new camera

[RJD]

Thank you all.
I've been looking at the 400d. with a canon 18/200 lens. which will be 845 euros. and another 30 for a 1 gig memory card.

Will this do the job?

200mm is just long enough to photo surfing.

Check out these I took ( on a 70-200f4L)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.dickinson/MagnetSurf

That 18-200 is a 10* zoom, thats always going to be compromised to convinience rather than quality but it'll make a good all round lens you can add too later.

Should make a pretty decent team with the 400d.

BTW the canon 50mm f1.8 prime is stunning value and well worth adding at any point.

[keef]

The sequence of the guy on the McTavish longboard is very good.
There is one or two that are zoomed in a bit more than the rest. Are they on full zoom?

Is the quality of a 70 / 200, better than an 18 / 200, and do they have the same magnification.

When a posted that I knew nothing about cameras I really meant NOTHING. Although I do know which camera I want. Every shop I've been in, and that's about 12 so far, say the canon is the best value/ quality camera they sell.

[RJD]

The ones zoomed in are crops, i.e. not whole frames, rest are the whole frame. I think there all shot at 200mm but would have to check the exif.

The 70-200f4L is quality wise as good as canon make, for a zoom its sharp, good contrast & very fast socusing & well built. Being picky it has some barrel distortion (but then zooms do) and its only noticable with straight verticles.

I've absolutly no idea on the quality of the canon 18-200 but its likely a fraction of the cost of the other and not 'L' either. The more zoom a lens has (i.e. the ratio of wide end to narrow, 18-200 = 10 *, 70-200 = 3 *) the harder it is to make.

200mm is 200mm whichever lens you use (tho on the 'crop' sensor dSLR's its effectivly 320mm in 35mm terms...)

The quality of the shot and the maximum apature are goind to be different.

[keef]

okay, chose the 400d and a canon 70 / 300 III lense, got all in with 1G memory card for 800 euros, but.............................
the first one had a scratch/hair on the mirror, and the replacement has a faulty screen, so thats gone back aswell.
The guy in the shop is however really helpful, and has ordered me a new one which I'm picking up this evening, hopefully that one will
a) be there when I go to collect it and
b) work.

maybe I should have bought her a Nikon after all.

[long_man]

most definitely should have matey...... Nikon all the way.....

hopefully my Nikon D300 will be here on Monday.......

[keef]

Er, well got camera and it works, but the auto focus thing keeps picking up the wrong thing and the subject is out of focus. The shutter speed on fully auto sports setting is about 1600 _ 2000. On the program mode where I can select the centre auto focus point only, the shutter speed drops down to as low as 800.
Is this fast enough for action shots?

I didn't really want to get into setting ISO, shutter speeds and aperture, just wanted it to be simple but out of about 100 shots my g/f took this morning only about 20 were sharply focused.

Very frustrating.

[Hang11]

You need to spend time with a camera and really get to learn how it works.

Are you using a canon?

If so, turn off continuous AF in sports mode - it continuously tracks subjects and is a bit crap IMO.

The easiest way to get the focus to work is to point the centre of the shot at what you want to have in focus, when it locks on to that, half depress the shutter button, that should hold the focus and exposure, then you can re-frame your shot to how you want.

You can also select the focus point the camera uses by spinning the control wheel and pushing the right button on the back of the camera.

Shutter speed, if you're using a long lens should be at least the same as the focal length of the lens to avoid shake - so 200mm lens = 1/250th sec. The easiest way to get control of that on a Canon is to use programme mode and just spin the control wheel to alter aperture/shutter speed.

If this is your first time with a SLR, you need to take time to learn how to use the camera, and get a feel for it. They are capable of great results, but you need to understand them to get those results. If you use it like a normal full auto compact, you won't get good shots.

[Farno]

As above DSLR are great, but like all things you need to spend a little time with them to get the best from them.

You can which camera did you get?
Some can pick out up to 11 different spots to focus and and then you can scroll between them and select the right one. A pain when your after action shots, but as you get better you will probably turn away from AF anyway.
Start saving for a quality tripod next, long distance shots can really suffer from shake.
Perhaps subscribe to one of the digital camera mags to get some great tips

[tomcat360]

I too have never had any luck with the AI Servo or AI focus on Canons. I've talked to some that like it, I can't stand it. I think the thing that i hate the most is that you have to leave the subject right in the middle of the frame.

I always shoot on Av and set it to 2.8 or as low as I can go. Then you have a sharp subject and a blurred background, but it's very easy to mess up if your focus isn't perfect. But I still think Av is the way to go, because I love a shallow depth of field and it gives the highest shutter speed for stopping action.

As far as ISO goes, the little picture of the guy running on the dial which is for sports probably puts it at 800, so that's why when you switch it off you are getting a lower shutter speed.

Surfing is hardly ever a low light situation, so there isn't too much worry about having enough shutter speed to stop it. 1/500 should be plenty, really think about it, how fast is the guy really moving.

I don't know what lens you are using but consider a monopod or tripod. They really do wonders.


And the key thing of what I am saying:::::::::
There was an article about photogs at the super bowl last year, and 30 years ago. Comparing. There were like 500 photogs last year at the super bowl, and in one key play, for about 4/5 seconds, every single photog was holding their finger down on their 16 fps cameras. Key play of the game. Guess how many frames were in focus?

Zero.

Compare to 30 years ago. Guys are shooting now ancient F1's with manual focus, manual exposure, everything. Film. Limited shots. And they had fanstatic shots.

It all comes down to the fact that the guys now are trying to get everything, instead of having to pick the shots that you know you are going to get. Yes, you will miss some, but you will actually get some, instead of having them all out of focus.

I got in a huge action photo slump when I got my digital. And I really think it was because of this. Now I am limiting my self, and things are really starting to turn around.

[RJD]

I think the thing that i hate the most is that you have to leave the subject right in the middle of the frame.

That is unless you select one of the other focus points... You dont have to select the center point all the time.

(but the center focus spot i susualy the fastest/most accurate)

I think he has the 400D in which case it should be pretty good focusing with the others anyhow.

I'd agree on my 350D the AI focus often gets it wrong.

SLR's take a lot of work/knowledge to get the best out of.

Out of camera pics will be poor compared to P&S unless you tweak the in camera colour, contrast and sharpness, even then your best shooting raw and doing all that later anyhow.

[Hang11]

TBH, when I shoot surfing shots, I usually just use manual focus, it's easier. Just prefocus to the spot where you want to take the shot, get your DOF and shutter speed pre-set, then hit the button when the subject comes into frame, and the move is just about to be pulled.

It takes a bit of practice, but it's the best way to get decent action shots IMO.

Stuff like portraits and landscapes, you can spend a bit more time to get the shot right, but you'll never fix an out of focus picture or one with shake - you need to get it right before you take the picture.

The nice thing about a digi SLR is that you can just keep practicing. I reckon about 10% - 20% of my shots are keepers.

[Farno]

I joined one of the hundreds of photo groups on facebook, i got a little help off a dude from Canada, turns out he teaches photography. His shots were all awesome, so after a bit i emailed him to ask how his shots were always perfect. He said in a typical session he will shoot 500-1000 shots and around 20 of those he will keep. Of those 20 he might tweak 3-4 and those shots he would post.

[long_man]

like everyone's just said, the more time you spend with your little digital friend, the better you will be

sometimes I am just sat around at home at night and I will just have a creative idea spring to mind (like the ones I recently posted in the "photography" thread), so I grab the camera and start playing. I love spending time with my camera, at the end of the day, the more time I spend with it, the better I will get......

have a look around you, and see what you can take photos of, I guarantee you there is at least one thing, unless you're sat in an empty room.....

check out a website called pHoTo.net, its really good, some of the photographers really inspire me on there

[keef]

her first action shot in focus

[keef]

Thanks for all the hints and tips, plenty of ideas to work with now.

[RJD]

He said in a typical session he will shoot 500-1000 shots and around 20 of those he will keep. Of those 20 he might tweak 3-4 and those shots he would post.

Depends what I'm shooting & why but that sounds about right.

I get mebe 20 quality shots a year maximum I think.

[tomcat360]

That's exactly what I was saying was making my shots crap. Trying to get it all, but really get nothing. The guys in the 70s were showing/selling probably 40 of their shots from a game, when they probably shot less than 100 (it is film)

And I DEFINATELY think there is an advantage to shooting it right color balance wise to begin with.

And did they really change anything focusing hardware wise between the 350 and 400? From what I've seen just looks like higher resolution, bigger screen, that's about it.

[RJD]

400d has the focusing subsystem from the 30d, the 350d doesn't.

Will only work better in low light and will depend on the lens too, I'm not sure how measurable the improvement is. Not sure if it has a more accurate center point for fast lenses either.

There's probably a large amount of shoot 7 hope these days. When you have 10fps cameras and fast lenses with huge amounts of storage why try time a shot or frame one properly when you can blast away, take everything and sort it out later.

One reason I know a lot of people are now playing with medium format film. Slows you down & makes you frame the shots & consider lighting more, when you have a handful of shots to take you don't waste them.

As for white balance, shoot raw and you can adjust. Pro's these days will be sending processed jpgs straight from the camera to the editor so its important the camera gets it right for them.