Camera shake or tripod??

[JakeDonahue]

I recently fell in love with my S5 all over again... I had no idea there were so many accessories available until just last fall (even though I've had the camera since '08). However, one thing I have always had a problem with is shooting long exposures at night.

I do everything that I can think of to prevent camera shake, but more often than not I have to use a 2-3 second exposure when I really want a 6-10. When the camera is zoomed even a tiny bit, I notice that the picture on my LCD keeps shifting. My tripod is sturdy, and I always use a minimum of 5 second delay so that pressing the button won't shift the lens.

Sometimes I get it to work, sometimes it won't. Traffic and wind both can affect this, I know, but this also happens when both are not present.

Does anybody else experience this or have any advice? I spent 35 minutes last night trying to shoot this bridge, but not one single picture stayed steady!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo...eat=directlink

[AndyR]

Do you switch off the image stabilisation feature?? You should do when using a tripod.
Try placing a heavy weight on the leg 'stabilisers' (do you get what I mean?? the centre point of the tripod) - hang your camera bag from them to help support the tripod.
When you say you see the LCD display shifting, then it must be either the tripod is not holding the S5 still - wind, traffic,(as you said) faulty tripod camera clamp.. or even a faulty S5?

Try zooming in a fair distance and observe the lcd for clues.ie. is it in just 1 plane it 'wobbles', a general 'gravity' effect (meaning the clamp is loose) or all over the place??

Hope you sort it, good luck!

[shani]

hmmm, just a suggestion.. why don't you try to take the picture with the same long shutter speed on and off the tripod and see the difference?

compared side to side on the PC then i think you should be able to tell the cause of the blur.

[RobinG]

Jake, the example you have linked to is curious - it looks like it is not that the camera is moving around at random to give a generally "fuzzy" image. Rather, it appears that after a short initial period the camera moved up and to the left and then spent most of the time in that upper position (or conversely spent most of the time in the upper position and then at the end moved down and to the right and stayed there for a short period). This is evident not only with the many lights, which have diagonal trails, but also for example the road sign on the near end of the bridge, which has a distinct ghost image, and similarly with the supporting cables on the bridge.

EDIT: I see from your Portland, Oregon post, that the bridge has pairs of vertical cables. I had wrongly thought looking at the example linked in this post that the doubling was ghosting, but obviously not. However, I think there is ghosting of the main cable which supports the verticals. The image in the other post does show fainter lines, but these are above the main cable, presumably the side wires for a walkway up the main cable, but in the image linked to this post the faint lines are beneath the main cable, which is why I think these are ghost images. None of this effects the general point about an apparent diagonal movement of the camera.

Are all the images like this, with an apparent diagonal movement, or is this a one-off?

Somewhat off-topic, I'm also curious about using F8, as F5.6 would have halved the required exposure time and F4 would have halved it again. Was F8 necessary in order to get some really near stuff (the bushes and/or tree) in focus?

[JakeDonahue]

Thanks RobinG... As for the f-stop, I'm new to all this so I just take dozens of photos at different settings and then see what looks best on the computer! So whether it was f8 of f5.6 is Greek to me... lol. However, you are right about the image moving diagonally. It seems to happen all the time, but maybe that's just because I have image stabilization on?

Sometimes I set the self-timer to 10 seconds, so I press the button and step back to make sure there is no way the camera is moving because of me. But often times if I look really close at the LCD, I notice (since I have the grid on) the grid lines moving slightly. Hopefully this is the result of image stabilization. I will check later tonight and see if that works!

[AndyR]

Originally Posted by JakeDonahue

Sometimes I set the self-timer to 10 seconds, so I press the button and step back to make sure there is no way the camera is moving because of me. But often times if I look really close at the LCD, I notice (since I have the grid on) the grid lines moving slightly. Hopefully this is the result of image stabilization. I will check later tonight and see if that works!

I assume you are using your tripod during this diagonal shift? How about just placing the S5 on a wall or something else other than the tripod? That would prove conclusively if it was a tripod fault.

[JakeDonahue]

No, I definitely tried setting the camera on a bench and trying the same photo as the bridge... same exact effect. After all your guys' advice, i am almost certain it is the image stabilization setting. I did not get to try it tonight, but I will tomorrow and let you guys know the result.

Thanks again for all the tips, advice and help!!

[JakeDonahue]

Woo Hoo! I figured it all out. Image Stabilization was the cause. If only I had known such an easy fix would have fixed this much long ago. I've lost some pretty sweet images thanks to the image moving diagonally in the frame, but from now on that shouldn't be a problem.

I just experimented with long exposures in a dark house, and with image stabilization turned off they came our crystal clear. With it turned on, I experienced the same diagonal shift as seen before.

Thanks for the help, guys!

[AndyR]

I'm glad you found the problem affetcting your shots... Altho I have to say that this is the first time I've heard of IS being a problem with a tripod, even on long shutter speeds and even tho Canon recommends turning it off, I nearly always forget and I've never had this issue.

I'd just keep my eye on this and see how the cam reacts duing 'normal' operation.

Good Luck Jake...

[JakeDonahue]

hey guys,

I wanted to show you how much better the camera is doing now that i turned off image stabilization. Here is a 17-minute exposure of star trails (i used CHDK to get the shutter open so long). There is some noise in the photo, but look how clear the trees came out. This is my first star photo:

[Canonian]

Well done Jake.

[NrthwoodsS5]

I wish I could found this topic back when you were needing help. I too had the same exact problem with my S5 shifting while using a tripod or even just a wall. IT took me a long time to figure out that it was the image stabilizer that was causing my image to shift. I'm glad you figured it out though!

[wdesigndeb]

Awesome star trail shot Jake. Really glad you figured out your problem. Well done.