Beginner Great Tip For Beginners

Petejones

Petejones

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I was spoon fed this (blindingly obvious) tip whilst complaining about out of focus shots this weekend and it was this...


Clean your Lens from time to time (smudges don't help with sharpness):facepalm:Beware the Mandarin modified.jpg

The results were worth it, still a long way to go but am getting much more comfortable with Manual Mode
 
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Must have been pretty smudgy to affect things that much? I keep a supply of zeiss lens wipes in my bag and have a spudz cloth hooked on to the bag strap for this exact purpose.
 
Petejones said:
I was spoon fed this (blindingly obvious) tip whilst complaining about out of focus shots this weekend and it was this...


Clean your Lens from time to time (smudges don't help with sharpness):facepalm:View attachment 57509

The results were worth it, still a long way to go but am getting much more comfortable with Manual Mode
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Why do you want to use manual mode?
 
And another great tip - have your optical stabiliser turned ON! For months I moaned about fuzzy whiskers, only to realise when swapping the lens that the VR button on the old Nikon kit lens was turned to OFF.
 
MartynK said:
Why do you want to use manual mode?
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I'm finding that I get slightly stronger results if I input the settings manually, certainly when trying to capture birds in flight without too much blurring.

For most things I find the AV mode acceptable but I was not getting the results I was searching for until I started adjusting the settings manually

This may be the limits of the equipment or my limited ability, I've had the chance to try out higher quality lenses and have seen the difference first hand.

Doing it manually is working for me with this setup and it's helping me to understand how the settings affect each other
 
What do people recommend to get rain drops off of the lens or filter when out on a rainy day?
 
A colleague brought me the camera she used at work because it was taking rubbish pics. It certainly was--you could've fried chips on it.

One tip worth remembering too is a blower brush. If you're out and about and cleaning a lens element or filter with a lens tissue there might be grit on the surface too and there's a chance of scratching the surface.

Just breathe on the glass and wipe it.

Lens hood can help with light rain about, and a lens cloth. Mind you, I've always found those cloths can get greasy eventually so I'd try lens tissue.
 
I use my glasses cloth, and to avoid it getting greasy put it in the washing machine every so often (before it gets greasy of course).
 
ianp5a said:
What do people recommend to get rain drops off of the lens or filter when out on a rainy day?
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I generally wipe it on my tee shirt
 
MartynK said:
Why do you want to use manual mode?
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Oh my goodness! Don't we always use the manual mode?! (Where's the "I love manual mode" smiley?!)

I shot away in auto only until my dad gave me a kick up my backside and showed me how awful my work was in comparison to what it could be. He also said something on the lines of my DSLR camera being a waste of equipment if I use it in automatic mode. It has been a steep learning curve, where we revisit same things over and over again until I get it, then I try and try them again to not forget it. (I am pretty thick at photography and slow when it comes to learning new things.) But the results are so worth it. Just SO worth it!
 
BunnyPics said:
He also said something on the lines of my DSLR camera being a waste of equipment if I use it in automatic mode.!
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theres a big difference between using it in full auto (where it is just an oversized compact) and using it in PASM modes - ive been shooting for about 35 years off and on, digitally for the last 15 , and about 90% of the time I use AV with the other 10% being split between Tv and M

Its certainly worth being able to shoot in M and in having a full understanding of the relationship betwen shutter and apperture (and indeed ISO) , but theres no particular merit to putting it in M all the time over one of the other control modes (you need an understanding of aperture vs speed to use AV orTV as well)
 
i think the mode selection thing is more a personal choice in method of working than creating better or worse photos - i have always preferred setting everything manually as i like the involvement element but the oh has no interest in manual settings and leaves it in program mode and uses auto focus and ttl flash
 
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