Canon EOS Rebel 300D

[Mary Sparrow]

Kim, I didn't realize you had one too, maybe between the three of us I will get this.

Beth, thanks for the instructions. How do you like the only model available this morning?..LOL. She was VERY cooperative.

The manual focus thing still didn't turn out so great, but putting it in autofocus and turning off the flash produced this.

I did it this way with my children, and didn't get anything nearly this clear in the same light, so Im not sure what that means.

[Mike McCarty]

My guess is that your children are moving. It only takes a little and children do not understand the concept. When you are shooting at 1/30 of a second It doesn't matter how still the camera is if the subject moves a silly millimeter.

[Mike McCarty]

I would make your decision based on whether or not you want another lens, not on the expectation that another lens will fix a blurring problem.

[Mary Sparrow]

Originally Posted by Mike McCarty

My guess is that your children are moving. It only takes a little and children do not understand the concept. When you are shooting at 1/30 of a second It doesn't matter how still the camera is if the subject moves a silly millimeter.

So then what is the answer? A better lense that will shoot faster in low light? I think that is what the canon people were trying to explain to me about the 50mm 1.8 lens. I mean, lets face it, children are what I do, and they do MOVE.

[Mike McCarty]

It is true that some lenses gather more light than others. I generally associate those lenses with big bucks. But you could compromise, forgo the zoom and get a faster "fixed" lens without the zoom. This would be less money.

Personally I would not like to operate without a zoom. I've shot a bushel basket full of kids with a standard zoom lens.

[Mike McCarty]

Also, your new camera has given you the gift of additional ISO power. If you bump the ISO up to the 600 range you will find that your shutter speed has increased sufficiently to stop the small movements. Try this.

[Elizabeth Schott]

Mike I don't think anyone told Mary that a long lens would take care of blurring. I mentioned distortion and I think it would be tough to shoot a portrait figure without one in the size of studios we all seem to have.

Mary I learned on my last shoot that I am cropping the age group at 8 or 9 years old for shooting indoors. I am not going to invest in a elaborate lighting system, thus the little guys will blur, I don't think Mike was talking about shooting indoors with an ISO of 600.

I think you should price out what the lenses cost and see if it works in your budget. You'll use it, so it wouldn't be a waste. I don't put my shorter lens on much. I don't see a real difference in the "light" allowance for my lenses to make that determine a decision like yours.

It was lovely talking with you today. I love to hear a southern accent every now and then!

[Mike McCarty]

I don't think Mike was talking about shooting indoors with an ISO of 600.

That IS what I was suggesting. It's these higher ISO's that make shooting in lower light possible. But, increasing the ISO number is only a means to increase the shutter speed.

If the blurring is caused from either camera shake, or from subject movement, and not some inability of the camera to focus in low light, then it is a faster shutter speed that will win the day.

The following is an excerpt from this "ISO experiment" thread:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=4472

My camera has a range of ISO settings from 200 to 1600. I re-shot the above using the following ISO settings. The shutter speed was correspondingly selected by the camera in portrait mode, all at aperture 4.5:

ISO 200 shutter speed 100
ISO 400 shutter speed 200
ISO 1250 shutter speed 800
ISO 1600 shutter speed 1000

As the ISO goes up so goes the shutter speed and your ability to ward off the blurrs. Of course you only want enough speed to get the job done. If you can get your shutter speed up around the 100 range you should be OK. However, with a squirmy kid I like to have more of a cushion. I would shoot for a SS of at least 150-200 with young kids.

With my Nikon I can set it to "Auto ISO." I can pick a minimum SS and the camera will automatically adjust up the ISO until it achieves the minimum desired SS. I don't know if your camera has this, it might. I think your camera will produce a quality image at these higher ISO's. Not true with the point and shoots. They only go to 400 ISO. check out the quality of the images shot at very high ISO's at the above link.

If you shoot young kids at a SS of less than 100 you will get very spotty results. I think your shot of the doll tells a lot.