New Camera pictures

[speedbird591]

Lovely pics, Chris. Lovely cat, too!

You asked for tips, so I hope you don't mind me making a couple of suggestions. There is a lot of 'noise' in the pictures which shows up as tiny multi-coloured dots when you zoom right in to a plain background area. If you are using auto, the camera has set the ISO value high to compensate for lack of light. This can be overcome by either using flash or manually setting the ISO value low (say 100 or 200) but the exposure will then be quite long to allow more light to reach the CCD so you would need a tripod. A tripod would definitely be a good idea for sunset shots as you can see that the silhouette of the bird is out of focus due to camera shake. Hope you don't mind me mentioning it Having said that, people often use a high ISO to give a fuzzy noise effect for artistic reasons so my apologies if it was intentional!

As an example, here is a cat shot that I took in a zoo. http://www.roymiddleton.btinternet.co.u ... opard2.jpg (clicking on the picture will show it at full size). My camera is not as sophisticated as yours, being a 6Mp 'superzoom' compact but it does have image stabilisation which means that you can get away with not using a tripod. This shot was taken with a low ISO in low light at maximum zoom (430mm), hand-held, through glass. Although the focus is slightly in the wrong place (it should be on the eyes, rather than the nose) it shows the detail that can be achieved if you can just stabilise the camera (tripod or IS).

Ian

[cstorey]

Your lovely cat looked as though he had either just eaten, or was about to eat, the Turkey!

Have fun with that camera

[ianhind]

Since Chris has just fired off some shots with his new camera, I suspect that all the defaults are still in there. If his Nikon is like mine, there is an option for ISO to be "Auto" so that it gets adjusted to suit the conditions. As Ian says, if it adjusts to a high ISO, then you get more noise. Better to select the ISO you want.

Lots of learning for Chris - the Nikon can be used as a "point and shoot" camera, but to get the most out of it there is a steep learning curve.

But comments like those of Ian's will point you in the right direction

[Techy111]

I have had this camera for a few months now and still am not sure how to use it properly......

http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digi ... ix-s6500fd

Tony

[forthbridge]

Nowt wrong with the noise (or generally) on that cat shot, considering it was 1/6sec at f/5.6 and ISO 1600 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o

No idea why it was on 1600, but as Ian says, 200 or even 400 will eliminate that.

Pet/animal shots are notoriously hard to do, *especially* with 'kit' kenses. But, costs nowt to practice

Tip of the day: study your histogram - it is better to slightly overexpose on digital, as more data is held at the 'lighter' end of the picture. the darker (blacks) end holds less info - thus if you underexpose, there is nothing there to 'bring back' in software - (you will end up with a noisy image) but you can reduce the top-end!

Looking forward to seeing your work Chris :drinkers:

[forthbridge]

[quote="Techy111"]I have had this camera for a few months now and still am not sure how to use it properly......

Can you elaborate Tony? Anything specific?

[Techy111]

Hi Jim........Is there a way to take "fast shots" without the small white pixalation you get on auto and the shutter speeds are too slow when taking shots of fast movers at heathrow...(fast for me) I want to set it up so the shutter speed is quick and not get graining.....Any ideas from this mate?

Tony

[forthbridge]

HI Tony,

A rough guide would be use either ISO200 or 400, and use around 1/500 sec for anything that isn't hammering it. 1/1250 should be about the max you would need to get anything else around Heathrow at that ISO. I've not actually set a Fuji to manual setting before mind you...!

Not 100% sure where you are getting grain? Remember if you are shooting 'upwards' the camera will set a faster shutter speed, which will underexpose anything on the deck - the same goes for aperture, 1/1000 at f16 may expose the sky, but it would need f1.8 or similar looking at the ground.

[speedbird591]

Just to add to Jim's advice about Heathrow shots, Tony. If you set your camera to shutter priority mode, you can specify the speed and the camera automatically sets the aperture to give the correct exposure. For instance, if you have a sunny day at Heathrow and want to take pics of aircraft in the air, try setting the ISO to 200 and the shutter speed to 1/500 as Jim suggests. Now the camera will try to average out the light that it is receiving so if there is a lot of bright sky it will reduce the exposure to make it less bright and that will underexpose the aircraft. An easy way to fool it is to set your meter to 'spot'. That way the camera will only take the meter reading from an area in the centre of the viewfinder and ignore the rest. So if that central circle (or square) in your viewfinder is full of aircraft then the aircraft should be perfectly exposed. And obviously panning at the same speed as the aircraft should reduce any blurring - unless you want a blurred speed effect, in which case you could pan at a different speed (or set a slower shutter speed)! Keep an eye on the warning indications in the viewfinder, they will tell you if there is not enough light or too much light for your chosen settings and you may have to increase or decrease your setting until the warnings disappear.

The glory of digital film means that you can check the results immediately and make adjustments to suit. You'll probably only get one excellent shot out of 100 but it's great fun aiming for it!

Ian

[Techy111]

Thanks guys......its sunny here at Heathrow so i am gonna go try some shooting....Will post some results later...thanks for the advice

Wish me luck...

Tony