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Archive through January 16, 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 16, 2005 users admin

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Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 5:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Okay, thanks Jimmer. I thought that the little wheel (on the G6 it's located right behind the shutter release button on the top of the camera) would work like a manually controlled lens. Oh well! At least I know that the other cameras like this are the same. Do you know what that wheel is for? (besides going from shot to shot in the playback mode.)

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, January 10, 2005 - 9:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I think you use it for all sorts of things like setting shutter-speed in Tv mode or aperture in Av mode.

You also would use it for focusing after pressing the manual focus button. It magnifies an area on the screen but it's really hard to tell when something is in focus or not.

You might want to try manual focus in combo with auto focus. You do the manual focusing and then you push the set button and the camera finishes the job - not sure how well this works as I don't have a G6 myself and I haven't tried it.

It may have changed with the G6 but on older G models, the program mode doesn't work as well with flash as it tends to choose wide apertures. Therefore as I said before it may be better to shoot in Av mode when using flash and set the aperture to around f 5.6 or f 4.0 to give yourself nice depth of field so that you don't have to worry about focus so much (of course if you want to blur the background you have to use a wide aperture).

P.S. for anyone reading this who thinks I’ve lost my mind saying that F 4 will give decent depth of field, remember that the sensor size on these cameras means that the lenses in reality are physically very short and thus give much greater depth of field than you would get with an SLR at the "equivalent" focal length and F-stop.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 3:19 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Jimmer (or anyone who might know this), what is the difference (besides the ability to change lenses, the ability to manually focus with the lens itself and the amount of megapixels) between a G6 and A rebel?

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 6:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Here's some close up shots. Taken in the day. Now I gotta figure out how to take clear ones like this at night...
c e e

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 8:53 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Nice pictures Julie! What a cutie (the baby I mean – um not that your dh isn’t cute but, hey you can tell him that, not me)!

Differences between the Rebel and the G6. The Rebel is a dSLR, which means that when you look through the viewfinder you are actually looking through the lens (and that is nice!). However, you can not see a live image on the LCD.

You can switch lenses (as you mentioned), so you can put really big, heavy and expensive lenses on it if you want to. You have access to the full Canon lens system, including all the professional lenses - some lenses cost far more than the camera itself! The lens is a very important part of the process. The Rebel focuses much faster and better. You can focus manually if you want to but most people just auto-focus. There is virtually no shutter lag.

The Rebel digital sensor actually has slightly fewer megapixels than the G6 (the Rebel has a six megapixel sensor), but the sensor is physically much larger, which means that the photoreceptors are larger and less close together. Therefore, the image is much cleaner, especially at higher ISOs (better in lower light). You can get a much narrower depth of field, because of the lens / sensor combination (good for focusing on your subject and bluring the background).

The Rebel does less processing on the image in the camera (though you can control this) as Canon expects most dSLR users to want to fiddle with their images themselves in PhotoShop.

Okay … so those are all great features for the Rebel, but what is good about the G6? It’s much smaller and much lighter and you have a decent lens with good range – sure you can put those big pro lenses on the Rebel but they are big and they weigh a ton! Plus, the kit lens (the one that Canon includes with the Rebel body) isn’t all that great so if you really want great results you’ve got to spend more money on at least another lens. Plus to get really great results, you pretty well have to spend time post-processing your images in PhotoShop (or similar) whereas the G6 will give you better results straight out of the camera that you don't have to do as much with if you don't want to.

So in a nutshell Rebel means great images but it takes a lot more knowledge and effort to get them. G6 gives really good images and is more suitable for someone for whom photography isn't as major a hobby or profession.

Finally, we can't under estimate the skill of the photographer. A skilled photographer with a G6 will easily out do a poor photographer with a Rebel. The person taking the image plays a huge role.

Of course if I were to post this note on a photography forum I’d probably get “flamed” by both the G6 and the Rebel aficionados.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 10:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks Jimmer.

Now for my next question. I was trying like crazy to take a shot of my 5 year old in the kitchen tonight. He was not sitting very still and the light is pretty low in there. All the pictures turned out pretty bad. I didn't increase the flash (or is it exposure) but for most of them I was in auto mode and you can't adjust that there. I will try to post some of my results. My question is this: what settings/mode should I use?

t

p

p


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Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 10:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
t

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 10:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Oh, also, the ?focus box? (is that what ya call it) did turn green many times when the picture was nowhere near in focus... help me help me help me! I think I am having buyers' remorse!

Cathie
Member

08-16-2000

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 10:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Julie, it looks to me like you might have fluorescent light in the kitchen--my digitals look yellowed like that in fluorescent light. I know most good digitals have a white balance setting that can probably help. Mine does but I have never studied how to use it correctly. One thing that works for me in these lighting settings is to turn the overhead fluorescent light off and take the photos in an almost dark room. My flash more than compensates for the loss of overhead light and I get good color, not yellow shots.

I'm sure the camera pros here will give you a better answer, but since no one was responding yet I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 10:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
One more question for the night. Just about every camera has certain preset modes (ie: landscape, portrait, sports, etc.)
Are these about the same settings (aperture and shutter, etc) on each camera?
Do they vary from camera to camera?
Do they vary on the same camera depending on light or anything?

Cathie
Member

08-16-2000

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 10:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Oh, and the two that look out of focus to me are centered on the cabinet instead of your son (probably because he moved), so it may have focused on the edge of the cabinet? Actually, if he was moving during the shot it would appear out of focus, too.

This one's just a one cent response... :-)

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Cathie, thanks for the 2 cents! Every bit helps me!!!

Duh, I shoulda tried that! Hmmm, I think I'll check that fixture out...

well I just looked and cannot tell for 100% (our ceilings are 9 ft. and I'm too tired to get a ladder.) But the fixture looks to me like 3 regular lightbulbs (they are encased in three globes.) So I am doubting that the light is flourescent.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks for the one cent response too!! Every penny helps! :-)

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
ACK! I just figured it out. My flash is not working! HELP!!! Oh man. Why me? Obviously it was working before!

Well for crying out loud! Apparently when the shoe cover (is that what you'd call it) is on, the flash won't flash...! I am very relieved!!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 11:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
What a dope I am! At least I figured it out. But still, why didn't I even notice that no flash was going off????? Big DUH to me!!!

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 7:33 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Wow Julie! I don't think I would have thought of that one! Glad you were able to figure it out.

The “pre-set” modes are pretty similar from camera to camera. They do very basic adjustments based on certain assumptions. For example, “Sports” mode assumes you want to use the fastest shutter-speed possible to avoid blurring the action. “Portrait” mode assumes that you want to use a wide aperture to blur the background and concentrate on the person. And so on.

For in-door flash pictures, use Av mode and set the f-stop to around f 4 or f 5.6. I think that this will give you much more reliable results when you are first starting out, than program mode. The program mode with flash (unless they’ve changed it) tends to select a very wide aperture.

Concentrate on holding the camera steady (sounds obvious, but this can be hard if you are used to looking through a viewfinder and now with digital you are holding it up in front of you and looking at the LCD).

Have you printed any of your pictures? Remember that you are seeing them at a huge size on screen when you are looking at actual size, which tends to make problems more obvious when looking at the digital image than when you see the actual print.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 8:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks J! Again! I'm sure I'll be back later with more questions! and no, I haven't printed any out. Good point!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Friday, January 14, 2005 - 2:56 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Jimmer, I have a request. It might take a little time to do, so take your time (if you'd be so kind to do it.)

Can you give some examples of when I should use the following partially manual setting (and what settings I should use on those occasions):

P
Tv (sidenote: if this is the shutter setting why don't they just call it S?)
Av
M (I know this is completely manual, but what are some instances that you'd go totally manual)

You really don't need to go totally in depth as I am sure the possibilities could be endless. I am just looking for some general, possibly common examples.


Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Friday, January 14, 2005 - 2:57 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
OR if you know of a website or book that would specifically handle these settings, just direct me. Thanks again!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 3:52 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Can someone tell me the difference between using the exposure compensation vs. using the flash compensation? (are they he same?)

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 9:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Hi Julie, Sorry I haven’t got around to answering your earlier question, but I’ll answer your second one first.

Exposure compensation and flash compensation are different. Exposure compensation affects the exposure due to ambient light (i.e. existing light not provided by flash). It will have a minimal effect on in-door flash pictures because the flash tends to over-power the natural light.

You use exposure compensation anytime you think that the light meter might have been fooled by something unusual in your picture. The most common situation for this is when you take a picture of someone with a very bright background. The exposure meter is fooled into exposing more for the bright background and your subject is too dark. So you would want to use + exposure compensation to lighten the subject (though a better way to do it might be just to use fill flash). Another situation where you would use exposure compensation is if you are taking pictures in the snow. The exposure meter doesn’t know that snow is supposed to be very white, so it tends to under-expose the picture. Again you would use + exposure compensation. That's one reason (among many) for why Wedding pictures are tough. You've usually got a Bride dressed in white, next to a Groom dressed in black.

Flash compensation adjusts flash output. You could use it in the situation we mentioned earlier where you have someone close to the camera with a dark background and the flash is too bright and over-exposes the subject.

You would use P mode, when you want to get some quick snapshots that will likely turn out okay without you thinking too much. The camera sets pretty much everything and you just compose and shoot. Of course the camera just uses pre-selected values, based on fairly common conditions, so if there is something unusual about your subject, it may not work as well.

Tv stands for Time Value (beats me why they decided to use Tv). It is really shutter-speed and it is shutter-priority which means that the camera will automatically try to set an appropriate aperture, based on the shutter-speed that you select. You would use this mode anytime shutter-speed is most important to you – if you want to freeze some action (e.g. kids playing) or if you want to blur some action (e.g. some people like to blur running water). To avoid camera shake you should use a shutter-speed of a ratio of 1 over your lens length (and stay above 1/60 at a minimum). So if your lens is at 135 mm, you would want to use a shutter-speed that is at least 1/135 of a second (of course there isn’t one at this value so you would use the next highest or maybe if you’re really steady you might get away with 1/125). For moving people, use about 1/250. Direction of movement is also important.

Av stands for Aperture value. This is the setting to use in situations where shutter-speed isn’t all that important (the item you are photographing isn’t moving) and you are more concerned about aperture. Of course you have to keep the shutter-speed in mind so that you don’t get camera shake. You set the aperture and the camera automatically sets the shutter-speed. Why would you want to set the aperture. Well, all lenses perform their best at middle range aperture (not too wide and not too narrow). With your camera that would probably be around f 5.6. So if you are out taking pictures, you could leave it at that aperture and just make sure that the shutter-speed doesn’t drop too low (in which case you would widen the aperture to get the camera to increase the shutter-speed). The other time you would be concerned about aperture is when you are concerned about depth of field (the range in which objects in the picture are in focus). You might want to use a wide aperture to blur the background so that you concentrate more on the subject or the reverse if the background is important to your picture.

My suggestion would be to stick with Av and a middle of the road aperture and keep an eye on the shutter-speed to make sure it’s reasonable. As I mentioned earlier, this will especially help your flash pictures (stay around f 4 for flash).

By the way, for anyone else reading this, Canon’s dSLRs manage flash somewhat differently. You pretty much have to set both a manual shutter-speed and a manual aperture when using flash on the dSLRs (it sounds harder than it is). There really isn’t a whole lot of reason to go manual with a G6. Maybe if you want to do some twilight shots with long exposures?

That web site I mentioned earlier covers some of this as well.

Hope this helps a bit and let us know if you have more questions or you need some clarification on what I said.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 9:20 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
By the way, in general don't use Tv mode for flash pictures (even with moving subjects). It won't work as well and the shutter-speed isn't very important to stopping motion with flash pictures as the extremely short duration of the flash stops the action anyway. For that reason, a shutter-speed of 1/60 with flash is fine (but use Av mode with flash for best results).

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 7:35 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks Jimmer! Two questions (for starters!!)
1. What is the difference between P and Automatic? (and in P, what values are to be selected?)
2. When using certain settings (let's say Tv) do I have to make sure the flash is turned off, or will it do it automatically (and then I would have to manually turn it on)?

Thanks again! Be prepared for more questions!

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 1:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
q1

On this one, (hard to tell cuz I had to shrink it) what should I do to make sure ds is in as sharp focus as dh is?
Also, could I have done anything so ds is not as "white"? Seems like dh is okay with the flash....

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 1:41 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
h

On this one, why is the background so sharp, but her face is not? I am guessing I just need to make sure the green box is on her face and not half her face/half sylvester...