New camera and I'm confused?????

[suzybeezy]

I got a Panasonic DMC-LZ7 (7.2 megapixels). I want to understand it as best I can before our Disney trip, cause my pictures and memories are very important to me.

In reading thru this thread, I've learned alot, and have my instruction manual handy.

I want to take nice pictures of parades, rides, fireworks, spectro etc. I see a tripod is very important, so I just ordered one (50-inch travel tripod, which folds to a compact 17 inches).

I read inthis forum also that for night shots (Spectro and fireworks) that its important to have a high ISO speed. My camera has alot of settings, which is adding to my confusion. It seems I can use the scene mode that will automatically set up my camera for the optimal pictures, right? For example, there's a scenery option which allows you to take picture of a wide landscape. I'd us this option for taking a picture from Main St, MK; or capturing the WS at Epcot, right? There's a night scenery mode option on my camera that I can select for 8 seconds to 1/2000th of a speed. That's the option I'd want for night scenes, using a tripod, right?

If I wanted to take picture of the Wishes parade, would I select Sports mode, for fast-moving objects? Would this also be the mode I'd pick for say Indiana Jones or Beauty and the Beast shows????? Would I also use this mode on rides???

I can't figure out the difference between Night Portrait mode and Night Scenery. The descriptions from the instruction book say Night Portrait - allows you to take pictures of a person and the background with near real-life brightness; Night Scenery allows you to take vivid picture of the nightscape. Now to add to my confusion, there's also a Fireworks mode which says allows you to take pictures of fireworks exploding in the night.

So in order to take nice vacation pictures, which modes do I use when?Seems I have more modes then I can handle. LOL I'd love to just select auto and have them all come out great, but I suspect that's not the case.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't know when your trip is, but IMO the best thing you can do is take your camera now and learn to use it using the tripod and different settings. Find a local place which mimics the types of shots you want at WDW. Don't be surprised if you make lots of mistakes and have some crappy pictures at first. But better at home than on your trip. Once you venture out of Auto it can get confusing very quickly, but the remedy for that is practice.

 

[Groucho]

If you're taking photos outdoors or in fairly well-lit areas, you will generally be pretty safe leaving the camera in auto.

You mention "Wishes parade" but I assume that you mean the Wishes fireworks show. The "traditional" fireworks photos are long exposures to give the "flower" look - exactly the opposite of what sports mode will attempt to do. To get decent fireworks photos like this, you'll almost have to have some sort of steady support like a tripod. You will generally NOT want a high ISO speed for fireworks.

For night photos of non-moving things (like buildings), it sounds like "night scenery" will be the ticket, with a fairly long exposure and again, using a tripod.

If you want to take a crack as shooting a dark, moving subject like the SpectroMagic parade, you will want to use a high ISO to get a decent shutter speed (1/60th at least, 1/90th better), and your camera will probably be either incapable of getting those shutter speeds in that light, or the "noise" caused by the high ISO modes will be pretty objectionable. SpectroMagic is difficult to shoot under any circumstance; to get the best shots, you not only need a DSLR but also a specific type of lens that is designed to work well in low light. Back to ISO, though - generally, ISO is the last thing you want to turn up, you only do it when it's dark enough that you have no other option. (Which is pretty common at Disney.)

It's the same story with taking photos on dark rides like HM or PotC - you will probably not be able to get acceptable photos, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

[suzybeezy]

Thank you for your replies.

Fireworks, I should try the fireworks mode with tripod.

Nightime at Disney, I should try Night scenery mode with tripod.

For Parades, and shows, I should try sports mode, using tripod.

For Spectro and dark rides, I can try playing with night portrait, night scenery, sports, or auto, using a tripod and see if any of them work?

So does that sound about right?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Even though you use a Lumix, you should read the Canon S3/S5 thread here. There are lots of great tips and things to learn since the cameras and techniques are similar. Good luck.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1235546&referrerid=70088

 

[suzybeezy]

Thank you - going to give that thread a look now.