Canon S3

[hddanis]

I've gone through the thread and taken pages of notes, but for some reason I can't find what you guys have recommended for settings for Spectro.

Do you mind posting them for me?

TIA

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

I've gone through the thread and taken pages of notes, but for some reason I can't find what you guys have recommended for settings for Spectro.

Do you mind posting them for me?

Spectro is one of the hardest things to take pictures of with an S3, or any small-sensor camera. Heck, it's hard for the DSLRs even with a fast prime lens!

I did get a few decent pictures like this:

with these settings:

Av mode with Av set to 2.7 and no zoom, metering set to Center Weighted or Spot, depending on how bright the float is, and in the example posted above. To make switching metering modes easier, I've set my custom button on the back of the camera to 'metering' and can switch modes quickly; instructions for setting the button are in the manual) and ISO=400. I was generally getting 1/30 shutter speeds which, thanks to the IS, is just barely fast enough. It also helps to take more than one pic of each float as some will inevitably be blurrier than others.

You have to aim for the brightest part of the floats (where the most lights are) to get a decent shutter speed to have any hope of reducing/eliminating camera shake and subject motion blurring....

 

[hddanis]

Spectro is one of the hardest things to take pictures of with an S3.

I did get a few decent pictures like this:
with these settings:

Av mode with Av set to 2.7 and no zoom, metering set to Center Weighted (or Spot depending on how bright the float is -- I've set my custom button on the back of the camera to 'metering' and can switch modes quickly; instructions for setting the button are in the manual) and ISO=400.

You have to aim for the brightest part of the floats (where the most lights are) to get a decent shutter speed to have any hope of reducing/eliminating camera shake and subject motion blurring....

Thanks for the fast reply! I'll just keep snapping away and hope for the best! With you're hlep, I've already set the shortcut button and I've also copied your settings for my custom setting. Hopefully this will help get some decent shots while I'm there

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

Thanks for the fast reply! I'll just keep snapping away and hope for the best! With you're hlep, I've already set the shortcut button and I've also copied your settings for my custom setting. Hopefully this will help get some decent shots while I'm there

Good luck!!

 

[jkcd513]

I have never posted photos before so how do I get them from my computer HD to this site? Thanks.

What settings on the S5 do everyone else use for indoor photos of kids and what setting for large groups of people (family photo of 20 people or of 3 people)? Just curious to see if I am doing something wrong or have something set wrong on my camera. Also my external mounted flash has a manual setting, but I have no clue what all the setting mean.


Thanks again.
Jennifer

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

I have never posted photos before so how do I get them from my computer HD to this site? Thanks.

You need to sign up with a hosting service. There are lots of them, but Photobucket is free and popular.

You upload your pictures to the hosting site (which can resize them, or you resize them, yourself, first). Once you've uploaded your pics, in addition to an online photo album, you'll get links that you can copy into your posts here on the DIS and other similar forums.

 

[Soupermom]

What "metering" position do most of you have your 3S's set on--for everyday quick snapshots? I think I had mine set at one time, but I noticed the other day that some of the setting were off and now I'm concerned about this one.

TIA

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

I've had my S3 for just over a year and a half. I got it as a starter for my photojournalism elective (I'm a PR major, which is a journalism degree at OU). It's turned out to be a pretty nice little piece of machinery!! Here's a few shots from Oklahoma's recent ice storm and my first post on this thread!

 

[tiff13]

TotalSnowWhiteWelcome! I really like your first picture. I hope thats not your poor car

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

TotalSnowWhiteWelcome! I really like your first picture. I hope thats not your poor car

Haha!! No, thank goodness! We're the only members of my entire family in Oklahoma who never lost power, and we were one of two households who didn't have a branch fall on one of our cars! My cousin's car was totaled! Crazy weather here in lovely Oklahoma!

 

[ImaginEars]

 

[cc1075]

I just saw this cat under a Christmas Tree - - I know my cats!!

Again - - - - great photography!!

I have nine cats - think I will go practice - if they will cooperate!!

 

[AndrewWG]

I've had my S3 for just over a year and a half. I got it as a starter for my photojournalism elective (I'm a PR major, which is a journalism degree at OU). It's turned out to be a pretty nice little piece of machinery!! Here's a few shots from Oklahoma's recent ice storm and my first post on this thread!

Always remember to wipe your nose alot when out in the cold weather!

 

[Amy]

Andy, you beat me to the punch! I saw this and couldn't stop laughing!! DH had to come in to see what was so funny. Great shot!

 

[TotalSnowWhite]

Andy, you beat me to the punch! I saw this and couldn't stop laughing!! DH had to come in to see what was so funny. Great shot!

Haha!! I risked my rear end and pride to slide across the pavement to get that one! I thought it was waaay too funny not to capture!

 

[AndrewWG]

Haha!! I risked my rear end and pride to slide across the pavement to get that one! I thought it was waaay too funny not to capture!

It's a great shot and WAY too funny looking! Good Job getting to it to photograph it!

Andy, you beat me to the punch! I saw this and couldn't stop laughing!! DH had to come in to see what was so funny. Great shot!

Sorry Amy! I had to post that as soon as I saw it. Reminded me too much of when I was a kid, outside playing in the snow. Do kids still go outside and play? Sheesh. What a difference 20+ years makes.

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

What "metering" position do most of you have your 3S's set on--for everyday quick snapshots? I think I had mine set at one time, but I noticed the other day that some of the setting were off and now I'm concerned about this one.

For anything in "normal" lighting, Evaluative is the proper setting ... it's also the default.

You should only needed to switch to Center-weighted or Spot if the lighting gets "trickier."

Spot is best when you are shooting one bright subject on dark backgrounds; like a spot-lit singer on a dark stage.

Center-weighted is like a compromise between Evaluative and Spot, it looks at the whole frame, but give more "weight" to whatever is in the center; hence the name.

 

[ImaginEars]

 

[jkcd513]

I am not sure how all these setting seem to keep changing. I thought the family photos were shot with ISO 80, but they were at iso-200, but I still don't know why the people in the shot don't all seem in focus. This will be something I have to figure out before we go to Disney because of all the group shots of son/characters/ and us. With the exception of the playing in snow photo all used built in flash (the snow used the new external flash I got last week). Any help or suggestions (especially for character meet and greets) would be great. I'm sure I just have something set wrong that seems to make everything not come out very sharp and/or very noisey.
here is the link to my photobucket album with these photos: (let me know if this link didn't work).

http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg69/jkcd513/

2381: me and my little peanut
shutter- 1/60 sec
lens aperture - F/3.2
Flash
6mm focal length
exposure 1/60 sec
ISO- 200
metering mode - pattern
exposure comp. = 0 step

2303: smaller family group shot
shutter- 1/60 sec
lens aperture - F/3.2
Flash
9mm focal length
exposure 1/60 sec
ISO- 200
metering mode - pattern
exposure comp. = 0 step


2295: - large family photo
shutter- 1/60 sec
lens aperture - F/2.7
Flash
6mm focal length
exposure 1/60 sec
ISO- 200
metering mode - pattern
exposure comp. = 0 step


1820: (Bells)
shutter- 1/101 sec
lens aperture - F/3.2
Flash
10 mm focal length
exposure 1/100 sec
ISO- 80
metering mode - pattern
exposure comp. = 0 step


Winter: (taken today around 4:30pm)
shutter- 1/251 sec
lens aperture - F/5
Flash
9mm focal length
exposure 1/250 sec
ISO- 100
metering mode - pattern
exposure comp. = -0.3 step


1611: - taxi in new york city time square (I actually think this one turned out pretty good)

shutter- 1/60 sec
lens aperture - F/2.7
Flash
6mm focal length
exposure 1/60 sec
ISO- 200
metering mode - pattern
exposure comp. = 0 step


Thanks in advance for all help/advice.

Jennifer

 

[AndrewWG]

Jennifer,

If I had to guess, I would say that the aperture of f2.7 and 3.2 are just too wide open for good depth of field in those group shots. What setting did you use on the camera? If you use Av (aperture priority) you could cut that down to f5.6 or f8 and get a better depth of field. This will slow the shutter speed down a bit too though. With an external flash, this shouldn't matter as you can probably just switch the camera to Manual and put the aperture to f8 and shutter speed to like 1/60 to 1/100 and fire away. I'm not sure what the synch speed is on the external flash units on your camera (I assume an S5 Is) but 1/100 should be fine.

I should add that the photos don't look so much out of focus to me. Could be their smaller size on photobucket, but overall they look pretty good.