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General discussion

Nikon D50 action shots are grainy

by JJohnson May 8, 2006 6:22AM PDT

I just recently bought a Nikon D50 digital camera and an f2.8 ED 80-200mm lens to take sports shots. The pictures came out a little grainy. I was told that this was due to my ISO setting?s too high (1600). I changed the settings to lower settings but the pictures came out pretty dark ? even thought I took them in on a sunny day. Am I doing something wrong? Are there other settings I should try? I am new to the camera and lens. Thanks! - Jim

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3 Posts
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Nikon D50
by snapshot2 Forum moderator May 8, 2006 7:10AM PDT

If that is the Nikkor lens, then it is an excellent choice for low light sports.

The D50 noise level at ISO-1600 is equal to other cameras in its class.

If you are getting an ISO setting of 1600 on a sunny day, you either have the shutter speed set much too fast or the aperture (f-stop) set to a small aperture(large number). Such a shot on a sunny day should be at ISO-200.

You need to examine the EXIF data that is imbedded in all digital camera photos. It will show the camera settings at the time the photo was taken. Look for shutter speed, ISO setting and f-stop (aperture).

Most action sport shots seldom need to be faster than 1/250th of a second.
I have a feeling that you have your camera set to just about its maximum shutter speed (1/4000th of a second).

For sports photography, I suggest you set the camera to Shutter Priority mode. Then set the shutter speed to 1/250th of a second and that lets the camera select the correct aperture (f-stop) setting and the ISO setting.

If you get some action blurring, then raise the shutter speed one-stop (to 1/500th of a second).

If you are new to exposure settings, here is a write-up on the subject:

http://www.pbase.com/otfchallenge/the_basics

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New to D50 settings
by JJohnson May 11, 2006 1:30AM PDT

Yes, I did have the shutter speed to 1/4000. I will take some more test shots at 1/500 and see how the pics turn out.

Are there other settings that I should play with - i.e. white balance,....

I am new in this area.

Thanks!!!

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D50
by snapshot2 Forum moderator May 11, 2006 8:22AM PDT

The camera will do most of the work for you.
If the colors look correct, there is no need to adjust whitebalance.

If you are shooting indoors with no flash, incandescent lights can cause a color shift toward red; fluorescent lights can cause a color shift toward green. Your camera has whitebalance settings for those conditions.

When the camera is set in the automatic mode, you usually don't need to make any adjustments unless you see a problem in the results.

When shooting action, I like to use the Shutter Priority mode with the shutter speed set to about 1/250th of a second and let the camera take care of the rest of the settings.

It also comes in handy if you want to take a photo of a waterfall, when you want to get the appearance of flowing water. I use a slow shutter speed (about 1/2 second) and a tripod, the camera selects the appropriate aperture and ISO setting.

About the only time you would use a shutter speed of 1/4000th of a second would be to photography a speeding bullet. And you would have to provide a lot of extra light at that speed.

Shooting in "Manual" mode (where you have to make all the exposure settings) is usually trial and error, and you need to understand the principles of exposure.

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