[Lawman]

In the aperture priority mode, I have trouble getting speeds high enough to take pictures without blurring. How can I get higher speeds for things like birds in a bush? Will I be better off using the manual mode?

[Glen Tepke]

You could force a faster shutter speed by using manual, but you would run the risk of seriously underexposing the picture; it's probably best to stick to aperture priority. Five things you can do to boost shutter speeds:
1) Make sure the aperture is wide open, 2) use as little camera zoom as you can, 3) if you are digiscoping, use as little scope magnification as you can, 4) set exposure compensation to a negative value like -0.7, -1.0 or even -1.3. This will result in a darker picture but that can be corrected, within reason, with your editing software. 5) turn ISO up to 200 or 400 if you are desperate. This will add noise to the picture, but it is not too bad at 200 and some of it can be filtered out with software such as Neat Image. Glen

[IanF]

A good question.

Some of my nicest photos have been taken at 1/30 but you do need an obliging subject that will stand still for long enough.

I use aperture priority mode as well as I do have to keep checking that the camera is at it's widest possible aperture for that zoom length. Forget about a higher aperture as regards depth of field as it is negligible in digiscoping even at higher apertures.

I much prefer to use 100 ASA setting, but in order to gain double the shutter speed you can increase it to 200 ASA, though personally I'd never go to 400 ASA unless just for a record shot. Another way of achieving this is by using the EV adjustment and then post- processing on the computer you can try to lighten the shot.

Other than that try to digiscope of a bright and sunny day.