s50 blurry pictures

[jcr64]

Hi all. I recently bought the canon s50. Took some pictures yesterday, on an overcast day. Macros came out very good (although not necessarily great) and other pictures also came out good. Today (very sunny and hot) I took a few more shots -- 1 macro came out great. The problem is, I took about 5 pictures of geese on a pond, and all of these pictures were blurry. I'm sure I was holding the camera still -- wouldn't expect it to be that sensitive to movement when set on automatic, telephoto lens fully extended.

Any insights? From the great reviews this camera got, i'm assuming the problem is with me (amateur) and not with the camera.

Also, what effects could leaving the camera in the car for a few hours (about 85 degrees outside) have on the camera?

Thanks!

J

 

[noisebeam]

Most likely its a shutter speed issue, too slow for either the telephoto length used or for the movement of the geese. In full telephoto the s50 gives you f4.9 minimum resulting is a longer shutter exposure in auto mode than wide angle (which f2.8 minimum allowing for faster shutter speeds) Also there is a handy formua for what the average person can hand hold for a steady image which is a shutter speed of 1/(35mm equivalent focal length) so for an s50 wide angle is about 1/35 second and for telephoto about 1/135 sec. ( - sorry I don't exactly rememeber what the s50 35mm equavalent focal lengths are) But also the animals may be moving resulting in blur. Was the background or non animal part also blurry - in this case its a problem of camera shake.
Al

Hi all. I recently bought the canon s50. Took some pictures
yesterday, on an overcast day. Macros came out very good (although
not necessarily great) and other pictures also came out good.
Today (very sunny and hot) I took a few more shots -- 1 macro came
out great. The problem is, I took about 5 pictures of geese on a
pond, and all of these pictures were blurry. I'm sure I was
holding the camera still -- wouldn't expect it to be that sensitive
to movement when set on automatic, telephoto lens fully extended.

Any insights? From the great reviews this camera got, i'm assuming
the problem is with me (amateur) and not with the camera.

Also, what effects could leaving the camera in the car for a few
hours (about 85 degrees outside) have on the camera?

Thanks!

J

 

[Bob the Printer88467]

Also, what effects could leaving the camera in the car for a few
hours (about 85 degrees outside) have on the camera?

That's a BIG NO NO! Did you leave the camera in the car like that prior to taking the blurry pics??

NEVER NEVER NEVER leave a camera (of any kind) in a car exposed to the hot sun (even if it only 85 outside!)!!!!!!!!!

I only hope that you didn't do permanent damage to your S50...



Sincerely, Bob the Printer

 

[noisebeam]

the telephoto focal length equivalent for s50 is 105mm - so a steady hand/technique can take about a 1/100 second shot at full telephoto - but from my experience this would be with practice and proper bracing technique - i.e. camera pressed against face not held extended away to look at LCD. Also at 1/100sec the geese will blur unless they are very still.

Do you know how to look at the exif data to see what shutter speeds you used? Also I very much doubt that you damaged the camera with heat - my s45 has been exposed to temp extremes with no problem.
Al

Hi all. I recently bought the canon s50. Took some pictures
yesterday, on an overcast day. Macros came out very good (although
not necessarily great) and other pictures also came out good.
Today (very sunny and hot) I took a few more shots -- 1 macro came
out great. The problem is, I took about 5 pictures of geese on a
pond, and all of these pictures were blurry. I'm sure I was
holding the camera still -- wouldn't expect it to be that sensitive
to movement when set on automatic, telephoto lens fully extended.

Any insights? From the great reviews this camera got, i'm assuming
the problem is with me (amateur) and not with the camera.

Also, what effects could leaving the camera in the car for a few
hours (about 85 degrees outside) have on the camera?

Thanks!

J

 

[NarrBL]

Hi Jcr,

I much doubt that this heat affected the camera, so likely wouldn't worry about that. I guess there seem two or so possibilities.

One is that as you were using autofocus for the geese, it couldn't keep up with the movement to set the distance right. Choosing one of the distance scenic modes or locking a distant manual focus would fix that.

Another possibility is that it is actually camera shake as you pushed the button, showing up because of slow shutter speed the camera auto-arranged.

This would show in the Exif record of exposure settings for the geese - can see it while in the camera, or by looking at the Exif tag embedded in the photo file. Photoshop, Elements, or at least in Windows XP, the Advanced view of the Summary tab in the Properties (right-click-> Properties) of the file will let you do this easily.

In the tag, you'd find the shutter value - less than 1/125th at telephoto (and even there), could well get blur from camera movement. Solution: S-50 has a shutter preferred mode where you can choose speed. Yes, it is possible to hold at much slower settings, with practice, use of solid objects, etc. - but maybe not so easily when taking flying bird pictures.

Last point that occurs to me is that geese are often if by no means always largely white, and on a summer day their feathers may have quite a high exposure value. This would cause them to be a highlight, and lose a lot of detail, could be to the point of looking pretty blurry indeed, due to this. I'm sure you are aware of the exposure offset control the S50 has which can help with this.

Well, there are some conflicts possible between these individual adjustments - that's where the flexibility of the S50 comes in. You could lock a focus, and an exposure setting, separately, if such a shot turns out to be difficult enough to need them. You can get the focus point and exposure point off stationary scenes before going after the geese.

For a less involved, quick take, I guess I'd experiment with something like -0.7 EV offset with shutter preference at 1/125 or 1/250th. For focus, probably a quick pre-focus with the button half down on surroundings of the pond will be fine, or with more time and if there is need you could lock a manual focus there.

Try things and find out - is what we all do to suit our own style and camera.

Good fortune .

Hi all. I recently bought the canon s50. Took some pictures
yesterday, on an overcast day. Macros came out very good (although
not necessarily great) and other pictures also came out good.
Today (very sunny and hot) I took a few more shots -- 1 macro came
out great. The problem is, I took about 5 pictures of geese on a
pond, and all of these pictures were blurry. I'm sure I was
holding the camera still -- wouldn't expect it to be that sensitive
to movement when set on automatic, telephoto lens fully extended.

Any insights? From the great reviews this camera got, i'm assuming
the problem is with me (amateur) and not with the camera.

Also, what effects could leaving the camera in the car for a few
hours (about 85 degrees outside) have on the camera?

Thanks!

J

 

[jcr64]

Thank you so much for your informative and encouraging response! I don't know how to check the exif info, but that will be on my agenda for this evening when I get home from work! Also, just double-checked the blurry geese images (on the LCD screen, which is what I used to take the shots...), and I see that the trees just beyond the geese look noticably sharper. soo, thanks for pointing that out to me! probably the trees would look even sharper still, had they been the focus of my picture, rather than the geese?

The macro I took (a fly on a flower) came out really excellent, so I guess maybe I didn't kill the camera with the extreme heat in the car (the camera was underneath a fleece jacket). Another person responded to my post that leaving the camera in the car was a huge mistake. Left me feeling a little nervous...

Anyway, thanks again. I'll go home tonight and take a few more tester shots, and read more about shutter speeds, full telephoto, etc.

J

 

[noisebeam]

It is very possible the auto focus locked on to the background trees instead of the geese. Is the forground (perhaps water around geese) in focus.

There is a more helpful post than mine in this thread that tells you how to look at exif data.

I agree it is a very bad thing to leave camera in a car on a hot day especially in direct sunlight - it can get to 140degF quite easily. I have left mine in a car away from direct sun in 110deg weather for 30min. I have also used camera 1hr in 110 deg weather with no problems. Not recommended, but very unlikely to have damaged you camera.

Al

Thank you so much for your informative and encouraging response! I
don't know how to check the exif info, but that will be on my
agenda for this evening when I get home from work! Also, just
double-checked the blurry geese images (on the LCD screen, which is
what I used to take the shots...), and I see that the trees just
beyond the geese look noticably sharper. soo, thanks for pointing
that out to me! probably the trees would look even sharper still,
had they been the focus of my picture, rather than the geese?

The macro I took (a fly on a flower) came out really excellent, so
I guess maybe I didn't kill the camera with the extreme heat in the
car (the camera was underneath a fleece jacket). Another person
responded to my post that leaving the camera in the car was a huge
mistake. Left me feeling a little nervous...

Anyway, thanks again. I'll go home tonight and take a few more
tester shots, and read more about shutter speeds, full telephoto,
etc.

J

 

[Lenny uk]

I much doubt that this heat affected the camera, so likely wouldn't
worry about that. I guess there seem two or so possibilities.

One is that as you were using autofocus for the geese, it couldn't
keep up with the movement to set the distance right. Choosing one
of the distance scenic modes or locking a distant manual focus
would fix that.

Another possibility is that it is actually camera shake as you
pushed the button, showing up because of slow shutter speed the
camera auto-arranged.

This would show in the Exif record of exposure settings for the
geese - can see it while in the camera, or by looking at the Exif
tag embedded in the photo file. Photoshop, Elements, or at least
in Windows XP, the Advanced view of the Summary tab in the
Properties (right-click-> Properties) of the file will let you do
this easily.

In the tag, you'd find the shutter value - less than 1/125th at
telephoto (and even there), could well get blur from camera
movement. Solution: S-50 has a shutter preferred mode where you
can choose speed. Yes, it is possible to hold at much slower
settings, with practice, use of solid objects, etc. - but maybe not
so easily when taking flying bird pictures.

Last point that occurs to me is that geese are often if by no means
always largely white, and on a summer day their feathers may have
quite a high exposure value. This would cause them to be a
highlight, and lose a lot of detail, could be to the point of
looking pretty blurry indeed, due to this. I'm sure you are aware
of the exposure offset control the S50 has which can help with this.

Well, there are some conflicts possible between these individual
adjustments - that's where the flexibility of the S50 comes in.
You could lock a focus, and an exposure setting, separately, if
such a shot turns out to be difficult enough to need them. You can
get the focus point and exposure point off stationary scenes before
going after the geese.

For a less involved, quick take, I guess I'd experiment with
something like -0.7 EV offset with shutter preference at 1/125 or
1/250th. For focus, probably a quick pre-focus with the button
half down on surroundings of the pond will be fine, or with more
time and if there is need you could lock a manual focus there.

Try things and find out - is what we all do to suit our own style
and camera.

Good fortune .

Hi all. I recently bought the canon s50. Took some pictures
yesterday, on an overcast day. Macros came out very good (although
not necessarily great) and other pictures also came out good.
Today (very sunny and hot) I took a few more shots -- 1 macro came
out great. The problem is, I took about 5 pictures of geese on a
pond, and all of these pictures were blurry. I'm sure I was
holding the camera still -- wouldn't expect it to be that sensitive
to movement when set on automatic, telephoto lens fully extended.

Any insights? From the great reviews this camera got, i'm assuming
the problem is with me (amateur) and not with the camera.

Also, what effects could leaving the camera in the car for a few
hours (about 85 degrees outside) have on the camera?

Thanks!

J

I know this was overkill but i took this shot on s50 at 1/800 sec it was pretty sunny. By the way if i use sharp control my exif data seems to dissapear is this unavoidable ?

 

[jcr64]

WOW! quite the sneaker shot! (gotta try that when I get home...) Looks like you've got a little ketchup stain on there.... : )

I know this was overkill but i took this shot on s50 at 1/800 sec
it was pretty sunny. By the way if i use sharp control my exif data
seems to dissapear is this unavoidable ?

 

[NarrBL]

I don't know anything about this - could be a firmware bug if it is happening within the camera?

I know this was overkill but i took this shot on s50 at 1/800 sec
it was pretty sunny. By the way if i use sharp control my exif data
seems to dissapear is this unavoidable ?