D80 Sports Mode - pics blurry

[CamNovice]

Okay, I admit it - I am in way over my head! :) We are a point and shoot family with hockey kids. We wanted a camera with which we can get good hockey shots. Just pulled the D80 out of the box today and I realize we have a whole heap of reading and learning to do. I've been experimenting a bit tonight just with the sticks in the house, etc. and all the action shots are blurred. I'm wondering if someone could give me a brief summary of the general settings I will need to give me clear action shots just to get me started. I am overwhelmed at the moment reading the manual and really not knowing where to begin. I have it set on sports mode and AF-A. I think it needs to be on AF-C. I am going to go back and experiment with that. If someone could just give me the basic settings that should work for sports shots, that would help get me started and and perhaps feel a bit of success and thus develop a smidgen of self confidence that I in fact can do this! :)

Also, any recommendations for a book or online class regarding the D80 or DSLRs in general and especially with any emphasis on sports photography? Such recommendations would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much!

[rawpaw18]

It would help to see a picture and post some exif data and what lens.
On the D50 you can not change to AF-C while in sports mode, if the D80 is different then this is helpful for shooting sports. Especially if the subject is moving towards you and away from you. Also dynamic focus area is more forgiving then the single focus area, you may wish to try that as well. Without seeing your info: even using "sports mode" your shutter speed may be too slow to freeze the action because of lack of available light.

You may have to try shutter priority mode with a speed of around 400, depends on how fast the action is you may go to 320 if you just do not have enough light. Faster shutter speed would better if you can get it. In order to do this you may have to kick the ISO up to 800 or 1600 in order to keep the shutter speed up. Getting you shutter speed up is the key. Additional flash would definitely help as well, if they are allowed during game time. Fast glass is another way to go, lets in more light.

Geeze I just went over you post again, you were shooting in your house, missed that part, light is the problem! Ice hockey, assuming, I would think that it is better lit at the arena.

Welcome to the forum CN!

[XaiLo]

"Understanding Exposure" Revised Edition by Bryan Peterson can't recommend this book enough. Easy reading... more than a hundred practicle examples. This will make life so much easier the knowledge shared and the time saved is worth a hundred times the price. :)

[rawpaw18]

"Understanding Exposure" Revised Edition by Bryan Peterson can't recommend this book enough. Easy reading... more than a hundred practicle examples. This will make life so much easier the knowledge shared and the time saved is worth a hundred times the price. :)

It is a Christmas present for me, I have not been allowed to even look at it yet. 22 more days and counting til Christmas wth Bryan Peterson.

[CamNovice]

Thanks for the replies - I am totally lost and realize I've stepped in way over my head, but I'm not going to give up on day 2! :) Yes, I was playing with the camera in the house and will have a chance to shoot at the rink shortly and will see how it goes from a lighting perspective.

If I understand it correctly, when I use the sports mode on the D80 the default is for dynamic area, so that should be okay. (I have no idea what I'm talking about but I did check on that in the manual after reading your reply, rawpaw :) )

I will play with the ISO settings at the rink as well.

From the little I've been able to take in thus far in my reading, I see that lens is another big issue. I have an 18-55 mm and a 55-200 mm that came in the kit. Could you advise as to which of these would be my best bet for shots at the rink?

I am incredibly ignorant at this point but I was really hoping we could set on sports mode and then point and shoot. In my dreams, right?!! :) I will start playing with it at the rink and see how it goes. I would be perfectly content to get a non-blurred shot regardless of the quality of the shot in any other aspect. Will see ...

Xailo, thanks for the book recommendation - I will look that up.

I do appreciate the replies and any other feedback. I am so lost and getting some basic ideas of where to start is very much appreciated.

[rawpaw18]

Check your D80, the ISO may adjust automatically as a default in sports mode to keep the shutter speed up. You may have to turn off ISO control before you can actually set your own ISO. My experience is with the D50, and I do not want to feed you wrong info, but I would expect some features to be similar. The lens is going to be another problem, I am sure you would like to use your larger zoom but zooming in too far is going to cause an even greater reduction of light, and more blur because of slower shutter speed.

Aperture wide open, lowest f stop.
Highest ISO that you like the results with. The higher the more noise. The D80 does a nice job with the noise levels so do not be afraid to try 800, 1600. I believe you have the ability to go 3200 boost, I have no idea if that will be acceptable or not.
Keep that shutter speed up.

Good luck, it is trial and error, use sports mode to see what you get. The D80 has a great playback zoom feature, so you will be able to see your results right away. Then try it in s mode.

[wh0128]

Yes rawpaw is right, with a zoom lens the light reaching the sensor will be quite less than if you were shooting with your 18-55mm. And I do believe, that 55-200mm does not have a fixed aperture, so the further you zoom in the smaller your aperture will get (bigger f/stop #), which means it will mean less light reaching the sensor and your shutterspeeds will be slower, and your ISO will be higher. If you are in a hockey ring, though I have never shot in one yet, the light reflecting off of the shiny ice, might be good enough to get ISO 400-800 depending on how well lit up your arena is, which I am assumming that it is lit very well.

You should also like rawpaw suggested post some photos and get the exif data, so we can see what your shooting at. If you host your photos on photobucket, photobucket supplies you with the exif data.

[jcon]

Personally, I prefer Manual over the built in scene modes. I think they are a waste.

[CamNovice]

Thanks to you both, rawpaw and wh. I greatly appreciate your input. As is quite obvious, I have absolutely no background in photography and hardly know where to start in order to begin taking it all in. I need to invest quickly in a good basic book and start reading!

I had an opportunity to take some shots in what I consider to be a well-lit rink today. I intended to use only sports mode this time as I decided to go totally with that the first time while experimenting with both lenses and see how that went. If I try too many things at once it is too overwhelming as I have so much to learn. Anyway, just now I discovered that I actually shot them all in Night Mode. Good one, uh?!! I was playing with the camera outside before the game and forgot to change the setting when I went in - yes, what a ditz who has no business with such a camera!! :) As you can imagine, my "trial and error" will be multiplied many times over the norm! Due to this oops, most of what I was going to share is all moot now. Will shoot some more at next practice and see what happens when the intended setting is used.

What you both say about the lens makes sense. I will continue to experiment with both lenses.

Yes, rawpaw, the default for ISO is auto but it looks like I can adjust it even with the sports mode setting on and I assume I can adjust shutter speed as well in that mode, but I will have to experiment to find out for sure. The manual that comes with the camera says very little about the sports mode, so I'm just going to have to experiment to see what I can and can't do. I'm going to play with sports mode with defaults next time out and then I'll try to work with some manual settings.

Flash - I did learn in some reading tonight that I can turn off the flash in some modes and of course in sports mode it is turned off automatically. I need to avoid the flash as for my kid's games my daughter has specifically said camera flashes are distracting to her and I know in the local pro games that flashes are not allowed and I now understand from my daughter's input that there is good reason for that.

My learning curve is going to be huge but I am a little less scared of the camera today than I was yesterday and I feel like I've learned a few bits as well, so for me that's a good start! :)

Thanks guys!

[CamNovice]

Jason, I'm sure you're right about the manual modes and in time I hope I can learn to do it all that way. For starters, though, I need the assistance of some auto modes so I don't have to try to concentrate on all the various aspects and combinations at once. I look at them as a crutch to get me started. I absolutely respect your thoughts on that, though, and appreciate the input.

[rawpaw18]

Anyway, just now I discovered that I actually shot them all in Night Mode. Good one, uh?!! I was playing with the camera outside before the game and forgot to change the setting when I went in - yes, what a ditz who has no business with such a camera!! :) As you can imagine, my "trial and error" will be multiplied many times over the norm!

What, you think you are the only one? I took some really nice shots of my nephew, only to realize the white balcance was wrong and he looked like a smurf (I did not shoot these in RAW so I could not change the white balance in pp). By the time I looked after a few shots and saw this, the moment was gone.

My wife was tired of me saying, I had all the settings right except
the...

Keep at it, it is a lot of fun. Do not get too frustrated.

[RichNY]

The easy way to get the best shots possible with your lens will be to put the camera in Av mode and set the Aperture to the smallest number possible. This will give you the largest lens openning and the fastest shutter speed your camera will allow. You should also set your ISO to 400.

If you still don't get the picture quality you want try upping the ISO to 800, then 1600.

I shoot my nephew playing indoor roller hockey with a 70-200 f/2.8 and use ISO 1600 and f/2.8 to get the best results. Your rink may be better lit and you'll have better light reflection from white ice than I get from wood floors so you might get lucky not having to use as high an ISO.

*You are going to enjoy reading Brian's book but for your situation its all about maximum shutter speed which will be achieved by setting your Ap as large as it can go and upping your ISO to as large a value as is necessary to get your results. Hopefully you'll be able to get the results you need w/o having to purchase a faster f/2.8 lens.

[tcadwall]

Check this site often http://www.bythom.com/ for thom's new book to come out on the D80. I have his D70s book and it is very good. It will give you way more information on how your camera works than you can find anywhere else. This is not to replace other suggestions, because it is not a book on photography. It is a book on how to use photography principles with your specific model camera. Very good reading. It comes on a cd with a printable PDF file so that you can by license make a print version.

While it is not intended to tell you how to take a photo, there is still plenty of information that will make your shots better because it will explain exactly how each of the "dummy" modes works, as well as exactly how the different focus modes, metering modes, etc. in your camera model work. Nikon needs to hire him for their manuals - or he needs to work out a royalties deal with them, that is my opinion.

[CamNovice]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful input! This is ever so helpful, to say the least. Thanks so much for the information about the book/CD coming out on the D80. I definitely would very much like to get a book on the D80 itself as I feel the manual, for me at least, just does not give enough info, and also a book on sports photography.

Thanks so much to all - will keep you posted and with more questions I'm sure. Lots of practices and games coming up so lots of opportunities to experiment and learn. Even with pictures shot in night mode that were less than perfect to say the least :), the kids loved seeing a slide show of them after the game.

[Tony_V]

I just got my D80 yesterday. As soon as the battery was charged I was off. I took about 45 pictures many of which turned out blurry. I had the camera in full auto. Once I read the book I realized that full auto defaults to dynamic auto focus. I changed to single mode (I think that is what it is called) and my problem was gone. In the photo below the horse's body and the fence post are in focus while the horses head is not. For some reason the dynamic mode went for the body and fence post and not the head. I should add that I think this was my problem and I would like to know if anyone has any input.

I'm not trying to troubleshoot CamNovice's problem, I am quite the novice myself. Just sharing my experience. I was really into photography when I was younger. I got out my old 35mm yesterday to compare it to the D80. The old 35 had 1 mode; manual. The D80 has so many features I am sure it will take me a long time to get really good with it.

Tony

[tcadwall]

Autofocus is a combination of settings. I am not sure exactly what your settings were, but this looks like the often unpredictable results of one or two things... either "closest subject priority" - in which the camera saw the closest object with a lot of contrast... possibly the fencepost against the bright sky. If that is the case the body of the horse is close to that focal plane whereas the head is closer to the camera than the plane of focus. Your aperature setting could be changed to a bigger f-number (smaller aperature) to allow a deeper field of focus(not in auto mode though). --- or somewhat easier to predict instance that you had the focus indicator to the right of center selected and it focused on the body.

If you could be more specific on what the AF settings are, it might help.

[wh0128]

Just like tcadwall said, your camera focused on either the post or the body and the horses face is closer to the camera so it is out of focus. Or the post and the body were the same distance and the horses face was closer, and maybe too close for the camera to focus on. Just try each of the focusing modes and see what you come up with.

CamNovice, that is a bummer for shooting in Night mode. I was playing around on my teacher's D70 and switched the camera to Manual, and when my teacher went to go shoot some school pictures of ASB, they turned out all overexposed because she didn't know it was in "M" mode. Also to keep in mind, though you aren't shooting in Manual ("M") mode, to check your ISO. I went on a trip to Arizona, and me being very ignorant with my camera, I shot in ISO1600 in broad daylight. I got mixed up with what ISO actually meant. And in result of my action, all my photos have noise in them.

[XaiLo]

It is a Christmas present for me, I have not been allowed to even look at it yet. 22 more days and counting til Christmas wth Bryan Peterson.

I really can't say enough good things about this book... sorry you have to wait till the holiday. :( You'll find it a very good read :D

[rawpaw18]

XaiLo... sorry you have to wait till the holiday

Oh that is fine with me, I can play with my latest toys the SB800 and the
70-200vr. Presents for myself.

[davew]

Okay, I admit it - I am in way over my head! :) We are a point and shoot family with hockey kids. We wanted a camera with which we can get good hockey shots. Just pulled the D80 out of the box today and I realize we have a whole heap of reading and learning to do. I've been experimenting a bit tonight just with the sticks in the house, etc. and all the action shots are blurred. I'm wondering if someone could give me a brief summary of the general settings I will need to give me clear action shots just to get me started. I am overwhelmed at the moment reading the manual and really not knowing where to begin. I have it set on sports mode and AF-A. I think it needs to be on AF-C. I am going to go back and experiment with that. If someone could just give me the basic settings that should work for sports shots, that would help get me started and and perhaps feel a bit of success and thus develop a smidgen of self confidence that I in fact can do this! :)

Also, any recommendations for a book or online class regarding the D80 or DSLRs in general and especially with any emphasis on sports photography? Such recommendations would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much!

try this
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26592
he explains it in plain English and i think this would help you as well

[tcadwall]

I shot in ISO1600 in broad daylight

hehehe - I did this once... Generally I set the ISO very low, and when I need to bump it, I do. Unfortunately, I shot some night sports one Friday night, and the next day forgot that I had bumped the ISO. I took about 100 shots the next day, and since the LCD just doesn't show the graininess very well, I didn't know until that night (uploading to my laptop) that all the shots that I had taken (and some really good ones) were pretty much useless. - I had only had my camera for a couple of weeks at that point, and it was a real bummer of a way to learn! But I don't think I will make THAT mistake again.

[wh0128]

Nor have I ever made the same mistake again. So whoever is shooting in low light, remember to adjust the ISO back down to 200-400 when you are shooting in broad daylight. You won't be so hurt once you realize you were shooting in ISO1600 like me and tcad.