S3 IS tips?

[piedownjoe]

Hey guys:

So, I love my S3. I finally got it in my hands last week. I posted a few pics in the "S3 pics" thread. There's a couple things I'm having trouble with, though, that maybe you guys would have pointers for?

First, if you refer to the last page of the S3 pics thread (http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21728&page=476), you'll see the last picture I posted didn't come out so well. The IS system didn't seem to come to my advantage. The lighting in that pic wasn't exactly wonderful, but it didn't seem low enough that would result in such a wobbly picture, even in macro mode. Is there a good way to get some nicely stabilized pictures with slightly above-average lighting? I tried increasing shutter speed, but by the time I get a decently stabilized picture, it's pretty well underexposed.

Second, even in outdoor, well-lit situations, I'm finding it exceedingly difficult to telephoto focus on my subject. I know that's natural for most cameras, but it seems even harder with the S3. Anybody else experience this?

Finally, I see a lot of people tell me to keep the IS on "shoot-only" mode as opposed to continuous. What is the advantage of this? Also, any reason that my shoot-only IS pictures sometimes come out worse than continuous?

Let me know what kind of successes you have with the S3's IS system.

Brian

[piedownjoe]

I also forgot to mention that I did read the S2 tips thread which was extremely helpful to learning my S3, but didn't exactly address the specific issues I have.

[griptape]

It's not entirely motion blur you're seeing, it's also depth of field. From the exif data on the third shot you posted:

Exposure Time = 1/8"
F Number = F2.7

The shutter speed is very low, and if you had extremely steady hands, you could probably pull it off, but you really can't go quite that low and expect consistent results. IS doesn't work miracles, it just helps a little.

But if you look at the shot, the bolt on the E string and part of the headstock are in focus, and barely blurry at all. The lower the f number, the smaller the depth of field. So things will only be in focus in part of the image. A larger F number lets in less light, but more of the image will be in focus.