ravinj Posted June 13, 2010 Share #1 Posted June 13, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Not sure what I am going wrong here. Went to a fireworks display. From where I was, AF was out of question (tried it and never got the X1 to focus). Shifted to manual, set the distance to infinity (I was at least 70 meters away). All shots were blurred as shown in the first two samples. F2.8, 1/15 sec ISO3200. Camera was steadied on a chair - not sure if the results indicate camera shake? I then moved very close until the autofocus started to work (3rd picture) and was able to get a haflway decent picture. F2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO 3200. Any tips on using manual focus properly and/or capturing fireworks would be appreciated (use a tripod?). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted June 13, 2010 Posted June 13, 2010 Hi ravinj, Take a look here Need help with Manual Focus. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
ravinj Posted June 13, 2010 Author Share #2 Posted June 13, 2010 alright, forgot to upload the pics, here they are. All are jpgs out of camera, no PP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest badbob Posted June 13, 2010 Share #3 Posted June 13, 2010 I have two suggestions. Most people at the photo clubs I attend are adamant that fireworks should be taken from a tripod with the lens left open, so that the entire explosion and long traces can be recorded. I don't agree with doing that myself, mainly because I don't think the long smears are the best representation of the events. This example, and all that I've done (besides videos) are with camera set to 1/10 second exposure, and maximum aperture. The problem with this method is predicting the explosions, so that I end up with perhaps 30 usable photos after a 30-minute shooting session, from several hundred attempts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted June 13, 2010 Share #4 Posted June 13, 2010 The first two are clearly out of focus. All lights show as discs of roughly the same size and the discs are quite circular. If there is any motion blur at all, it is quite irrelevant as focus is the main problem. I have no way of telling what went wrong, but I would guess that the camera was either not set to manual focus or that the focus was set to the closest distance instead of infinity. That could happen in the dark. A look at the EXIF data of the original files might help if the camera records the kind of focus enabled for each shot. The third one is a beauty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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