The good, the bad, and the ugly

[Mrvile]

The good - 55mm, 1/250, F8.0, ISO200
The bad - 55mm, 1/200, F8.0, ISO100, flash
The ugly - 55mm, 1/200, F8.0, ISO100, flash

Anyway I noticed that every time I go out I snap like 100 shots and only about 20 of them turn out crisp. I've read that blurriness comes from either the shutter speed being too slow or the aperture being too wide. I've heard that the equation for minimum shutter speed is zoom x 1.6, so for me it would be 55mm x 1.6 = 88, so 200 should be more than enough. And my max aperture size is F5.6, so F8.0 should be good as well, but I still get ass narrow depths of focus and a lot of my pictures still turn out kinda soft.

I'm using the Rebel XT kit lens, a 18-55mm F3.5/5.6 lens, from like 6 inches away (yes, I'm practically humping those bees trying to get some shots), maybe I shouldn't be taking pictures from so close? The focus screws up from about 2 inches away, so I figured as long as the AF still works I should be fine, but I'm new to this and I might be wrong.

Any tips? Thanks.

Oh and btw, the three pics have some noise banding in the out-of-focus regions because of stupid MS Paint's JPEG compression (I'm too lazy as of now to install the software that came with the camera, and I'm currently in "learning mode" right now so I don't really need the software yet). But on the originals there's no noise, so don't worry about that.

 

[Mrvile]

TTT

 

[KarenMarie]

they are brilliant pics. and very aptly titled.

🙂

 

[Ipno]

There are two types of insects in this world, those with stingers and those with suckers. I've got the stinger, you suck.

 

[ggnl]

Blurriness can really only come from 2 sources, camera shake and incorrect focus. Camera shake is, of course, more prevalent when using slower shutter speeds.

So, if you want a wider depth of field and you have to keep the shutter speed up to avoid camera shake, then your only option is to increase the available light.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: ggnl
Blurriness can really only come from 2 sources, camera shake and incorrect focus. Camera shake is, of course, more prevalent when using slower shutter speeds.

So, if you want a wider depth of field and you have to keep the shutter speed up to avoid camera shake, then your only option is to increase the available light.

Well, the thing about this camera is that the max shutter speed w/ flash is 1/200.

 

[ggnl]

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: ggnl
Blurriness can really only come from 2 sources, camera shake and incorrect focus. Camera shake is, of course, more prevalent when using slower shutter speeds.

So, if you want a wider depth of field and you have to keep the shutter speed up to avoid camera shake, then your only option is to increase the available light.

Well, the thing about this camera is that the max shutter speed w/ flash is 1/200.

1/200 should be more than enough for handheld shots unless you're doing a pretty extreme zoom. Just make sure you have a rock solid grip on the camera before snapping the shot.

Edit: Also, unless you have pretty good lighting, you're going to have to use a wide open aperture to keep your shutter speed in the usuable range. Most lenses will give you the most crisp images at tighter apertures, so if you increase the available light you can get a better aperture at the same shutter speed.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: ggnl

Originally posted by: Mrvile

Originally posted by: ggnl
Blurriness can really only come from 2 sources, camera shake and incorrect focus. Camera shake is, of course, more prevalent when using slower shutter speeds.

So, if you want a wider depth of field and you have to keep the shutter speed up to avoid camera shake, then your only option is to increase the available light.

Well, the thing about this camera is that the max shutter speed w/ flash is 1/200.

1/200 should be more than enough for handheld shots unless you're doing a pretty extreme zoom. Just make sure you have a rock solid grip on the camera before snapping the shot.

Edit: Also, unless you have pretty good lighting, you're going to have to use a wide open aperture to keep your shutter speed in the usuable range. Most lenses will give you the most crisp images at tighter apertures, so if you increase the available light you can get a better aperture at the same shutter speed.

Well today I didn't really have a problem with lighting until I got in the shade where the wasp and fly were. The bee was out in the open, so at F8 and 1/250 I could still get pretty good exposure.

But where I live there isn't a lot of sunlight (Cleveland, OH :|) so even during the daytime on cloudy days I have to jack the ISO up to 400, F5.6, and like 1/160 shutter speed, which can be pretty limiting.