I have Canon EOS 50D...in Manual Setting Indoor sport shots are Blurry

[sportsmom]

I cant use the automatic sports setting for my camera becuase my F-stop on my lense only goes to 5.4. so i put it in manual mode. I dont know how to set my ISO speed in this manual mode so I'm getting all blurry pics. I have it set to Al Servio, high speed. other settings are automatic..any suggestions appreciated!

[Skirball]

The shots are blurry because you need a slow shutter speed to get enough light to exposure properly.  You can try using a tripod, but your subjects may still be blurry. 

Manual exposure is the right call.  You're pushing your camera to the max (and maybe beyond), so you really only have one variable to work with.  SHoot in RAW.  If you have to use a shutter speed that is a little too slow (pictures a little too dark) and fix it in post.  Don't use the extended ISO, it's doing the same thing but you have no control over it.

Here's how I'd shoot it:

Raise your ISO as high as you're willing to push it (until there's too much noise).   You'll probably need to be at ISO 3200. With your ISO maxed, and your Aperture maxed, the only other thing you can do is change the shutter speed.  If you can't achieve proper exposure by lowering the shutter speed, and not have blurry photos, then your camera/lens setup is not capable of it.  There have been several thread discussing this in here, I recommend searching for "indoor sports", and maybe "blurry".

[ebiggs1]

There is a limit to what any camera can do.  You have found yours.  I beleive 3200 is top ISO for the 50D?  Even if it has enough light at that ISO, the photos may still not be good.  A faster lens, smaller f number, would be a good choice and a place to start looking.

[RobertTheFat]

---

@ebiggs1 wrote:

There is a limit to what any camera can do.  You have found yours.  I beleive 3200 is top ISO for the 50D?  Even if it has enough light at that ISO, the photos may still not be good.  A faster lens, smaller f number, would be a good choice and a place to start looking.

---

I have a 50D, and I've gotten very decent results with it at ISO 1000, and I think also 1600. But I'd be wary of going higher than that.

[TCampbell]

A few things may help... but a cuople of them involve spending money:

1)  I realize you said you don't know how to set the ISO speed -- so you'll need to learn to do that.  You can find the manual for your camera on this page:  http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/eos_slr_camera_systems/eos_digital_slr_cameras/eos_50...

See page 63 & 64 of that manual.  

If ISO is set to "A" (automatic) then it'll vary ISO from 100 to 1600 in most automatic modes.  But if you switch the camera to manual, it'll actually fix the ISO at 400 (you don't want that.)  If you take it out of automatic ISO mode then you get to pick the specific ISO and you can set it at ISO 1600.  You can also dial the ISO up to 3200 but be careful... that will generate a lot of image noise and you may not be pleased with the amount of "noise" in the images.  There's even two expanded ISO modes which are faster, but they have so much noise that even Canon doesn't bother to make them available unless you go into custom settings to swtich them on.

You change ISO by pressing the ISO button on the top of the camera, then rolling the selection wheel (the wheel near the shutter button.)  On top of your camera is an LCD screen -- the lower right corner will have an "A" (automatic ISO) but that will change to a numeric value as soon as you start rolling the wheel.  You can set "A", 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 (but remember that the higher you go, the more "noise" you'll start to notice in your images.)

2)  A "fast" lens would be a tremendous help.  Your current lens sounds like it's probably a variable aperture zoom that is limited to f/5.6 as it's widest possible aperture when you're zoomed in to capture atheltes.    A lens that can provide an f/2.8 zoom (e.g. the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, for example) collects literally four times more light than an f/5.6 lens.  That means it can use a shutter speed which is four times faster.  e.g. suppose your current shots seem to be taken at about 1/1/25th/sec shutter speed.... that same shot using an f/2.8 lens could be taken at 1/500th sec.

3) A modern body with a higher ISO range would also help.   Your 50D has an ISO range from 100-1600 automatically and ISO 3200 (manually only) and I'm guessing you're up at ISO 1600 and it's still not fast enough.  A 70D body has an ISO range of 100-12800 - three stops faster.  A 7D mk II body can go to ISO 16000.  

The new 7D II has noticeably less noise at higher ISO settings and sports photographers wax poetic about it.  I should warn you that the 7D II is a very advanced body.  The focusing system alone tends to confuse photographers who were previously used to a much simpler auto-focus system.  While it truely is an amazing camera, it will only perform like an amazing camera if you learn to use its features.