# High speed shots blurry with Canon SLR



## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

It has to do with the frames per second dictated by your camera body, autofocus speed of your lens, and the settings too, I believe. What lens do you shoot with? A USM lens would focus more quickly on the subject.

I'm just a newbie as well. I mainly shot landscapes before Molly came along. 

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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

Can you describe the blurring? Is the dog blurry with motion blur, or is the whole image blurry?


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

drofen- Its just her that is blurry. If she's about to run at me and I press the button down halfway to focus it will focus fine and then i shoot and she blurs. 

Vhuynh2- It says 18-55mm and 1:3.5-5.6


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

For objects in motion, the fastest shutter speed conditions will allow is the best option. If you think about it, the shorter amount of time the shutter is open, the less time the object in motion has to move. If the shutter is open a long time, then the object has more time to move, creating blur.

Now remember, I said the fastest shutter speed conditions allow. The problem with very fast shutter speeds is that since the shutter is only open for a very short time, light has less time to enter the camera as well. So you need to find the best balance between letting enough light in to properly expose the subject, but also open short enough time to prevent blurring.

The auto setting (the fast man) does it's best to make those choices for you. Honestly though, you have much, much more control using some of the manual settings. 

Exposure is affected by 3 major parameters (actually more than that, but for simplicity, these are the 3 biggies.)

1. Shutter speed as discussed above. Faster shutter speeds give crisp images, but allow less light into the camera.

2. Aperture (f stop number) controls the size of the opening into the camera while the shutter is open. The wider open it is, the more light is allowed into the camera. Likewise, the smaller the opening, the less light. To make things confusing f stops are numbered counterintuitive of what you'd think. A smaller f stop means a bigger opening, allowing more light. A larger f stop means a smaller opening, allowing less light. So, f4 allows more light than f8. f8 more than f16. 

Now to completely throw a wrench in the works, depth of field is controlled by f stop also. DOF is the amount of an image that is in sharp focus. Very large apertures (or very small f stop numbers) have a very narrow DOF. Think of those images of bugs where only the eyes are in focus--only a very narrow section of the image is in focus at once--so a large aperture (small fstop) is used to create that type of image. Conversely, look at an image of a landscape--almost all the image is in focus. That look is achieved by using a small aperture (large f stop) for a very wide DOF.

Another word on aperture. Not all lenses are created equal. On the side of each lens is listed the fstop range. The large number is not very important, but the small f stop number is very important. For example a 70-200mm zoom lens that opens to f4 is not the same as a 70-200mm zoom lense that opens to f2.8. The larger aperture (smaller f stop) of the second lens lets in DOUBLE the amount of light at f2.8 than the other lens does at f4.

3. Lastly, the sensitivity of the media plays a large role. This is measured in ISO. It used to be that film was sold at different ISOs from ISO 50 to ISO 3200. Here the higher the number, the more sensitive to light the film is. Now in the digital age, the manufacturers have adopted the ISO terminology. The sensor varies its sensitivity in the same manner--the higher the number, the more sensitive the sensor.

More to come...


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Drofen, what lens would you recommend for sports photography?

I am considering the 70-200 F/4L and the 70-300L. I would probably enjoy the extra reach but I hate the variable aperture of the 70-300L..

OP: I would ditch the kit lens! I have the 17-55mm as a walkaround, constant 2.8 aperture. I love it, but if I had to choose now, I would probably go for the 24-105L for the versatility.

Edit: Drofen, I assumed you shot Canon. Sorry if you don't, you can disregard my question!


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

Now exposure is created by manipulating these three parameters.

A finite amount of light is required to create a well exposed image. If our subject--your dog--is in motion, we try to use a higher shutter speed. Arbitrarily let's say 1/250th of a second. At this setting the camera decides (using its built in light meter) that it needs to use f5.6 to let in the right amount of light to expose correctly. So you try these settings, but it turns out your dog is super sonic, and she's STILL blurred. So you think, I'll just bump my shutter speed up to 1/500th of a second--so your camera opens the aperture even larger to compensate. Now your f stop is f4. But darn it, this is one FAST dog. Image is better, but still a bit blurred. So let's increase that shutter speed again--now 1/1000th of a second. So the camera says to use that shutter speed, now it needs f2.8. But if your lens doesn't open that wide, you're out of luck. If you are using the auto settings, the camera is the one making all the above decisions for you, and finally just throws up its arms and says, "Well the best I can do is 1/500th at f4." And you're stuck with constantly motion blurred pictures.

But all is not lost. This is why you got a 20d, instead of a point & shoot.

If you move the dial from the fast man to the Tv setting, you're in a mode that allows much more control. This setting allows you to pick the shutter speed, and the camera automatically compensates with the correct aperture. So you set the shutter speed for 1/1000th, then look through your lens and halfway depress the shutter. This should focus the image, and also give you a light meter reading. If there is enough light to use an available fstop, the light meter reads in the middle, and all is hunky dory. However, if there isn't enough light, the meter will be shifted to the left, and the fstop number listed will be blinking. So now we know that at 1/1000th of a second, we need more light than the lens can give us. However, if we change the ISO (the sensitivity of sensor) we might be back in business.

If you adjust the ISO using the buttons on the top of the camera, you can move to a more sensitive setting. From 200 to 400, or 800, or 1600. Remember, the bigger the number the more sensitive. So say we were on 200, so we'll move to 400 to make it more sensitive. Now we look through the lens and check the light meter by halfway depressing the shutter button again. Repeat this process until you reach an ISO that allows for your shutter speed, available aperture.

SO why not just slam it down all the way to 1600 and let it rip? ISO comes with a caveat. The higher the ISO the lower the image quality. At 1600 you'll notice significantly grainier pictures than at 200. So use the least sensitive setting that gets the job done.

So...clear as mud?


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Drofen, what lens would you recommend for sports photography?
> 
> I am considering the 70-200 F/4L and the 70-300L. I would probably enjoy the extra reach but I hate the variable aperture of the 70-300L..
> 
> ...


For sports, you want the fastest lens you can afford. I would take the 70-200 f4 over the 70-300 because of the variable aperture you mentioned. The f4 will serve you well in bright sunny light conditions. Cloudy days will require some high ISO shooting, and indoor sports may be completely out of reach.

But frankly if you're looking to really stop sports action you need to save your pennies for the 70-200 f2.8L. It is a workhorse of a lens, and you will never regret owning it.

ETA: If you've only got an f4 budget, but want a faster lens--look into an 85mm 1.8 prime (refurbished or used for ~$325) and possibly add a teleconverter if you need more reach. The 85mm 1.8 is one of my all time favorite portrait lenses too.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I'm not exactly expert on cameras (I'm learning with mine), but you can get action shots better by switching off the stabilizer on your lens. And keep the autofocus on (vs manual). 

I still use my 18-55 kit lens because I have some other things on higher priority (I do $$ stuff with my dogs as opposed to just taking pics of them) as opposed to getting a better lens, especially when the one I have works just fine for learning on.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

drofen said:


> For sports, you want the fastest lens you can afford. I would take the 70-200 f4 over the 70-300 because of the variable aperture you mentioned.
> 
> ETA: If you've only got an f4 budget, but want a faster lens--look into an 85mm 1.8 prime (refurbished or used for ~$325) and possibly add a teleconverter if you need more reach. The 85mm 1.8 is one of my all time favorite portrait lenses too.
> 
> But frankly if you're looking to really stop sports action you need to save your pennies for the 70-200 f2.8L. It is a workhorse of a lens, and you will never regret owning it.


Thank you for your input. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure I will need the extra reach. I will only be shooting outdoors in daylight so I don't think I will need the 70-200 f/2.8. I will consider getting the 70-200 f/4 and an extender.


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

JayBen said:


> drofen- Its just her that is blurry. If she's about to run at me and I press the button down halfway to focus it will focus fine and then i shoot and she blurs.
> 
> Vhuynh2- It says 18-55mm and 1:3.5-5.6


Ok, some of what you're describing may just be the fact that she's moved further towards you in the time between when you focus and the shutter trips leaving her out of focus.

Is any portion of her in focus? Can you post an image with the problem so I can see exactly what you mean?

Focusing on a rapidly approaching object is very difficult--and something I'm still trying to learn myself. It's a problem I hadn't run into until I started shooting my dog as well just a few months ago. I just haven't had a chance to read and/or fiddle with settings to figure it out yet.


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

Kate, your pictures look awesome. I'm not sure if I have a stabilizer on my lens to turn off. See, some of my pictures that are action shots look good...like this one came out good>




But then as I was shooting her full speed ahead I got this> (all shots were on the running guy setting)


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

drofen said:


> Ok, some of what you're describing may just be the fact that she's moved further towards you in the time between when you focus and the shutter trips leaving her out of focus.
> 
> Is any portion of her in focus? Can you post an image with the problem so I can see exactly what you mean?
> 
> Focusing on a rapidly approaching object is very difficult--and something I'm still trying to learn myself. It's a problem I hadn't run into until I started shooting my dog as well just a few months ago. I just haven't had a chance to read and/or fiddle with settings to figure it out yet.


I am still trying to figure this out but for now I just have to be lightning fast. This was taken with Molly running towards the camera (excuse the terrible colors, I shoot raw but this was the jpeg version):


I used aperture priority (2.8) for this one. The image is much clearer than this but resizing and uploading to Photobucket really degraded the quality..


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

JayBen said:


> Kate, your pictures look awesome. I'm not sure if I have a stabilizer on my lens to turn off. See, some of my pictures that are action shots look good...like this one came out good


If you have the same kit lens I do - on the side where it has the AF-MF focus and the Stabilizer option, you should hopefully have it set to AF and stabilizer off. You will get faster shots with the sports option.

The sports option - the thing that's great about it is you can take rapid shots so you can catch your dogs mid-leap. You still have get that focus whether it's timing while pressing that button slowly and trying to be a half second or whatever ahead of your dog, or whatnot. 

Take lots and lots of pictures. <- I generally take about 100 each time I pull the camera out. I do not get any blurred shots anymore. Or the only blur is because the autofocus focuses on something in the foreground (blades of grass in my signature pic). A lot of that is the camera is very easy to use. <- My old point and shoot? nearly half the action pictures would be blurred. :uhoh:


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

JayBen said:


> Kate, your pictures look awesome. I'm not sure if I have a stabilizer on my lens to turn off. See, some of my pictures that are action shots look good...like this one came out good>
> 
> But then as I was shooting her full speed ahead I got this> (all shots were on the running guy setting)


Yep. The bottom shots are taken in the shade. There's just not enough available light to get a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action.

If you try some of what I described in earlier posts, you may see better results.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I just tried shooting action shots of Molly running using AI Servio instead of One Shot. No blurred photos. Works great!! Especially with back button focusing. I believe every Canon DSLR has this feature.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Here is an example.. nice and in focus with her running at me full speed. I uploaded it on Flickr to preserve image quality.

IMG_6845 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

Vhuynh2 said:


> I just tried shooting action shots of Molly running using AI Servio instead of One Shot. No blurred photos. Works great!! Especially with back button focusing. I believe every Canon DSLR has this feature.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com App


Yep, that's the technique most pros use. Just haven't fiddled with it.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

drofen said:


> Yep, that's the technique most pros use. Just haven't fiddled with it.


Since I only shot landscapes AI Servio was no use to me. Now I am very glad I have learned how to use it for dog photography. 


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

I will certainly try everything you all said. I've never tried the AI Servio before but i will. I wish it wasn't raining today, I really want to get out now and play with this thing.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I came late to the party, but drofen really covered all the bases beautifully.

If there isn't enough light for your lens and camera, you're going to have blur and/or underexposed shots. You hit a problem with the basic physics of a camera that you can't get around. Cameras with larger sensors and lenses with greater aperture can help you stretch into lower light environments, but action comes down to maximizing shutter speed, and the faster the shutter, the less light hits the sensor.

I have a full-frame sensor camera that performs wonderfully in low light and a 24-105mm lens that goes down to F4, and I still can't get crisp action shots of agility dogs in indoor fluorescent lighting. I have thought of getting that Canon 70-200mm lens that goes down to F2.8, but even then, I'm not sure I'll ever get wonderful indoor shots. In fact, I see very few great action photos of dogs in _indoor_ agility, and I think the ones that are truly sharp were probably taken with a flash anyway (which I won't do when dogs are actually running, obviously). Plus, the 70-200 isn't in my current budget, since I already splurged this year on the Canon 100-400mm F4.5 I've dreamed about for years.

As far as focusing, the AI servo setting is a dream. You get the same effect if you switch to the little running dude, but what it does is tell the camera to keep focusing continuously as you shoot, even if you have the button down. The other settings allow you to pick a focal point by putting the shutter button halfway down and then moving the camera without changing the focal point. That setting would allow you to focus on a person and then move so the person isn't the center of the frame but is still the focal point. That's great for shots with people in front of landscapes.

For action, you want the camera to focus on the subject, and you don't have time to move the subject out of the center of the frame. So telling the camera to keep focusing continuously is what you want. You can also set where in the frame the camera tries to focus. For action, I set it to only the center point, and I try to put the center point on the moving subject. That keeps the camera from guessing what my subject is, which is what you get if you have it auto-focusing on all the points at once.


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## rik6230 (Jan 8, 2008)

Vhuynh2 said:


> I would probably enjoy the extra reach but I hate the variable aperture of the 70-300L..


Are we talking about the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM ?



Vhuynh2 said:


> Unfortunately, I am pretty sure I will need the extra reach. I will only be shooting outdoors in daylight so I don't think I will need the 70-200 f/2.8. I will consider getting the 70-200 f/4 and an extender.


With a 1.4 extender your 70 200 f4 will be a f5.6, Just like the 70 300 on 300mm
With a 2.0 extender your f4 will be a f8.( There is nothing like a free meal)


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

rik said:


> Are we talking about the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM ?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, I was talking about the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM.

I am now leaning towards the 70-200 f/4L IS USM with an extender. I will enjoy the constant aperture up to 200. Which setup would you prefer (taking into account ease of use and image quality)?


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## rik6230 (Jan 8, 2008)

Vhuynh2 said:


> Yes, I was talking about the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM.
> 
> I am now leaning towards the 70-200 f/4L IS USM with an extender. I will enjoy the constant aperture up to 200. Which setup would you prefer (taking into account ease of use and image quality)?
> 
> ...


Iso as low as possible. Shutterspeed 1/1000 or faster and the lens not wide open. And like Drofen wrote: use the AL Servo button. (For Nikon users it's the AF-ON)

EXIF: f3.2, shutterspeed 1/1250 and iso 100 (Nikkor 70 200 f2.8)


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

I really gotta thank you all for the great advise. I was doing a little more research last night and found this awesome site kenrockwell.com He has a user guide for the 20D and 30D that seems pretty cool. He recommends leaving the setting on "P" (Program exposure), and letting the camera set the aperture and shutter speed. If anyone is familiar with this I have a couple questions. When I turn the top dial it changes 2 top sets of numbers on my top screen. I don't know how to understand these. For example i point the camera at something in P mode. It reads 2' '5 5.0 if I turn the dial the numbers temporarily change. What am I changing here Aperture and shutter speed? Thanks, I know these are probably silly questions but I'm just trying to learn as much as I can.


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## FeatherRiverSam (Aug 7, 2009)

rik said:


> Iso as low as possible. Shutterspeed 1/1000 or faster and the lens not wide open. And like Drofen wrote: use the AL Servo button. (For Nikon users it's the AF-ON)
> 
> EXIF: f3.2, shutterspeed 1/1250 and iso 100 (Nikkor 70 200 f2.8)


I'm sure impressed with your depth of field shooting at f3.2 rik. That's one heck of a lens. What was your focal length on that?

It seems to me once you told us how to get the EXIF data from pictures posted...is there actually a way to do this or am I just dreaming?

Pete & Woody


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

FeatherRiverSam said:


> I'm sure impressed with your depth of field shooting at f3.2 rik. That's one heck of a lens. What was your focal length on that?
> 
> It seems to me once you told us how to get the EXIF data from pictures posted...is there actually a way to do this or am I just dreaming?
> 
> Pete & Woody


Both the Canon and Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lenses are stellar workhorses. Excellent IQ. 

You can either pull the exif data from PS, Elements, Lightroom or some other editing program. Or, there are freeware plugins for your browser of choice that allows you to right click on an image and pull the exif data. The one I've used in the past is called opanda-exif. Not sure if it's still available or not.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

FeatherRiverSam said:


> I'm sure impressed with your depth of field shooting at f3.2 rik. That's one heck of a lens. What was your focal length on that?
> 
> It seems to me once you told us how to get the EXIF data from pictures posted...is there actually a way to do this or am I just dreaming?
> 
> Pete & Woody


Exifdata.com!


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

If you have a Mac, you can just drag the image to your desktop or any folder and "get info" on it (command-I). Under "more info," you'll see most of the EXIF data, including the camera make and model, focal length, F-stop, and shutter speed.


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## rik6230 (Jan 8, 2008)

:curtain


JayBen said:


> I really gotta thank you all for the great advise. I was doing a little more research last night and found this awesome site kenrockwell.com He has a user guide for the 20D and 30D that seems pretty cool. He recommends leaving the setting on "P" (Program exposure), and letting the camera set the aperture and shutter speed. If anyone is familiar with this I have a couple questions. When I turn the top dial it changes 2 top sets of numbers on my top screen. I don't know how to understand these. For example i point the camera at something in P mode. It reads 2' '5 5.0 if I turn the dial the numbers temporarily change. What am I changing here Aperture and shutter speed? Thanks, I know these are probably silly questions but I'm just trying to learn as much as I can.


I'm not a Canonian  but yes you are changing the shutterspeed and aperture.
I would not recommend the Program exposure. Because I want to make a photo and I want to decide how that photo looks like. For most of the photos the aperture is the most important part. Sometimes (for action shots) it is the shutterspeed. And in special cases like flash photography or panorama shots I would choose the manual mode, but never ever the P mode. Most of the time I use the aperture mode (even for action shots ) and I adjust the shutterspeed and Iso if necessary.
But action shots don't need necessarily a fast shutterspeed.:curtain: (1/25 )


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## rik6230 (Jan 8, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> If you have a Mac, you can just drag the image to your desktop or any folder and "get info" on it (command-I). Under "more info," you'll see most of the EXIF data, including the camera make and model, focal length, F-stop, and shutter speed.


Great tip from tippykayak. I didn't know.  I use(d)  Exif viewer (for the Mac)

This is the information you get:


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## drofen (Feb 2, 2013)

rik said:


> :curtain
> 
> I'm not a Canonian  but yes you are changing the shutterspeed and aperture.
> I would not recommend the Program exposure. Because I want to make a photo and I want to decide how that photo looks like. For most of the photos the aperture is the most important part. Sometimes (for action shots) it is the shutterspeed. And in special cases like flash photography or panorama shots I would choose the manual mode, but never ever the P mode. Most of the time I use the aperture mode (even for action shots ) and I adjust the shutterspeed and Iso if necessary.
> But action shots don't need necessarily a fast shutterspeed.:curtain: (1/25 )


I'm glad you spoke up, it's what I was thinking, but I didn't want to dump too much more on him since I basically knowledge vomited earlier in the thread. 

Also, glad to hear someone else say they primarily use aperture priority. Tippy and I had a conversation about that recently--Av versus Tv. 

Really nice panning skills in your shot there!


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I have a really hard time shooting in aperture mode. I'm much more comfortable with my sense of how high the shutter speed needs to be for a situation. I recently took a series of family photos outdoors for friends of mine, and I experimented a bunch with aperture. A lot of my shots came out somewhat underexposed. To be fair, it was tough lighting with the sun directly overhead and the family in and out of the shade, but I haven't yet gotten a sense of what aperture will give me the exposure I want for a face in the sun.

I'm also hesitant to shoot that way for wildlife because if I screw up and the shutter speed ended up too low, I lose the shot.


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## Otter (Feb 23, 2011)

rik said:


> Most of the time I use the aperture mode (even for action shots ) and I adjust the shutterspeed and Iso if necessary.


*+1*

I use aperture mode the most. Second most used would be Manual.

I shoot a lot of sports; people sports, dog sports, auto racing.

Most often I use my 300 2.8 AF-s mounted to a D300 or D700.

When using the D700, I almost always have Auto ISO on and a minimum shutter speed set depending on the type/speed of the subject. I can get away with Auto ISO on the D700.

With the D300, I don't use Auto ISO; I think the D300 is too noisy over ISO 800...

Typically I have the 300 mounted to the D300 and something like the 85 mounted to the D700.

With the 300 2.8 I usually shoot at or near 2.8 - it's tack sharp.
I like to try and limit DOF - it's the look I like. Shutter speeds are usually high enough I don't need to worry or even think about it.

I usually use Matrix metering and adjust EV as needed by watching the 'Blinkies' and/or the histogram.

I usually dial in -3 EV for Goldens in the sun. -7 or -1 when in water.

I try to keep the focus point on the eyes.

That's my 2 cents.


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

You all are just the best. Thanks so much for all the great advice.


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## rik6230 (Jan 8, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> I have a really hard time shooting in aperture mode. I'm much more comfortable with my sense of how high the shutter speed needs to be for a situation. I recently took a series of family photos outdoors for friends of mine, and I experimented a bunch with aperture. A lot of my shots came out somewhat underexposed. To be fair, it was tough lighting with the sun directly overhead and the family in and out of the shade, but I haven't yet gotten a sense of what aperture will give me the exposure I want for a face in the sun.
> 
> I'm also hesitant to shoot that way for wildlife because if I screw up and the shutter speed ended up too low, I lose the shot.


You describes difficult lighting conditions. I don't know what metering mode you use but for these conditions I would choose spot metering. 
It is the most accurate mode. 
You can read many articles on the net, this is only one 
I mostly use the aperture mode, particularly for portraits and people (family) because I want to control the DOF; that is a goal in my opinion. 
Shutter speed isn't. I want a tack sharp photo and as a can achieve that with 1/60 1/500 or 1/1000: I don't care  But I know there are photographer who feel more comfortable with the shutter speed mode and they take wonderful photos


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## JayBen (Aug 30, 2012)

trying to post a pic sorry


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