Help - Which Setting?

Stiglet

Stiglet

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Name
SJ
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Hi

I am still learning photography and tend to stick in P mode on my D60

But I have been asked to take photographs at a Knock Out event this weekend to try and sell for charity and obviously want to do my best, its going to be a manic day as I am also a crew member and team leader for one of the days and of course shots will be caught as they happen as opposed to posed

So there will be lots of bright colours and movement, looks set to be very sunny, what is the best setting to have my camera on so I am ready for a shot, P? or Sports? Or another one?

Any other tips also gratefully received.

Stiglet x
 
Now's not the time to break into fully manual, so if you're looking to capture action, stick to the Sports mode.

However, you may want to up the ISO to something like 400 to ensure it picks a properly fast shutter speed, if you're using your kit lens and it picks shutter speeds lower than 1/200 then unless your panning is good or motion blur is what you want, action will not be 'frozen' and pics may not be quite sharp.

Cheers
James
 
Hi Thanks,

Yes I am still on the kit lens. I will try and up the ISOs then. Am not going for anything major arty or clever just good shots people will want to keep of them hopefuly doing something fun/stupid/wet etc lol

Stigx
 
You should be fine then!

If I were you, I would set the picture style to 'Vivid', and set the frame rate to continuous - when you see something fun, hold the trigger and get a few frames - don't be afraid of this as very often it's the shot in the middle of a series that tells the story.

Cheers,
James
 
Actually, just thinking and throwing this open to people who know Nikon better than I - could Auto ISO be used here to ensure a shutter speed of min 1/200 as an example? I've never used a D60 in anger...just shop fondling.

Cheers,
James
 
Do you understand the basics of aperture, shutter speed and ISO? If so, I'd be inclined to disagree with James and throw the camera into full manual mode.

If it's a sunny day, it's going to be easy to freeze the action if there's a lot of movement. Using the sunny-16 rule, I'd say put your ISO to 400, the aperture to f/8 and the shutter speed to 1/800s. That will almost certainly get you a well exposed photo and good DoF but you can adjust to your taste and dial down the shutter speed if you get clouds overhead.

Good luck!

George.
 
Fight fight fight!

Actually, I can completely see where you are coming from George, but I guess it's my 'Careful now...' attitude peeking through.

In the rest of my life, I am insanely gung-ho about these things, but when it comes to getting the shot I am as cautious as cautious can be :P

Cheers,
James
 
Oooh Thanks everyone

I do understand the basics of ISO etc, (just lol) but usually slowly and with a manual next to me.

Definitely agree about holding the button down, thanks not thought of that.

I have gone into panic mode now lol

I think safe is better than sorry in this instance lol
 
Moos3h said:
Actually, just thinking and throwing this open to people who know Nikon better than I - could Auto ISO be used here to ensure a shutter speed of min 1/200 as an example? I've never used a D60 in anger...just shop fondling.

Cheers,
James
Click to expand...

Yes, Auto ISO can be set to a min of 1/200 or quicker. I'd recommend using that so that camera's not stuck on 400 all the time. 200 on the D60 gives slightly less noise than 400 if my memory serves, so auto ISO would let you shoot at this for the majority of shots without the worry of the shutter speed being too slow.
 
I'm going to stand up and agree with James.

If you were shooting for yourself I would say go full manual and learn the 'Deep End' way - but you are not shooting for yourself. Plus you are doing stuff other than photography - if you were only doing photography they manual may be the way forwards but you really want your camera setup so you can just grab and shoot without thinking about settings.

I would suggest putting the camera in AV mode F8 - set the autofocus to continous/servo and the drive to continuous. This weekend looks like it will be pretty sunny so you should get shutter speeds of 1/500th or over even as ISO 200 using those settings.
 
Thanks again.

Will post some of the results up see what you think lol
 
If you haven't already (and I kow it's to late now)
Try getting hold of a copy of "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Petersen.
 
Wouldnt t mode, with auto iso and a shutter of 1/200 set be more beneficial than AV??
 
fletch5 said:
Wouldnt t mode, with auto iso and a shutter of 1/200 set be more beneficial than AV??
Click to expand...

not on a Nikon :) but seriously I'd of thought not. 1/200 is a minimum for this, not an absoulte never to be changed value

Hugh
 
fletch5 said:
Wouldnt t mode, with auto iso and a shutter of 1/200 set be more beneficial than AV??
Click to expand...

Well this is the conundrum that Av and Tv modes leave you in, and why learning to use M is useful.

Using Tv, if it clouds over but you still want a shutter speed of 1/500s or so, it'll open up the aperture which will reduce the DoF. It might not matter at all but if you want to have a huge DoF, you'd want to keep it at f/8 and up the ISO, or perhaps reduce the shutter speed a touch.

I've not used Nikon before (Canon man, myself) so I don't know what the ISO performance of the D80 is like. On my 450D I can comfortably shoot at ISO1600 so this technique works for me. Your results may vary!

George.
 
BadgerLover said:
Well this is the conundrum that Av and Tv modes leave you in, and why learning to use M is useful.

Using Tv, if it clouds over but you still want a shutter speed of 1/500s or so, it'll open up the aperture which will reduce the DoF. It might not matter at all but if you want to have a huge DoF, you'd want to keep it at f/8 and up the ISO, or perhaps reduce the shutter speed a touch.


George.
Click to expand...

which is why auto iso can be useful. I agree about M, but a busy event is not the place to learn to use it.

I've not used Nikon before (Canon man, myself)
Click to expand...

we all have crosses to bear :lol::lol::lol:
 
Stiglet said:
Yes I am still on the kit lens.

Stigx
Click to expand...

Stiglet said:
But I have been asked to take photographs at a Knock Out event this weekend to try and sell for charity and obviously want to do my best,
Click to expand...

Which kit lens - because I'd be concerned about getting close enough to the action if it's the 18-55.

That said, for movement I'd really be looking at 1/500 so - if it were me (and this is only an opinion so feel free to ignore) - I'd be straight into shutter priority to make sure that whatever else happened I'd frozen the action.

I don't trust sports mode - it might be better on the D60 but me and it don't get on on the D40X.

Good luck!
 
Set auto ISO min shutter speed 1/200 set in 'P' mode, concentrate on composition ... keep it simple :thumbs:
 
Right thanks very much guys, even though you lost me in the middle there lol

Simple it is and seems consensus agrees with the last post so am now sat here with the camera trying to do that.

I will shoot in manual one day..lol


Thanks again much appreciated

Stiglet x

P.s. Yes it the 18-55 but am hoping I can get quite close to the action, I have a badge lol
 
i would assume it would be auto iso anyway in p mode:shrug:
 
Well thats what I thought? I understood P mode meant Program so the camera will chose what it setting it wants a priority, so can I change any of the settings in P?, I cant even find the shutter speed setting


Aaah why didnt I learn sooner, stop taking photgraphs and read something Sarah
 
Sarah, rather than P mode (I don't know the Nikon implementation, but on Canon, the camera will adjust the settings to what it thinks for every shot) set the camera to shutter priority mode Tv (on the Canon...), then you can set Auto ISO, the shutter speed and let it work everything else out. It might also be worth considering shooting RAW, or RAW and JPG, as you will have more leeway in case the auto exposure settings don't quite get it right, but you will need to do more processing.
 
OK ISO Auto option was turned off for some reason, back on now

So I am in S mode with shutter speed set a 1/200, on continous mode, with raw and jpeg images

I might start breathing again soon lol


Thanks again everyone and if anyones bored tommorrow and wants to come and help they are more than welcome :D lol
 
Have you got some more data cards ? RAW+JPG is going to go through space, fast...
 
How much action/activity will there be?

I'm just concerned 1/200 will not be enough...
 
suppose could take a few shots then review them as soon as possible and increase the speed if it hasn't frozen correctly.

going to be nearly impossible to decide on the exact setting before hand....
 
Well the event is here...

http://www.kestevenrfc.co.uk/pages/knockout.html

Obviously I am taking photos to try and sell to the public and all profit goes to charity, so be great if no one wants to gazzumps me on that lol

But I have a domain and everything set up to sell the photos so if people want to contribute to that that would be brilliant, or just for self use, sorry probably sounding paranoid now lol

And I have one 4gb card but I have my laptop with me so can upload, but I did think of taking it off raw jpeg setting for space purpose or buying another card, am fast running out of time *** as I am going very soon to set it all up tonight.

Cheers

Stigx
 
If you are used to sticking in P mode then jumping to M on a busy day is going to be a nightmare. BadgerLover George is addicted to M mode, I should point out. :)

I'd suggest shooting in Av or Tv modes. It gives you a bit more control but isn't a massive leap from what you do now. Good luck. :)
 
Just my 2 pence worth (not saying cents as I'm not American :P )

Not long after getting my 300D and being extremely new to photography I went to Donnington park for the Renault World series so had a similar thing where I needed to catch action etc...

world series is cars just incase you didn't know

I was there all day so had plenty of time to play and tried with P but found it resetting itself after every shot a nightmare, I'm not sure if Nikon cameras do the same thing? however I changed it to TV (shutter priority) which is relatively easy to use and got some outstanding shots by taking a few at different shutter speeds and reviewing them and changing the speed accoringly. i can't remember if iso is auto in that mode or if I left it set to a specific value... someone else might be able to clarify what to do on that front.

But i would deffinately recommend TV mode because, as has already been said, it's not too far away from P and lets you have a little bit more control without all the worries of ruining everything by jumping in the deep end and using M
 
a 2nd card would be very good. shoot till one is full give to assistant to empty while you can continue shooting on the 2nd
 
Thanks creed and Tom, and yeah the more I think about it makes sense to get a second card even if I cant afford it at the moment lol

Now I just need to find an assistant lol

Sarah
 
Stiglet said:
Thanks creed and Tom, and yeah the more I think about it makes sense to get a second card even if I cant afford it at the moment lol

Now I just need to find an assistant lol

Sarah
Click to expand...

Can always get cards cheap for example mine takes compact flash and can either get a sandisk 2gb extreme 3 or a 4gb extreme 2 card for £18 from play... I prefer lots of smaller cards myself so you loose less if one goes wrong, gets damaged etc
 
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