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Archive through January 10, 2005

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Mar. ~ 2005 May: All Things Technical: The Help Desk (ARCHIVES): Digital Camera purchasing help!: ARCHIVES: Archive through January 10, 2005 users admin

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Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Saturday, January 08, 2005 - 11:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks Jimmer! You rule!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Saturday, January 08, 2005 - 12:00 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
So far that website/book is awesome!!!!

Oh, I have no problem actually buying a book or two, I just want to know the "right" book(s).

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Saturday, January 08, 2005 - 12:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Glad you're finding it helpful Julie!

I agree that books are good as well (you don't have to be at your computer to read them!). It's hard to find ones that are exactly right for you though, so you may have to just go to a store and browse around a bit.

One advantage of digital is that you can do a lot of your own post-processing. Even if you don't print your own images, you can make them look a lot better before taking them to your favorite photo finisher. So you may want to consider a book that talks about post-processing as well.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Saturday, January 08, 2005 - 7:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Question: Is it important to have a Canon external flash? The manual only lists Canon flashes in the compatibility chart. It wouldn't surprise me if they did this just to try and trick people into staying in the Canon family of products. If I buy a different brand will it still work? And are there specific advantages to using a Canon flash on a Canon camera.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Saturday, January 08, 2005 - 7:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
also, where can i find out what the differences are between these canon flashes: 220EX, 420EX, 550EX, 580EX flashes...?

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Saturday, January 08, 2005 - 9:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
There are some third party alternatives that some people use with great success. However, the general consensus seems to be that if you want to keep things uncomplicated stick with Canon flashes. They will surely provide E-TTL capability (the system that Canon uses to regulate flash and exposure).

The Canon flashes that you mention simply go from small to large with each one having a few more features and costing more. One of the best advantages to using an external flash is the ability to bounce the light off of the ceiling or a near-by wall. It is one of the single most important things that someone can do to raise the quality of their in-door flash photography.

Therefore, you would want a flash that allows you to bounce. That eliminates the smallest, least powerful and least expensive 220ex as it doesn’t allow bounce. I’d suggest the 420ex. You can bounce it and it has good power, but it’s not as large as the 550ex or the 580ex. The 580ex is the most expensive by far and uses the very latest Canon technology, but it’s probably a lot more flash than you need and will really weigh down your G6.

One last very important note. Don’t use any older flash on your G6 without checking the voltage first. It could be too high voltage and it is likely that it will damage the camera.

You might want to check the website of a good quality retailer for more details about the different flashes, plus to get an idea of the price. Try checking

B & H Photography

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, January 09, 2005 - 8:03 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Jimmer: Thank you so much for that last very important note! Cuz I was just for fun gonna try out my old flash from my rebel. I know I wouldn't have checked the voltage. Plus I think it's about 10 or even 15 years old!

Thank you for all your help!!!!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, January 09, 2005 - 8:05 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Hey, what is an omni-bounce? How useful is it?

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Sunday, January 09, 2005 - 9:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
The Stofen Omnibounce is essentially a white opaque piece of plastic that is designed to fit over the end of your flash (you need to order the one that is made for your specific flash so it fits).

Direct flash and particularly on camera flash produces very harsh directional light with sharp shadows. To avoid this a pro photographer may use a number of lights to get the dimensional shadowing and lighting effect that he or she wants. But that’s a ridiculous amount of work if you want to take a picture of your kids or cat playing.

The whole idea of bouncing a flash off of the ceiling is to spread the light and simulate the effect of being outside on a bright but cloudy day. The results won’t look as good as a pro with all those lights and expertise would get, but they will look way way better than what someone would get with a straight on camera flash.

What the omnibounce does is spread the light even more. Does it work – yes. Is it worth the $20 – maybe, but you can also achieve a very good effect by simply bouncing your flash and sticking a business card on top of it with a rubber-band to direct a little more light at your subject.

Here’s a picture of the omni-bounce:

Omnibounce

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, January 09, 2005 - 12:17 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
When you bounce the light off the ceiling, do you have to make sure the angle form the flash to the ceiling would equal (like maybe a mirror image) of where the subject is? (Do I make sense here?)

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Sunday, January 09, 2005 - 2:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
You have the flash head angled up (sort of like in the picture) so it bounces off the ceiling in front of you, but as you are really just spreading the light, the angle doesn't need to be really precise in any sense.

Plus if you use the omnibounce or business card idea, some of the flash will go directly toward your subject (though even that's not necessary for good results).

I'm happy to help.

Yankee_in_ca
Member

08-01-2000

Sunday, January 09, 2005 - 4:51 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
After considering the 5-6 models available for smaller 7.0 megapixels (including the Canon G6 and the Olympus 7000), I bought the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-V3 today. There were a few reasons why I decided on this camera over the others, and I'm charging the battery now. I'll let you know about picture quality, shutter lag, etc., once I've had a chance to test it around a bit.

P.S. -- Julieboo, I really considered the G6, especially after reading/hearing your thoughts here -- but my partner is a prof photographer who uses Nikon, and I didn't think he'd ever forgive me LOL.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 8:14 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Yankee, those were my 3 "finalists!" I just hope i made the right choice! I am having some problems, like at times the background is in focus, but the subject is not. Guess I just gotta make sure that green box comes on.

I have 2 questions (for starters): What is ND? and can someone explain when I should change the ISO (and to what)?

Thanks!

Draheid
Moderator

09-09-2001

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 9:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Julieboo: ND stands for Neutral Density - a filter which reduces the amount of light allowed to pass through the lens - used primarily in very bright settings where you want to use specific aperture and film speed settings and you have too much light already. They do not affect the quality of the image, only the overall luminance (brightness). You would probably use these more often outdoors on bright days.

ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization (I don't know why it's not IOS but that's what I find anyway) - this organization reviews and establishes standards that will keep products and services consistent around the world.

In the case of photography, ISO relates to the sensitivity of the film being used. The higher numbers are more sensitive meaning they require less light. However, in digital imaging and photography, the higher numbers have a tendency to introduce 'noise' into the images as you increase the ISO setting. CLICK HERE to view side-by-side comparisons of digital images at various ISO settings (with enlarged portions to better illustrate the noise). Basically you want to use 100 or 200 for outdoor shots where you have plenty of light to shoot with. Indoors and other settings which require a flash would be better at ISO 400.

Something else I've been meaning to get in here and say is to play as much as you can with your camera and see what different settings do for you. Many years ago I was an arts & crafts instructor mainly teaching photography and photo processing. My suggestion was to buy cheap film and shoot as much as possible using different settings. With digital imaging, there isn't any cost for film and processing so this advice is even more viable now then it was back then. You should make yourself notes of the settings you try so that you will know what works and what doesn't.

Hope this helps.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 10:27 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
That's a great explanation Draheid! The only thing that I would add is that the Canon G series of cameras tend to have a higher sensitivity to light than their ISO indicates. Therefore, ISO 100 on a Sony is more like ISO 50 on a G6. So you would set the G6 to ISO 200 to get the same sensitivity as you would with ISO 400 on most other cameras.

Also, generally as you said, on these types of cameras, the lower the ISO you can use to get the picture you want, the better the result.

And yes, it's very important that you have the green box come on to ensure that the focus is good.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 10:53 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thank you both so much!!!

So should I use ND only when it is super bright outside?

WHen I am taking an indoor picture and it's kinda dark (nighttime) and the flash is too bright, should I use ND or should I just change the =/- setting of the flash?

Also when is using the low sharpening setting a good thing? I am guessing when I take pictures of my mom who is worried about closeups as her wrinkles come out more than beautifully defined!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 11:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I will try to post some shots...I can never seem to get them small enough (65K). Yeah, looks like it'll work. BTW, the white/green spots on her cheeks are sparkles. This is my niece Amber and she was at a birthday party where they do the kids hair and put sparkles all over the place...

a

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 11:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
c

Here is my goofy dh in the b&w setting. Course I could make any photo B&W or sepia (or any duotone, monotone, etc. in photoshop...)

Wonder what that shadow in the lower right corner is...

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 11:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
You would never want to use the ND indoors (in fact using it indoors to reduce the flash and exposure will only cause the camera to try to compensate and make things brighter). Instead, use flash compensation.

The overly bright subject occurs when you are taking a picture of someone close to the camera, with a relatively open dark background. In an effort to lighten the background, the camera flash over exposes the closer subject.

Therefore, you can do a few things that will help prevent this.

- Turn on more lights so the background isn’t as dark.
- Use a wider aperture so that more of the existing light gets in the picture
- FEL on the subject (the little *) so the flash is set to expose more for the subject than the background.
- Use the flash compensation as you mentioned.
- Or get the person to stand somewhere, where the background isn’t as open and dark

The general situation for using an ND filter is when you have an extremely bright day and you still want to use a slower shutter-speed and your aperture is as small as you can get it or you want to use a wider aperture with a slower shutter-speed. Let’s say that you are taking a picture of a waterfall and you want to use a slow shutter-speed to blur the water.

The shadow in the lower corner is probably due to the flash not covering the full frame – which you will eliminate if you get a bigger flash.

With respect to in-camera settings like B & W, I would always make these changes after the fact in PhotoShop (or a similar program). You have much more control and but most of all it also eliminates the chance that you’ll forget to change the setting back and end up with a lot of B & W pictures that you really didn’t want that way. We've all done that at one time or another!

The low sharpening settings are for people who like to post-process every picture and sharpen them themselves in PhotoShop. You may get better results (if you know what you're doing) but it can be more work.

Try the save as jpeg setting in PhotoShop for saving smaller jpgs at a lower quality for the web.

Those are nice shots by the way.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 11:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Yankee_in_ca, While I don't know as much about them as Canon/Nikon, I do know that Sony makes good point and shoot cameras. Some people prefer them because they tend to give very sharp pictures with vibrant colors.

Have fun and let us know how it goes!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 12:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks again! and again! and again!

Can you tell me if green eye problems are resolved much the way red eye problems are?

o

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 12:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Not sure if it'll show, but I LOVE the detail from this camera. You can see every bump/line/nodule on his nose--even blown up!

no

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 12:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Actually, that’s kind of a bluish green. Dogs are a little trickier because there is more color variance.

First, click on the little Eyedropper tool (in the toolbox), go up to the tool preset box at the top left and make sure that 3 by 3 average is selected in the drop down box.

Then, all you do is follow the same process as before but when you get to the Hue/Saturation box, select blue. Then in the Hue/Saturation dialogue box click on the little eyedropper on the left and then click on the eye where it’s blue to select that range of colors. Then do the desaturate and lightness step.

Of course, you won't have this problem if you get the external flash.

Yes the picture detail is incredible, isn’t it!!!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 1:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks Jimmer!!!

In those instances where I can't change much (ie more lights) will changing the aperture make the camera more able to focus on its own? Or will changing the ISO (if I can figure that function out) do that?

If not, can you tell me (or direct me to a website) how to use the manual focus? (Do I need to be only in M mode to do that?)

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 1:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Unfortunately, as you’ve found, focusing (particularly in low light) is not a strong point of this type of camera, regardless of make. To get fast accurate auto-focussing especially in low light, you really need a dSLR.

Changing the aperture on this camera or ISO doesn't affect the cameras ability to accurately focus. But you can shoot with smaller apertures so you have more depth of field (say at at least 5.6) so your focusing isn't as critical. Remember, the bigger the number, the smaller the aperture. That's where Av mode is helpful.

Look for contrasty surfaces (the pattern on a shirt) and be patient and wait for that green box.

The “manual” focus doesn’t work very well at all. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but if it's any comfort, all the other cameras in this class have this problem.

I’d direct you to another website that would tell you how to use manual focus but to the best of my knowledge there just isn’t one that will help you, more than what they say in the manual which you already have. Sorry to have to tell you this, but I’m just being honest.