Digital Photography Mishaps

Hey guys,

Hopefully I can get some suggestions for a new digital camera. I currently have a Sony Cybershot DSC-P41 (4.1 Megapixel) and the photo quality is starting to become sub-standard. A few issues I have with it:

1. Lots of times the camera will be delayed in snapping a photo... the train will be in the shot, but the camera will take it a few seconds later, so I'll get the back half of the locomotive and not what I wanted to take. This happens mainly in low-light situations, and even when I turn the flash off it is still delayed in taking a photo. See this photo taken in South Amboy, NJ

2. Blurry photos are also common. Sometimes the background in my scene will be perfect, but the train is blurred in the shot (is there much that can be done to fix this?). See this photo, the background is fine, but the locomotive is blurred. But sometimes, the whole photo will be a blur, as seen in this photo taken in Newark, NJ as well as this photo taken in Old Bridge, NJ

3. Sun Streaks, these are most annoying. I'm not sure what can be done to fix these, I always try to have the sun behind me, but there are those occasions where it is not possible (during the summer months these sun streaks are only an issue during early morning photography, but this time of year, the sun's position is just awful all day long). Witness these sun streaks in this photo taken in Raritan, NJ.

4. White dots appear photos when I need to use the flash. I've read that this is caused by dust in the air being illuminated by the flash and subsequently becoming part of the photo. This happens with outdoor and indoor photography, but mainly with indoor photos. Take a look at this photo to see what I'm referring to.

Not all of the photos are that bad though, some of my better stuff can be found at my Webshots page

Any suggestions anyone can provide to avoid these mishaps and perhaps suggestions for a new digital camera in the $300 range would be greatly appreciated! I'd like to stick with Sony as I can use the same memory card, but I'm open to anything! Thanks!

transit383 wrote:1. Lots of times the camera will be delayed in snapping a photo... the train will be in the shot, but the camera will take it a few seconds later, so I'll get the back half of the locomotive and not what I wanted to take. This happens mainly in low-light situations, and even when I turn the flash off it is still delayed in taking a photo. See this photo taken in South Amboy, NJ

Non-SLR digital cameras are known to suffer from "shutter lag" (a delay between pushing the button and the camera taking the picture). The reason for this, as I've heard it explained, is that in P&S digital cameras, the same sensor used for recording the image is used for the autofocus, metering, etc. As for it happening more in low light situations, it could be that the camera is having a hard time trying to autofocus, since there isn't enought light for it.

transit383 wrote:2. Blurry photos are also common. Sometimes the background in my scene will be perfect, but the train is blurred in the shot (is there much that can be done to fix this?). See this photo, the background is fine, but the locomotive is blurred. But sometimes, the whole photo will be a blur, as seen in this photo taken in Newark, NJ as well as this photo taken in Old Bridge, NJ

My guess for this is that the camera (or you, if you're using manual settings) is choosing a shutter speed that's too slow. The pictures you linked to seem like they're from low-light environs (though I might just be getting that feeling from the blur), which makes the problem particularly apparent. The solution would be to use the manual mode on the camera to set a faster shutter speed, larger f-stop, or higher ISO speed. This does a good job explaining the relationship between the three things; I recommend experimenting to see what works well and what doesn't.

transit383 wrote:3. Sun Streaks, these are most annoying. I'm not sure what can be done to fix these, I always try to have the sun behind me, but there are those occasions where it is not possible (during the summer months these sun streaks are only an issue during early morning photography, but this time of year, the sun's position is just awful all day long). Witness these sun streaks in this photo taken in Raritan, NJ.

I don't think something for that exists for a P&S, but for an SLR, there are various filters that go in front of the lens that might help with that.

transit383 wrote:4. White dots appear photos when I need to use the flash. I've read that this is caused by dust in the air being illuminated by the flash and subsequently becoming part of the photo. This happens with outdoor and indoor photography, but mainly with indoor photos. Take a look at this photo to see what I'm referring to.

Can't help you with this one, sorry.

transit383 wrote:Any suggestions anyone can provide to avoid these mishaps and perhaps suggestions for a new digital camera in the $300 range would be greatly appreciated! I'd like to stick with Sony as I can use the same memory card, but I'm open to anything! Thanks!

I had good results with a Canon Powershot A80, which I used until I picked up a used Digital Rebel. I don't know if it'll solve your problems or not, and I've never used any Sony camera, so I can't say which is "better." I do recommend trying to find an SLR at some point, though, especially if you want to get into more than just railroad photography and want more control over composing a shot. Digital SLRs are more expensive than digital P&S, though; the Digital Rebel set me back about $650 for the body and kit lens, and the Digital Rebel XT is selling for around $900.

Yeah Gerald, I'd say you need a better camera. My camera is nice as you can put the focus on manual, focus the shot, and then just click at the right time. I use a FujiFilm Finepix S7000 but you can get better cameras on the market today although the Finepix S7000 nicely does the trick for me (for now.) You can customize the shutter, apeture and other stuff to suit your needs.

Here's some general tips I've picked up:

For this shot, you either need to shot the locomotive while it is standing still, or you need better lighting. It is very hard to shoot fast moving or even medium moving objects at point blank range. It works better with better light.

For this photo as well, you need better lighting as is why it came out a bit blurred.

And on that topic with fast moving objects, let's say your on the NEC and here comes and AEM-7 barreling down at full speed. You try to shoot it as it passes you at point blank range but it looks blurred even though the lighting is good. This is due to the extreme speed of it. You need to either increase the shutter speed and/or zoom the frame in a bit and shoot it under a zoom.

As a general rule of thumb, you want to avoid shooting towards the sun as all kinds of wonderful problems can occur- but, as pgengler said, there are filters that can help with that. Your best bet though is usually shooting with the sun and not against it.

Hope some of these help.

Thanks for all your help!

Would using the Burst mode on the camera help with blurring?

transit383 wrote:Thanks for all your help!

Would using the Burst mode on the camera help with blurring?

If you mean a mode where the camera takes several shots in rapid succession, probably not. An "action" setting might help, though (on Canon cameras, this is the mode with the icon of the man running).

Boy, do I know what you mean by the lag time element of digital. I have resisted going digital for this reason. I want to get the image recorded that I see when I press the release button. This summer I purchased my first digital, an Olympus point and shoot for about $225. The picture quality is good but I can only take pictures of still or slowly moving objects. I have been closely investigating the digital SLR's and am about to purchase a Nikon D 50. It seems relatively simple to master the basic operations and most of all I have a gazillion Nikkor lenses for this body. I am watching the adds for the lowest price and Ritz has the body and ancillary necessities for $699, not that much more than some of the more elaborate point and shoots, which by the way have flooded the market and fallen dramatically in price. Question: do digitals keep their value on the secondary market or a trade ups ? Anyway, I figure the D 50 will drop a bit more in price as X-mas approaches and when I purchase and use it I'll post my own observations on its handling and results.

the delay was a MAJOR problem and very annoyig with the D30 canon.. that and the long long turn on delay... It has been corrected in the 20D canon.... The D30 was a loser as for as low light autofocus, seemed to take forever, but for outside photog it was OK. They are now selling fer about 10% of their original $3K price.....Had Canon not followed with the 10d and the 20d, the D30 could verywell have put 'em in deep problems, but Ford survived the Edsel, so who knows.....Ed

kevikens wrote:Question: do digitals keep their value on the secondary market or a trade ups ?

Generally, no. Because of the high rate of obsolescence among digital cameras, you typically can't resell them for anywhere near what you paid originally. Consider them disposable.

Generally, no. Because of the high rate of obsolescence among digital cameras, you typically can't resell them for anywhere near what you paid originally. Consider them disposable.

Of course, that can be a good thing if you're in the market for a decent but not brand-new camera. A Canon Powershot S45 (pretty good from my experience) can be had for less than half of the $500 it was worth when it was still being made a couple of years ago. (I still use film, however)

My current Sony camera doesn't even have an action mode and it is not possible to adjust the shutter speed (although its a year old, it is becoming increasingly less adequate to meet my needs). After consulting with a co-worker who enjoys photography as a hobby as well as reading the posts on this board, it seems that a Canon or a Kodak are the preferred weapons of choice. And the search begins for a new camera, but at least I know exactly what to look for now, thanks everyone for your help!

Well, I boughr that digital SLR last Friday, the Nikon D50 from Ritz Camera. I paid $649 for the body, and a free Teddy Bear. I did not get the bundled lens as I have many AF Nikkor lenses. I had the opportunity to get out over the next three days to try it out. I was concerned that I might have problems with the complexity of choices in the camera's menu but the D50 has a point and shoot mode that does everything for you, choice of ISO (200 which is the film speed I am most familiar with), programed aperture and shutter speed. It was easy to go to shutter priority, important when shooting fast moving trains. I must admit that I very quickly became comfortable with the camera, probably from familiarity with most of Nikon's N series of cameras. I got the gigabite SD card which gives me about 500 pictures and it was very easy to delete unwanted pictures ( hit the trash can ikon twice). There was a very slight lag time to capture the image, similar to any other AF camera in single shot priority but nowhere like the one to two second lag in the Olympus point and shoot I pruchased this past summer. The images in normal compression are at least as good in the 4x6 size as those from my Eos 5 and its EF lenses and the N90s and attendant Nikkor lenses. Under a 10x loop they appeared to be the same resolution. I made these prints from a Kodak kiosk at my Acme food store as it is convemient for me but at 29 cents a print it's not much of a savings over film.I took my N90s with me all three trips this weekend as a back up and never touched it, except to remove its lens for the D50. I'll continue to take both film and digital with me on my forays. What I need to do now is to figure out how to get these images onto this computer and from there to a web site somewhere. I'm not that savy with computers so if one of you guys has suggestions on how to do that either on railroad.net or somewhere else please let me know. Thanks

I'll continue to take both film and digital with me on my forays. What I need to do now is to figure out how to get these images onto this computer and from there to a web site somewhere. I'm not that savy with computers so if one of you guys has suggestions on how to do that either on railroad.net or somewhere else please let me know. Thanks

If you're talking about the digital it should have come with some kind of chord to attach it to the computer. Common these days is a USB one. Sometimes the camera comes with a CD with software you have to install and instructions. You could then transfer the photos onto your computer and edit them with image editing software like Photoshop (I use Microsoft paint for basic stuff like shrinking) if you need to.

There are various sites you can upload your RR photos to. I use RR Picture Archives http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/default.aspx since there are no restrictions in uploading what you have. However it's suggested to shrink your images down to post them. Don't shrink the original, rather make a copy and shrink it to post.

I would love to go back to using my 4x6 Bronica, I just cannot justify either the cost or the effort...
that having been said, shoot prints and scan the prints into the computer, works fine and scanners are inexpensive now. I (occasionally) use an epson RX620 fer printing and scanning (old photos) and it works just fine.. Ed

That shot of the NJ Transit locomotive is a case of motion blur. You can see that the light is very poor, so the camera needed a slow shutter speed, hence the motion blur.

If your camera has an ISO setting, try putting that up to a high number (in that light try 400-1600).
Unfortunately, if you can't set the shutter speed, I doubt you can set the ISO.

If you've taken a basic photography class, you know that with higher ISO film, the grainer the photo becomes. This is also true in digital, but the grainiess is not as bad, especially if you shrink the image down to something like 800x600 on the screen.

The way to minimize shutter lag is to press and hold the shutter button half way and let it focus on the tracks several seconds before the train arrives. This will keep delay to an absolute minimum. Then press the shutter the rest of the way as the locomotive comes into view, but a little before it is where you want it to be. This will take care of any remaining lag.

If you want to freeze the motion, use a fast shutter speed. If you want to blur it, use a slow shutter speed.

You can practice with traffic on the street.