OOFocus what did I do wrong ?

[peanuts]

Could someone please tell me what I did wrong . I got to this hill climb just as it was finishing so had no time to set up a tripod so rested on top of the car or freehand to rattle off 5 shots in as many minutes to catch the last five riders .

Am I expecting too much from this camera ? should I have used the 10x optical zoom to take the picture further away ?

My camera is a Finepix S5000 and I set it to auto and 3Mp as I only just bought it and havn't read the manual yet :thumbsdown:
Appreciate any helpful advice thanks
Hillclimb

 

[mattyh]

Just fixed your link

Looks like the focal point in in the wrong place. I.e. the focus is on the trees, rather than the rider?

EDIT: or the rider is moving faster than the shutter, making him look blurred.

 

[natjag]

I'd say it's because the subject is moving. the shutter speed is only 1/50 which will record movement rather than stop it

 

[Janice]

The shutter speed was 1/50th of a second... which is only just fast enough to stop hand shake let alone subject movement.

I realise you are new.. but think you shouldve tried the sports mode on the dial which wouldve given your a faster speed to freeze the action and also possibly a servo mode of focusing to track the subject.

I used to have a Fuji s7000 and it did these things so Im assuming yours will to.........good idea to read the manual though!!

 

[CT]

It looks more a case of motion blur rather than a focus problem. You can rule out camera shake as that would have affected the whole image, not just the rider.The foreground foliage in the bottom right corner is sharp too, at the same distance as the rider, so the problem was obviously too slow a shutter speed.

Two options - increase the shutter speed, or pan with the rider which will give you a sharp rider and a blurred background. The latter option usually conveys a better impression of speed.

 

[peanuts]

thanks for the advice. I knew about the sports mode and completly forgot doh! I had so little time , no time to find and adjust settings on an unfamiliar camera. I'll have to take it out and practise on some passing cars and play with the settings . I did get one good picture with the subject 40 yards away.
Thanks for the advice regarding panning I appreciate what you say about panning and getting a blurred background impression of speed but in a hill climb it is painfully slow (5-8mph ) and the clear background actually reinforces the impression of the slow speed and effort and steepness of the climb which is an advantage I think in this unique instance.

Thanks for fixing my link Matty . What did I do wrong ? I copied pasted the IMG from photobucket should I have used the `direct link' instead ?

I really can't believe the slowness of the shutter speed as these cyclist were actually travelling at less than a moderate jogging pace !
heres another a little better focus on the facehillclimb2