Monday, June 07, 2010

Focus... Focus!!!

My first outing shooting trains with my Canon T1i was a disappointment, I'm afraid.

My youngest son and I drove up to Wilkes Avenue to catch the departing Hudson Bay (VIA 693) Sunday at noon. As it happens, a CN freight was heading west first. I think it was CN 781 but I'm not sure. I pointed the camera and started shooting...
CN 5676 in Winnipeg
All very nice until you expand the image and notice that it is blurred.

I was shooting in full auto and the flash popped up when I was shooting. I think it was firing the flash while I was shooting and expecting that to make a difference. The manual says it will attempt to illuminate backlit subjects.

I didn't notice that it was blurred, because it looked fine in the viewfinder. The Hudson Bay came along and I shot it too... also blurred.
VIA 6451 and the Hudson Bay

VIA's Hudson Bay
Needless to say, I was disappointed when I loaded the images on my computer.

On our way up Wilkes, we saw CN 7238 and slug 200 stopped at the former Winnipeg Intermodal Terminal and shot them. These turned out fine, because the train wasn't moving.
CN 7238 and slug CN 200 in Winnipeg
There is a sports mode on the camera and I think I will try that next time. I really hope it brings better results. It's a learning experience!

3 comments:

Bill ~ {The Old Fart} said...

Your pictures are still nice to look at. Just one Question, why did the Hudson Bay have two Locomotives with such a Short Consist.

Canadian Train Geek said...

I think it's in case of failure of one locomotive... they are in pretty remote areas and it would take a while to get another loco to rescue the train if the sole engine failed.

jddc.trains said...

Steve,

I have a Nikon D80 and this is what I do, and hopefully there's something useful here for you as well. I have my camera body and lens set to AF. I have my AF Area Mode set to single point and manually select the point I want. My servo is either set to single shot or continuous for moving objects, but I mostly keep it on single unless the subject is moving very fast and depending on my angle and distance to the subject. for fast moving subjects, I switch on rapid fire and do a 3 shot burst and generally the second shot is the best. I referenced your manual online and have a look at pages 64 to 68.

Cheers,