New Toy!

[Matt]

I’ve finally come to terms with the fact I won’t be affording an SLR camera anytime soon so have just bought one of these. It’s not got the best spec for the price I paid but it IS waterproof to 1.5 m and shoots hi-def video so hoping to capture some sub-aquatic action with it.

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[johnpeten]

QUOTE (Matt @ Mar 1 2010, 05:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Problem is I know next to nothing about setting the camera up properly. Any tips much appreciated please!

Looks great Matt. First thing to buy is a memory card 1 or 2 GB. and a spare battery. For fish work run everything at max resolution. Then use a simple but good editing program for reducing the size and resolution. Then practice practice practice. If you have the option……… for flash work I use aperture priority at around 7 to get good depth of focus. Without flash automatic usualy works best unless you have very good light. Also for focus control with fish use the smallest area of focus not an average from a larger area. Obviously zoom in as far as the focus will permit to get maximun resolution.
For basic editing I use Photoimpressions it is usually gratis, easy and efficient. For fancy editing(sharpening,lighting and colour) I use Ulead photo express but there are many others.
An example of before and after editing. Basically a good photo but a little tweaking improves it.

Attached files

[Matt]

Thanks John. Already got a memory card but a spare battery would be a good idea. Here’s a quick test shot I just took from our roof – not the best quality but I think it’s passable. This is at 40% of original size. Sorry about the blue sky, island dwellers.

Attached files

[Matt]

QUOTE (johnpeten @ Mar 1 2010, 02:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

use the smallest area of focus not an average from a larger area

Can you explain a bit more about this please John?

[johnpeten]

QUOTE (Matt @ Mar 1 2010, 07:57 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Can you explain a bit more about this please John?

You may or may not have this option. When in auto focus the camera possibly can be set to focus on a small area in the center of the viewfinder or a larger area or the whole screen. The camera then averages out the focal length. Averaging out the whole screen it tries to bring everything into focus. For a specific object in the picture, which is normally in the center, one usualy prefers the background to be blurred and the foreground object in sharp focus.
The depth of focus is controlled by the aperture. smaller aperture(higher f stop) larger depth of focus but to get sufficient light into the camera at higher f stops, shutter speed has to be slower. A slow shutter speed = blurred picture unless on a tripod

Photo looks good, I sharpened it.
It is very sad about those blue skies. I also have to endure long periods of them.

Attached files

[Matt]

Thanks for the tips and sharpening-up job. /huh.gif” style=”vertical-align:middle” emoid=”:huh:” border=”0″ alt=”huh.gif” />

There is an option to adjust the ‘focussing area’ though, with three choices best described as wide, narrow and and er, dunno (icon looks like three vertically-aligned dashes with a green circle next to it). I guess the ‘narrow’ one would be the one I’d use for close-in fish portraits?

[johnpeten]

QUOTE (Matt @ Mar 1 2010, 02:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the tips and sharpening-up job. /huh.gif” style=”vertical-align:middle” emoid=”:huh:” border=”0″ alt=”huh.gif” />

There is an option to adjust the ‘focussing area’ though with three choices best described as wide, narrow and and er, dunno (icon looks like three vertically-aligned dashes with a green circle next to it). I guess the ‘narrow’ one would be the one I’d use for close-in fish portraits?

Yes my camera has a whole list of special modes. Some are useful but most of them I have ignored. If you are not sure about something, experiment with it and note if it is useful or not. Most of the stuff on my camera I do not use. It took me many months to finally get some decent fish pictures.
I usually use the flash as a fill even in daylight, the power of my flash is variable. This allows me to use a high aperture setting (f7.1) giving a good focal depth and an acceptable higher shutter speed.
The flash does drain the battery very quickly so a spare is essential. You may not know that lithium-ion batteries only have a life of 3 to 4 years whether you use them or not.

[Plaamoo]

I’m having a look at your(I think?) manual online Matt. see here
http://www.pentaximaging.com/images/temp/6…en_official.pdf
Looking at page 107…it seems you have a macro(for close-ups) stteing and a manual focus setting, which i would use in most cases.
Looking at page 109… the spot option would be what John’s referring to, for fish that you can keep in the viewfinder, ie not moving to fast! You might try the auotmatic tracking , AF, option to see how it does on fast moving fish?
Like John said, try it all and see what works for you.

[johnpeten]

QUOTE (plaamoo @ Mar 1 2010, 05:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You might try the auotmatic tracking , AF, option to see how it does on fast moving fish?

The AF option for continuous focussing is a very handy feature and speeds things up for “Photo ops” However the continuous beam from the camera seems to upset some fish and they scoot off. It also chews up the battery if you have the camera switched on slung around your neck.
Manual focussing is usually used with a tripod or in weird lighting where there is very little contrast. I rarely use it, the camera is usually smarter than I am.

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[Plaamoo]

Do you have the same camera John? I know nothing about this camera and how the manual focus works? With my Nikon D70s/18-55mm lens, I get better results with manual focus. This lens is low end and the autofocus is easliy fooled. It can get confused and hunt and hunt for focus and the results are frustrating! It can also be tricky i’m getting better with the manual focus.

[johnpeten]

QUOTE (plaamoo @ Mar 1 2010, 08:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you have the same camera John? I know nothing about this camera and how the manual focus works? With my Nikon D70s/18-55mm lens, I get better results with manual focus. This lens is low end and the autofocus is easliy fooled. It can get confused and hunt and hunt for focus and the results are frustrating! It can also be tricky i’m getting better with the manual focus.

I have a Panasonoc Lumix DMC FZ 50 camare with Leica 7.4 mm – 88.8 mm with 12 X optical zoom.
The camera has 1 3 or 9 area focussing. I always use 1 area, the center spot.
Naturally the performance of different cameras differ and one must adjust to what the camera can do. As agreed one must practice, practice practice and adjust ones use of the camera accordingly.

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