My first photo post

cornerman · Jan 18, 2004

This was taken with my new Sony DSC-F828...... I'm not 100% sure if I like this camera or not....? Very confusing...... lots of settings. Anyhow.... this was taken during my sports talk show in Boston.

BigRC · Jan 18, 2004

Cool. That's the camera I have too. Trust me, it's a kick butt cam. Lots of settings that I didn't understand, so I made the manual toiletry reading for about 3 days, now I get most of it. I still have to reference the manual every so often though.

cornerman · Jan 18, 2004

Hi BigRC.... Thanks.... I just can't seem to hold the darn thing steady.... I bought it to take shots of boxing. I have yet to get a clear photo.... I'll keep at it. And the book.... yeah, I should get into it again. I'm having trouble with the shutter speed and the apature settings. Trial and error I guess.
Thanks again.

BigRC · Jan 18, 2004

Hey, no problem.

I have yet to take any sports actions shots, so I guess I can't vouch for those kinds of pictures. I'm going to soon though, my brother plays basketball, and I plan on testing it out on his games. I'll let you know if I find any good settings for actions shots. Have fun with it!

cornerman · Jan 18, 2004

I would really appreciate that..... This forum is great. I've looked at some photos here that are incredible. It gives me a few ideas.....

One problem I think I have is that I use the LCD screen because I wear glasses and I can't see through the finder well. Using the LCD screen you have to hold your arms out a bit which makes it even harder to hold the camera steady. This camera should have come with a valium or two.!! Ha! 8)

With tomorrow being a holiday, I just may break out the manual and do a little reading, then get my grandson out as a "victim" for my test photos!

Take care and thanks again

Big Mike · Jan 19, 2004

Welcome to the Forum.

The standard advice for your situation is to learn about exposure. There are lots of web sites and books (Kodak's Joy of Photography is often recommended).

Once you have a firm knowledge of how aperture and shutter speed affect exposure you will have a better chance of getting the shots you are after.

Quick advice, always try to use something to hold the camera as steady as possible. A tripod is best but is not always practical. A small tripod or monopod might be better. Even if you just hold the camera close to your body and lean against something, it will help.

If your shutter speed is fast enough, you don't have to worry about camera shake caused by holding it in your hands. (and it freezes the action) Although, when you speed up the shutter you have to open up (lower number) the aperture to keep proper exposure. Different lenses only open up so far and there for can only shoot so fast. In this regard, you may be limited by your gear. Just ask a pro sports photographer how expensive their lenses are.

cornerman · Jan 19, 2004

Thanks BigMike..... I am getting bundled up for the cold and going out to practice a little. I have been reading the instruction book all morning and, yes, I think I have to learn a bit more about exposer. When I get back, I'll do some indoor stuff, once again using my grandson as an unwilling subject to move around like a boxer!!

The settings throw me off.... Where I'm told (here and in the book) to set the shutter speed at 1/250 or 1/500, I am assuming that when I dial in the numerals 500 or 250, that would represent 1/500 and 1/250....?

The same applies on the apature settings. It doesn't actually read 1/500, it just reads 500. The book, I believe, assumes that the guy reading it isn't a dummy

I'm really new at this and I'm sure a lot of these questions are "duh"....

But I appreciate everything.... believe me!

steve817 · Jan 19, 2004

cornerman said:
Hi BigRC.... Thanks.... I just can't seem to hold the darn thing steady.... I bought it to take shots of boxing. I have yet to get a clear photo.... I'll keep at it. And the book.... yeah, I should get into it again. I'm having trouble with the shutter speed and the apature settings. Trial and error I guess.
Thanks again.

I'll jump in with a little advice. For shooting boxing matches, set your camera on shutter priorty mode and set your shutter for a minimum of about 1/250 of a second or faster. That should be enough to freeze the action even if you are zoomed all the way out.

If your shots come out a little dark or underexposed. Try bumping up your ISO setting. This may cause the digital noise to become more visible but would than not getting the shot at all.

Steve

steve817 · Jan 19, 2004

cornerman said:
The settings throw me off.... Where I'm told (here and in the book) to set the shutter speed at 1/250 or 1/500, I am assuming that when I dial in the numerals 500 or 250, that would represent 1/500 and 1/250....?

The same applies on the apature settings. It doesn't actually read 1/500, it just reads 500. The book, I believe, assumes that the guy reading it isn't a dummy

I'm really new at this and I'm sure a lot of these questions are "duh"....

But I appreciate everything.... believe me!

yes you are correct on the shutter speed where it can get confusing is when you get into full second and multiple second exposures. I'm not sure about you camera but most of the them will show a " when your in the full seconds. For instance one second will read 1"

The aperature will read 2.0, 2.2, 2.5 2.8 3.2, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.6, 6.3, 7.1, or 8.0

I'm not sure if I mentioned or not in my earlier post but when you shoot in shutter priority the aperature will automaticly be set for you.

One more thing you mentioned that you have trouble with the viewfinder because of your glasses. That viewfinder has a diopter adjustment on it.
Get the camera to focus on something, then adjust the diopter without your glasses and see if you can make that work.

Hope this helps,

Steve

Big Mike · Jan 19, 2004

Yes, that's one thing I forgot to mention. ISO or film speed. When shooting in low light or fast motion situations photographers will use more sensitive (or faster) film. Film speed is rated by ISO...100 is slow/average...400 is getting fast...800 is pretty fast. Faster film allows you to use a faster shutter speed to stop the action and/or shoot in lower light.

That's all fine except you have a digital camera...even better. You can adjust the ISO setting. It's like switching film anytime you want.

Try shutter speed priority mode and set it at 250 or higher. Try shooting your grandson while he is moving around really fast. If you find that the pictures are too dark...set the ISO to a higher number.

There is a trade off though. Just like film, higher ISO means more grain or noise in the picture. You have to experiment and find the balance that you are happy with. Sometimes it's nice to have a little bit of motion blur in an image.

Practise lots and have fun.

cornerman · Jan 21, 2004

Hi BigMike and Steve - Thanks for all the advice. I took the camera out today and took a few shots around the park. I missed a huge ble heron by seconds..... would have been cool. The camera seems to work great out doors while leaning on a tree or some support. I got some pretty nice shots.... then

I went to the fights tonight full of confidence. A young girl showed up next to me at ringside carrying what looked like the Mier Space Station! She had a nice Nikon set up and was blasting off shots like crazy. All her shot were crystal clear. (the show off)I was clicking away too but the results were the same as last week...... not a single good shot.

I'm convinced I jumped too soon and bought the wrong camera for what I'm trying to do. I think I need to be able to change lens' for different vantage points. This girl looked at me like I was some kind of wing-nut.... Ha!. She did ask me a few technical questions that made me feel even more like a moron! :shock: Anyhow, I've packed the Sony back in the box and will re-think what I need to get.

I'm not giving up..... just going to do a little homework this time. Thanks for all your help...... I was wishing I had an Internet connection at the fights to call for help!! Ha!

take care boys.

BigRC · Jan 21, 2004

Cool, you might try this if you get a chance before you send it back. Try setting the dial in the "S" position. Then moving the little turn knob in the upper right hand corner of the back of the camera. Move it all the way up then all the way down. Those are all of your shutter settings. When you go to the fight you should try moving it up to the highest number. You then might have to press the menu button, that brings up where you can change the ISO settings. Change it to higher numbers to capture more light in your pic. Only drawback is a little grainyness, which isn't really a drawback, lots of people seem to like that effect. I was playing around with the shutter settings last night, and got some mid air shots of a cat that were crystal clear. Might try one last time before ya give up, unless your 30 day return is almost up.

Just a little thought. /end ramble