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Tripod blur and sunsets

AT06

AT06

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
312
4
Winwick, UK
Hi guys,

First question - I noticed that some long exposures I took with my 24-105mm on a very sturdy giottos tripod were slightly blurry. I'm pretty sure I had the IS still turned on. Can anyone confirm if the 24-105mm has tripod detection, or is it just best to turn it off?

Second question - some of my sunset pictures were just not quite right in terms of exposure. Where is it best to take your meter reading - I've heard some people say the general rule is to take a reading from 20 degrees to one side lock it and recompose, then have a look at the histogram after the photo and adjust. If anyone can give me a few pointers on getting a good exposure that would be great - I know practice will help as well!

Thanks a lot for any advice :D
 
J

jaewon

macrumors member
Apr 26, 2010
45
1
Las Vegas, NV
There is one time when you should definitely switch IS off because it will do more harm than good to your photos; when you're using a Tripod.
 
NeGRit0

NeGRit0

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2008
941
185
Las Vegas, Nv
I too have the 24-105L and always turn IS off when using a tripod. Actually, I turn IS off on all my lenses when on a tripod.

Sorry I have another question, not an answer for you...

What lens(es) do have tripod detection, as I have never heard of such a thing?


EDIT: Seems all "newer" lenses have this 'tripod detection', unless I misread from here.
 
Last edited:
Phrasikleia

Phrasikleia

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2008
4,082
403
Over there------->
In my experience, tripod detection does not work very well. The only time I ever leave IS on while using a tripod is if I'm shooting in an area with a lot of vibrations (e.g. on a bridge with traffic driving over it) or else in extremely high winds.
 
Badrottie

Badrottie

Suspended
May 8, 2011
4,317
335
Los Angeles
Phrasikleia said:
In my experience, tripod detection does not work very well. The only time I ever leave IS on while using a tripod is if I'm shooting in an area with a lot of vibrations (e.g. on a bridge with traffic driving over it) or else in extremely high winds.
Click to expand...

Does that apply with bridge camera with tripod? :apple:
 
tgara

tgara

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2012
1,154
2,898
Connecticut, USA
The 24-105 f/4 L from Canon has a relatively older IS system that does not detect tripods, to the best of my knowledge. IMHO, the best practice is to switch off IS on every lens that you use on a tripod.
 
C

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,561
1,671
Redondo Beach, California
AT06 said:
..
Second question - some of my sunset pictures were just not quite right in terms of exposure. Where is it best to take your meter reading - I've heard some people say the general rule is to take a reading from 20 degrees to one side lock it and recompose, then have a look at the histogram after the photo and adjust. If anyone can give me a few pointers on getting a good exposure that would be great - I know practice will help as well!

Thanks a lot for any advice :D
Click to expand...

The above is not bad advice. BUt if yur camera has a spot of center meter then you can do a little better. Shot in manual exposure. Then lace the meter point on a part of the image you want to be rendered as a mid-tone. Set the camera to what the meter says and snap a shot just hand held. Look that the histogram is not all bunched up on one end. Especially make sure there are not many or not any very highly exposed pixels. If the camera has RGB histograms loot at each channel and make sure each color channel is has not "blown out" pixels. Shoot using RAW format.

In post processing the raw image you can fix an area if it s to dark but you can't fix it if it is blown out.
 
F

fa8362

macrumors 68000
Jul 7, 2008
1,571
497
Sunset photo exposure depends on what you want, your sensor, and your camera's exposure programming (if using an auto or semi auto exposure function). You should experiment.
 
AT06

AT06

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
312
4
Winwick, UK
Tanks for all the replies. I'm going to do some experimenting with sunsets and exposures. As for the tripod blur and noise I've been having, I've learnt a few things.

1) Turn off IS when on a tripod
2) Use a cable release (mine just arrived today)
3) Turn on mirror lockup
4) Turn on long exposure noise reduction

Hopefully with some experimenting and practice my results will get better.
 
R

righteye

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2011
337
47
London
Turn IS OFF! and another thing be aware that if you have a large polariser or glass ND filter such as a LEE Big Stopper and you have the camera tilted up or down you may end up with some creep, its happened to me a few times and i now try to use primes for these occasions (its the zoom function causing the problem) Use live view at maximum magnification and you will soon see if you have an issue or not. If you soot in live view mode you will have no mirror vibration as long as you use a cable release.
Sunset exposures are very difficult to get right in one exposure, you really have to decide which part of the subject is the priority, bracket your exposures or you could use HDR(some cameras have this built in) or exposure merge a couple of different exposures.
PS some zoom lenses are bad for creep without anything on the front, my 70-300 DO lens is a particularly bad culprit for this and i only take it out now if size,weight and being discrete are the biggest issue.
 
Last edited:
AT06

AT06

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
312
4
Winwick, UK
righteye said:
Turn IS OFF! and another thing be aware that if you have a large polariser or glass ND filter such as a LEE Big Stopper and you have the camera tilted up or down you may end up with some creep, its happened to me a few times and i now try to use primes for these occasions (its the zoom function causing the problem) Use live view at maximum magnification and you will soon see if you have an issue or not. If you soot in live view mode you will have no mirror vibration as long as you use a cable release.
Sunset exposures are very difficult to get right in one exposure, you really have to decide which part of the subject is the priority, bracket your exposures or you could use HDR(some cameras have this built in) or exposure merge a couple of different exposures.
PS some zoom lenses are bad for creep without anything on the front, my 70-300 DO lens is a particularly bad culprit for this and i only take it out now if size,weight and being discrete are the biggest issue.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. I went and did some sunset photography yesterday and definitely learnt a few things. I think the only way to get everything well exposed for a sunset (including details like mountains etc) is with HDR - unfortunately my lowly 400D doesn't ave it built in. I think that more practice will definitely allow me to get better.
 
R

righteye

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2011
337
47
London
AT06 said:
Thanks for the tips. I went and did some sunset photography yesterday and definitely learnt a few things. I think the only way to get everything well exposed for a sunset (including details like mountains etc) is with HDR - unfortunately my lowly 400D doesn't ave it built in. I think that more practice will definitely allow me to get better.
Click to expand...

No Worries, and one other thing the best light is usually just as the sun has gone down ( not sure if you meant you were trying to capture the sun itself be careful not to look at through a long lens!)
Quite often 2 shots is enough to exposure blend especially if you have a fairly level horizon.
Also shooting on sand and shingle one thinks the tripod is solid but you can mess up quite a few longer exposure shots as the 'pod sinks into what you thought was quite solid.
Enjoy
 
AT06

AT06

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
312
4
Winwick, UK
righteye said:
No Worries, and one other thing the best light is usually just as the sun has gone down ( not sure if you meant you were trying to capture the sun itself be careful not to look at through a long lens!)
Also shooting on sand and shingle one thinks the tripod is solid but you can mess up quite a few longer exposure shots as the 'pod sinks into what you thought was quite solid.
Enjoy
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, my camera doesn't have live view so looking into the sun is a problem - I try to look at the viewfinder from a distance if you know what I mean, wear a pair of good uv protected dark sunglasses, and try to be as quick as possible with regular intervals between composing.
 
A

admwright

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2008
243
53
Scotland
AT06 said:
I think the only way to get everything well exposed for a sunset (including details like mountains etc) is with HDR - unfortunately my lowly 400D doesn't ave it built in. I think that more practice will definitely allow me to get better.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at graduated neutral density filters?
 
Designer Dale

Designer Dale

macrumors 68040
Mar 25, 2009
3,950
100
Folding space
For the most part, you have everything figured out. The only thing I would add is to switch to manual mode, including manual focus. That way, you should be able to turn off almost everything in the camera that moves. Focus, take a light reading and set it into the camera after going to manual. Lock the mirror and set your delay timer for 10 seconds and shoot. I just got a nice radio shutter release that allows me to operate the camera hands-free (more or less) and it really helps to keep my old hands off the gear.

It's not ridiculous to wait a full minute after locking the mirror for the camera to fully calm down. The 10 second delay built in to the camera is OK for self-portraits, but not for the kind of creative uses we come up with.

Dale
 
AT06

AT06

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 30, 2012
312
4
Winwick, UK
Designer Dale said:
For the most part, you have everything figured out. The only thing I would add is to switch to manual mode, including manual focus. That way, you should be able to turn off almost everything in the camera that moves. Focus, take a light reading and set it into the camera after going to manual. Lock the mirror and set your delay timer for 10 seconds and shoot. I just got a nice radio shutter release that allows me to operate the camera hands-free (more or less) and it really helps to keep my old hands off the gear.

It's not ridiculous to wait a full minute after locking the mirror for the camera to fully calm down. The 10 second delay built in to the camera is OK for self-portraits, but not for the kind of creative uses we come up with.

Dale
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips! Just got my cable release a couple of days ago. You can see my first photos using it in the POTM thread.
 
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