Someone borrowing my dslr- shall i shoot in raw

C

Coley.

Bryant Gumble
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Hello,

Im still very new to this dslr malarky but have been asked to take part in a christening. I was thinking i could do my usual thing of just taking a few pic- changing the settings, untill i find something that looks half decent.

The church have asked to have only 1 photographer so because i'll be busy its been suggested i loan the camera to my friends dad. I dont mind whatsoever, just unsure what mode i should let him have it on. I was also thinking i might just stick the nifty fifty on so nothing in the pic gets missed :shrug:

Over the weekend i briefly shot a few photos in raw mode. I only have the canon software to edit these but was still pleasantly suprised by just moving around a few sliders.

To some up :lol: :wave::bang: would i be better of letting him shoot in raw, then buying lightroom to edit them :suspect: :thumbs:

Thanks

Simon
 
terryt said:
Shoot in Raw+Jpeg, you won't lose anything at all, maybe a memory card or 2, lol.
Click to expand...

didnt even know that was an option :lol::thumbs:

Andy, do i really need the iso so high ? From what ive been reading high iso= noise :thinking::shrug:- im really not doubting your knowledge ;) just be interesting to find out why

Another thing which i liked was on sports mode setting i could hold the trigger down and would fire off a load of pics. When im using the m,av, tv modes i dont get these options ? - Im just thinking if the baby gets dropped at least there might be a dramatic shot of it :lol: -Thats the only major downside ive notice when not using the full auto modes so far

Thanks

Simon

- off to play with raw+jpeg setting now
 
It is true that high ISO creates 'noise'. I have shot in a church before with the 500D and 50mm and was at ISO800 and even then it probably could have done with at least one more stop of light.

The reason for suggesting a higher ISO is that the Av mode will select a shutter speed accordingly. The rule of thumb for hand holding a 50mm lens on a crop is 1/80sec (focal length x sensor size = 50x1.6). Assuming the photographer has a relatively steady hand and the subjects aren't whizzing around that shutter speed should be ok. I might personally stretch to 1/125 but depends on everything else in the equation.

Anything under the 1/80 shutter speed could result in camera shake according to the rule and possibly subject motion blur. Therefore I would suggest boosting ISO to ensure that your friends dad can happily snap away at 1/80 or faster.

If you can get there and just take some shots and see where you think the exposure should be. You are trying to balance;

The largest aperture 50mm 1.8 - a bit soft wide open so close up a little and also gain a little more sharpness and depth of field too.
Highest ISO - without being too noisey, reference with shutter speed.
Shutter Speed - not too slow to create 'blur' - minimum 1/80

Ideally 'know the camera' and adjust accordingly, but if someone is just taking it on for the day that is the method I would go for.

A noisey shot can be rescued to some degree with software, I use Canon DPP and Noiseware Community Edition. A shot where any type of motion blur is present is in reality a lost shot.


Andy

EDIT: Read that back and it kinda goes on and on. To sum up....use ISO to keep a shutter speed of 1/80 or quicker :lol:
 
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Thanks for the explanation Andy ;)

I understand the shutter speed thing now after seeing that formula.

The other thing is the flash- Im wondering if the church will be expecting one, or whether i should turn it off. Think my mates dad may be a bit hesitant to take pics if the flash keeps firing away.
I might just nip down tescos and buy a 3 quid disposable jobby :thinking::lol:

Simon
 
A £3 disposable will need a flash as well.
They may be ok with flash provided it's only for the actual christening bit and not throughout the service. But it may be a case of being better to ask forgivness after the fact ;)
Ask the vicar if you can get in to the church early, before the service, to test the settings and ask about the flash. If you get a chance beforehand familiarise your friend with the camera so he knows which buttons do what. I once lent a flash to a friend, they nocked a button and had no idea how to change it back to optically triggered untill we met up again later.
Good luck on the day :)

Edit: Yes to shooting raw (+jpeg), It's much easier to save a poorly exposed shot from a raw file than it is from a jpeg.
 
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