Spontaneous photos with NX300M

Hi, I take a lot of spontaneous photos with my NX300M and it's kit lens (18-55 III), mainly of people in action and animals. What settings should I use to get more usable pics? What I see is that the cam misses the AF more than I think it should. It rarely misses in a portrait, but candid photos are almost hit and miss (at least to me). Some examples down.

AF focused in the background instead of child. Taken using manual mode.

A hit! Taken using manual mode.

Miss! focused in his ears instead of his eyes or his nose (I find both acceptable).

Taken using shutter priority mode.

Miss! Focused in his neck fur. Taken using shutter priority mode.

On the first one, here is a related thread:  http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55607790

On the dog where the focus was on the ear, I think it was just too close -- less than the minimum focus distance of the 18-55, which is 0.28m.

On the other dog where the focus is on the fur, I've noticed that if the intended target is shaded (as in the dog's eyes or nose in this shot), the camera tends to have difficulty acquiring the target, and if there is a highlight nearby, the nx500 focuses on that one instead.  In this case, the fur was highlighted, which drew the attention of the AF away from the shaded eyes.  Switching to speed priority might help.  Alternatively, I try to look for a highlight that is the same distance as the intended target (the eyes) such as a part of the gym bag (?) at the bottom of the frame.

Have a look at this answer: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54504502

creaDVty wrote:

On the first one, here is a related thread: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55607790

Will try this on NX300M

On the dog where the focus was on the ear, I think it was just too close -- less than the minimum focus distance of the 18-55, which is 0.28m.

I don't remember, but it could really be the distance. DOF is shallow in this one, I was pretty close.

On the other dog where the focus is on the fur, I've noticed that if the intended target is shaded (as in the dog's eyes or nose in this shot), the camera tends to have difficulty acquiring the target, and if there is a highlight nearby, the nx500 focuses on that one instead. In this case, the fur was highlighted, which drew the attention of the AF away from the shaded eyes. Switching to speed priority might help. Alternatively, I try to look for a highlight that is the same distance as the intended target (the eyes) such as a part of the gym bag (?) at the bottom of the frame.

I still have to do much pratice, so I can do more technical thinking like this when I'm shooting. This camera is my first non compact camera.

Thanks a lot for your tips.

xorgh wrote:

Have a look at this answer: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54504502

Never saw this post, thanks!

One question, it's not "dangerous" to use aperture priority and get some motion blur due to a slow shutter? I shot shutter priority trying to avoid this.

Also, the place I took the dogs pictures was dark, couldn't use f6.3 or ISO would skyrocket.

As far as I remember (dpn't have the nx300 anymore) it is possible to set min shutter speed. And yes the iso could skyrocket.

Yes, it's possible. But I think that I never fully understood how it works. If the scene is too dark, it ignores min shutter speed?

creaDVty wrote:

On the first one, here is a related thread: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55607790

It seems that NX300M doesn't have a way to change AF priority or I just couldn't find it...