Beginner New CSC user

Antro

Antro

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Hi all,
I'm new here, always been a keen picture taker just never had the right camera.
I'd been looking for a good cheap-ish camera for awhile now, I read alot of reviews and played with alot of cameras, I finally purchased the Panasonic lumix dmc-gf7. It was in my price range and suited what I wanted in a camera.

I've not had it long and only have the lenses that came with it, still mightily impressed with the picture quality, when compared to my old compact camera which was at one time quite high spec.

I'll be going out for a walk later today to take pictures, to see what I can do with it. I must say at this point though I'm only using the inbuilt intelligent auto feature as I don't feel confident enough playing with the settings myself.

I do believe in there isn't a stupid question, so expect plenty of them if I can't find it already answered on here.

I will be using a programming called affinity from serif for image editing if I feel the need.

Cheers
Antro
 
Cool. Go for it. Get inspired by the pictures posted here or Flickr and other places. Have fun and ask away.
 
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Welcome to TP! Enjoy your walk!
 
Welcome Antro. Start saving now as when you see how you can improve by following the excellent advice on this site, you will want to dive deeper.
 
What is the best way to share pictures on here ? The ones I have are alot bigger than the file size allowed.

I have enjoyed using my camera on my walk, tried using the lens that came with it to take pictures of everything to see how it coped with the different things, some went well I think other not so much.

It is a 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Mega OIS Lens, it seems good at close up photos and pictures of things not too far away, already I can see a want/need for more lenses.
 
I put pictures on Flickr. Where you can create a link to post here. Use the BBCode option.
 
You will struggle to go wrong using the intelligent auto setting from what I have experienced with Panasonics. The great thing is that leaves you free to concentrate on your composition until you feel confident enough to start using the less automated settings.

Enjoy getting out and getting some pictures.
 
I will look into using Flickr for sharing photos.

I am still getting used to the camera at the moment and my lack of places to take pictures at the moment isn't helping.

I have been looking through the gallery on here for ideas of how other people frame a photo, I definitely can learn alot from them haha.

One question I have is when looking up information about the lens I have, I can't find out how much the zoom magnifies, eg x2 or even x0.5, I only want to know so I can try figure out how far away I have to be to get a zoomed in photo.
Any help much appreciated

Antro
 
Here are 3 pictures I quite like, all were taken on the intelligent auto setting, I can see why most reviews of my camera said this will be the setting most people use all the time.

This first picture is a close up of my gf's cat, I was trying out close up.
https://flic.kr/p/QHRbkX

Here is a picture of a path in my local park, I thought it looked good.
https://flic.kr/p/QuLJvo

Here is a picture of a flower in the garden, again I was trying out close up.
https://flic.kr/p/QHRaK8

Let me know what you think of them, I am only trying to get better at choosing a good subject and taking a good picture of it at the moment, when I'm good at that I'll start playing with settings.

Cheers
Antro
 
Antro said:
Here are 3 pictures I quite like, all were taken on the intelligent auto setting, I can see why most reviews of my camera said this will be the setting most people use all the time.

This first picture is a close up of my gf's cat, I was trying out close up.
https://flic.kr/p/QHRbkX

Here is a picture of a path in my local park, I thought it looked good.
https://flic.kr/p/QuLJvo

Here is a picture of a flower in the garden, again I was trying out close up.
https://flic.kr/p/QHRaK8

Let me know what you think of them, I am only trying to get better at choosing a good subject and taking a good picture of it at the moment, when I'm good at that I'll start playing with settings.

Cheers
Antro
Click to expand...


Good efforts that could have been made quite a bit better with a bit of fore-thought.

For example, the cat shot has a cushion getting in the way and the background of the flower is all messy and distracting and also the subject is very central, a composition that only works well in certain circumstances, and also you are shooting down which feels odd. In fact, thinking about the background is one of the most important things to think about when taking a photo, my thought process goes something like: light (you need good light), subject, background, subject, background, subject background, check the light.

When sharing photos it is best to embed them in the post, you can do this by selecting and copying the BB Code link when clicking the share button by the image.
 
Yes you need to embed them. Most will never click on the links. There should be full instructions on the forum somewhere.
 
Antro said:
Here is a picture of a flower in the garden, again I was trying out close up.
https://flic.kr/p/QHRaK8
Click to expand...

With little flowers one problem is getting them big in the frame as the lenses minimum focus distance may be too great. There are a few ways around this...

- Buy a macro lens, this can be expensive.
- Buy some close up filters, these can be cheap but not as good as a true macro lens.
- Buy some extension tubes, these are cheap but you lose the ability to focus at a distance.

Personally I prefer close up filters to macro tubes but my way of doing it is to buy a cheap film era macro lens and a cheap adapter. Macro / close up shooting is often manual focus anyway so the lack of auto focus may not be a great loss and old macro lenses can be a fraction of the cost of modern auto focus macro lenses.

A cheap film era 50mm macro lens would give you the equivalent of a "full frame" 100mm lens and that's not too bad. I think mine cost about £60, add a £10 adapter and it's perfectly useable.

Also, on my screen it looks like the flower is blown, sorry if this is not the case but if it is it might be an idea to spot meter off the flower.
 
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Sorry I was using my phone to post the links, I'll post any future ones so they are embedded in the post.

I appreciate all the feedback I've gotten just for them few photos, I am still getting used to the camera and how to frame a photo.

About the flower, I'm not sure if the camera kept the focus on the flower, looking at it again next to the flower seems to be more in focus to me, I'll have to look through the manual on how to stop it from changing the focus.

I'll keep practicing trying to get a good photo, also I like how Flickr lets you know what settings were used for each photo (exif data?) That'll be helpful to see what settings work in the future, when I do stray away from full auto.

Cheers
Antro
 
Antro said:
Sorry I was using my phone to post the links, I'll post any future ones so they are embedded in the post.

I appreciate all the feedback I've gotten just for them few photos, I am still getting used to the camera and how to frame a photo.

About the flower, I'm not sure if the camera kept the focus on the flower, looking at it again next to the flower seems to be more in focus to me, I'll have to look through the manual on how to stop it from changing the focus.

I'll keep practicing trying to get a good photo, also I like how Flickr lets you know what settings were used for each photo (exif data?) That'll be helpful to see what settings work in the future, when I do stray away from full auto.

Cheers
Antro
Click to expand...


The key to moving off auto is to understand exposure (and the exposure triangle), lots of info on t'web but I like this one:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm
 
thanks for the link to info about exposure, very interesting read.

here is a picture I took of the cat again, this time I tried to get a clearer view. ( glad to see the BB code on Flickr worked like a charm (y) )

Sleeping 19yo cat by Antony Allpress, on Flickr

I still used auto for the settings though, think I will be for awhile until my confidence grows with the camera and framing of photos.

What is a good place to ask about different lenses for my camera on here, would it best just making a new post or asking in the Panasonic owners thread I spied around.
I know I am new to all this but I am willing to put in the time and limited money to improve.

cheers
 
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