Cliff Swallows?

Are these cliff swallows? They are nesting about 10ft or less above the water.

A cool side note look to the far right of the picture and you can see a couple of birds stopped in flight. I was not trying to accomplish this but for you Pentax Optio w20 users here is a tip you may or may not know. I have only had my Optio for a couple of weeks now and I notice the default ASA setting is auto400 which means that the camera will auto adjust the film speed from 64 to 400. Well you can set it to auto1600 which will auto adjust the film speed from 64-1600. I am pretty sure without making that adjustment I could not have been able to get the birds stopped in flight so well with so little blurring. Most of our photos are outside with lots of sun so you may as well take advantage of of being able to use a faster film setting when you can. The beauty of it is, it is all still an auto function so you don't have to make any judgement calls here; the camera will handle it seamlessly for you.

Jeff

Cool shot!

Are these cliff swallows? They are nesting about 10ft or less above the water.

A cool side note look to the far right of the picture and you can see a couple of birds stopped in flight. I was not trying to accomplish this but for you Pentax Optio w20 users here is a tip you may or may not know. I have only had my Optio for a couple of weeks now and I notice the default ASA setting is auto400 which means that the camera will auto adjust the film speed from 64 to 400. Well you can set it to auto1600 which will auto adjust the film speed from 64-1600. I am pretty sure without making that adjustment I could not have been able to get the birds stopped in flight so well with so little blurring. Most of our photos are outside with lots of sun so you may as well take advantage of of being able to use a faster film setting when you can. The beauty of it is, it is all still an auto function so you don't have to make any judgement calls here; the camera will handle it seamlessly for you.

Jeff

Could you describe how to change that setting? I have had quite a few blurry photos with my Optio.

By the way, it looks like they are cliff swallows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Swallow

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Cliff_Swallow_dtl.html

Ganoderma,

I get some blurry photos also for what seems like no real reason, if I figure out why I'll post up. So far it seems to be mostly photos in less than perfect light conditions that are zoomed out to just before the digital zoom kicks in.

On the ASA setting - press menu and you should be in the Rec. Mode menu  1/3 - scroll down to ISO/Auto Sensitivity then push the right button (has a flower on it) find the setting listed as auto and press the right button again - from this menu you can set the ISO correction for 64-1600. Select 64-1600 then press okay and okay again. Sensitivity should now show to the right of the camera as auto1600. You are done.

To hold the setting after power off you may have to go into the memory settings. Press menu - you should be in Rec. Mode 1/3 press the up button which should move you to Rec. Mode 3/3, find the setting labeled memory then press the right button. On this page you can select the options you want the camera to store when powered off so they are the same next time you turn the camera on otherwise they will return to default settings on the next power up( some are set by default but most aren't). Scroll down to memory 2/2 and make sure Sensitivity is checked and you are good to go.

Jeff

Even with high settings, you're also (depending on the camera) vulnerable to the effects of shutter lag (the time between the point at which you press the shutter and the point at which the camera actually captures the picture. It may not seem like such a big deal, but you usually pre-focus before you shoot and the subject is still moving.