Motion Blur - What am I doing wrong?

[darioism]

I have a Panasonic Lumix G9 and love it so far, and typically use my Leica 12-60mm f/2.8. I shoot in Aperture priority, normally with the aperture wide open (2.8) and auto ISO (or intelligent ISO). However, I delete over half of my photos taken due to motion blur. I would not consider these shots to be in a "low light" scenario, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Examples below.

I'm annoyed that I can pull out my smartphone with a 2mm lens and take shots just fine in the same light, while my $1,700 camera can't pull it off.

It's clear that the shutter speed is too low, while I have room to breathe in ISO. I know that folks will recommend going full manual mode, but when moving between different lighting scenarios, I can't be futzing with dials, or I'll miss a shot. I'd like if I can rely on a fancy camera to make some decisions. I'd love it if I could modify the decision curve the camera uses, so it would lean towards higher ISO instead of slower shutter speed, but I don't see any settings like this.

How can I take better shots? Might I have some setting wrong on the camera? Thanks in advance.

Example 1: Living room lights on, afternoon sun coming through 3 windows. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 640.

Example 2: Night, but with bright LED lights all around. I'd expect a BIT of motion blur, but not this bad. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 400, which is definitely not what I would have went with.

 

[Daneland]

Just set a minimum shutter speed that camera will go . After this it wont go below this value, instead ISO will increase.

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[TomFid]

I have a Panasonic Lumix G9 and love it so far, and typically use my Leica 12-60mm f/2.8. I shoot in Aperture priority, normally with the aperture wide open (2.8) and auto ISO (or intelligent ISO). However, I delete over half of my photos taken due to motion blur. I would not consider these shots to be in a "low light" scenario, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Examples below.

I'm annoyed that I can pull out my smartphone with a 2mm lens and take shots just fine in the same light, while my $1,700 camera can't pull it off.

It's clear that the shutter speed is too low, while I have room to breathe in ISO. I know that folks will recommend going full manual mode, but when moving between different lighting scenarios, I can't be futzing with dials, or I'll miss a shot. I'd like if I can rely on a fancy camera to make some decisions. I'd love it if I could modify the decision curve the camera uses, so it would lean towards higher ISO instead of slower shutter speed, but I don't see any settings like this.

How can I take better shots? Might I have some setting wrong on the camera? Thanks in advance.

Example 1: Living room lights on, afternoon sun coming through 3 windows. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 640.

Example 2: Night, but with bright LED lights all around. I'd expect a BIT of motion blur, but not this bad. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 400, which is definitely not what I would have went with.

No need to go full manual. For situations like this, I'd normally switch to S and dial in whatever I can get away with based on a few experimental shots - typically 1/30 to 1/200. I usually shoot some slow ones as well, because the effect is sometimes cool. I think it kind of works in your 2nd shot (dancers) though not of course if you want to recognize anyone.

 

[kalisti]

maybe you've set a max ISO thats very low, I'd reset the camera, from default setting I'm pretty sure this wont happen.

you could try shutter priority, rather than manual, that should take care of things.

I shoot aperture priority most of the time, I've never come across this issue.

 

[Regor250]

If it were me, I'd use the S (or T depending on the camera nomenclature) mode, choose an appropriate speed with auto ISO and let the camera do the rest. Unfortunately 1/4sec shutter speed does generally last one quarter of a second, and you can't change the laws of physics, hence motion blur. Your phone most likely has a fast aperture, like f1,7, shoots wide open, and cranks up the ISO to maintain what it thinks is a reasonable speed. So can your camera, except that it is you that is in control. Don't feel bad, many people get a camera for better quality images, only to realize there's work involved and get disappointed by the results compared to what they got with their phone. Also, phone image processing engines are master of deception, rendering images that look great... on the phone... until you look a little closer.

--
Roger

 

[phil from seattle]

Others have suggested good solutions to your problem.

One thing worth understanding - how fast a shutter speed is needed for a given situation. The two photos you posted clearly demonstrate that 1/4 S is way too long. I'd guess that 1/500 is a minimum speed but I'd try to use 1/1000 to freeze the motion. Using shutter priority (S) will allow to specify it as others have said. Using auto ISO works but I personally like to control it directly. I usually shoot in aperture priority and adjust the f-stop to get a reasonable shutter speed. Definitely old school.

In the first photo, you actually were at f/3.9 due to the nature of your lens - almost 1/2 the amount of light that f/2.8 gives. An ISO well north of 3200 would be needed to get the SS high enough to capture the little one's action.

In the second photo, you probably needed to be at ISO 3200, maybe even higher. Even though it appeared to be bright to you, it probably wasn't (our eyes adjust).



Note that when you start pushing the ISO, you might want to use "denoising" software as there will be a fair amount of noise in your photos.

 

[patticake]

set max ISO to 3200.

if you can set minimum shutter speed on the G9, i'd set it to no lower than 1/100th of a second, but i recommend you experiment with shutter speed a bit. while a faster shutter speed will freeze motion better - the faster the motion, the faster the shutter speed needed to freeze it - in dim rooms and nighttime shots, you may run into issues of the pics being too dark at, say, 1/800th of a second.

spend a little time experimenting, and you'll be rewarded with the best possible photos for your moving subjects with your current lens.

 

[stephent]

Hi mate, nothing just that everyone you know seems to be some kind of Demon :-D

As already covered faster shutter speeds are needed, either bump the ISO up or use a faster prime lens.

Stephen.

 

[AshleyMC]

This video may be helpful:

Marlene Hielema has posted other tutorials related to the G9.

The below were created in a dark church when there were plenty of movements:

Aperture Priority + Auto ISO & Min Shutter Speed - SOOC JPEG, downsampled for sharing

Enjoy your photographic journey while learning and creating.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[TheEye]

Since shutter speed is your priority if you want to deliberately control motion blur, you may want to use shutter priority mode in combination with a sufficiently high ISO. You won't have to keep an eye on the shutter speed all the time because you have set it.

 

[Tim Reidy Productions]

I have a Panasonic Lumix G9 and love it so far, and typically use my Leica 12-60mm f/2.8. I shoot in Aperture priority, normally with the aperture wide open (2.8) and auto ISO (or intelligent ISO). However, I delete over half of my photos taken due to motion blur. I would not consider these shots to be in a "low light" scenario, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Examples below.

you shot in aperture priority, which does not care about motion, it cares about exposure.

I'm annoyed that I can pull out my smartphone with a 2mm lens and take shots just fine in the same light, while my $1,700 camera can't pull it off.

you need to find the right settings, sometimes the other cameras get lucky other times not so.

It's clear that the shutter speed is too low, while I have room to breathe in ISO. I know that folks will recommend going full manual mode, but when moving between different lighting scenarios, I can't be futzing with dials, or I'll miss a shot. I'd like if I can rely on a fancy camera to make some decisions. I'd love it if I could modify the decision curve the camera uses, so it would lean towards higher ISO instead of slower shutter speed, but I don't see any settings like this.

Manual Mode is best for mutliple lighting scenarios, however if the light is the same, you now can go to the world of shutter priority mode and set the camera to the expected speed of your subject and then adjust camera accordingly.

How can I take better shots? Might I have some setting wrong on the camera? Thanks in advance.

Example 1: Living room lights on, afternoon sun coming through 3 windows. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 640.

Example 2: Night, but with bright LED lights all around. I'd expect a BIT of motion blur, but not this bad. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 400, which is definitely not what I would have went with.

generally shooting folks over 1/8 of a time is risky. to get more in focus go for an speed in the 1/100-1/500 range, but you can try slower.

The bad news is that action photography is not for the auto modes, you have to find some mode on your own for action shots.

Aperture priority may work in good light, but indoors and at night it tends to slow that shutter speed down.

 

[JosephScha]

OMG. 1/4 second exposures! Of course you get motion blur.

If you raise ISO so you can approach 1/100 second exposures you will be much happier. But even 1/100 second will not stop fast motion.

 

[glassoholic]

I have seen the OP's situation with a couple of my friends who moved from Nikon DSLR to Olympus EM5. Nikon had an all auto type setting that selected fast enough shutter speeds for typical indoor people shooting... without having to do anything in settings. Olympus has always forced the user to intervene with a suitable setting to prevent typical motion blur like the OP shows... and it seems Panasonic is the same.

 

[Interceptor121]

The G9 out of the box will have the minimum shutter speed set to AUTO 1/4 does not feature unless you incorrectly set it there or forced the ISO. I am pretty sure this is the case for you so go into your menu and reset it to the AUTO value

With the PL 12-60mm the camera will use the following shutter speed until you hit the maximum ISO if using auto ISO

12-29mm 1/60

30-39mm 1/80

40-46mm 1/100

46mm+ 1/125

Those settings will still give you motion blur in a number of cases. If you switch to S mode the camera will shoot the lens wide open and increase ISO as far as it can go ending up in the same place but with less effort.

There are also two options for Auto ISO one is the i mode that should increase the shutter speed if it sense the subject is moving but franky I do not recall seeing a clear benefit

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[paolop23]

most people have written how to approach the issue, but lets analyse the scenes in detail

Example 1: Living room lights on, afternoon sun coming through 3 windows. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 640.

it sais f3.9 in the exif, so you had almost a stop to gain from the lens. With a shutterspeed of 1/4 of course it will blur kids, i'd say 1/100 wouldvebeen minimum here (via S mode). So this would mean 1/[email protected] and ISO6400 if my calculations are right.

You'll have to live with the noise.

Same for the second scene, although i'd say 1/250-1/500 wouldve been minimum here, which woudlve led to ISO12800-25600 which is too much for the camera, so essentially you need a flash.

Even a larger sensor camera could struggle here. You will not see an event photographer without flash shooting such scenes.

Example 2: Night, but with bright LED lights all around. I'd expect a BIT of motion blur, but not this bad. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 400, which is definitely not what I would have went with.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

I have a Panasonic Lumix G9 and love it so far, and typically use my Leica 12-60mm f/2.8. I shoot in Aperture priority, normally with the aperture wide open (2.8) and auto ISO (or intelligent ISO). However, I delete over half of my photos taken due to motion blur. I would not consider these shots to be in a "low light" scenario, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Examples below.

I'm annoyed that I can pull out my smartphone with a 2mm lens and take shots just fine in the same light, while my $1,700 camera can't pull it off.

It's clear that the shutter speed is too low, while I have room to breathe in ISO. I know that folks will recommend going full manual mode, but when moving between different lighting scenarios, I can't be futzing with dials, or I'll miss a shot. I'd like if I can rely on a fancy camera to make some decisions. I'd love it if I could modify the decision curve the camera uses, so it would lean towards higher ISO instead of slower shutter speed, but I don't see any settings like this.

How can I take better shots? Might I have some setting wrong on the camera? Thanks in advance.

Example 1: Living room lights on, afternoon sun coming through 3 windows. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 640.

Example 2: Night, but with bright LED lights all around. I'd expect a BIT of motion blur, but not this bad. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 400, which is definitely not what I would have went with.

When shooting with primes, I generally just use M mode and set shutter and aperture manually.

With zooms, though, the Minimum Shutter with Auto ISO feature is handy. I don't know about the G9, but on my GX9 I can set a variable minimum shutter that the camera sets to 1/focal length. This gives me slower shutter at the wide end and a faster shutter at the long end. Problem is, 1/FL is sometimes too slow with moving subjects. On my Sony a7RIII, I can set this variable ratio to "fast" (1/FLx2) and "faster" (1/FLx4) as well. I generally use "fast". Maybe the G9 has a similar capability?

--
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http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[Jacques Cornell]

I have a Panasonic Lumix G9 and love it so far, and typically use my Leica 12-60mm f/2.8. I shoot in Aperture priority, normally with the aperture wide open (2.8) and auto ISO (or intelligent ISO). However, I delete over half of my photos taken due to motion blur. I would not consider these shots to be in a "low light" scenario, so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Examples below.

I'm annoyed that I can pull out my smartphone with a 2mm lens and take shots just fine in the same light, while my $1,700 camera can't pull it off.

It's clear that the shutter speed is too low, while I have room to breathe in ISO. I know that folks will recommend going full manual mode, but when moving between different lighting scenarios, I can't be futzing with dials, or I'll miss a shot. I'd like if I can rely on a fancy camera to make some decisions. I'd love it if I could modify the decision curve the camera uses, so it would lean towards higher ISO instead of slower shutter speed, but I don't see any settings like this.

How can I take better shots? Might I have some setting wrong on the camera? Thanks in advance.

Example 1: Living room lights on, afternoon sun coming through 3 windows. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 640.

Example 2: Night, but with bright LED lights all around. I'd expect a BIT of motion blur, but not this bad. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 400, which is definitely not what I would have went with.

No need to go full manual. For situations like this, I'd normally switch to S and dial in whatever I can get away with based on a few experimental shots - typically 1/30 to 1/200.

The problem with this is that the appropriate shutter speed changes as you zoom. Minimum Shutter with Auto ISO takes care of this.

I usually shoot some slow ones as well, because the effect is sometimes cool. I think it kind of works in your 2nd shot (dancers) though not of course if you want to recognize anyone.

--
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[phil from seattle]

most people have written how to approach the issue, but lets analyse the scenes in detail

Example 1: Living room lights on, afternoon sun coming through 3 windows. f/2.8, camera chose 1/4 and ISO 640.

it sais f3.9 in the exif, so you had almost a stop to gain from the lens. With a shutterspeed of 1/4 of course it will blur kids, i'd say 1/100 wouldvebeen minimum here (via S mode). So this would mean 1/[email protected] and ISO6400 if my calculations are right.

He has a variable aperture lens - at that FL, f/3.9 is the best it can do. F Stop was probably set to f/2.8 but zooming in raised the actual F Stop. I kind of doubt 1/100 would have been fast enough, little kids can move pretty fast. This is a scenario where flash is called for.

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[CharlesB58]

The reason your smartphone doesn't end up with subject motion blur is because it's exposure algorhythm is designed to change the shutter speed last as the light get low.

Believe me, (and as has already been said) after over 500 concert and theater performances in the past 10 years shot in S mode with autoISO, letting the aperture fall where it will is the best way to handle low light photos of moving subjects most of the time. There may be times when you want both reduced motion blur and greater depth of field, at which point bumping up the ISO (or using flash) is your only option.

 

[OSPhoto]

This video may be helpful:

Marlene Hielema has posted other tutorials related to the G9.

The below were created in a dark church when there were plenty of movements:

Aperture Priority + Auto ISO & Min Shutter Speed - SOOC JPEG, downsampled for sharing

Enjoy your photographic journey while learning and creating.

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, and those examples are using a lens with a f/1.4 aperture, which helps a lot for that situation.

For the OP:

1) Buy a prime for indoor shooting. I don't generally use my 12-40 f/2.8 as an indoor lens unless (1) it is a REALLY bright room or (2) I use a flash. So get something with f/1.8 or larger aperture. I do use it a good amount when I have flash along with it though, and my living room is pretty bright, even changed the lightbulbs to be brighter for the sake of getting better shots at home.

You have options:
-Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7
-Sigma 16mm f/1.4
-Olympus 17mm f/1.8
-Olympus 17mm PRO f/1.2
-Olympus 20mm PRO f/1.4
-Panasonic 20mm f/1.7
-Panasonic 25mm f/1.7
-Olympus 25mm f/1.8
-Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4
-Olympus 25mm PRO f/1.2

2) Shoot in shutter priority instead or follow all the previous recommendations about adjusting your minimum shutter speed and max iso (up to 3200 is generally good, and better if you have something like DXO to clean it up as needed). Generally for my kids, I try to stay at 1/100 shutter speed or faster because kids don't like to stay still. In the dancing photo, you are trying to capture action, I would say at least get to 1/200 if you want to freeze them a bit, but that might be hard with the lens you have if you're trying to stay under 3200 ISO.

3) Buy a flash for situations where you can use it. Bounce off the ceiling so it isn't direct flash. I know people don't always want to use flash, but it is very useful in certain situations. I wouldn't have as nice pictures from my daughters birthday parties if I didn't use my Godox TT350 flash.