topic Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 18:58:54 GMT

I have been using a Canon Rebel T5 recently & I am not sure if the settings are incorrect or if the blurriness is due to camera shake. Would someone be able to tell me just by looking at one of the pictures? I am new to this, so appreciate any help. Thanks!

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Waddizzle — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:05:16 GMT

Sure. Post a picture, or two. Some folks around here have microscopes for eyeballs.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:10:09 GMT

I am probably doing it wrong, but we have it set to Portrait mode since that is the mode where we have the best luck. Sometimes it comes out crystal clear & other times it comes out like this:

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Waddizzle — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:28:20 GMT

The entire photo has equally soft focus. When that happens, it is usually caused by camera shake at the moment the shutter fired. The shutter speed, 1/200, is right at the ragged edge of canceling out almost any camera shake, but still not quite fast enough.

[EDIT] The shutter speed has been set by the flash, which automatically fired to compensate for the bright background.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:26:28 GMT

Thanks so much! We will look into getting a tripod then & experimenting with different settings.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

kvbarkley — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:27:49 GMT

What lens do you have? Does it have IS? Is it on?

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:28:51 GMT

We are using the one the camera came with. It does have Image Stabilization on.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

kvbarkley — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:33:04 GMT

And which lens is that? The 18-55?

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Waddizzle — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:34:10 GMT

@Chloe0317 wrote:
We are using the one the camera came with. It does have Image Stabilization on.

Here's one tip to always getting sharp photos. Try to grab as much light [wide aperture = low f/stop value] as fast as you can [fast shutter speed], at the lowest ISO that is practical for the situation.

With your T5, I would go as high as ISO 400 for closeup shots like this one, which is really pushing the envelope. For big wide landscape shots of distant stuff, you can get away with ISO as high as 800, or even 1600. Also, the Canon DPP software can perform some noise reduction, too. Learn to use it, if you do not already.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:36:51 GMT

Yes, it is the 18-55.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:37:40 GMT

Thank you so much, I really appreciate all your help!

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

diverhank — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 20:41:05 GMT

I saw this a bit late but I'll add a little bit on what others have said. Not sure what mode you used to take this picture but there are a few things you could have chosen to improve the picture.

You shot at 1/200 with flash on (my guess is the built-in flash). With the built-in flash, you can't use high speed sync so the fastest is 1/200 for this camera. At FL 18mm, 1/200 is plenty fast and I don't think this is a problem. Even though I shake a lot, 1/200 never causes me any problems. However, your ISO was set to 800 while your f/stop was set to f/14!

f/14 is totally unnecessary here. As a matter of fact, it contributes to your picture being not as nice as it should. Beyond f/11, many lenses start to exhibit sharpness degradation due to diffraction error so unless you have to, try not to go beyond f/11. Since this is a person's picture (i.e portrait), I'd shoot this at f/2.8 or f/4 for nicer background blur. If you have shot this at f/4, your ISO would be very low like 200 or something instead of 800. For this camera, ISO 800 starts to show noticeable degradation in IQ, imho.

For this particular picture...tough lighting, ISO 800 and f/14 all contribute to the picture not looking as nice as others with more optimum settings.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 20:44:08 GMT

Thanks so much! I was in Portrait Mode and thought their default settings would be OK - I will set the settings manually in the future and see how it turns out.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

BurnUnit — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 21:49:55 GMT

According to your EXIF data...

Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T5
Lens: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Image Date: 2014-02-05 04:04:25 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 18mm
Aperture: ƒ/14.0
Exposure Time: 0.0050 s (1/200)
ISO equiv: 800
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Portrait Mode
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: Yes (Auto, return light detected)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Software: Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384

I'm surprised to see that shooting in "Portrait" mode sets the aperture to f/14. But as already mentioned it's trying to compensate for the high ISO and strong backlighting. Usually, auto "Portrait" mode settings will try to keep the aperture opened up to keep the subject in focus and throw a bit of blur into the background to make it less distracting.

Next time try switching to AV mode, zoom in to 55mm, open the aperture to f/5.6 and maybe cut the ISO back to 400 or 200. Try to find someplace with more even foreground and background lighting. Move in closer to your subject and turn off the flash. Keep the background uncluttered if possible. You should still end up with a shutter speed that will allow you to shoot hand-held. Post a couple sample shots here and we'll take another look at your results.

Oh... And you should probably set the clock and calendar on your camera.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 15:09:53 GMT

LOL! I told you I was helpless. I will absolutely take everyones' tips into account when we do our next photo shoot & will post a picture of the (hopefully) crystal clear final product! Thanks again for all your help and time on this, what a great resource this site is!

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

BurnUnit — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 18:52:57 GMT

Nah... You're not helpless. Helpless would be trying to shoot with the lens cap on. You're just a little overwhelmed by the upside of the learning curve.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 14:17:21 GMT

Ha, I'm certainly guilty of having done that as well!

OK, after taking all your tips into consideration, we used AP mode for the latest shoot. Since it was cloudy, I turned the ISO to 400 & played with the different f-stop settings you all had recommended. My face is looking a lot clearer. I am happy with this, but will still edit with the saturation & brightness. Any other recs? THANK YOU!

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Waddizzle — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 14:22:17 GMT

Nice. Actually, I have taken some of my best photos on brightly overcast days. The clouds act like a giant diffuser, which tends to eliminate any parts of the photo from being overexposed, or frequently underexposed.

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

Chloe0317 — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 14:24:03 GMT

We are going to try and shoot on cloudy days (not difficult in Chicago) since it does seem a lot easier.

You guys are all great - I am sure I will be back, LOL!

Re: Settings Correct on Canon Rebel T5?

RobertTheFat — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 15:32:47 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
Nice. Actually, I have taken some of my best photos on brightly overcast days. The clouds act like a giant diffuser, which tends to eliminate any parts of the photo from being overexposed, or frequently underexposed.

Even a white sky is vastly underrated. I've found many occasions when a white sky worked better than a blue one would've.