Advice please

[Acipiter]

I have one of the new canon bridge cameras, a power shot sx30 is. what settings would be best to use inside a wood, using the telephoto at maximum. its supposed to be 35x. So far the auto setting which I have tried, is bringing the best results. that's without using any kind of support ie tripod or monopod. Would f/11 and iso 200 be ok.

[Tringa]

The focal length equivalent of the top end of your camera's zoom in terms of a 35mm camera is 840mm.

A guide that is often mentioned is the shutter speed should be about 1/focal length, so about 840mm. The image stabiliser will help, but I think it could be difficult to get a clear shot at less than 1/500th sec.

1/500th at f11 and an ISO of 200 in a wood where I guess the light may not be that good I think going to be difficult.

As the need to prevent camera shake is paramount I suggest trying shutter priority mode. You can then select a high shutter sped an let the camera sort out the aperture. However, you may need to increase the ISO, which will eventually introduce noise.

You mentioned that the auto settings are producing the best results so the EXIF data would be a good starting point.

Try lots of different settings of shutter speed, aperture and ISO and see what you can get. The great thing is the photos are free and you learn a lot.

Oh, and post some of you photos on here, please.

Dave

[Lancashire Lad]

Normally difficult to generalise on such things not knowing lighting conditions that will prevail at the time, but I wouldn't think (unless it happens to be an exceptionally bright day), that you have any realistic chance of getting blur free photos hand held at an effective focal length of 840mm (35x) regardless of what f number and ISO you have the settings on.

I doubt very much whether (set at f11 - ISO200) your camera would offer a valid shutter speed, or if it did, it would be a very slow shutter speed.

With such a focal length (going only on rule of thumb here), you will need a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th second - and considerably faster than that if your subject is moving with any sort of pace.

I'd initially suggest setting your camera to shutter priority, at 1/1000th second, and ISO minimum of 400 - but I doubt that even those settings will achieve a valid aperture.

Sorry to be so pessimistic, but your proposed location is probably one of the most difficult there could be. - And more so when not contemplating the use of tripod/monopod.

Regards,
Mike.

[Acipiter]

Thank you friends for the advice, when it comes to photography I am still very much a beginner. If you all could keep the advice easy to understand please I have tried shutter priority mode with a iso of 400 and the result was what I call grainy when I show it on the pc at any kind of mag. When using auto mode it is much better. The camera is doing a excellent job of stabilising the pic, so that's not a problem. I have tried all the settings I can think of that might help but so far I have not been able to improve on auto mode. I am beginning to think I am asking two much from my camera.

[shenk1]

What are you wanting to take pics of?

If its birds I'd put it on aperture priority and the largest aperture (thats actually the smallest number - 4 is bigger than 5 - don't ask) as this will give the fastest shutter speed for the conditions.

ISO 200 will probably give the most pleasing results but if you just need a pic for records or an ID then go to 4 or 800.It will be grainier but its only top end dslr's that can cope with that

If its still stuff like fungi or plants then if you want to hand hold just use the flash if its close enough.

Hope this helps

shenk1

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Acipiter

I have tried shutter priority mode with a iso of 400 and the result was what I call grainy when I show it on the pc at any kind of mag.

Just a thought, but something that might improve things - and which as a beginner you may not have done. (If you are having to magnify the images when viewing on PC, it sounds like you might have the camera on one of the smaller photo capture settings).

You need to check with your camera manual and if necessary adjust the settings so that it is set on "jpeg fine" or the best jpeg setting that is available.

That will give you the largest available image size, and will be the best base from which to start any cropping etc.

I've seen this with several people who have bought cameras and have left them on the default factory settings. Never realising that the camera was able to take much bigger (and hence more image information within) photos.

It won't solve any camera shake problems or high ISO grain etc. but you shouldn't need to magnify the images as much when viewing on a PC.


Regards,
Mike.

[Acipiter]

That was the first settings I tried, (aperture priority) f8 at iso 200) but auto mode was better. Should I have increased the aperture? My subjects are birds by the way.

[shenk1]

The smaller the f number the faster the shutter speed will be.

The depth of field is shallower so only the thing you are focusing on will be in focus but thats not a bad thing as with bird shots background in focus can be distracting.Rather that having leaves and branches visible behind the bird you will get a sort of mottled green background and (hopefully) just the bird in focus.

[Acipiter]

I did that Mike, The overall colour is better on auto for some reason?

[Acipiter]

I was out all the week end with the camera, after reading every thing I could, and taking your advice, I now have some very pleasing results. These are the settings I found that was the best. AV mode, aperture wide open, iso set to auto, AF frame flexizone, servo AF on, continuous AF on, i- contrast Auto spot AE center, colour set to positive film- recreate the effect of shooting with film. I then saved the settings to C1- custom. Whether this is professionally correct or not, I don't know, but I am well pleased. My thanks to you all....Alan.