No distance/scenery setting on camera ?

[shulman]

On my new SX 520, I can't find any settings or modes for far distance (infinity) or scenery. I often take photos of quickly moving airplanes overhead in a clear sky. The autofocus cannot focus on the aircraft or on the sky so the photos often are out-of-focus. There are no manual settings that I can find for this problem; any suggestions? Thanks.

[cicopo]

All cameras take photos in the same way. They use the correct combination of shutter speed, aperture & ISO to get a correct exposure. If the camera you bought doesn't have a short cut setting allowing you to by pass picking appropriate settings you'll need to learn some basic photography principals. For instance, shooting flying aircraft. To shoot prop planes you use a shutter speed which allows prop blur (usually 1/320 sec or slower) while you use a fast shutter speed for jets (1/1000 & faster). Select Tv & the right shutter speed & start practicing. 

[ScottyP]

In addition to the subject blur you get from a fast moving subject there is also camera shake blur from your hands to deal with.

Your camera has a "super zoom" telephoto. On its long end it is equivalent to something quite crazy if it were a full frame camera, something like a 1200+ mm tele lens. I have not looked up your exact model. The more telephoto the lens, the faster the shutter speed needed just to prevent handheld camera shake.

The rule of thumb is the shutter speed needed is the reciprocal of the lens focal length. So a 100mm lens needs a 1/100 or faster shutter when handheld. A 200 mm needs a 1/200h shutter, a 400mm lens needs a 1/400th shutter, etc. At max telephoto if your lens is equivalent to a 1000mm lens you'd you would need quite a fast shutter (1/1000th) just to counteract camera shake, but you subtract stops from that for the camera's image stabilization which brings it back down.

[ScottyP]

Actually I looked it up. Your lens is the equivalent of a 24-1008mm lens. Crazy numbers there.

The camera will give you up to 4 or even 5 stops of image stabilization, which is great, but at the long tele end of that zoom you WILL need to help it by holding the camera steady in good shooting form. Camera braced carefully with elbows for stability, not held out at arms length like a smart phone. Image stabilization can't do miracles.