Digital Camera Problems - Taking sports pictures in low light

D

Dale D. Barnes

I wasn't sure what forum to place this question. I just bought a new Olympus E500 E-Volt Digital SLR with the two lenses 14-45 and 45-150. I have never even used a regular 35mm much but consider myself a fast learner. I read the book and did some online training but I am still having a problem. I bought the camera to take pictures of my daughters gymnastic meets. These are normally in old gyms with poor lighting and no flash is allowed. I have been trying to use the 45-150 lense to get closer up to the action. This camera comes with a Sport setting which has the shutter speed set on 1/800 but when they tumble the pictures is blurred. I changed the camera to the manual setting and adjusted everything myself but my pictures are coming out dark (almost black). Hopefully someone in the cove is experianced at setting a camera up and can help because I have had no luck anywhere else. :bonk:

Here are the settings that I have tried and I know that I am missing something but not sure what it is.

Apperature F4.5
Shutter 1200
ISO 1600

With this the light meter still shows -5 and the pictures come out dark.

Thanks
Dale
 
Al Rosen

Al Rosen

Leader
Super Moderator
Re: Digital Camera Problems

Dale D. Barnes said:
I wasn't sure what forum to place this question. I just bought a new Olympus E500 E-Volt Digital SLR with the two lenses 14-45 and 45-150. I have never even used a regular 35mm much but consider myself a fast learner. I read the book and did some online training but I am still having a problem. I bought the camera to take pictures of my daughters gymnastic meets. These are normally in old gyms with poor lighting and no flash is allowed. I have been trying to use the 45-150 lense to get closer up to the action. This camera comes with a Sport setting which has the shutter speed set on 1/800 but when they tumble the pictures is blurred. I changed the camera to the manual setting and adjusted everything myself but my pictures are coming out dark (almost black). Hopefully someone in the cove is experianced at setting a camera up and can help because I have had no luck anywhere else. :bonk:

Here are the settings that I have tried and I know that I am missing something but not sure what it is.

Apperature F4.5
Shutter 1200
ISO 1600

With this the light meter still shows -5 and the pictures come out dark.

Thanks
Dale
Click to expand...
Try reducing the f-stop to allow more light. Look at A Tedious Explanation of the f/stop.
 
D

Dale D. Barnes

Re: Digital Camera Problems

Thanks Al and Jim,

The problem is after referring back to my Zuiko lense is that it has a maximum F stop of 3.5-4.5. F3.5 @ 40mm and F4.5 @ 150mm. I did not know until reading the articles that you gave me Al that lenses of the same length could have different apperature max's. I thought that I had it set at the minimum allowed f-stop but thought I was missing something else. I will try it at 40mm @ F3.5 and see it that helps some. Thanks again and any other advise would be welcomed.

:thanx:

Dale
 
Jim Wynne

Jim Wynne

Leader
Admin
Re: Digital Camera Problems

The lens you're using is probably not fast enough to accomplish what you're trying to do. With the lens wide open you can get enough light, but not with a shutter speed fast enough to avoid blurring. A lens that could do what you're trying to do might not even be available, but if it were, it would probably cost considerably more than you paid for the camera.
 
K

Ken K

Probably not the answer your looking for, but...

There just isn't enough light in the gyms. You can set digital cameras to whatever settings you want, but if there isn't enough light to properly expose the image, they will come out dark - underexposed, or if properly exposed there will be motion blur. The chip in your camera is small compared, to say, a Nikon D80. But even the Nikon would have trouble taking a really good picture. Also, the more you zoom in, the less light there is available.

There are a few ways to get more light - use a faster lens (bigger aperture - f:2.8 = expensive), use a good (i.e. powerful) external flash (which you said you cannot use), or an even higher ISO if the camera will allow it. There is no magic method. You need a certain amount of light to get a proper exposure. A high shutter speed needs a lot of light.

The meter showing -5 means, I assume, it is underexposed by 5 f stops, a loooong way.

One of the less expensive ways to get over these problems is to buy a non-zoom "normal" lens for your camera if they are available. They are usually 50mm and can be had with f:1.8 capability. I know Canon lenses like this are around $100.00. But with everything you gain, you lose something - you would have to get fairly close to the action to capture a decent sized image. And using such a lens at its wide open aperture will not allow very much depth of field, so focusing will be extra important. And many of the pics still might be blurred.:(

Have you considered a digital camcorder? Lighting would still be a problem but at least you would see some movement:rolleyes:
 
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