Please tell me this can easily be fixed

[hkilloran]

Please forgive my amature question I am totally bummed and did not know where to turn... I'm having shooting issues while using the sports/motion mode.

here’s the background /problem:
I generally use my Canon Rebel XTI with my Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. I use the "sports" mode quite a bit b/c my kids are always moving. The last 3 times I've tried to use this mode indoors or in low light IT SIMPLY DOES NOT WORK. Photos are blurred and the shutter speed is very slow. It will not take the quick bursts of photos in the lower light (I've never had trouble with this before). In addition I would also say 99 % of the photos I took last night at my daughters gymnastics class had red eye too (weird). I’ve never had these problem before : (. Is it possible a setting, that I am unaware of, has been changed and causing this? Or has my equipment failed? Please say it can easily be fixed... We are due to go on vacation next week : (. I am going to be so upset if I cannot take evening pics of the kids frolicking in the lake. Thanks so much for any thoughts/advice

[zona5101]

Hi and welcome.
Sounds like everything is working correctly albeit with disapointing outcomes. Sports mode is just a bias shift to prefer a faster shutter speed over a smaller aperture. It can't do anything about not having sufficient light. Indoors, no matter what mode you chose, there simply wasn't enought light so you got blurred images. The red eye was a result of your pop up flash firing and bouncing light off the eyeballs.

[LeeR]

Start by making sure your battery is fully charged, then switch to full auto mode. I know your kids are fast, but full auto will still work for them. Then post a couple of the problem pictures here and let us see what you are talking about. Red eye happens when you are using flash that is too close to the lens but is easily fixed in post production. If you are using flash and the camera won't fire it may just be waiting for the flash to recharge. Outdoors where there is plenty of light without using flash you shouldn't have any problems. If you do, there may be other issues.

[RichardTaylor]

I would try this.
(1) Aperture priority mode.
(2) Set the aperture to wide open (this will be focal length dependant) to gather the maximum amount of light
(3) ISO set to maximum - this will set your camera to be most sensitive, at the cost of increased noise..
(4) Autofocus set to AI servo and centre focus point only - this should help focussing.
(5) Take what ever shutter speed you can get.

If you find you still get pics blurred by by camera motion or subject motion, try popping the flash up.

If it still doesn't work you will need more light (external flashgun?) and/or a fast, like F2 lens.

[Digidave]

First of all, if you are getting red-eye, that means you are using your flash. When you use your flash, your shutter speed is limited to 1/200th or maybe 1/250th of a sec.. That will not suffice when shooting kids at play. There a few ways to go about this. Here's what I would do.

1) Set your camera to Shutter Priority.
2) Turn off Flash.
3) Set Shutter speed to 1/500th minimum. Your camera will try to automatically set the Aperture to a level that will achieve a proper exposure. When it can not achieve that Aperture do your lenses limitations, your camera will not shoot. You will most likely see a flashing warning light in the view finder. The next step is the only thing you can do to achieve proper exposure.
4) Adjust your ISO setting until you are able to shoot the camera. The ISO setting is your sensors sensitivity. If you can get enough light for a proper exposure do to Aperture limitations & you cannot add light, your only other choice is to adjust the ISO setting. This will introduce noise into your photos though. If you feel that you need to raise your Shutter speed even more, you will have to raise your ISO setting to compensate.