Sony DSC P41

[ar500]

I am somewhat new to photography, I can't get clear images of moving cars or anything moving with a Sony DSC P41, it's not the greatest camera but I just want decent pictures or cars while they're moving. I can take nice still shots butm sometimes they are very blurry even if the camera barely moves, this is on the auto mode. What settings do I need to get decent pictures of moving objects? I guess it would have to be in the program mode, the settings you can choose are:EV, Focus, White Bal, ISO, P.Quality, REC Mode, P. Effect, and AF Illuminator. What do I set these to? If you need anymore information, I can get it. Any help is greatly appreciated. Maybe I can get some pics up here. Thanks again.

[dotbalm]

Maybe what would help is a tip on exposure and technique rather than P41-specific advice, though no doubt you'll need to understand your camera.

I don't know the P41, I do have a P150, but rather than shoot in auto mode where the camera makes decisions you can experiment with the following, hopefully your camera has one or more of these modes - below.

Assuming you are shooting during the day when there is adequate light, you should bias your camera toward fast shutter speeds, and you may have to choose higher ISO speeds, say 200 instead of 100 or 400 instead of 200. The higher the ISO number, the greater the sensitivity of the camera to light, which will afford you to select a faster shutter speed to freeze motion. But there is a tradeoff, the higher the ISO, the more noise you will see in the original photo. Play with combinations. You will have more than enough subjects at any busy street intersection to practice with. Unfortunately, Auto mode doesn't usually allow you to choose/control exposure.

Modes to try:
- Sport - think of it as auto mode where a high-speed shutter is automatically chosen
- Manual - control shutter speed, ISO, maybe even exposure value (EV), depends on model
- S (shutter speed), aka Tv, possibly found as A/S but yours may not have this (my P150 doesn't)

Also, if the car is too far for your flash to be effective, turn it off.

I don't use P mode and can't help you there. I like manual mode because I can set shutter and ISO.

Very fast shutter speeds will freeze the action, while slower speeds will elicit some movement for effect. You can also work on panning, which is moving the camera to follow the subject as it approaches and passes by while you stand still. You can learn to anticipate when to use the shutter, and what shutter speed to use to get the desired effect, whether completely frozen or some motion.

See if you can download the manual for the camera - I did for the P150. Using a search engine, I found this link from Kodak - I haven't scoured it, okay? Just take a look for some tips on where to position your camera, focus tips, car approach or passing, etc. http://www.kodak.com/US/en/consumer/nascar/tips.jhtml?id=0.1.4.13&lc=en

Good luck.

Edit 9/14/06: I neglected to mention something fundamental - the use of aperture. Using a larger aperture (lower f stop number) to let in more light will also help to achieve a higher shutter speed. In manual mode, if you do this and increase the ISO that will help achieve a higher shutter speed. Depth of field decreases as you let in more light through the aperture. You can look up these terms in a glossary of photography. What I would try to do to achieve the right exposure is balance the preferred shutter speed, with the preferred depth of field (aperture aka f stop) and the lowest ISO (to reduce noise). Although you can use different combinations of these to achieve a good exposure, only you can determine to what extent you want to slow or freeze the action, how much depth of field is preferred and how much noise you can accept depending on your final output (small print, large print, web, email) or camera capability.

[ar500]

Thanks a lot for all that info, you can set the ISO to 100, 200, 300, 400. The only settings you can choose from are:EV, Focus, White Bal, ISO, P.Quality, REC Mode, P. Effect, and AF Illuminator. These are all the options in manual mode. I'll try playing with the ISO settings, and see if it helps any. Would any of these settings help with the pictures, should the EV be in the +'s or -'s? (it's at 0) Thanks.

[irwell]

Thanks a lot for all that info, you can set the ISO to 100, 200, 300, 400. The only settings you can choose from are:EV, Focus, White Bal, ISO, P.Quality, REC Mode, P. Effect, and AF Illuminator. These are all the options in manual mode. I'll try playing with the ISO settings, and see if it helps any. Would any of these settings help with the pictures, should the EV be in the +'s or -'s? (it's at 0) Thanks.

The EV settings are a matter of personal taste, I use mine at
a minus 1 or 2, this gives a slightly darker pictures which gives
room for manipulating in the photo editing.
The Effects are also worth playing with, if it has a'natural' setting,
try that. It is really a Saturation mode.

[dotbalm]

Thanks a lot for all that info, you can set the ISO to 100, 200, 300, 400. The only settings you can choose from are:EV, Focus, White Bal, ISO, P.Quality, REC Mode, P. Effect, and AF Illuminator. These are all the options in manual mode. I'll try playing with the ISO settings, and see if it helps any. Would any of these settings help with the pictures, should the EV be in the +'s or -'s? (it's at 0) Thanks.

Based on that, I think you should experiment using different ISO and EV combinations. The extreme ends of the spectrum would be lowest ISO (100) + lowest EV (as in -2 or something) and highest ISO (400) + highest EV (as in +2). Experiment in a systematic way, example: Select ISO 200 in outdoor daylight on a busy street. Set your EV to 0. Take a shot, then repeat but increase the EV. You could also decrease the EV. I'm trying to help you get a shot in focus, without too much noise from high ISO. It doesn't mean I can see the resulting images. You can tweak the EV to get the image exposure you like while retaining the sharpness you're looking for - hopefully.

Focus - set to center or multi
White Bal - set to auto
ISO - see above
P. Qual - 'Fine' if you have that setting, if it's a number, choose the highest number
REC mode - you can set to normal for now, but you can try one of the bursts assuming it has burst and multi burst (hold shutter down, cam takes "continuous" pics until a constraint is reached such as buffer memory, etc.), this means take a few pics in a row automatically. You'll have too hold the camera still until you're done holding down the shutter and the last pic is taken. Don't overdue this until you figure out an acceptable ISO/EV combination. Burst modes don't work with flash on your camera I bet.
P. Effect - set to off (as opposed to b&w, or sepia)
AF Illuminator - turn this off, it is for dark situations

If you want to simplify working the ISO / EV combos, you can set ISO to auto and just play with EV.

At this point you're going to have to put in the time I think. And do download the manual if you can find it. Probably a .pdf. It really can help.

Edit (as usual) 9/15/06: I edited the AF Illuminator line.

[dotbalm]

And do download the manual if you can find it. Probably a .pdf. It really can help.

http://www.cameratown.com/manuals/index.cfm/hurl/pid|DSCP41

Click download link at that page.

[ar500]

Thanks alot, going to try them out.