topic Re: High speed continuous shooting in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

High speed continuous shooting

Maximus — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:11:39 GMT

What are some settings and techniques you use for this?

Re: High speed continuous shooting

cicopo — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:19:15 GMT

Generally speaking it's used to either increase your chances of getting a specific shot or series of shots where fast paced action is involved. It's handy when shooting many types of sports, birds in flight or aviation etc. You match an appropriate shutter speed to get the right effect & set the AF to AI Servo & carefully pan with the target in frame and shoot in bursts.

This link will show you 1 of the many sequences I use it for.

https://picasaweb.google.com/TCPRCphotos/BombDrop02?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPN2J78jtqaWQ

Re: High speed continuous shooting

Maximus — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:33:35 GMT

If a shoot 7 continuous shots, will they ALL be in focus or will only some?

Re: High speed continuous shooting

cicopo — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 01:59:47 GMT

Sometimes yes, most times no. It depends HEAVILY on your skills to follow the action with a smooth pan, having the camera set properly for the action & having a camera & lens capable of shooting action under whatever circumstances. The more you practice the better your keeper rate. Cameras designed to shoot sports & action will give better results than regular consumer grade cameras, and the same applies to the lenses chosen to shoot the event / action.

Buying a race car doesn't make you a winning driver, nor does buying all the tools in the Snap On truck make you a great mechanic. You improve with practice & when your gear is holding you back you upgrade to a better body or lens etc.

Re: High speed continuous shooting

Maximus — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:04:45 GMT

Totally understand what you are saying. As far as a setting or two go. Lets start with a focus point. Would you use a single? Case in point. My family coming down the drop on a roller coaster. No obstructions. Sunny day. I have a Canon 70-200 2.8. What are your iso thoughts and aperture. I used 5.6. Would you go to 9 or 11? I got one or two good ones each ride they took.

Re: High speed continuous shooting

cicopo — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:34:39 GMT

Use Tv mode & a fast shutter speed to freeze action rather than Av. In good light shoot at 1/1000 to 1/2000 for that kind of thing. Also you can use just the center AF point & try your best to keep it on something specific like a head of one passenger. The better you can stay on that head the better your chances of getting the perfect shot. People who shoot BIF (birds in flight) try to place the AF point on the eye which obviously takes great practice but it helps keep a smooth pan. Also be sure to set the AF system to AI Servo so it's tracking all the time you pan (either half press the shutter button or assign AF to the rear button but keep it tracking throught the panning sweep.) When you've finished shooting the burst continue panning for a second or 2 more (follow through).

Re: High speed continuous shooting

Maximus — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:11:32 GMT

What would you do as far as aperture I set it at 5.6. A little more, a little less? What do you think.

Re: High speed continuous shooting

cicopo — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:11:38 GMT

By using Tv mode the camera picks the aperture required for the ISO used. You may have to use some Exposure Compensation to make minor adjustments to the exposure but when shooting any form of fast paced action it's the shutter speed you need to control. IF you prefer to use manual & set both the Tv & Av then use the light meter reading to match the appropriate Aperture to the set shutter speed.

Re: High speed continuous shooting

Maximus — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 15:23:01 GMT

Interesting. I will try the TV. Up until now I was going all manual and setting it myself. That's way I asked about aperture. I'm asking because I don't know. If I did it that, would the camera pick 2.8-if it did, I would imagine there will be much out of focus. I will experiment. I appreciate your help immensely!

Re: High speed continuous shooting

cicopo — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:16:25 GMT

You shouldn't need to worry about the camera selecting f2.8 in decent light and you can prevent it from happening by raising the ISO so you're shooting in the f5.6 - f11 range. You can also lower your shutter speed a bit. This R/C jet was going well over 200 MPH & I shot tha frame at 1/800

https://picasaweb.google.com/TCPRCphotos/The2010SmithsFallsZoneGFunFlyDay1TheJets#5520653333627025602

Re: High speed continuous shooting

TCampbell — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:11:36 GMT

I use this for "panning" shots. If you're not familiar with "panning" shots, this is where your lens is following a moving subject moving (usually sideways) through your scene. Rather than fix the frame relative to the background (which would blur a subject if the shutter wasn't fast enough) you "pan" with the camera to fix the frame relative to the subject so that it's the background which blurs and the subject is (hopefully) sharp.

For an example, see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thevirtualtim/8981989420/

When I took that shot, I put the camera in AI Servo (focus) and set the focus priority (this is on a 5D III) to "Case 2" (track objects, ignoring obstacles) and used zone focus.

But since I wanted to deliberately blur the background (and wheel spokes) I slowed the shutter on this to 1/40th. That's normally too slow for an "action" shot, but great for a "panning" shot. The lens (70-200 f/2.8L IS) had image stabilization on... but IS isn't a guarantee of stability... it merely tilts the odds in your favor.

To tilt the odds a little more in my favor, I use continuous shooting mode.

In the above shot, the burst took 11 frames. Of those 11 frames, three of them looked particularly good. Most others were blurred... not due to missed focus, but do to non-steady tracking while "panning" the cyclist.

3 useful shots out of 11 frames is close to a 1 in 4 ratio. Stated differently, had I only took a single frame, there'd be a 75% chance of that one shot being blurry. By using continuous mode, I'm taking enough shots that the odds are I'll get some usable frames.

Re: High speed continuous shooting

Maximus — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:04:20 GMT

Thank so much for the detailed reply! I will definitely set up and try out what you mentioned. I wondered what other people were achieving as a success rate. Did you put the iii on manual and set it all up yourself? I have been experimenting with TV. The shots that I am after are roller coaster drops and log flume drops. Things like that. We got to Disney and ill ride once and then I start picture taking!

Re: High speed continuous shooting

TCampbell — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:17:10 GMT

I did happen to be in manual exposure mode, but I also use Tv for these things. If subjects will be moving in and out of shadows, Tv would be better since it'll adapt to chaning light.

The keeper rate is nothing to do with the camera... that's me. To pull off a panning shot, I have to use a shutter speed below what would normally be considered a "safe" speed for a hand-held shot and then sweep the camera (from right to left in that last example) at the exact same speed that the rider is moving. Any errors in how fast I'm sweeping/panning the camera and while the camera may have locked focus nicely, the shot will still come out blurry due to my tracking error.

When you start learning to "pan" you can start with a slightly faster shutter and work your way down to slower speeds as you get the hang of it -- you're trying to develope a nice smooth fluid sweeping motion that matches the speed of your subject.

Re: High speed continuous shooting

Maximus — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:11:06 GMT

Cool. Will do. Any specific reason you use a slower shutter? Is it for an effect in the picture?

Re: High speed continuous shooting

TCampbell — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:57:11 GMT

@Maximus wrote:
Any specific reason you use a slower shutter? Is it for an effect in the picture?

Yes. Check the link in my post above to my photo posted at Flickr.

Notice that in this photo, the rider is tack-sharp, but the background is well-blurred -- specifically a motion blur showing sideways movement. Also the spokes of the bicycle wheels are well-blurred.

This deliberate blurring implies a sense of motion and speed into the image that wouldn't be there had this been shot at a fast shutter speed.

Had the camera been steady at this slow speed, the background would be sharp but the rider would be blurred. By "panning" (following the subject with the camera) it's possible to get a "sharp" subject and a blurred background.

Panning takes practice. You have to develop a fluid movement as you sweep the camera at the same rate your subject is moving. If you haven't practiced, you may not get any "keepers" (in which case, use a fast shutter speed so you'll at least get some shots.) As you get used to panning you'll find it's not diffiult -- it's like learning to play a sport or a musical instrument... a bit of practice makes a big difference, but then it eventually starts to get easy.

I don't suggest you take 100% panning shots and no fast-shutter spots (especially when starting out). You want to at least have a guarantee of coming away with some good sharp shots whether the shots imply motion or not. If you can get some good keepers that also imply the sense of speed and motion you can think of it as a nice bonus on the day!

Re: High speed continuous shooting

cicopo — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:07:36 GMT

The rules of action photography are different for different venues. Motorsports & aviation like some things in sharp focus but need other things blurred to show that what you shot is moving. In track & field you can freeze everything & it still looks great. This link will explain some of it plus how I set up my cameras when covering the events. Note the major change in background blur as the shutter speed gets lower.

http://www.rccanada.ca/rccforum/showthread.php?t=147971

In motorsports freezing the car, background & wheels / tires makes the car / bike etc looked like it's parked rather than at speed.