Canon 50mm f1.8 silly question but I'm asking anyway??

[photomom2008]

I am new at photography and I just got the Canon 50mm f1.8 for Valentine's Day thanks to my wonderful Husband! I have the kit lens 18-55mm IS that I had used for some portraits and my 100-300mm lens that was ok but not great. I read all of the posts on here about how great the 50mm "nifty fifty" was so I figured I would try it! My question....when using the F1.8 aperture does it make camera shake more noticable? I did not have trouble with my 18-55 at all and at 100mm it wasn't bad with out a tri pod? Yes I know that I need to use a tripod and I plan on getting a good one soon. Most of the pictures I take with the 50mm using the 1.8 aperture are blurry and I am assuming it is camera shake. So I was wondering if it was because of the f1.8 aperture or if it is something else? I am attaching a picture that I took at f3.2, 1/20 that is not as bad but it is still not sharp. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you!

[Jheri]

I found that my first few times using the nifty fifty were not that great.. the same as you not sharpe and wow like I'd heard.
I'm no professional, but I can tell you I found it better when I practiced and when I put it on manual focus.
Good luck.

[photomom2008]

Originally Posted by Jheri

I found that my first few times using the nifty fifty were not that great.. the same as you not sharpe and wow like I'd heard.
I'm no professional, but I can tell you I found it better when I practiced and when I put it on manual focus.
Good luck.

Thank you! I will keep practicing. So far I have been us the AV mode and just setting the aperture and letting the camera do the rest. I see other people's photos and I think...oh my gosh...what am doing wrong? I won't give up though! Thanks again.

[candleman]

the depth of field is VERY thin at f/1.8 ...i doubt its motion blur. MF/AF shouldnt affect it either.

make sure your shutterspeed is up.. not less than 1/50th of a second.

what you are seeing is not motion blur, it is that most of your picture is out of focus and only a thin sliver is in focus. try f/2.8 and you'll see a difference.

http://digital-photography-school.com/aperture
this should help you understand aperture/DOF a bit more.

[Chip]

I you haven't seen DOF Master yet, it might help you get a sense for how narrow the DOF can be at 1.8, or even 3.2, at short focal lenghts.

In your pic, it seems that you focused on the dog's nose? If so, then about 1/2 of the area that's in focus is in front of the dog, and therefore of no use. By foucsing on the eyes (might be tough with all that hair!), you'd be sure to get the eyes in focus, which is almost always good, and parts of the face in front of and behind the eyes would be in focus too.

Practice is key. What you posted is a good shot. Don't be too hard on yourself!

[Samanax]

Originally Posted by photomom2008

My question....when using the F1.8 aperture does it make camera shake more noticable? Most of the pictures I take with the 50mm using the 1.8 aperture are blurry and I am assuming it is camera shake. So I was wondering if it was because of the f1.8 aperture or if it is something else? I

Most lens won't give you their sharpest results when shooting wide open...you have to experiment with your copy to see where the "sweet spot" is. The image may be softer when shot wide open but sharpen up when you stop down the aperture a bit.

Camera shake comes from using a shutter speed that is too slow.

Originally Posted by photomom2008

am attaching a picture that I took at f3.2, 1/20 that is not as bad but it is still not sharp. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you!

1/20 is too slow for a hand held shot with the 50mm. You need to get the shutter speed up to at least 1/50 or faster. You could have opened up the aperture a bit to get the shutter speed up.

What ISO were you using?

Do you any pictures taken at f/1.8? Please post an example. Make sure the shutter speed was decently fast (1/60 or faster) to eliminate the possibility of camera shake with the 50mm.

[candleman]

[QUOTE=Samanax;411799]1/20 is too slow for a hand held shot with the 50mm. [QUOTE]

aaaah. lolol.

sorry i didnt "properly" read your post all the way to the end.

the shutterspeed is the issue.

the rule of thumb is, you need a minimum of your focal length as a shutterspeed.
IE 50mm lens meand minimum 1/50th second 200mm focal length = 1/200th of a second minimum

[photomom2008]

AHHH...Haahhh!! Changing the shutter speed helps! I switched it to manual and used 1/60th shutter speed and it didn't blur. Samantax, I don't have any pictures to post, I deleted them when they were blurry. This helps alot though. It looks like I am going to have to practice manual mode because indoors the AV mode seems to always use a slow shutter speed. Candleman and Chip thank you for the links. I am always interested in anything that will help me improve my photographs! Thank you all, you have been very helpful. I will try to post pics later. I just took a few of my son playing around with the different apertures, I have a lot of practice to do. That is if my kids don't dis-own me for taking their picture to much! Thanks again I appreciate the help!

[candleman]

Originally Posted by photomom2008

AV mode seems to always use a slow shutter speed. !

you can force it to use a faster shutterspeed by increasing the ISO and/or using the exposure bias.
happy shooting

[nicotine]

Originally Posted by Samanax

Camera shake comes from using a shutter speed that is too slow.1/20 is too slow for a hand held shot with the 50mm. You need to get the shutter speed up to at least 1/50 or faster. You could have opened up the aperture a bit to get the shutter speed up.

Speak for yourself, I routinely shoot with my 50mm 1.8 at shutter speeds around 1/30 or less without shake issues.