Sports Mode help for a newbie :))

Shontay

Shontay

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Hiya, I am a newbie to photography and at christmas was brought a Canon 40D.

I have progressed (at least I think so!) over time but I can not get to grips with understanding all the settings!!!!

I use the sports mode as I love the fact it can take lots of pics at a time and, as I am a web designer have a good knowledge of Photoshop and Lightroom so use that to edit them....

However obviously sadly the pics are not in RAW.

My question is... how can I replicate the Sports mode in Manual so that I can shoot in RAW??? I know that certain factors will determine settings BUT just a good one to start with so that I can tinker once I understand it more!!!!

Also Can you tell me if there is any problem shooting in JPG as opposed to RAW, when it comes to say, entering competitions, selling pics etc... or is it just each individuals preferance and nothing more?

Thank you for your help :))
 
Use aperture priority, and use the lens wide open, or stopped down a little depending on the situation. Set the focus to "AI Servo", set the drive mode to "Continuous" (lots of rectangles in front of each other instead of just one). That's pretty much it really!

Chris

Edit: Forgot to add, change the setting to RAW or RAW+JPEG!
 
Shontay, in terms of your RAW questions here my take on it.

Firstly it is a format that only exists in your camera, and then transferred to your computer for editing, and to then be transferred into either a TIFF or JPG image. RAW files would never be sent in for competitions or selling the images.

The advantage of RAW is that is saves all of the information of the image taken in such a detail way that it is available for you to manipulate later. If you save a JPG the camera will have made certain choices (based on your settings) but it is harder to then fix them later.

For this reason many TOGS and magazines recommend it for portrait, wedding and landscape photography.

The biggest disadvantage with RAW is that the files are at least 4 times to size of a large fine JPG. On my 2GB card I can only fit 256 RAW files, whereas I can get over 1700 if I Set medium size and JPG Fine. The size also means that the files are slower to write to your card so you will not be able to get as many shots in continuous mode.

If you are intending to shoot sport then you are generally interested in getting the action and therefore I sould recommend that you stick with JPG
 
Thanks WhittyP thats a great help and makes complete sense!!!
 
Hi Shontay,
I have to admit that I usually use Av mode for what I shoot. However, I would think that Tv mode would be more useful to you.
This allows you to set a shutter speed, then the camera will adjust the aperture to ensure that the shutter speed is maintained, to the maximum aperture of your lens.
I would think that in Av mode, you would have to keep a little more awake of what your shutter speed is, as if it starts to fall, your shots are going to start to blur, and you might not notice.
An advantage of RAW would be that you might be able to recover lost pictures due to darkness, or blown out, a little easier than if they were JPEG, but, you will not be able to do anything with blurred shots.
 
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