph, but even then it's not perfect.

Ideally, you want 1/1000 sec for above 100mph, IMO.

I find ISO400 has virtually no noise with my camera, so I'd rather have 1/1000sec at ISO400, than 1/250 sec at ISO 100.

 

[86242]

Yes, 1/250 sec is probably ok for about 40mph, 1/500 sec for 80mph, 1/800 sec for 125mph, but even then it's not perfect.

Ideally, you want 1/1000 sec for above 100mph, IMO.

I find ISO400 has virtually no noise with my camera, so I'd rather have 1/1000sec at ISO400, than 1/250 sec at ISO 100.

If there is enough light I use 1/800 however fast it is going incase the camera moves and so there is no blur. I normally use ISO 200 unless its very bright....

 

[Craig]

I find ISO400 has virtually no noise with my camera, so I'd rather have 1/1000sec at ISO400, than 1/250 sec at ISO 100.

Depends a lot on the camera. My old Fuji used to be rubbish at anything above ISO400 whereas on my new Canon I can go up to ISO1600 without too much noise.

Your point still stands though, I'd much rather have a sharp photo that was a bit dark than one that was blurred.

 

[rmt]

Depends a lot on the camera. My old Fuji used to be rubbish at anything above ISO400 whereas on my new Canon I can go up to ISO1600 without too much noise.

Your point still stands though, I'd much rather have a sharp photo that was a bit dark than one that was blurred.

I'll agree with that, I've managed to take some decent shots at ISO1600.

 

[devon_metro]

I just end up using Auto, has good results for me. I'm looking at the S6500.

 

[eezypeazy]

I just end up using Auto, has good results for me. I'm looking at the S6500.

Just been into some camera shops in MetroCentre. Had a look at a 5600, which seems nice, and seems to be the camera I want - for it's features, it's very reasonably priced at the moment, but I gather it's now "end of range". Liam, the S6500 seems to be the replacement for the 5600; but the price in Jessops tonight was £350 - a bit too much for me, I'm afraid...

eezypeazy

 

[class 313]

Dont buy from shops like that, online is the way to go!

 

[eezypeazy]

Yes, I've noticed I can save nearly £40 by buying on-line.... I just wanted to go into a shop and put my mits around one to see how it felt....

eezypeazy

 

[Craig]

Yes, I've noticed I can save nearly £40 by buying on-line....

A quick look on Froogle has found one for £269.99 plus £7.99 P&P
http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product.asp?ProductID=2115

or for an extra few pounds a S9500:
http://www.buyacamera.co.uk/xsearch.asp?RecId=FUJCA490&pt=f

There's always Ebay too, but it's far too tempting to place bids on there

 

[class 313]

Ebuyer Is great for cheap stuff. 1GB card for just £20...

 

[devon_metro]

Yes i'm hoping the 6500 goes down, otherwise i'll get the 9500

 

[ChrisM]

Yes, 1/250 sec is probably ok for about 40mph, 1/500 sec for 80mph, 1/800 sec for 125mph, but even then it's not perfect.

Ideally, you want 1/1000 sec for above 100mph, IMO.

I use 1/500 as a minimum depending on zoom used which is important.
The shots with his new camera are mostly low shutter speeds like 1/60 which is why i told him to up his shutter speed to around 1/250.

I find ISO400 has virtually no noise with my camera, so I'd rather have 1/1000sec at ISO400, than 1/250 sec at ISO 100.

Very true and most new cameras have great ISO control.
Personally used 800 and 1600 and the photos have had very little noise which was cleaned up by Noise Ninja.

 

[chunx2005]

With the weather we get here I don't get much of a chance to use teh shutter speeds because its going to be too under/over exposed. 1/1000 is when it says 1000 on the screen rite? lol :angel5:

 

[ChrisM]

With the weather we get here I don't get much of a chance to use teh shutter speeds because its going to be too under/over exposed. 1/1000 is when it says 1000 on the screen rite? lol :angel5:

Most of your pictures are taken at 1/60 which is why they appear slightly blurred.
1/1000 is not always needed but Auto mode will not always give a high shutter speed so switch to S and increase the shutter speed.
I used the S5600 and took 100s of photos and found 1/250 was even enough to stop a HST doing around 80-100 MPH.

 

[yorkie]

I used the S5600 and took 100s of photos and found 1/250 was even enough to stop a HST doing around 80-100 MPH.

At what resolution? 800x600, yeah that'll probably be fine at 80mph. But up the size a bit and you'll see a blur.

I was at Colton Jn a few weeks ago, the HST that I submitted for POTW was 1/500sec, but when I looked closely at a high resolution you can see a slight blur (125mph = approx 11cm in 1/500sec), but approx 30 mins before that, there was more light, and I got the NMT in 1/800sec, I looked closely and at high resolutions it does look considerably more sharp (currently have that as my wallpaper 1920x1200). At 800x600, or possibly even 1024x768, you can't tell.

Equally for prints, the larger the print the more you'd notice a slight blur.