EOS Rebel XS non-action pics come out blurry

[ericgolf]

Good morning, total rookie here looking for advice. Usung a Canon Rebel XS with a Tamron 70-300 zoom lense. I use at granddaughter swim meets and I have setting on "action" to keep flash off. What I find is 50% of non action pics (people just standing on deck etc) come out blurry when on auto focus. What setting can I use that would help this again I have to have flash disabled.

Thank you in advance !!

[deebatman316]

Can you post some pictures in the forum please with metadata attached. Most likely your blurry pictures are a result of a low shutter speed. Coupled with low indoor lighting. Your lens may also have a slow aperture and AF motor. Most sports prohibit the use of flash. Indoor photography can be challenging inside gyms due to low lighting. Your camera also has a low maximum ISO. For your camera ISO 1600 is the max ISO. Having a fast aperture lens such as an F/2.8 lens can bring the ISO down from ISO 1600 to ISO 800. What is the Full Name of your Tamron 70-300mm lens. 

[ericgolf]

Demetrius, thanks for quick reply. It is a Tamron 70-300 1:4-5.6 TELE-MACRO(1:2) lens

I have attached an action shot and a still shot

[ebiggs1]

All photography gear has limits to what it can do. Your gear will reach that limit quickly and has as your examples display. I am afraid the answer is more current gear that has way more ability.

I can give you some basic settings that might help but you will still miss some shots. Here is your first mistake, " I have setting on "action" to keep flash off." Never use any of the so-called auto setting on that sid eo fthe dial. Almost a guaranteed you will fail. A better choice is to use Av mode on the other side of the dial. Set your lens to the most open aperture. Set your ISO to 1600. Set the XS to use raw, not jpg and set the AF to One shot. And lastly but perhaps the most important get DPP4 form Canon it is free to d/l. Use it to u/l to your computer and make simple corrections in your images. Doing what I suggest will get you as close as possible to good result form your Rebel XS.

"Having a fast aperture lens such as an F/2.8 lens can bring the ISO down from ISO 1600 to ISO 800."

This is unlikely to help you much as you need to upgrade both the camera and the lens. Beside, dropping the ISO is not what you want as a faster SS is. The faster lens would allow you to go from a blurry SS of 1/60 to a more reasonable 1/120 which is still not going to capture much action. A 300mm lens needs to be in the 1/500 SS range even when shooting at lower FL.

The Rebel XS and your Tamron lens is an OK combo for well lighted daylight shots but poor at challenging low light situations.

[Mjmilam79]

If everything is blurry = camera not focused or shutter speed too slow and there is camera hand shake. (Tripod will eliminate camera shake)

if only subject is blurry, but background is clear= too slow of a shutter speed for the fast moving subject creates motion blur. ( tripod won’t help freeze the subject.  Need a faster shutter speed)

[kvbarkley]

Does the Tamron have image stabilization? I believe Tamron calls it "OS". If not, you have no hope of getting clear images at long focal lengths at any shutter speed below 1/100 th of a second.

PS. The action shot actually looks pretty good.

[deebatman316]

That lens doesn’t have IS or what Tamron calls it “VC” (Vibration Compensation). 

[ebiggs1]

I agree especially with the gear being used. Plus if the OP used better settings it might have been even better.