[Umpqua Birds] Re: Camera Settings
- From: Elizabeth Gayner <egayner@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Umpqua Audubon Birds <umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 21:15:41 -0800
Thank you for all the pointers!!!
On Jan 19, 2015 1:01 PM, "Robert and Jean Pollock" <rjpollock@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> I want to add one thing to Matt's comments, and it applies to the Canon SX
> series (SX 40/50/60) as well as to other cameras. Unless you plan to use
> the RAW data, you will get the highest quality photographs if you set the
> camera to record the largest JPG files.
>
> Jeannie and I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the
> photographs that her SX 40 produces. The major disadvantage of small
> sensor cameras is their high contrast, noisy files, but if you work
> carefully and the light is on your side you can avoid these problems to a
> considerable extent. The major advantages that these cameras have over
> large sensor cameras are that they are smaller, lighter, less expensive,
> and they have significantly greater depth of field at a given aperture and
> focus distance.
>
> Bob Pollock
>
>
>
> On Jan 18, 2015, at 7:08 PM, Matthew G Hunter wrote:
>
> Hi Folks,
> In attempting to discern details from Liz's photos of her large falcon
> (and finding it difficult because of the blown highlights and high
> contrast), I was reminded of a couple things that Bob and Jeannie Pollock
> wrote to me a year or two ago when they saw many of my first photos with my
> Canon SX50HS (Liz used same model for her falcon photos). While Bob's
> details of the instructions are specific to this camera (or one very
> similar), the basic adjustments can be done with many cameras. What I have
> done is made these adjustments and applied them to one of the custom spots
> on the dial on top of my camera, so that I can use or access it any time.
> I could have just sent this email to Liz, but I know that at least 6 of you
> on this list have this very same camera, and the rest of you may learn
> something from what I learned from Bob and Jeannie. Again, these suggested
> settings are especially for outdoor conditions of strong light and high
> contrast with these small cameras (may not be necessary for a camera with a
> larger sensor). If photos are taken in lower light or less contrast
> conditions with these settings, some photos will end up somewhat dark and
> dull, but this is easily corrected with photo editing software (Bob, feel
> free to clarify anything I muddled).
>
> SET CONTRAST TO LOW OR LOWEST SETTING
> "One thing that I suggest you do is go into shooting mode and press the
> Function Set button. Go down to My Colors on the left bar and then over to
> Custom Color on the bar that has appeared on the bottom of the screen. Now
> press Display and the first choice is Contrast. Set Contrast to the
> lowest setting (the leftmost one) and press Function Set to go back to the
> shooting screen. The reason that I suggest this is because the very small
> sensors in our cameras have a tendency to blow out highlights (they retain
> no detail) and the best way to reduce the possibility of that happening is
> to use the lowest Contrast setting. To see what I mean, take two
> pictures of an object with white or light areas with Contrast set to the
> lowest and then to the highest setting." MATT'S NOTE: Under this setting,
> some photos may come out with lower contrast than desired, but this is
> easily remedied with photo editing software.
>
> SET EXPOSURE MINUS 2/3 STOP
> "Here's one other thing that you might want to play around with. We've
> discovered that both of our Canon compact cameras produce better exposed
> pictures if we set the exposure to minus 2/3 of a stop. To do that, in
> the shooting mode press the function set ring upwards to bring up the
> exposure compensation bar and then change the exposure by rotating the
> function set ring. Slightly underexposed pictures (underexposed according
> to what the camera thinks is right, that is) usually look better, are less
> likely to have blown highlights, and require a faster shutter speed that
> coincidentally increases the probability that the picture will be sharp."
> MATT'S NOTE: Again, if the photo turns out a little too dark, it is easily
> lightened up with photo editing software. However, without this adjustment,
> if the pale areas are blown out (meaning they are so white there is no
> detail left in that part of the photo), that area cannot be salvaged.
>
> Thanks to Bob and Jeannie for those tips--they have helped me tremendously
> over the last year or so--and I hope some of you find these helpful as well.
>
> Hoping to go look around for a large falcon Monday....
>
> Matt Hunter
>
>
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