Taking photos and how to's

[Marco]

Lance - the camera is set on auto. As for the camera its still the same old hunk of junk. As you suggested I'm keeping my eye on a nikon d series, particularly the d70, for christmas

 

[SlipperFan]

Lance - the camera is set on auto. As for the camera its still the same old hunk of junk. As you suggested I'm keeping my eye on a nikon d series, particularly the d70, for christmas

D70s, nice camera.

 

[gonewild]

Lance - the camera is set on auto. As for the camera its still the same old hunk of junk. As you suggested I'm keeping my eye on a nikon d series, particularly the d70, for christmas

After Christmas it will be much easier to photograph your fish.oke:

If the fish holds perfectly still you have a chance with your camera now.
First you need to know if your flash is actually hitting the fish. At close distance most on camera flash will actually miss the subject because of the angle of alignment. On auto mode the camera will likely over or underexpose the flash on the fish so the fish will be dark or light.

Flat glass is much easier than a curved bowl to get the light through. Keep a slight angle to the glass surface so the flash does not reflect back into the lens. The flash image you posted is underexposed so you need to add light. If your camera allows, set you exposure compensation to +.5 or +.75 and see what happens.

Try to have the fishe's head as the closest part of the fish body in your composition, the perspective is much better.

Using auto mode is hard to control and you sort of have to take what you get. Even with a good camera fish photography requires a lot of shots to get a good one.

 

[gore42]

Marco,

If you're seriously thinking about getting a digital SLR, you should look into the Canon EOS Digital rebel XTi. I admit that I have a Canon bias, so you can do your own comparison.

- Matt

 

[Marco]

Matt - I have a slight nikon bias but I will do a comparison. Thanks for the heads up

 

[gonewild]

During the 90's I had a huge Canon bias. Nothing slight about it.

When Canon came out with the EOS series during the 90s most professional shooters switched from Nikon to Canon if they could afford it (I did). The new Canon lenses were better quality glass. But in recent years as digital images are becoming accepted for pro work more and more pro shooters are buying Nikon once again. It seems the tide has changed.

When it came time to buy a new digital camera last year I chose the Nikon d50 for specific reasons. I actually wanted to buy a Canon.

Reasons: d50 is/was several hundred dollars cheaper. Image quality is exactly the same as far as you will ever see. Until you step up to Canon or Nikon Pro series bodies there is little difference in the features.

The Nikon d50 is the first non pro camera body I have owned in 20 years. Here is why I chose it over Canon. The Nikon d50 flash syncs at 1/500sec. The fastest canon sync is 1/250 sec. For field work that one stop makes all the difference in the world. The on camera flash of the d50 will hit a subject close to the lens, I'm not sure canon the does?

With the d50 set on manual mode at 1/500s, f16, on camera flash, standard lens, I can get a tack sharp closeup flower image in gale force wind in full sunlight. I can also use the same setting in a dark canyon. And all with auto focus.

If you are not going to use the camera for handheld flash photography then my above points are not so important.

 

[gore42]

Lance,

The biggest problems I've had with Nikons is the Autofocus system. I can only hope that they've improved it; in the 1990s when I occasionally had to use an N90s , the focusing was horrible... searching all the time, not able to focus in low light/ low contrast, and very slow compared to my canons. I understand that Nikon as begun to put focusing assist motors in some of their lenses, so I'm sure that helps. The Nikons that I've used recently have still been slow to focus compared to my canons (and the focusing on my Nikon Coolpix 7600 is absolutely awful).

These days, some of the biggest advantages of the Canons are the CMOS sensor instead of CCDs, which use much less energy and are faster, and are more light sensitive... giving you longer battery life, less digital noise in low light, and faster operation.

But there are plusses and minuses for every camera, I'm sure... it comes down to what features you're going to use and personal preferenses, mostly. The XTi does have 10Megapixels compared to the 6.4 of the D70, which is why I suggested it.

- Matt

 

[gonewild]

Lance,

The biggest problems I've had with Nikons is the Autofocus system. I can only hope that they've improved it; in the 1990s when I occasionally had to use an N90s , the focusing was horrible... searching all the time, not able to focus in low light/ low contrast, and very slow compared to my canons. I understand that Nikon as begun to put focusing assist motors in some of their lenses, so I'm sure that helps. The Nikons that I've used recently have still been slow to focus compared to my canons (and the focusing on my Nikon Coolpix 7600 is absolutely awful).

Yes the Nikon focus was very bad during that period. But when Nikon introduced the F5 body they turned that around. the focus system they came up with was super fast and accurate. Of course the F5 body sold for $2m+. They must have carried that technology over into the new cheap digital bodies because the focus is fast and accurate on the d50. I always use autofocus now where I hardly ever did in the past.

These days, some of the biggest advantages of the Canons are the CMOS sensor instead of CCDs, which use much less energy and are faster, and are more light sensitive... giving you longer battery life, less digital noise in low light, and faster operation.

Digital noise on the Nikon is extremely low even when choosing a high iso setting. It would be interesting to compare the two side by side.

I can't believe the battery life from the d50. I can shoot over 400 images with flash and still have battery left. Even with using the LCD often. How does that compare to the Canon?

But there are plusses and minuses for every camera, I'm sure... it comes down to what features you're going to use and personal preferenses, mostly. The XTi does have 10Megapixels compared to the 6.4 of the D70, which is why I suggested it.

- Matt

That is exactly true. Most features on the cameras are never used much less understood by most people. I seem to use mine set on manual mode most of the time. The program mode does extremely well for exposures for general shooting such as people or scenics.

I don't know how important 10 megapixels is compared to 6.4 for most images. Certainly for internet uses it is of no advantage but for making large prints it would certainly be a big plus. But 6.4 is more than enough to make big prints with also.

Mat, your photography is stunning and you certainly make a good point for Canon. But I suspect it is your skill that is making the images and not the camera. I really like your 3D work! :drool:

Unless there is a need for speed why buy a fast expensive car?

The same is true for cameras. Pay for features needed, not a brand.

 

[Marco]

The same is true for cameras. Pay for features needed, not a brand.

Guilty. I don't know anything about cameras. And this is why i picked Nikon and cause my last digicam was nikon and it treated me good. Regardless Lance and Matt thanks for putting up the info on both Nikon and Cannon. I will definately look into both as to their capabilites.

 

[ScottMcC]

A great photographer told me once that for every roll of film you shot, you could expect to get 1-2 "keepers," and for every hour of video you shot, you could expect 1-2 min of usable footage. Any more and you're not being selective enough, any less and you're either not doing it right or being too hard on yourself. Note that this rule doesn't say anything about your skill level--as you get better, you just have to get more picky about the little things. So Marco, maybe you're not being selective enough if it only takes you 10-15 shots to get something right?

Next up, I think it's critical to understand the difference between a snapshot and a photograph. The first is a quick glimpse at a moment in time, ie "the wife and I went to the zoo, here we are." It cares very little about the rules of photography, and instead is just a quick reminder of something. A photograph, on the other hand, is more than that, and implies that you took the time to compose the shot, bracket, etc, etc, and also that you have some larger concept than a snapshot allows. For instance, a nice studio portrait of the wife and I.

So...if you want a camera to do snapshots, just about anything will work nowadays, just pick your budget and find the one that has the most features you like in that price range. If however you want to take photographs, first take a class or read a book, then decide what features will best support your needs, then set your budget and buy something at least 10% more pricey.

Oh yeah, one tidbit about macro lenses. They're marked with a ratio, such as 1:1. This is the ratio to the size of the object in real life to the size of the image on the film (back in the days of film, for instance 35 mm). So a 1:1 macro takes something that's about 1.5 inches and blows it up to the size of your print, giving you about 3x magnification on a 4x6 print. And as lien discovered, the distance between the lens and the subject is quite short with a macro lens, typically about 3-12 inches, sometimes less!

 

[Jon in SW Ohio]

Do you use the Canon Rebel Matt? If so I should probably IM you later after I upload some new pics. I've yet to open the manual, but have spent hours online reading about how to use it.

Marco, for fish pics I try to avoid flash. I try to light up the aquarium and fish as much as possible instead so they don't come out super metallic looking. This is obviously much easier with a metal halide over your tank though

Jon

 

[gore42]

Jon,

I don't use the digital rebel; all of my Canons are film cameras I'm saving up for a 20D or a 30D. My digital photos at the moment are all done with a little Nikon point-and-shoot (Coolpix 7600, 7 Mpix). But feel free to IM me anyway

- Matt