Photographing motion istD

I have an istD and a pentax automatic lens. I tried to take some pictures of horses during a training session. I first tried to set to manual and get a fast shutter speed with an ISO of 200. It was shady and for proper exposure I could not get as high a shutter as I wished.

I had the camera set so the shutter could keep being release to take multiple pictures one after the other. I found that the auto focus lens was not always focusing properly by doing it in this way.

I then tried the camera on the P settling and found my exposure to be better, but still there was the problem with the focus and not having the shutter high enough.

I would like to try this again, but it would be nice to have some ideas on the best settings to use with the camera/lens in order to do this.

How can I be most successful at this?

I am wondering if there is a problem with my autofocus lens as well- as some of the pictures where there were no movement are not in the focus I would like to see. Perhaps I need to change the settings for the area in which the lens is focusing. The problem is that things are happening quickly and so it is difficult to keep changing settings without missing something.

Ava,
My recommended settings for the *ist-D are as follows:

1. Set the AF to centre spot only. That way there's no mistake where it's focussing.

2. In the custom menu, disable the "autofocus on half press" of the shutter. It's the "AF with Press Halfway" setting. You have to get used to pressing the "AF" button on the back, but it's infinitely quicker for kids and sports. Just get in the habit of pointing the centre spot to where you want focussed (e.g. the eyes for portraiture), press the AF and get a lock. Then, when you press the shutter button there is no AF hunting at all

3. Go into the custom menu and enable the auto ISO function - "Sensitivity Correction" = "On". This will boost the ISO rating if needed. If you set your ISO to 200, then the camera will try to use ISO200, but boost up if needed

4. For sports, set the mode dial to "Tv" and choose the shutter speed you want. The camera will choose the aperture, and boost the ISO (if you've done point 3) if the lens can't go wide enough.

5. You can also change the program line in the custom menu. Set "Program Line" to "Hi-Speed" and if you use the "P" mode it will choose a faster shutter speed over aperture.

For my uses I have used all three of the custom settings - I use setting 1 for general photog with sensitivity correction, setting 2 for manual lenses, and setting 3 for macro and landscape work.

If there's anything you're not clear about - let me know
Matt

Thank you for the advice. I will try to figure out all the settings in the menu that you discribed and if I am having problems to figure it out I will let you know.

One question I have right now is about the ISO. I have it set to always stay at 200 because my results did not look good (noise) when the camera kicked the ISO up in poor lighting. Do you find that to be the case, or is there some way to correct for this?

Ava,
Regarding the ISO rating - the image quality depends...

When shooting JPG in camera, then I find the quality at ISO400 is ok, 800 is just about usable, and 1600 is pushing it.
However, I shoot RAW and use Capture One LE for processing and I find that I can get very good image quality at up to ISO1600 (recently did some wedding shots at ISO800 and ISO1600 with an f1.4 lens at f2.0). ISO200 is "cleaner" of course, but it's not always appropriate to use.

Noise does increase as you increase the ISO rating, but not nearly as much as film!

But then think about it - if the lighting was poor, and you try to stick to ISO200, what's the point of having no good images at all? In my view it's better to get noisier/grainier images that capture the moment than none at all

Let us know how you get on!
Matt

A sharp grainy image is usually preferable to a fine grained one that suffers from camera shake. So no need to be shy about using high ISO settings when needed!

Thanks Ava for asking and Matt for replying. This is one of those thread that will keep my attention and I will be trying these settings.

The fact is, I think you should have written the manual which comes with the istD.

I quite agree with John.
Thanks for the suggestion JointComms
Maybe they could let me have the new DSLR on loan so I can write an "English" manual for that (Dream on!)

Note that the *ist-DS has many of the same facilities. You can set it so the "OK" button on the back does the focus. It's a real time saver and I've hardly missed a shot - it's become second nature. Kudos to Pentax for including that feature on all their DSLRs

Matt

I have found all the settings that were mentioned on the camera and menu. There is one thing that I do not understand.


For my uses I have used all three of the custom settings - I use setting 1 for general photog with sensitivity correction, setting 2 for manual lenses, and setting 3 for macro and landscape work.

Which 3 settings are you speaking of? Can you save certain settings in the P mode as one, two, or three?

Which settings do you use for macro?

Ava,
When you first select the custom menu you can arrow right (or left) to choose between three sets of custom settings

(It's mentioned at the top of page 115 in the manual, and steps 1-3 on that page)

For macro/landscape work (or any other tripod work for that matter), I have one custom set to have "Sensitivity Correction = off" (because I want ISO200 all the time), and the "Program Line = MTF" (which means the camera will pick the best aperture for the lens - otherwise known as the sweetspot).

It's just helpful to know that you can set up one of the custom sets for day-to-day photography, then set one of the others for anything unusual. Just remember to check which custom setting you are operating before you use the camera each time

Matt

Thank you for your help. I will read that part of the manual and try to work through the settings!