Image stabiliser help please!

davecamdavecam Registered Users Posts: 53 Big grins
edited July 12, 2009 in Technique
Hello,
I have recently taken some shots of a wedding group and there is blur evident in many of them. I am sure this is from camera shake rather than a focusing error. However I am surprised to get any camera shake, as I was using image stabilisation, a shutter speed of 1/80 and a focal length of only 20mm. NOT a recipe for camera shake wouldn't you agree? ISO was 200 and I was about F5.6. AV mode.
I wondered if it was anything to do with using fill flash, which I did for all shots.
Any help appreciated.
Dave

Comments

  • BeaKeRBeaKeR Registered Users Posts: 112 Major grins
    edited July 11, 2009
    davecam wrote:
    Hello,
    I have recently taken some shots of a wedding group and there is blur evident in many of them. I am sure this is from camera shake rather than a focusing error. However I am surprised to get any camera shake, as I was using image stabilisation, a shutter speed of 1/80 and a focal length of only 20mm. NOT a recipe for camera shake wouldn't you agree? ISO was 200 and I was about F5.6. AV mode.
    I wondered if it was anything to do with using fill flash, which I did for all shots.
    Any help appreciated.
    Dave

    Dave,
    I'm a little surprised you got shake, but that whole shutter = 1/focal length thing is just a rule of thumb. You can certainly still get shake if you have poor shooting technique.

    It might also help to know what camera and lens you're using. The SR systems are different between different manufacturers. I shoot Pentax, and I know the SR needs a bit of warmup, ie you have the half-press the shutter button for half a second or so before the SR is fully effective. I'm not sure how the others do it, but I'm sure someone can chime in if necessary.

    BKR
    Cinch Photography(personal)
    Personal SmugMug
    Blog
  • Ed911Ed911 Registered Users Posts: 1,306 Major grins
    edited July 11, 2009
    You really need to give us additional information.

    Show us an image...list the camera, lens, stabilization mode, if the lens has more than one, etc. Were your subjects moving or static...posed?

    I started to list the things that I thought could be the culprit, but then realized that without more information, I would be guessing.

    With what you have given us...camera shake, likely not; OOF, probably, especially given the use of flash, which will freeze your subjects because of its short duration.

    If your lens has more than one stabilization mode, were you using the proper mode? My 18-200mm had one for riding in automobiles, and one for hand held and anti-vibe was to be turned of it you where shooting off of a tripod or other stabilized mount.

    Hope this helps.
    Remember, no one may want you to take pictures, but they all want to see them.
    Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.

    Ed
  • davecamdavecam Registered Users Posts: 53 Big grins
    edited July 11, 2009
    Thanks for the replies,
    the camera is a Canon 40D, lens is EFS 17-55 IS F2.8 USM
    flash was 430 speedlite, no tripod. Subject not moving.
    Below is a 100% crop from the original unprocessed raw file

    588255683_N7SHe-M.jpg
  • Ed911Ed911 Registered Users Posts: 1,306 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    davecam wrote:
    Thanks for the replies,
    the camera is a Canon 40D, lens is EFS 17-55 IS F2.8 USM
    flash was 430 speedlite, no tripod. Subject not moving.
    Below is a 100% crop from the original unprocessed raw file

    Because you haven't told us how you took the picture, the below is only my opinion. Let us know if it helps. And, I can't tell a lot about the problem from a 100% crop, other than, yep...it's soft in that particular section of the photo. Is the photo soft all over? Are there some areas of the photo that are in focus?

    It does look like you have an out of focus issue. Given your commentary, I suspect that at F5.6 you may have focused on the faces, pressed and held the shutter release half way to hold the focus, and then recomposed the shot, placing the focus point on your subjects middle. This will cause a tilt in the focal plane and make the head and feet of your subject OOF.

    Was you camera set to continous focus? I've done this before, in which case pressing and holding the shutter halfway down doesn't lock the focus.

    I'm kind of puzzled that you say you have so many OOF images.

    How close were you to the subjects?

    F5.6 is a fairly narrow depth of field.

    Fill flash would not have contributed to the OOF issue.

    I would like to see the original photo. Or, you can look at it to see if there is anything in focus. If so, then this is where your camera focused...and the rest is a matter of recounting the shooting experience.

    There is always the possibility that the lens isn't hitting the focal point. But, test images would satisfy that curiosity.

    Hope this helps...
    Remember, no one may want you to take pictures, but they all want to see them.
    Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.

    Ed
  • davecamdavecam Registered Users Posts: 53 Big grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    Thanks Ed, although I would have thought that shooting at 20mm would give a large enough DOF to cover a tilt in the focal plane even at F5.6?
  • ToshidoToshido Registered Users Posts: 759 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    Don't think it would be a DOF issue.

    Even at 5 feet away you have close to 5 feet worth of DOF, according to DOFmaster. And that grows quickly further away of course.
    http://www.tag-photos.smugmug.com
  • ToshidoToshido Registered Users Posts: 759 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    Curious...

    was the shot taken on a tripod?
    http://www.tag-photos.smugmug.com
  • davecamdavecam Registered Users Posts: 53 Big grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    Toshido wrote:
    Curious...

    was the shot taken on a tripod?
    No, it was hand held with IS switched on.
  • digismiledigismile Registered Users Posts: 955 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    There is no exif for the image, so what was the mode and shutterspeed? Av mode? You will get pretty much this kind of shot when Av mode trys to "drag the shutter" to balance foreground and background lighting with a slow shutterspeed.

    If this is really 1/80 of a second, something seems quite wrong. If it's 1/20 of a second, then the people can actually move enough to blur the photo (and IS does nothing for you).

    try shooting Manual mode set for 5.6 and 1/80 or 1/100 and see if you see a difference.
    Brad

    www.digismile.ca
  • davecamdavecam Registered Users Posts: 53 Big grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    digismile wrote:
    There is no exif for the image, so what was the mode and shutterspeed? Av mode? You will get pretty much this kind of shot when Av mode trys to "drag the shutter" to balance foreground and background lighting with a slow shutterspeed.

    If this is really 1/80 of a second, something seems quite wrong. If it's 1/20 of a second, then the people can actually move enough to blur the photo (and IS does nothing for you).

    try shooting Manual mode set for 5.6 and 1/80 or 1/100 and see if you see a difference.

    Yes it really was 1/80 sec, and it was indeed AV mode. Can you please explain 'drag the shutter' I don't understand this term.
    thanks
  • SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited July 12, 2009
    Here is something to think about. IS is not magic. You need to hold the camera still, half press the shutter button to gain focus, and allow the IS to stabilize, then press the shutter button the rest of the way down.....gently, (do not move the camera with the down pressure of your finger.

    If you make the shutter button press one fast motion you will get a lot of shots out of focus and or with motion blur.

    It's the same technique as pulling the trigger on a 1500 meter rifle shot.

    Sam
    www.samlinvillephotography.com
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