Capturing Moving Vehicles

[SnapperHappy24]

Hello everyone. I'm really quite new to the whole photography thing but I've been bus spotting for years and also have an interest in lorries. I saw a post on here recently about someone buying a Canon EOS 2000D DSLR camera and IS 18-55 lens and it inspired me to get one myself. I'm able to get really good shots when the vehicle is stationary or moving very slowly but anything even slightly quicker comes out blurred. I get that I need to expect a slight bit of blur sometime but its the extent that I cant even make out number plates, bus numbers etc.

Can someone advice what settings are best to acheive good results with moving vehicles, i.e. minimum blur? I think I probably need to do something with the ISO or F-n umber but aren't sure what exactly those are or how to do it. Maybe I also need to change the settings on the camera? I can't make heads nor tales of the manual it came with. Thanks very much in advance!

 

[Western 52]

To get a sharp shot of a moving subject, you need to use a high enough shutter speed. I'm not familiar with the camera you have, but on my Canon cameras there's a mode for shutter speed priority, selected using Tv on the dial. I tend to use at least 1/500 second for moving trains, and 1/1000 second for very fast ones.

 

[Tramfan]

The shutter speed affects how much light enters the camera, and the faster the shutter speed the more likely to freeze the object being photographed. If you use the shutter priority mode mentioned above, you can set a shutter speed and the camera will set other settings (ISO and aperture) to ensure the photo is properly exposed.

Because the faster the shutter speed, the less light gets in to the lens, you may find that the ISO value is increased by the camera to compensate which can result in noise on the photos, it's therefore a bit of a balancing act.

I'd definitely recommend giving the shutter priority mode a try, and just experiment to see what you can do and what you are happy with.

 

[Fenchurch SP]

What I do is set the shutter speed to somewhere between 1/500 and 1/800 depending how fast the subject is travelling (or faster if using a telephoto lens) and then adjust the ISO to try to get the f number somewhere in the 5 to 10 range.

 

[etr221]

I would suggest you read the manual that came with your camera - this will tell you a lot (and if it's gone missing, can be downloaded from the Canon website). Or there are various 'for dummies' and similar books available (search Amazon for "canon eos 2000d book") - these are probably friendlier for a photography beginner, and better at explaining things like F-numbers and ISO ratings. Remember, that while the EOS 2000D may be a basic SLR, it's still a sophisticated camera, and you do need to get know it to get the anything like the best out of it.

(Note: the EOS DSLRs are sold under the Rebel name in the USA, many books reflect this)

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Just had a quick look at an on-line review for this camera and it would appear that auto-focus in moving subject situations is not one of its strong points. As such you will need to pay attention to ensuring you use a sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze your subject at the appropriate moment. As mentioned upthread do go through the user manual in detail to check what it is supposed to be capable of and pay particular attention to autofocus tracking and focus lock.

 

[Ken H]

One technique you may like to consider is rather than keeping the camera still, you follow the train. OK that will blur the background but it depends on what you want. A tripod will help with this.
Your camera may allow you to take multiple images by keeping your finger on the shutter release. By following the train you can pick the best one to keep.