Only the Brave - Honest Photography Feedback

[steve2]

Trying out my new XT2

[C&C]

Pericoloso said:

I'm using a Fuji Finepix S2980 ,stop sniggering.

I was fine BITD with my old Olympus OM20 35mm ,took good pics with that ,until it was nicked.

This thing just confuses me.

Ok the Fuji S2980 has:
shutter speeds: 8sec -1/2000
exposure modes: aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, program + scene modes
metering: centre-weighted average, multi-pattern, spot
iso: 64 - 6400
exposure compensation: +/- 2 stops
optical zoom: 18x (28mm-504mm 35mm equivalent)
max aperture: f3.1 - f5.6

Firstly, if you can post the exif information for the photo you took, it would be helpful (shows all settings used). Posting the photo on FlickR and giving us the link is much better than using Thumbsnap, as the photos appear clearer, and FlickR displays the EXIF info.

Do you have any idea what settings you were using?

I would suggest as has already been said, that using spot metering would have prevented the white car being blown out, although to be fair, assuming this is a full size image (and not a small crop of a larger photo), centre weighted should have done a reasonable job of the metering.

If you were used to getting decent pictures from your OM20, then I'd suggest that you might want to stay away from the program and scene modes, and perhaps use aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual only. Your OM20 would have had aperture priority and manual, so perhaps use what you were used to?

Also check the ISO setting (as has been said), and given reviews of the camera, if there's enough light, try to stick to ISO400 or less - definitely stay well away from the 1600+ settings (as they are apparently very noisy).

Check your exposure compensation is set to 0, and only change it if you specifically want to override the camera's meter.

Oh, and finally, it's worth remembering that if you are quite a way from the action and you use the full extent of the camera's zoom, that's the equivalent of a 500mm lens on a 35mm camera. To have any chance of getting sharp pictures without blur, try to ensure you have a fast shutter speed of (say) at least 1/500 or 1/1000 second, and if possible try to brace the camera by leaning on a wall, or ideally using a tripod or similar.

[Pericoloso]

Thanks for that helpful advice ,I don't know how to get the exif data but I will certainly adjust settings

for next time.

Strange thing is ,the previous day to that pic I posted, I took lots of good pics in similar light.

[Kermit power]

Pericoloso said:

Thanks for that helpful advice ,I don't know how to get the exif data but I will certainly adjust settings

for next time.

Strange thing is ,the previous day to that pic I posted, I took lots of good pics in similar light.

You don't need to do anything to get the exif data. Just post the photo to Flickr and it'll get pulled in automatically.

[singlecoil]

St Mary the Virgin by Elliott and Nolan, on Flickr


Same church, different view and different time of day (about 8.30 am).

Canon 5DSR 70-200 with 2X extender giving 260mm at f8, 1/250 sec and ISO125. Little bit of dehaze etc and a lot of spot healing brush. I took the shot to use as sketching material (it's a well know view from my village) but decided I liked it as a photo as well.

[DibblyDobbler]

Nice shot - lot to like there. Don't know it was possible but compositionally it might have been nice to have a cleaner view of the field across the bottom? Also feels like you should have been able to get a bit more out of the sky - maybe a grad filter or through processing. Minor stuff really though

[singlecoil]

DibblyDobbler said:

Nice shot - lot to like there. Don't know it was possible but compositionally it might have been nice to have a cleaner view of the field across the bottom? Also feels like you should have been able to get a bit more out of the sky - maybe a grad filter or through processing. Minor stuff really though

Thanks. I agree about the field at the bottom, unfortunately the geography of the situation was that I was shooting across a valley and if I had moved to the left as I wanted to then I would have had to go down a slope. As it was I had to remove quite a bit of dead tree, manky fencing and pole-mounted transformers from the shot.

[DibblyDobbler]

singlecoil said:

DibblyDobbler said:

Nice shot - lot to like there. Don't know it was possible but compositionally it might have been nice to have a cleaner view of the field across the bottom? Also feels like you should have been able to get a bit more out of the sky - maybe a grad filter or through processing. Minor stuff really though

Thanks. I agree about the field at the bottom, unfortunately the geography of the situation was that I was shooting across a valley and if I had moved to the left as I wanted to then I would have had to go down a slope. As it was I had to remove quite a bit of dead tree, manky fencing and pole-mounted transformers from the shot.

Understood - suspected that might be the case.

[Turn7]

untitled-14 by Mark P, on Flickr

[DibblyDobbler]

^^^ Nice sharp shot and good pose but immediate thought was 'metering' as the bird looks a wee bit over exposed to me?

[Turn7]

Yeah, was sat in a tricky little sun patch...I used centre weighted and -0.7 ev and still had to pull it back in pp.....

I just liked the colours in it....

[DibblyDobbler]

Turn7 said:

Yeah, was sat in a tricky little sun patch...I used centre weighted and -0.7 ev and still had to pull it back in pp.....

I just liked the colours in it....

Fair enough - I always use 'spot' for birds but I am by no means an expert! The colours are nice so I can see why you like it

[Turn7]

Have another as you are in a benevolent mood....

untitled by Mark P, on Flickr

[GetCarter]

Love Mr. and Mrs.

Great shot.

[DibblyDobbler]

Wow - how the heck did you get that at 70mm ?! Great shot

[singlecoil]

Turn7 said:

Have another as you are in a benevolent mood....

A couple of dramatic pictures there.

There's not much of any use that can be said on a thread like this when pictures of wildlife are concerned, it all depends on the circumstances.

[PeterGadsby]

Here’s a picture I snapped

[PeterGadsby]

[singlecoil]

PeterGadsby said:

Here’s a picture I snapped

Before I say anything it would be good to get some background detail, such as what sort of camera, what settings and whether you have access to a photo processing program or not.

[PeterGadsby]

It was just a snap on an iPhone no processing