I'm loving this new camera.

[Polarbert]

God damn, the pictures look amazing, and its only on the automatic mode. Need to fully read the manual, I went to a PH meet last night and didn't have a clue how to take a decent photo in the dark. Need some advice somewhere.

Anyway, let me know what you think of these shots.

[robdickinson]

Nighttime use flash if you can (speedlight etc is best rather than inbuilt).

otherwise ramp up the ISO - 800-1600 or more.
get a fast lens , 50mm f1.8 is cheap.
Use a tripod/long exp for stationary targets.

[vipers]

What camera?

[robdickinson]

I believe he has a 350d.

[Polarbert]

Thats the one! Only on PH could I have had 3 replies by 10 past 4 in the morning.

[vipers]

Polarbert said:

Thats the one! Only on PH could I have had 3 replies by 10 past 4 in the morning.

Indeed.

[vipers]

robdickinson said:

get a fast lens , 50mm f1.8 is cheap.

Any suggestions, prices, tks.

[robdickinson]

vipers said:

robdickinson said: get a fast lens , 50mm f1.8 is cheap. Any suggestions, prices, tks.

?? depends what your taking photo's off.

The canon 50 f1.8 is only about 65 quid , its 85mm or so equive on a 1.6 crop so ideal portrait but not wide enough to take cars etc.

Sigma do an excelent 30mm fast prime I think, primes tend to be faster.

[vipers]

robdickinson said:

?? depends what your taking photo's off.The canon 50 f1.8 is only about 65 quid , its 85mm or so equive on a 1.6 crop so ideal portrait but not wide enough to take cars etc. Sigma do an excelent 30mm fast prime I think, primes tend to be faster.

Tks I'll have a google.

[southpaw]

Could this be the first time ever polarbert has posted up some photos that aren't of his car?

Nice photos mate

>> Edited by southpaw on Monday 29th May 11:03

[cannedheat]

Polarbert said:

Thats the one! Only on PH could I have had 3 replies by 10 past 4 in the morning.

are you just using the 350d on 'full auto' mode? as in the little green square?

Oh, and are you still using the kit lens?

[Polarbert]

Thats the jobbbie, and the standard 18-55mm lens that came with.

[cannedheat]

Try using the 'P' and 'AV' settings - they give you much much more control than the 'Auto' setting... for instance, changing the aperture to vary the depth of field...etc

I think I used my kit lens for like 2 months then went and bought a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 - sold the kit for about £60 on ebay a few months back.

[cannedheat]

Oh and as for night stuff, the kit lens will struggle a bit as it doesn't open up enough. Try cranking up the ISO a bit as that'll let you shoot with faster shutter speeds to prevent blur...maybe look into getting a tripod too.

[dinkel]

At night . . . you'll need an electronic shutter (thread) and a tripod . . . try a few shutterspeeds but stay on 200 iso . . . enlarged pics get grainy . . .

Most of the time I use ESP light measurement and only vary the lensopening . . . but hey, different strokes . . . nice pics.

[Beyond Rational]

The third cat pic seems a bit out of foucs and unsure about the composition of some of the sunsets (in my opinion) still looks spectacular though.

[Polarbert]

Yeah I know about that last cat picture. Was it the trees and other things in the bottom of the sunset shots you didn't like? I'm not a fan of them either but I couldn't get around them unfortunately.

[Gemm]

I think you should include more of the foreground in the sunset pics. They just looks badly composed (unbalanced) as they are now.

[Polarbert]

Gemm said:

I think you should include more of the foreground in the sunset pics. They just looks badly composed (unbalanced) as they are now.

I know what you mean, I just didn't think that they would look very good in a picture, they aren't the nicest looking houses in the world.

[Beyond Rational]

The last one of the sunsets is my favourite for composistion, with the ariels and chimneys creeping into the bottom left hand corner....if you can't avoid them, make them a feature, a frame, too late now though Nah, I fully understand, I have the same problem, skys beautiful, rest of the landscape and bit uninspiring, right time, wrong place.

>> Edited by Beyond Rational on Monday 29th May 22:20