Venturing Out

[laawaaris]

Ok, well I decided to start venturing out with my camera and STOP shooting in Auto Mode to start setting things manually - like the ISO. I have a Nikon D50 with 18-55mm default/kit lens.

I went to the local soccer field last night at about 8pm - so it was little before dusk with some light left. I wanted to shoot the kids playing soccer, but not use any flash so as to distract them. So I put my camera in P (Programmed) mode. Since it was less light out, I figured I should bump my ISO up to 1600.

At one point the kids started running up the sideline and I tried to get a picture, but the camera lens wouldn't focus. The image in the viewfinder was blurry, and the lens kept hunting. I'm not sure if it was hunting for light, but based on what I saw in the viewfinder I think it was hunting for focus. This happened multiple times whenever I tried to snap kids in motion. Sometimes I engaged the flash, but that did not solve the problem 100% and the lens seemed to hunt even then. Out of confusion, I decided also to change the White Balance setting to Flash thinking that would help take the picture - but even that didn't help. I dont think changing the WB really would impact anything now that I think of it.

BUT then I put the camera in Sports mode and it worked just fine. It could take the shots of the kids when they were in motion almost everytime.

I don't understand the difference. Why did the camera work so well in Sports mode but it would not focus in Programmed mode? What should I try differently next time?

[NathanJK]

I'm guessing it put the autofocus system into servo mode when you switched it to sports. Basically that means that the lens is constantly trying to refocus on whatever the autofocus sensor is placed over. Its a pretty good way to do things for sports . When you were in Program mode, you were probably just in a one-shot autofocus mode where it locks focus and then lets you take the picture. It cant really deal with quickly moving subjects.