Newbie with questions

[HaveBaitWillFish]

Hey guys & gals, I am a newbie to photography, I got rid of my point and shoot and bought a lil nicer camera to learn on. It is the Fuji s1000fd, 10 mp. There is an auto setting, m, a,s,p,n,sp1,sp2,panaramic settings also. My questions are about exposure and shutter speed. I've read some of the other posts and it's like you are speaking Greek to me (nothing against Greeks of course). I was on the beach in Florida and took some pics...I had it on auto first and the pics came up real dark, flipped modes and such and I finally figured out something that looked good. But I have no clue. Can you guys give me any advice...I consider myself fairly intelligent but maybe you could tell me in the simplist terms possible. Thanks in advance.

[Steve Foss]

HaveBaitWillFish, start here.

It's a thread stickied to the top of this board with a bunch of photoraphy basics as well as more advanced tips, and I suspect the very first post in the thread will give you some good info.

[HaveBaitWillFish]

Thanks, I guess I should have looked there first.

[Steve Foss]

No prob!

[HaveBaitWillFish]

stfcatfish, I suppose figuring out what works best for which kind of conditions is what the art of photography is.

[Steve Foss]

Yep. The best advice I can give you is to master the interlocking nature of shutter speed, aperture and iso and to experiment, experiment, experiment.

That may sound like a lot of work, but really it's a lot of fun. It's not the destination, it's the journey.

[IceChicka]

I just recently got the same camera and am just as lost as you,

went from a point and shoot as well, I have had some trouble with the auto settings on it though, for some reason it is suppose to auto focus and it doesn't, sometimes it will pick up the object ment to be in focus and highlight it with the lil square and then it will be fine, but tring to get that lil box to pop up on the object has been a challenge on its own lol.

I feel so silly when a normal easy shot turns out blurry. I really haven't messed with any settings until I know more about it.

Steve thanks for posting about that sticky, I didn't see it and was a great read.

With everything going on around here lately I have forgot to really sit down and figure this all out, but with the baby due in 10 weeks I really would like to have a grasp on this camera so I can get the shots desired.

If I find out anything HaveBaitWillFish I will definitely shoot you a post. I need to get offa this HSOforum first hahaha.

Keep in touch with your findings if you could please

Thanks and best of luck to you

[Dbl]

I just recently got the same camera and am just as lost as you,

went from a point and shoot as well, I have had some trouble with the auto settings on it though, for some reason it is suppose to auto focus and it doesn't, sometimes it will pick up the object ment to be in focus and highlight it with the lil square and then it will be fine, but tring to get that lil box to pop up on the object has been a challenge on its own lol.

I feel so silly when a normal easy shot turns out blurry. I really haven't messed with any settings until I know more about it.

One thing that can really help you here is to select which focus point you wish to use. Look at your manual for selection of focus points. I use center point only focus for the vast majority of my shots. I also move that around based on what I happen to be shooting.

The other option along with this is the focus mode you are using. AI Servo is a continuous focus mode, meaning as long as you have the shutter button pushed half-way down you will continue to focus. One-Shot mode will once it gets a focus lock will now stop focusing.

Use AI Servo if you photographing objects that are in motion. You can use One Shot on stationary objects. That is a simplified version but it will get you started!

[IceChicka]

I have a quick question that makes me a lil nervous.

I know this may sound extremely stupid but I am a bit worried about messing around with the settings on this cam, can I ruin the camera in anyway by accidentally messing up the 3 main things you have mentioned shutter speed/iso/aperture?

I am starting from scratch and am brain locked with this cam.

Thanks

[Dbl]

No, no worries at all. I would encourage you to make all the changes you want. About the only thing that might get you into trouble would be the "format" option when in your menu. If you had pictures on a disk and you format you will lose them. The good news is if you accidentally format a disk you most likely will be able to get them back.

So but a blank card in your camera and have fun pushing buttons and twisting dials. Just take your time. Experiment with "P" mode, you will see the camera will make most of your decisions. Av mode you set your aperture and the camera will select a shutter speed for you. Tv mode and you select the shutter speed and the camera will decide on an aperture.

What you set your ISO at will affect all of these things. A nice sunny day with good light, use a lower ISO such as 100, 200. A cloudy day with lower light and you want to select a higher ISO, such as 400 or 800. So set your ISO first and then go ahead and try each of the different modes and see what happens!

[IceChicka]

Thank you very very much..was kinda worried about messing something up.

I used the info on that sticky and the info you gave and WOOOOOT it worked It's kinda cool to watch the difference in shutter speeds from pic to pic with just a slight difference in numbers..

OOOO baby steps is sooo much fun

[Dbl]

Good for you! You are well on your way! Have fun and enjoy and ask away when you need to!

[Birdsong]

[quote=Dbl

One thing that can really help you here is to select which focus point you wish to use. Look at your manual for selection of focus points. I use center point only focus for the vast majority of my shots. I also move that around based on what I happen to be shooting.

[Steve Foss]

On Canon DSLR cameras, you can clear all settings by using the menu, and can clear all custom functions as well.

I assume other camera makers have that feature, too.

And I agree completely with Dan. Pick your own focus point. If you let the camera pick it, particularly with the less fast and sophisticated entry level DSLRs, it might pick the wrong focus point, and it'll slow down the focusing process most of the time.

[2dog]

What should the auto focus mode on the camera be set to?

[Dbl]

Quote:

One thing that can really help you here is to select which focus point you wish to use. Look at your manual for selection of focus points. I use center point only focus for the vast majority of my shots. I also move that around based on what I happen to be shooting.

The other option along with this is the focus mode you are using. AI Servo is a continuous focus mode, meaning as long as you have the shutter button pushed half-way down you will continue to focus. One-Shot mode will once it gets a focus lock will now stop focusing.

Use AI Servo if you photographing objects that are in motion. You can use One Shot on stationary objects. That is a simplified version but it will get you started!

This is from just a bit further up in this thread.

[Steve Foss]

The other option along with this is the focus mode you are using. AI Servo is a continuous focus mode, meaning as long as you have the shutter button pushed half-way down you will continue to focus. One-Shot mode will once it gets a focus lock will now stop focusing.

2dog, that's a quote from Dbl from further up in this same thread.

Al servo and one-shot modes are Canon conventions. I know Nikon offers the same focus modes with different names, and presumably the other DSLR makers do as well.

I only use Al servo for subjects that are tracking along. In other words, if I'm shooting a bird in a tree, and the bird is jumping around or moving from perch to perch, I don't use Al servo because it can hunt for focus in low light situations. And if you don't keep your focus point in exactly the right place, Al servo, because it continues to adjust focus, will have you focusing on the WRONG place.

For a bird/animal/person/whatever subject that is moving toward or away from you, Al servo is great. For a still subject, or one that's shifting position a bit and moving within a small area, one-shot is best.

One-shot also allows you to grab focus on your subject, keep the shutter button depressed half way to lock focus, and then recompose/reframe the image before pressing the shutter. If you tried that with Al servo it would abandon the subject and grab the background as soon as you tried to recompose.

[2dog]

Thank you. I totally missed that part when I read this thread.