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Hi ,

I am after some information as to which lens I should look at aquiring.


I recently upgraded to a D300 from my old reliable F4s. I am using the lenses that I had for that body which are

AF Nikkor 28-85 1:3.5-4.5
AF Nikkor 75-300 1:4.5-5.6

Tonight I went to my daughters aerobics ( similar to floor routine gymnastics) competition. Indoors, poor lighting fast movement. We are not allowed to use a flash as this distracts the competitors.

Didn't matter which lens I used I got blurred results. Must admit I am still using the camera in factory auto mode. The camera took the pics at 1/30 F4.5 and varying ASA from 450 to 1500.

My thoughts are that the lense are to slow to allow the camera to "capture" the image that I am after.Am I right or is it a user problem?

Can anyone suggest which lens might be able to enhance my very basic capabilties?

Thanks in advance for your help.

You need to look at which focal length you are using.... you have provided us with focal lengths from fairly wide to quite long.

Can you advise of the range you actually need to be shooting at, I'm guessing maybe 35mm - 100mm depending on how far away you are.....

You may be able to buy a fast prime if one length is suitable, otherwise you may need to look at a fast zoom.

I would certainly think that you'd need at least f2.8 (fast zoom) and even better would be a fast prime, where you may be able to go as fast as f1.4.... (50mm or 85mm) Wider than this, they are often slower or even more expensive.

But lens selection depends on the focal length (s) that you need. Not much point suggesting a 300mm f2.8VR if she is only 5-10m away

You could also try taking the ISO right up on the D300 as well with these slow lenses..... that will help. I would say that a grainy/noisy ISO 3600 (or higher image) is better than a blur as you can use software noise reduction.

6tee7 wrote:I recently upgraded to a D300 from my old reliable F4s.

Congratulations.

Didn't matter which lens I used I got blurred results. Must admit I am still using the camera in factory auto mode. The camera took the pics at 1/30 F4.5 and varying ASA from 450 to 1500.

Can you please explain "blurry"? Perhaps post a couple of examples?

We don't whether the issues are that the camera hadn't yet acquired focus, or if we're talking about subject movement, or even camera shake, any one of which could be easily described as "blurry".

But let's too look at technique: the first thing I would do is ditch factory mode. You don't have any idea of what the camera is doing in that mode, and to me, that is not a good thing. Where is wb? As you noted, the camera selected a variety of low-ish ISO settings, and 1/30 shutter speed, shooting mostly wide open, I would expect. IIRC, the default mode for the camera is closest point focus, which could well have a serious effect on your results.

Rather, I would have started at perhaps ISO somewhere between 1600 and 3200, yes, probably wide open, and in aperture preferred mode.

Look at your focus modes, and also your exposure modes: by setting an appropriate focus mode, you may be able to use a better exposure setting too.

So, while I'm certainly not ruling your lens selection out as being a culprit, there's more than an ample sufficiency of other things we need to be looking at here as well.

By blurry I mean subject movement. Parts of the pics are in focus but the extremeties, hands legs etc, are blurred from compettors movement.

The stage area is 7mex7me and I am very lucky to be within 10 me of the stage most of the time, although at times I sneak down next to the floor.

The WB is where the factory set it.

In my stupidity I should have realised that with the F4 I was using 800 or 1000 ASA film. So why would I leave the new toy in auto? Dumb!

I will try and work my way through posting a couple of examples.

As with all sporting events you only get one chance. Next comp is July, with nowhere/nothing to practise on before then.

Even if I go to training venues the lighting is better than the comp venues.

Thanks for your help, look forward to ready all the helpful comments.

6tee7 wrote:By blurry I mean subject movement. Parts of the pics are in focus but the extremeties, hands legs etc, are blurred from compettors movement.

Ok. At 1/30, this would be an expected outcome.

The WB is where the factory set it.

Well, yes .... and no.

The wb setting will be the factory setting ... which will be auto, which means that the actual wb value applied will be all over the shop. Different for each image, most likely, which, given that you were shooting under constant lighting conditions, is really not what you want.

Also, you might want to consider shooting in raw (how many and what capacity CF cards are you using?) to maximise your options.

In my stupidity I should have realised that with the F4 I was using 800 or 1000 ASA film. So why would I leave the new toy in auto? Dumb!

Rather than stupidity or dumb, I'd put that down to inexperience with the new medium. Shooting digital has so much in common with shooting film, yet it is so very different as well. The learning curve is huge, and oh, just so much fun.

With the D300 you'll get very good results up to 3200 ISO, but only once you learn how to make best use of the camera's features.

And the best way to learn is just by getting out and shooting.

And shooting.

And shooting some more.

I think in this situation it may be helpful to shoot in either shutter or aperture priority, try not to let the shutter speed drop below 1/250 sec. whilst keeping the aperture as small as possible and let the ISO go to auto.

I am using a Sandisk extreme IV 2GB card, and yes I agree that practice practice practice might just make me somewhere near competant!

If you only have 2Gb of card then stick to JPG, or compressed 12 bit RAW. I would set the ISO (personally somewhere between 800-1600 dependent on the lighting) and then use a FAST lens (50mm f/1.8 or 24-70mm f/2.8 from my kit, or if I could borrow one I would use a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR). I would (I know I will get kicked for this) keep the aperture as wide open (preferentially keeping the ISO low).

Don't worry about the transition from digital, just keep shooting and then you will find a method that will provide good results and that you are comfortable in using.

As for a lens, then look at a fast prime, 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 may be long enough and are fairly inexpensive. If you have a bit more money to splash then look at the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR, this will give you more flexibility but may be a little tight for wide shooting.

Gary - excellent advice.

6tee7 wrote:I am using a Sandisk extreme IV 2GB card, and yes I agree that practice practice practice might just make me somewhere near competant!

Good choice of card BTW..... Just plan on buying more. I have 3 4Gb Sandisk Extreme III's and think that is about right for me.

Ummm and one other thing - you might want to put a meaningful location into your profile as well -- it could help you, in addition to being a forum rule.....

Please note that is is a requirement here that you have a valid location included in your profile. For people in Australia, this means something like 'Suburb, City' or 'Suburb, State' (Bondi, NSW or Carlton, Melbourne). This is not negotiable: it is a condition of membership. If you live in a downtown area, please use something like 'CBD Sydney'. A captial city name, on its own, is not acceptable. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

The only thing I can suggest is to send your F4s this way so you aren't distracted by the ease and logic of using film!

aim54x wrote:If you only have 2Gb of card then stick to JPG, or compressed 12 bit RAW.

Raw, no less. There's little noticeable difference between compressed and uncompressed, so go with raw compressed, as suggested. Add basic jpg if you want a quick and dirty PP option (or a quick and dirty no-PP option ) if you like, but consider your raw image to be akin to your negative, and you wouldn't throw them away, would you now? JUst because you're shooting digital doesn't mean that you should change that habit.

But go and buy a couple more cards. These days they're quite inexpensive, and especially so when compared with film. I'd suggest a Sandisk 4GB or two, which will give you good coverage plus backup should anything fail. 1 Sandisk 4GB is roughly the same cost as a couple of rolls of 135-36 Ekky, processed, so cost should not be a major issue.

On a D300, 2GB is too small to use as your primary storage; as secondary, it's fine.

Also, grab a good card reader, to help with the transfer of files from the camera to your computer.

And yes to what Ian said about your profile location. It permits us to help you much more than you can begin to imagine.

gstark wrote:But go and buy a couple more cards. These days they're quite inexpensive, and especially so when compared with film. I'd suggest a Sandisk 4GB or two, which will give you good coverage plus backup should anything fail. 1 Sandisk 4GB is roughly the same cost as a couple of rolls of 135-36 Ekky, processed, so cost should not be a major issue.

On a D300, 2GB is too small to use as your primary storage; as secondary, it's fine.

Right on Gary!! Cards are cheap, so grab a few more.

gstark wrote:Also, grab a good card reader, to help with the transfer of files from the camera to your computer.

Especially since you have the Extreme IV card, getting a Sandisk Extreme Firewire CF reader will let you download so much faster than a conventional reader (I use one of these to download 4Gb in 3mins, I use the Extreme Ducati 4Gb cards as my main cards with 2Gb Sony (I didnt pay for) as secondaries)

Sandisk Extreme Firewire CF reader will let you download so much faster than a conventional reader

But you need a FireWire 800 port to get this kind of improvement.

I have one & it doesn't work at all on my 4Pin PC FireWire port. (Yes I know why now )
It does work on Pam's FireWire 400 Mac, but not noticeably faster than the same card/photos through my (good) USB2 Reader

True, true, I forgot about that!!

i thought you need just Firewire 400 to get it to work? wait.. i read the specs just then - 6 pin FW400 or 9pin FW800 only. bah.. useless for my laptop!

-j

seeto.centric wrote:i thought you need just Firewire 400 to get it to work? wait.. i read the specs just then - 6 pin FW400 or 9pin FW800 only. bah.. useless for my laptop!

-j

I found that out when I got mine, so it stays permanently plugged into my desktop, still have to find a good CF card reader for my laptop (which should be replaced - Celeron 1.4!!!!)

aim54x wrote:

seeto.centric wrote:i thought you need just Firewire 400 to get it to work? wait.. i read the specs just then - 6 pin FW400 or 9pin FW800 only. bah.. useless for my laptop!

-j

I found that out when I got mine, so it stays permanently plugged into my desktop, still have to find a good CF card reader for my laptop (which should be replaced - Celeron 1.4!!!!)

this might be just what you are looking for
PC card firewire 800 port

Dammit dont tempt me into getting another one of those card readers!!!!

I want a new laptop anyway, something eeePC sized!!!

this might be just what you are looking for
PC card firewire 800 port

Hmmm, but what about the speed of the PC Card slot itself.
I have a PCCard adapter for CF cards and it is by far the slowest way I hAVE FOR MOVING DATA FROM A cf CARD TO THE COMPUTER

Mr Darcy wrote:Hmmm, but what about the speed of the PC Card slot itself.
I have a PCCard adapter for CF cards and it is by far the slowest way I hAVE FOR MOVING DATA FROM A cf CARD TO THE COMPUTER

That is true, I have gone the same way as well. Ironically I thought it may have been the cheap PC card that I used.

hehe without detracting too much from the OP's thread, i doubt the PCMCIA interface can support full FW800 speeds..

6pin FW on a laptop.. macbook

-j