Blurry Action Shots

[ChowChi-Ching]

Okay, I am lost on What I am doing wrong. I have played over and over with my settings but I still have not been able to get action shots. I see people who have motorcycles racing and they are super crisp even and not fuzzy. What am I doing wrong?
I tried to get pictures of my daughters Christmas Play last night and someone broke my tri pod(nice huh?) they almost broke my camera, anyway, I had to do it free hand and most of my pictures are terribly fuzzy.
I have been playing with it all day, what settings am I going wrong on? I do not remember what I used last night but I haven't been able to get a good action shot at all with this camera....and I know it is MY fault because I have seen AWESOME action shots done with it. (BTW, I have a Nikon D70s)
All help would be GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks

[jorgemonkey]

Do you have any images you could post as well as the settings that you were using? I've got a D70 that I've taken some pretty decent (IMHO) mountain bike action shots as well as some soccer shots.

[livin4lax09]

first of all, what's the lighting look like? its hard to get crisp shots in dark conditions. what you will get crisp action from is either a) a fast shutter speed or b) panning. Open your lens all the way up, jack up the iso until you can get at least 1/500, then shoot away.

[JSPhoto]

Yup, post a few examples and settings for each as jorgemonkey said and then we can help you out. Also, what lens(es) are you using?

As a start though....
Low light
Slow shutter speed
not a high enough ISO

In low light I set the ISO between 800-1600
Shutter 160-250
Aperature - 2.8 or faster (lower number 2.8, 1.8, 1.4)
if that doesn't help add flash

JS

[ChowChi-Ching]

Thanks for the tips.......I am embarrassed to even post these but I do not want this to happen again........

Okay here are two from last night.......
ISO - 1600
Shutter - 1/25
Aperture - F5.6
These were taken with my 300mm Nikon lens.

[swmdrayfan]

I have a D70, and I can tell you that unless I'm using a monopod, shooting at 300mm (I'm guessing you are using the 70-300mm Nikkor) is practically impossible in low light. Shooting anything in low light is practically impossible with that lens unless you boost the ISO. Looks like you had good enough light or were using the on-board flash. That broken tripod in my opinion, hurt more than anything. I'd think a tripod and wireless remote would get you some good enough shots-- IF you don't have a bunch of people around where it would be in the way and they'd be tripping over it. Sounds like that's what happened.

[JSPhoto]

Two things you can do here that will help.
1: use a monopod
2: use a flash

With your f5.6 it really limits your options, especially in dimly lit rooms. You may want to look into an inexpensive f2.8 or f1.8 lens too.

JS

[masdog]

I think I solved your problem. Your shutter speed isn't fast enough. I remember there is a rule about handholding that goes something like your shutterspeed should equal 1 / focal length. Or its something like that. I can't remember exactly.

Basically, I would either get a cheap lens that has a minimum apeture rating of at least 2.8, although 1.8 or lower would be preferred. You can get several cheap primes in that range (at least for Canon...don't know about Nikon). A flash might also be a good option, especially if you don't want to spend a lot of money on optics.

[another view]

I think I solved your problem. Your shutter speed isn't fast enough. I remember there is a rule about handholding that goes something like your shutterspeed should equal 1 / focal length. Or its something like that. I can't remember exactly.

That's it! With a 300mm lens, you need 1/300 shutter speed or faster for hand held. With practice, maybe you can get below that a little bit; maybe 1/200 is reasonable. This is an old rule, and it's been out since well before DSLR's were even thought of. Nikons have 1.5x crop factors, effectively making the angle of view the same as a 450mm lens. Because of this, you might want to use that rule with the 450mm focal length equivalent so your shutter speed would 1/450 or faster.

There's no way that 1/25 will even get close to a sharp image here. I think you did a great job of holding the camera steady at this shutter speed.

A faster lens would help, but it'll cost a lot of money to get not-a-lot of help with this. A 300 f2.8 will cost about five grand (yes, really) and give you two stops. That means that your shutter speed would have been about 1/125 instead of 1/25, but the depth of field would be much shallower. It's a really heavy lens, so you'd probably want to go faster than the rule above for handholding. IOW, it still wouldn't have saved you.

[Lava Lamp]

The best I think you could do is get a 180mm 2.8 used for around $300. It would enable you to shoot at 1/125 and get decent results.

[ChowChi-Ching]

Thanks everyone very much for your help! I have been playing with my camera and have found that my shutter speed was a little more then way too slow! LOL I wish I had realized that before my daughters concert but next time, I should have better shots......thanks to all of you!

[ChowChi-Ching]

Here is my just playing with my daughter......she was spinning around and around.....this is taken with the 70/300 and taken at
70 mm
ISO - 800
Shutter - 1/400
Aperture - f4

Alot better then the last ones. I am going to continue to practice and play with different settings. Thanks again for all your help!!

[JSPhoto]

Yup, your getting it now. And I like the way you caught her hair there..nice job!

JS