Classic British Flight Sim

Thanks for the reply Jim...

OK i had i think semi-manual mode....I could set the shutter speed and the aperture but inside the viewfinder was a plus and minus sign with a line and this would move when i panned around going upto the plus with clear blue and minus when locked on an object.....When i started pointer too close to the sun the aperture would change from its lowest value of f2.8 and sometimes go upto f7.1.....I think thats where i had my problems as i couldn't find the manual aperture setting....?

I really struggled with focus on my zoom shoots and don't really understand how to manually focus my bloody camera....

With the long lens there is a manual focus option but my brain wouldn't engage?

Tony

HI Tony,

I'm not 100% sure why the aperture moved if you had the dial set to 'M' - I know it sounds daft but you may want to just re-check that?
The +/- is the exposure reading, basically you need it to be in the middle of the 'dots' or no more than one or two stops either side depending on what you are shooting. There's a dial on the camera at the side, move that to 'M' for manual focus and you use the inner ring on the lens to adjust focus. Ifthe camera is set to AF, this will lock the lens so you can't focus yourself. It's very tricky when focussing on moving objects, but, once you get the hang of it it will be a doddle. I'd recommend practising on inanimate objects to begin with :tab:

Tony

Does this provide you with a suitable photo location for 27L?

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|t ... |tw7%206hz|

You won't see touchdown but you will see the approach.

But then again the last time I was at that spot was about 30 years ago (40 years ago on my bike!) so it may all be inaccessible now.

Ian

LOL Ian i usually go to Myrtle Ave and was on my way but the ruddy sun came out.....

Will go another day......

I miss the days of Queens building and being allowed to stand on the top of the muti storey car parks.... :-(

Tony

To be honest regarding the ISO it does depend on the circumstances. Most of my photo's in the loop have been using an ISO of 400 to compensate for the lack of light. But it looks like the fantastic light you get there you wouldn't need to go as high as that. I'd imagine that if you did go shooting today that it could be useful though.

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

Ian ---- can i just have the ladies please sir....?

OK mate gonna try that if the weather holds for thursday as i am back at work tomorrow killing peo.........oops..

Saving lives at work......

Gawd bless the NHS......

Thank you very much mate....

Tony

Tony, at the moment I think the NHS are bloody wonderful. My dear old Dad is very poorly in an NHS hospital and he is getting better treatment than in a 5 star hotel. He's under strict instructions not to upset the nurses in case they stick him in a wheelchair and park him at the bus stop with a ticket to the nearest nursing home! I'm not having him spending my inheritance on needless luxuries

Anyway, as a thank you to the NHS here's a demonstration of how tight cropping can increase the impact of a photo:



This site has a habit of slicing the right hand side of pictures that it thinks are too big. Your original was OK. This is a very low quality copy.

Ian

This site has a habit of slicing the right hand side of pictures that it thinks are too big.

It doesn't crop the pictures - just assumes a monitor setting of 1280x1024 (IIRC). On my dual monitor (1024 x768) setup, I have to drag the browser window to make it wider. Then I can see the whole picture.

Thanks Ian! I thought there might be a more technical explanation