D20 Recommended settings

goblue20

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Hello, I am having trouble taking good photos and would like to make sure they come out on a shoot I have tomorrow night.

I am using a Canon D20 and would like to use the advanced settings AV, TV, P, M, etc...

I will shooting from about 3 to 7/8 pm with the sun at my back glaring on the objects I will be shooting. It will be men running, a few slow moving helicopters and some race cars in some cases that may be moving rather fast.

I will be using the white EF L lens 70-200mm series. What would be the best advanced setting to use? And from there what should I set the settings at ? Id also like to get an idea of the ISO setting I should use. I figured I would start at 800 and work my way up the later it gets in the day.

I am really lost on this one and would appreciate any tips or comments you may have. Thanks a lot for reading, I appreciate it very much.
 
It is difficult for anyone to tell you what settings you will be needing as it depends on the weather, your location (Ecuador vs. Iceland for example) etc. etc. I would probably be tempted however to start using ISO 200 using AV mode and Servo focus.

If your shutter seed starts dipping below 1/250, I would start moving your ISO up.

Not much help but it might give you a bit of a foundation to go off of!
 
It is difficult for anyone to tell you what settings you will be needing as it depends on the weather, your location (Ecuador vs. Iceland for example) etc. etc. I would probably be tempted however to start using ISO 200 using AV mode and Servo focus.

If your shutter seed starts dipping below 1/250, I would start moving your ISO up.

Not much help but it might give you a bit of a foundation to go off of!

Thanks for the info. Anything can help a dummy like me and I will benefit from anything!

I will be shooting in the south, Charlotte, North Carolina and am fairly certain we will have mostly sunny skies. The forecast is for not a cloud in the sky but you know how that goes :). I am betting on it to be that way though.... or hoping I should say.
 
Do you have a laptop you can bring along and download your first few photos onto? That way you can look at them and determine if they are sharp and properly exposed - then you can tweak your settings and only throw a few images as opposed to having to wade through and fix hundreds later - ugh!
 
Do you have a laptop you can bring along and download your first few photos onto? That way you can look at them and determine if they are sharp and properly exposed - then you can tweak your settings and only throw a few images as opposed to having to wade through and fix hundreds later - ugh!

Unfortunately no I can't bring it in to this particular event. It is funny you mention that because I said to myself that would be the best case scenario and so much easier. I would at least be able to get an idea because that view finder makes it so hard to tell but you already know that :). With my luck I would keep adjusting anyway and never get it right. haha

The weird thing is a lot of times I will get that graph pretty good (where it looks like a mountain range with nothing going through the top) and they will still be a bit out of focus or something a miss.
 
with "AV, TV, P, M" you have pretty much named all the settings. I guess you must be using the green mode right now because I think that is the only one left. I think if you are just learning the green mode is not a bad one to use. All you need to do is use the green mode and when you are done take a mentalnote of what the image looks like and look at the EXIF data it is a great learning tool to tell you how each mage was captured and what each setting does.
 
with "AV, TV, P, M" you have pretty much named all the settings. I guess you must be using the green mode right now because I think that is the only one left. I think if you are just learning the green mode is not a bad one to use. All you need to do is use the green mode and when you are done take a mentalnote of what the image looks like and look at the EXIF data it is a great learning tool to tell you how each mage was captured and what each setting does.

That is another great tip and I have tried that before. The only problem I have with it is almost like what Peanuts mentioned. The last time I tried it I had to wait until I made it home to actually find out what turned out in that mode. By then of course it was too late to be able to go back and change to those settings. :) If only that darn view finder was a bit bigger or could do a better job of showing an image. It is so small that I can never tell if it is truly good or not, printable good that is.

Thanks for the advice though, when I thought of that I never really did know if that was a good way to adjust. Now I do. :)
 
This won't help you with determining if the images are tack sharp, but learn how to read your histogram - much more reliable then the LCD
 
This won't help you with determining if the images are tack sharp, but learn how to read your histogram - much more reliable then the LCD

Does the histogram let you know if the images are sharp? I know that may be a dumb question. The histogram always seems to be ok from my end. At least the way I always thought it should look with a mountain range type having both the left and right sides kind of low and it progresses higher in the middle having nothing go through the top or out of view of the lcd. Is that right? I have done a lot of reading and just cant seem to get it right :(.

basically like this ^ but wider of course and nothing that extends through the top
 
You are right on track actually. Ideal is having lots of information spanning the entire way, but otherwise ^ is the next best thing :)

Unfortunately no it doesn't tell you if images are sharp, but generally by zooming in you can get a relative idea
 
Well one help in seeing if your images are sharp is a feature I know Nikon's have and I magine Canon's do as well. You can zoom on a particular area of your image after you shoot it to check focus or DOF in a certain area.
 
Does the histogram let you know if the images are sharp? I know that may be a dumb question. The histogram always seems to be ok from my end. At least the way I always thought it should look with a mountain range type having both the left and right sides kind of low and it progresses higher in the middle having nothing go through the top or out of view of the lcd. Is that right? I have done a lot of reading and just cant seem to get it right :(.

basically like this ^ but wider of course and nothing that extends through the top

Also, I am a bit confused on the metering mode as well. What am I not confused on? haha. I really don't know what to put that setting on either.

I can't thank you all enough for responding to me about this, one of these days I will get it.
 

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