Techy111 wrote:And Ian.....will they be wearing their uniforms....?
Tony
Uniforms??? You want them with
clothes on???
Well - OK, then. This lot will pop round when they've finished babysitting. But don't mess them around, now
Meanwhile - a couple of answers to your questions. I suggested you could try using Shutter Priority mode on your camera (this is the mode that is marked Tv on the dial). If you did try this then it is correct that your aperture will keep changing as you move the camera. You will have set the shutter speed to a fixed number to prevent any motion blur. The camera will set the aperture to the correct opening to allow the correct amount of light for a correct exposure. It's always a balancing act between speed and aperture. So as you move the camera and the amount of light entering the lens changes, the camera will change the settings to compensate. If you have fixed one of the settings the other will change continually so that when you press the button the exposure is correct.
If you set it on Manual (marked M on the dial) you will have to select both values yourself and the viewfinder warnings will tell you if you are wrong and you will have to reset it by which time the aircraft is on the gate and disembarking pax
I would suggest you leave manual for a while until you have experimented with it. If you want to take static photos you could try the aperture priority setting (Av) where you set the aperture and the camera sets the speed for you. With a wide aperture (e.g. f3.6) you should get an aircraft in focus and the background blurred - works well for portraits as well. A small aperture (e.g. f22) would put most of the shot in focus and is useful for landscapes.
As for focussing, your camera is similar to mine, a compact superzoom and manual focussing is very tricky and I only use it for macro photos. Mine has a toggle setting for continuous or single auto focus in the menu. Check whether yours has the same. Continuous means that the lens will stay focussed on the subject even if you don't touch the shutter button. This is ideal for panning and shooting moving objects. Single means that it will only focus when you half depress the shutter button and the subject will probably have moved out of focus by the time you press it fully.
So as a general rule of thumb my chosen setting for a sunny day at Heathrow might look like this:
Flying aircraft: ISO 200, spot metering, continuous focus, Tv mode, 1/500sec, aperture set by camera, daylight white balance.
Static aircraft: ISO 100, centre weighted metering, single focus, Av mode, f3.6, shutter speed set by camera*, if shaded - cloudy white balance.
* If you get a camera shake warning you can change to Tv setting to increase the shutter speed, increase the ISO or, if you haven't got IS, use a tripod or get two of the girls to wedge tight against you so you don't shake
Hope this makes sense.
Ian
