Your camera ROCKS because...........


Which brings us back to the fixed lens SLRs It does most of the things the true SLRs do with the exception of changing lenses. My little Fuji S5200 is smaller lighter and my wife loves it. I can also control all the setting to make good model shots including white balance, depth of field, shutter speed, etc. Everything we have talked about. The limitation is that it is maxed at f8, but the good thing is you can get it for $244 shipped.

You can be learning while you are working on getting a better camera. I got mine in trade. Maybe you can work on that angle. Think of how many people here go for the latest and greatest of everything. Check out the photographers in your town. They often have cameras not being used. You probably have stuff you are not using...
 
Some of the Canon IS don't like being on a Tripod. I have one IS lens, but don't use it that often for layout shooting.

Most of the time, I put the camera (DSLR) on a tripod, crank up the f-stop, and shoot a time exposure. Maybe up to 30 sec.

Also, I don't have a macro. Instead, I get farther back, and zoom in for a closeup. It will fill the viewfinder, and with the f-stop way down there, I can get a pretty good picture.

Kennedy
 
Being under exposed.

Say Ken,

CSX_road_slug said:
Phillip,

I sacrified the decoder budget for my entire fleet of locos in April 2004 so I could buy the Canon EOS digital rebel I have now. I knew I'd be needing to take lots of panoramic shots, so depth-of-field was extremely important to me - it's very hard to achieve that without being able to set the F-stops and exposure times yourself. And I figured if Bob Boudreau recommended it, I couldn't go wrong. Of course now it's considered stone age technology.

Most of my problems come from having zero prior experience with photography, so when I try to read the manual, I can't understand 75% of what it says. My biggest problem now is that my pics are always underexposed [as I mentioned in Ray's thread]. If I could just figure out how to override the camera's automatic exposure settings when I'm in apurture priority mode, my pix would look alot better.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure about your Canon EOS but I would believe that when shooting in Aperature priority, as I do most of the time with my Fuji S2, you should be able to adjust the aperature setting, via a wheel on the front or back of the camera body, while viewing the meter to see when your exposure is right on or one stop under or over if you prefer.

Also the type of metering your using, and where your placing the metering spot can play a big part in determining whether your shots are going to come out properly exposed or not!

HTH,

David
 
Choosing a camera!

Hi Philip,
Probably your most important consideration, IMHO, is how much can-you/do-you want to spend on a camera? Setting this price bracket will help to detemine which models are within your price range.

HTH,

David

pcarrell said:
I'm just starting to look into buying a new digital camera (Gotta go railfanning ya know!) and I'm a bit overwhelmed. So many choices!

I thought it might be helpful if I asked you all a question or three first though.

Tell me, what kind of camera did you get?

What do you like about it?

What don't you like about it?
Click to expand...
 
Trussrod said:
Say Ken,
I'm not sure about your Canon EOS but I would believe that when shooting in Aperature priority, ..., you should be able to adjust the aperature setting, via a wheel on the front or back of the camera body, while viewing the meter to see when your exposure is right on or one stop under or over if you prefer.
Click to expand...
Thanks David! Since depth-of-field is important to me, I always had my aperture set on the tiniest opening allowed by whatever zoom setting I was on. Sometimes I could go to f32, others I could only go to f22. But now that's "water under the bridge", since I've figured out how to set my f-stops and exposure times manually. That's allowing me to get the kinds of shots I never could before in any of the semi-automatic modes.
Also the type of metering your using, and where your placing the metering spot can play a big part in determining whether your shots are going to come out properly exposed or not!
Click to expand...
I didn't know that was an adjustible setting - unless you mean connecting an external light meter?
 
Ken,

The light meter typically adjusts to the center of the camera. Using the manual setting you can aim at the spot you want properly exposed, set the exposure there, then move the camera anywhere else and the camera will expose the shot based upon the setting you chose.
 
A roll of the dice!?

Hi Ken,
That's the great thing about digital, if they don't turn out right all you have to do is reshoot and the only thing lost is a little time. You can't beat it!

So was the camera correct the way it set the exposure in the middle shot?

I believe that right near the shutter release you might have a button that says +/_ which is used to compensate the exposure, if the scene is to dark I'd use a miuns one or two marks on the meter to compensate for it with my Fuji S2, not sure with your Canon but I imagine it might work the same?? Conversely if the scene comes out too light I'd use plus one or two marks in the meter to adjust for that.

HTH

CSX_road_slug said:
Right here - 3 of them to be exact! I did not do anything with the brightness/contrast settings on any of these, but I did re-size them to make them fit here.

This first one shows an under-exposed image, i.e., what I typically get when I use Aperture-Priority mode:
exposure_too_short.jpg



The 2nd image is what the camera defined as the optimum shutter speed, what I believe the camera is supposed to set it to in Aperture Priority mode (but usually doesn't):
exposure_exact_center.jpg



I deliberately set the exposure time for longer-than-optimum, just to see how it would compare to the others:
exposure_too_long.jpg


At least now I'll know exactly what to expect, it won't be a roll-of-the-dice like all the other shots have been up until now!
Click to expand...
 
Your shots!

Hi Paul,
Very nice crisp shots!


kjd said:
I recently got a Samsung S850. It has two macro modes for focusing to 1cm. It has manual focus, Aperature and shutter priority as well as 5x optical zoom and 8.1Mp. I had been considering a Canon or Nikon SLR but this one was on sale for $95 so I thought I'd give it a try. For now it is good but I'd still like to get an SLR someday.

I really like the macro. I make models and props and occasionally need photos of little things that have already gone out on set and it works great for that. The 3 most recent photos I posted to the gallery are from this camera and used the macro function with aperature priority.

It falls down in low light high speed stuff. I was trying to take photos of the Blue Angels on a cloudy/rainy day and didn't get any good shots. I have also missed several shots because of the shutter delay and ended up with the middle of the hood centered between the trees instead of the cab, for example.

3182-070825-004.jpg


128-070825-019.jpg


2344-070825-003.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Can I actually get that close??

Hi Pcarrell,
Yes that is exactly correct, you can get as close to your subject as 0.39 in if that what the specs say. The problem being is your subject going to have enough light on it at that distance as the camera and lens will be blocking most all the light. Now of course if your shooting Number board that are lit-up then that solves your proble because otherwise you'd have to have a sunny day and possibly still have to refelect light in from the sides and run the risk of flare off the lens showing up in the exposure.

In reading some of your posts it seems your looking for a good but inexpensive DSLR and I think I know just what camera you might want to take a close look at. It's a Fuji too, that both I and Spacemouse are partial
to but one of the newest ones they come out with, the Fujifilm S-700. It's has a 7mp ccd sensor, my preference, it's very DSLR like with a nice hand hold with most all the features of the more expensive cameras and everything your looking for including image stabilazation. It has a 38-380mm lens on it, has not only Macro but Super Macro and produces phonominally sharp shots and also focus down to 1cm or 0.39in, uses 4 AA batteries plus it uses both SD [Secure Data] image storage media which is really great - as well as the tiny XD picture cards. It has a nice size viewfinder with a bright image and loads of other features usually only found on more expensive cameras, and for only $199.99 at New Egg as they list it on on Digital Camera Resource below.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/cameraDetail.php?cam=1008

To view just how sharp of shots it takes, not trains though, once on the site go down to the heading FIJI and click on it and then go down to the third listing Photo from the Fiji S-700. The shot of the Seagull is exceptional as well as the Super Macro shot of a Fly in a Venus Fly trap!

The S-700 is 4.2 in W x 3 in H x 3.2 in D

HTH

pcarrell said:
OK, so for example.....

The Canon A650 IS that I was looking at has manual macro adjustments from "0.39 in.-1.6 ft./1-50cm (W)". From what Ray was saying, thats pretty good, and from what I'm hearing from the rest of you, that would be a good thing, right? The .39 setting would allow me to be very close, correct. And it looks like it's a measurement the way they wrote it. Does that mean I can be .39 inches away from the subject and still be in focus?

I better quit asking questions and go start reading! I'm going to wear you guys out!
Click to expand...
 
Dang,

I could have had the S700 instead of the one I bought. Took a while of reading, but the f stop goes down to 13.7.

Now if I can find a place to fix my S1.
 
I'm very happy with my Nikon D40X. It's a great camera, DSLR, and takes some very nice photos. It's well made and a pleasure to use.

A few months ago I paid $1k for a kit with the camera, case and two lenses. I recently saw a similiar kit on sale for $750, so it's really coming down in price now that Nikon has announced some new camera bodies. I'd say it's a great camera for somebody wanting a DSLR but not able to spend $2-3K for one of the fancier ones.
 
re: Metering

CSX_road_slug said:
I didn't know that was an adjustible setting - unless you mean connecting an external light meter?
Click to expand...

Yes, it definitely is, at least on most cameras. That's one of the things that distinguishes the more expensive cameras from their little brothers, they have more focus points.

For example, my D40x has 3 focus points. The new D300 reportedly has 51 of them. Of course it's also 4 or 5 times the price of the D40x...

The active focus point is highlighted on the D40, not sure how they do it when the camera has a large number of them.

What's important is that you can then choose where it focuses. Anyone who's ever photographed a train, only to have the camera focus on foreground weeds or a tree branch and blur the train will appreciate that feature.
 
Trussrod, that Fuji looks really nice! I'm going to have to look into that some more. I like the price too!
 
The Fuji S-700

Hi Phil,
I thought you might like the S 700, it's a prety nice camera for not too much money.

I may get one for myself too? I debating between the S700 & the S9100 but it's twice the cost too!

Take care


Ps: I'm caring for my bedridden 87 year old mother who is a stroke victum so we both have are hands full!


pcarrell said:
Trussrod, that Fuji looks really nice! I'm going to have to look into that some more. I like the price too!
Click to expand...
 
A couple of weeks ago I purchased a Canon Powershot S3 IS for a couple of hundred bucks on sale. It's not exactly what I was after, but it's more then sufficient. Thanks for your interset though.


And a big thank you to all of you! I learned so much from all of you! My final purchase was good as I was able to make a well educated decision thatnks to all of your input on this. Hats off!
 
Canon A560

2 weeks ago my $600.00 Fuji digital blew up while I was shooting the night scene for the photo contest. I bought it in 2002 so it was no longer under warranty. I said well that's it for high priced cameras. So I bought the Canon A560 for $148.00 and I love it. It does every thing I need it to do plus it shoot movies at 60 frames per sec. I did however shoot the night scene about 25 times because I didn't know how to set the camera for the shot. I also bought the 4G chip $62.00 for the long movie clips.

NYC_George
 
I've got 2 dslr's. my xt is going on 3 years old and i just picked up the 40d. Im somewhat biased towards the xt as i get much much more crisp pictures with it. I will be going back to canon a second time with the focus problems.
anyway here is my stuff.
Bagofgoodies.jpg

Camerastuffboxlineup.png
 
My camera doesn't rock. I only use it because I can't afford a better one. Looks at my recent threads for pics..but once I upgrade to a 40D like the last post (Albiet with a slightly different kit) I'll be happy!
17-85, 10-22, and the 70-200 f[undecided]L!
 
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