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TG5 new owner struggling

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andy_n

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Hi, I have just purchased a TG5 for use while white water kayaking. Most of the pictures from my first two trips are very poor. I am struggling to understand what I am doing wrong and would appreciate any help or observations on a couple of sample pictures.

c85f3f7a4c5d419187bb642f0d3b9a6c.jpg
  • ƒ/4.4 14.4 mm 1/500 ISO1250
    b1820dfe9bbd41288ae27ad8bad0f7ca.jpg
  • ƒ/4.9 18.0 mm 1/500 ISO1600
    a1380bb6db644f4d9ac55973bd70e4d0.jpg
  • ƒ/2.4 5.9 mm 1/30 ISO400
Any help very gratefully received.
 
The lighting appears to have been low - 1/30 second at 400 ISO, 1/500 second at 1600 ISO. Were you shooting with iAUTO (slight over-exposure), and Image Stabilisation (IS) turned off (unintended movement)?

I generally shoot in P mode, with Exposure Variation at - .3 (EV).

Hopefully my post will drag the experienced TG5 owners out of the woodwork.

Henry
 
You seem to be very far from the subjects, so the composition is more of a landscape or scenery image than an action shot, and images are not clear, probably due to focus issues.

You have a waterproof camera, so try to get closer by getting into or onto the water. Find a good, safe position where the action will be closer. Use the sequential shot option so you take several shots of the action, allowing you to choose the best image with the right timing. You ideally want to be close enough so you clearly see the expression on the face of your subject, then chpose the image with best action.

There's various focus modes, and different approaches to this, but I prefer spot focus in the centre, and keep the green box over the subject. Or you can pre fo us using a half press of the shutter button, and focus where you kbow the subject will appear.

You'll want a high shutter speed, and without a manual shutter speed option this maz wide aperture (low f number) and higher iso, so getting close will mean you don't need full zoom (which results in a nartower aperture), and use auto iso with an upper limit set to around iso 1600 or perhaps higher.

We'd need to see all the Exif details to advise on all the settings, but even selecting full auto and getting closer will be a start.
 
Thanks Henry,

The light would be a bit low as I am down in river valleys under tree cover. The top two are taken in Sport mode I think although the exif says Program, Sport mode set with 'sequential high' doesnt seem to permit IS-on.

The bottom one was taken in Auto. I have several like that, all taken consecutively, it looks like water on the lens to me but my usual trick of licking the lens then dipping it in the river which always worked with my panasonic lumix didnt make any difference so I wonder if it is something else?
 
Thanks for the reply,

I accept I am far away from some of the people involved but that is partly because I cant get any closer (I am am on the water in a kayak myself, and my position is determined by where I can best provide safety cover from) , and also I would like some of the wider scene as the setting / water feature is a key part of the picture.

IIRC the upper two are shot in sport mode, which is the fastest option available I think?

The lower one was shot in full auto, I switched to that half way through the day as the results were looking so poor in sport mode.

I dont know how to find the exif data on the camera so I have loaded a few them on Flickr as a way of revealing the exif, they are here if that helps...

Loading…

www.flickr.com
 
andy_n said:
Hi, I have just purchased a TG5 for use while white water kayaking. Most of the pictures from my first two trips are very poor. I am struggling to understand what I am doing wrong and would appreciate any help or observations on a couple of sample pictures.
Click to expand...
As you mentioned, the first 2 pictures were taken in Sport mode. That mode will attempt to keep shutter speed at 1/500 or faster. In these cases (EV 9.6 and aperture of f/4.4 & 4.9) that required pushing ISO to 1250 and 1600. Considering the distance and relative subject motion, I may have tried using a different mode and a slower shutter speed. Anything to get ISO under 1000.

The first image has little detail primarily due to the high ISO. Focus could also be a bit soft. It's the 4th image in the sequence and focus is locked to the 1st image in the burst.

I'm not sure, as you claim, IS disabled in Sport mode. The EXIF data indicates it's enabled.

Scene Mode : Sport
Drive Mode : Continuous Shooting, Shot 4
Image Stabilization : On, Mode 1

The high ISO in the 2nd image is probably responsible for the lack of any detail. It also might be somewhat front focused. Slammed shutter or pre-focused on foreground??

The lens in the 3rd picture appears to be coated with something. And, possibly some motion blur due to the slow shutter speed.

The TG-5 has a tiny sensor. The light was low and you were far away from the subjects. This required using the slowest end of the zoom range. This and the fast shutter speed forced using a high ISO. The pictures require a fair amount of cropping to see the subjects. However, the fine details were destroyed by the high ISO (and noise reduction). I don't know what you expected from pictures taken at over ISO 1000,

The high ISO performance doesn't appear much different than my TG-3. And the highest ISO I can generally tolerate is 800.

--
Phil
 
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As mentioned in an earlier post, I also recommend P mode. I also like to set the ISO manually and not let the camera do it as that often leads to higher ISO's being used and loss of photo quality. If you use manual ISO, check the shutter speed to avoid blurred images from shaking the camera or moving subjects, especially when using telephoto.
 
After downloading the full sized images and examining them in detail.

I agree they are not very good. The camera should be capable of better.
 
Halina123 said:
After downloading the full sized images and examining them in detail.

I agree they are not very good. The camera should be capable of better.
Click to expand...
Same here, and I agree IQ doesn't seem "right". Not what I've experienced with this camera, even in "unfavorable" light. But I only use A or P modes...

Please, andy_n, could you post here 2 or 3 pics with EXIFs taken with this TG-5 but in "good" lighting conditions and still, just to have an idea of the rendition in more favorable cases. It could be interesting as to get a better "feel"...
 
Gobzy said:
Halina123 said:
After downloading the full sized images and examining them in detail.

I agree they are not very good. The camera should be capable of better.
Click to expand...
Same here, and I agree IQ doesn't seem "right". Not what I've experienced with this camera, even in "unfavorable" light. But I only use A or P modes...

Please, andy_n, could you post here 2 or 3 pics with EXIFs taken with this TG-5 but in "good" lighting conditions and still, just to have an idea of the rendition in more favorable cases. It could be interesting as to get a better "feel"...
Click to expand...
 
Halina123 said:
Gobzy said:
Halina123 said:
After downloading the full sized images and examining them in detail.

I agree they are not very good. The camera should be capable of better.
Click to expand...
Same here, and I agree IQ doesn't seem "right". Not what I've experienced with this camera, even in "unfavorable" light. But I only use A or P modes...

Please, andy_n, could you post here 2 or 3 pics with EXIFs taken with this TG-5 but in "good" lighting conditions and still, just to have an idea of the rendition in more favorable cases. It could be interesting as to get a better "feel"...

--
Ray
Click to expand...
I second that.

The three images that were posted were taken in challenging conditions. Let's see images taken in good light in good conditions. So we can decide if the camera is faulty or is the problem user error.
Click to expand...
Or conditions are just too exacting for a small sensor camera rather than error. I am not against small sensors but people do not buy large and expensive kit put in water proof housings for no reason at all. With this type of camera you need to get close and not expect any scope for cropping especially if the ISO starts getting pushed in any way as there is not much leeway here.
 
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Thanks for the responses, much appreciated.

Hmmm this is interesting. I have been through the few photos I have got so far and it seems like those shot closer and at lower ISO are good but as soon as I zoom it loses all quality. Rather an obvious statement but I am wondering what this massive drop off is normal for this camera or if there is user error causing it, or if I have a dud.

This one is half way out and ISO 400 but looks terrible - is this camera movement?

https://flic.kr/p/Zt7VGV

this one looks fine, its zoomed close and ISO 200;

https://flic.kr/p/21LHram

this one looks great, again zoomed close and ISO 200

https://flic.kr/p/GSVcPp

but this one looks hopeless

https://flic.kr/p/GSVehp

is this the higher ISO? It doesn't seem to have any focus point at all.
 
Hi Andy,

We are back at the same pics before, I'm afraid. What I was meaning is: take your TG-5 with you for a new fresh set of outdoor pics, and just take some pics of your street for example or garden or in a park, a nice car, a front shop, your dog/cat or whatever still and in good light at different zoom settings. And then post some here. For now, and for not going round in circles, forget your previous kayaking pics...

I mean take 15 or 30 minutes of your time to use your TG-5 in the most favorable circumstances to see here if it works correctly at least in this case Then we can discuss further...

;-)

--
Ray
 
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Looks like camera shake to me. 1/100 second is a little slow if taking shots from a moving kayak.

As you zoom, the aperture will reduce, so shutter speed will get slower and/or iso will need to rise.

Ironically, the one thing tough cameras are not good at is action shots. You really a need a bigger sensor to get better high iso performance, and a massive, wide aperture telephoto, so you can take shots from dry land using low iso and high shutter speeds.

The main advantage of a tough compact is that you can get cloae ro the action. This allows minimal zoom to take advantage of the f2 aperture, and this also alliws you to use lower iso. Longer zoom also increases the impact of camera movement, so this is not ideal when you're in a jayak.

Unfortunately the TG does not allow you to set shutter speed directly, but I'd compromise on the iso and go for 1600 to 2000 to get higher shutter speed. Some noise is always better than a blurred image. Then get closer to avoid zooming too much.

Think of the TG as a mega Go Pro, and not as a compact version of a dslr with a 300mm telephoto.

Get close, use sequential to fire off lots of shots, pick the best.
 
Another thing that may help improve your pictures is not just a quit snap of the shutter. I've found that this method of taking a photo often induces camera shake and has the camera not lock on focus. I alway try and push the shutter button half way down, which locks the focus, before I fully depress the button.
 
I have loaded some more that I shot today...

Loading…

www.flickr.com

It seems fine at various focal lengths, most of the vehicles at half and full zoom are nice and sharp at ISO400.

The bus and silver car were shot 10 minutes before the others and are completely out of focus - and I have a whole burst for each which are all exactly the same. Does the exif tell us anything about why that may be? I had been trying the autofocus tracking option, does anyone know what happens if when using this mode it doesnt 'lock on'? does it just leave the focus at the first frame focus point? Could this be the cause of these two?

I replicated the garden shots at ISO of 200/400/800 and 1600. I have loaded the results at 200 and a couple of those at 1600. The higher ISOs degenerated steadily.

I am curious as to why 0639 (ƒ/3.6 11.0 mm 1/100 ISO200) looks so poor in comparison to 0631 (ƒ/2.8 4.5 mm 1/100 ISO100). Can anyone see any reason for this or is it just one that got away?
 
andy_n said:
I have loaded some more that I shot today...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/andynutter/albums/72157688711034571
Click to expand...
It would be easier for us if you posted your samples directly here on DPR.
andy_n said:
It seems fine at various focal lengths, most of the vehicles at half and full zoom are nice and sharp at ISO400.
Click to expand...
Why are you using ISO 400 in this sort of lighting? If you want the best IQ from this camera, keep ISO as low as possible. There isn't any reason to justify that high of shutter speed.
andy_n said:
The bus and silver car were shot 10 minutes before the others and are completely out of focus - and I have a whole burst for each which are all exactly the same. Does the exif tell us anything about why that may be?
Click to expand...
As I mentioned previously in this thread, when using sequential shooting mode, focus is locked to the first frame in the burst. If the 1st one is out of focus, so will all the following shots. (Unless the subject moves into focus distance)
andy_n said:
I had been trying the autofocus tracking option, does anyone know what happens if when using this mode it doesnt 'lock on'? does it just leave the focus at the first frame focus point? Could this be the cause of these two?
Click to expand...
Tracking might work on a slow predictably moving subject. Beyond that, it's pretty much useless on this camera. If tracking isn't locked when you take a picture (or it drops track), odds are it will be OOF. And again, in burst mode, focus is locked at the first frame. None of the TG cameras have a continuous focus shooting mode. (For stills)
andy_n said:
I replicated the garden shots at ISO of 200/400/800 and 1600. I have loaded the results at 200 and a couple of those at 1600. The higher ISOs degenerated steadily.
Click to expand...
Isn't that what you would expect?
andy_n said:
I am curious as to why 0639 (ƒ/3.6 11.0 mm 1/100 ISO200) looks so poor in comparison to 0631 (ƒ/2.8 4.5 mm 1/100 ISO100). Can anyone see any reason for this or is it just one that got away?
Click to expand...
Don't know. Are you half pressing the shutter button and waiting for focus conformation? How steady is your handheld technique?

--
Phil
 
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Ah, better ;-)

Though not being an expert, from what I can see through those new pics set, your TG-5 seems to be correctly working. Nothing wrong IMHO...

I think your "problems" are more coming from your handling and your choice of settings. This camera (as all others) works great when you "understand" how to deal with its settings. Scenes modes are great when conditions are great/optimal. When they are not you have to managed the settings by yourself i.e. to learn how the camera behaves in different conditions, above all when they are not so good.

And I agree with others above: don't press the shutter button in a snap. Half-press it gently, wait for the AF confirmation and then press it at full while you steadily handle the camera...

As well "tracking" may work for slow motion targets, but it's not a "continuous focus tracking" feature as on high end cameras. Try to use single shot operations and follow the target moving in the center of the screen, while pressing the shutter button as quickly as possible... and hope for the best.

Any camera by itself can't replace the photographer. So maybe learn your TG-5 a bit more, and I'm sure you'll be greatly rewarded...
 
Allen in Bethesda said:
Another thing that may help improve your pictures is not just a quit snap of the shutter. I've found that this method of taking a photo often induces camera shake and has the camera not lock on focus. I alway try and push the shutter button half way down, which locks the focus, before I fully depress the button.
Click to expand...
Fully agree with that ;-)
 
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