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I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10 camera and was recently at the football. I tried taking some pictures of the players who were moving at very high speed but they were incredibly blurred.

I adjusted the shutter speed slightly which made a little difference but made the images quite dark.

What am I doing wrong? What settings to I need to adjust to get a focused action shot?

Yes - very basic stuff!!!

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The shutter speed is crucial.

To capture good sports images that freeze the action you will need to be using a minimum shutter speed of 1/1000 your camera does go up to 1/2000.

However, as the shutter is opening for a shorter period of time, it is not letting enough light in; you should increase the ISO to allow for the sensor to become more sensitive to light. 1600 should be OK.

However, the downside to all this is that for it to work, you will really need to be using an aperture of f2.8, your cameras max aperture is f3.3 at 25mm.

For a comparison I use a 300mm or 400mm f2.8 for sports action.

If it's sport photography, I would invest in another camera, a DSLR with a Manual mode.

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You have quite a few options to get the most out of the equipment you currently have. It is possible that in the situation you are trying to shoot, it is beyond the capabilities of your current camera.

With that in mind you can try:

  • Use a tripod
  • Scene Mode - Sports
  • Shutter Priority mode and increase your shutter to a faster speed
  • Shutter Priority mode and increase your shutter to a faster speed, and increase the ISO from auto to ISO 800 or 1600.
  • Look into the Auto 1600-6400 mode and try to select that along with the above option
  • Manual Priority mode and select the widest aperture possible(f/3.3) while zoomed out, along with the fastest shutter speed that still gives a properly exposed image
  • Same as above while manipulating the ISO to go higher

If you go through all of those attempts and are still getting blurred shots, you either need to upgrade your equipment, or shoot in brighter light.

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    \$\begingroup\$ The tripod can be skipped, shutter speeds where it helps are certainly too slow for sports - players will be blurred by their own motion. \$\endgroup\$
    – Imre
    Commented Dec 6, 2011 at 19:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ Eh? Sports photographers don't use monopods or tripods? It is just a point and shoot, but without seeing example images, I have no idea what the incredible blurring is that the question talks about. \$\endgroup\$
    – dpollitt
    Commented Dec 7, 2011 at 1:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ I would never use a tripod, too much faffing, I always use a monopod on anything longer than a 300mm f2.8,I will not use a rest on anything under 1 70-200 f2.8. \$\endgroup\$
    – Graeme Hutchison
    Commented Dec 7, 2011 at 22:34

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