Help using AV mode

acharris77

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Anthony
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Hi all, I am trying to experiment with using AV mode on my 1000D with my 18 - 55 kit lens and a Tamron 70 - 300 mm lens. The problem I am having is that I dont know if it is a fault with the camera or just me, but when I hold the camera I get terrible blurring in the photo from camera shake.

An example, I setup to cans one behind and one in front. I am trying to blur the back can and keep the front in focus. Last year I done a similar, but I dont remember if it is manual or auto mode, but I tried earlier and I used my kit 18 - 55 at 28mm and a setting of F5.6 or F5 using ISO 200 and I seem to either get a blur or nothing in focus using both AF and MF.

The same happens with the telephoto lens as well. Could this be an issue with me, the camera or do I need to invest in a flash gun as could it be the lighting is the issue with the bluring. Thanks for any advice.

Anthony
 
It could well be the lighting. Try bumping up the ISO a bit and see if that slows down your shutter speed. ALternatively, put your camera down on something (like a table or chair) to steady it, and use the automatic shutter countdown to take the shot instead.
 
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Hi

Could be a couple of things.

F5.6 at ISO200 could result in a very slow shutter speed indoor, causing camera shake to be evident in the shot.

All lenses have Minimum Focus Distance. My 18-55mm is 0.25metres, if you are within this it will not focus either manual or on auto focus causing the shot to be blurred.

Try moving back a little from the front can to ensure the MFD is met. Try and increase the lighting to achieve a quicker shutter speed and/or bump the ISO until you see a shutter of approx 1/100 on the 18-55 or 1/500approx on the 70-300.


Andy
 
Thanks for the advice, I will try my tripod and up the iso I never thought of that one to be honest. After posting this I decided to go outside and try it, even though it is overcast I still managed to get shots of a dandelion in the garden and I got the flower in focus and the grass around it out of focus and going up to F11 and F22 and got in focus shots, so it looks like it just my lighting in my bedroom causing problems. thanks again.

@andy thanks for that seems some good points to try. I am now trying to learn the manual mode of the camera, and I hit a few sticky parts like this. Thanks again though for the replies and help.
 
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I think Babs means "see if that speeds up your shutter speed".

Back to basics; if you want to blur the background, create shallow depth of field in other words, then yes, you want to use as wide an aperture as you can so AV mode is a good idea. You say you were at f5 & ISO200. The important bit is what shutter speed did the camera select? Too slow & you will be getting the blur. If you have your long zoom out towards the 300 end that will just emphasise the problem. If that's whats occurring then that's not a problem with the camera, its just trying to give you a well exposed shot.

As Babs said above, if there is too little available light to get a fast enough shutter speed at your widest aperture try an ISO boost.

If you are still having problems post up an offending shot.
 
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If you are using a tripod the shutter speed and ISO info is less important. I'd still use the timer as mentioned by Babs however.
 
Had this blurring problem earlier, realised i was shooting at 1/8 shutter speed @iso100 doh! Just bumped up the iso to 800 problem solved.
 
tenyearsafter said:
I think Babs means "see if that speeds up your shutter speed".

Doh! :bang:

Erm. Deliberate mistake?! :D
 
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