Focused

Focused, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 31/365.

It's so rare to get a picture of both girls sitting together (and not biteying each other) that I didn't think about the aperture until later. However, the more I look at this, the more I like it. Fi is typically more focused than Abby, so it's pleasantly ironic that Abby is the one in focus in this shot.

Flower in Winter

Flower in Winter, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 30/365. Very cloudy and grey, so I tried to capture that. Shot with the Nikon S8100 point-and-shoot.

Dead D70 and Lightroom

Sadly, the D70 has been reduced to a paperweight.  I took it in to get the sensor cleaned (it was really dirty) and somewhere, somehow, the 'mirror actuation lever' broke.  It wasn't the camera shop's fault (just ask them), and I know it wasn't my fault, and I can't even blame Abby, so I'm going to go with poltergeists.  At least the camera shop refunded the cleaning charge.

Of course, I now have 3 lenses, a bunch of adapters (it's amazing what I find in this house when I open cabinets) and a new camera bag.  So, I am now debating between buying a used D70 body for $100 or if I buck up and buy a used D90 for $285.

No, I haven't given up on the P520.  In fact, the bridge camera is doing exactly what I want it to - I am putting a lot of time into learning a lot about the various semi-manual settings (shutter-priority, I love you!), and I'm really pleased with the pictures I'm getting.  But, I can see the value of having different lenses (I've got a 50mm f/1.8 that I am DYING to use) and I really want to play around with RAW files.

Which gets me to my other adventure.  I bought an academic (i.e. no manual but cheap) copy of Lightroom 5 (being an academic has some perks).  I have just downloaded it today, and I'm on the steep end of the learning curve.  (No 'save' button?  Really?)

But I can see the potential for the software and am looking forward to learning it.  Here are my very first attempts with some pictures taken today in very flat light.

Heehee.  Surly doggie!

 

Her face just cracks me up.  I'm not 100% thrilled with the results of  my Lightroom adventures, but her face makes me laugh.

Even surlier doggie!  I couldn't get this one 'right' either - yet another reason I want to play with RAW files....

Yes, she is wildly pretty (and there is no blue tint!)!

Fi's schnozz looks abnormally large here, but another picture from which I was able to remove all the blue tint from the flat light (which I am counting as a victory!).

So.... Cheap D70, (since, theoretically, if I can't take a good picture with 6MP, then I wouldn't be able to take a good picture with 12MP) or just put out the $$ for the D90 and get most of the latest bells and whistles...

On an unrelated note, I think I'm going to start posting my Project 365 photos here each day - I've been posting them on Flickr, but I think I'll put them here, too.  The ones during the week are taken with my little point-and-shoot, but finding interesting things to shoot at work is a great exercise for stretching my 'eye'.

Project 365

Since I take pictures every day anyway, it seemed like a good idea to try the Project 365 - taking a picture (ideally a good picture) every day.  When I get home from work these days, the light is fairly low and the photos of the girls aren't optimal, so I've decided to bring my Nikon S8100 (my pocket point-and-shoot) to work and see if I can get interesting photos from the workplace.  Luckily my co-worker is a packrat, so she's got a lot of interesting stuff around, and it's forcing me to really look for interesting stuff to photograph.

I usually post my daily photo on Twitter each day (the only use I've found for Twitter... If you are interested, I'm @lizdranow on Twitter).

Here are a few of my photos from the past week at the office.

1/32, f/3.5, ISO 160, 30mm

1/30, f/4.0, ISO 172, 30mm

1/34, f/3.5, ISO 160, 30mm

1/32, f/3.5, ISO 160, 30mm

It's also a good mental health break during the work day!

D70: RTFM!

Today I thought I'd try out the shutter-priority setting on the D70; I'm getting a better understanding of how it works (with regard to ISO and aperture) with the P520, so I figured I'd see if I could get similar results with the D70.

Except that I couldn't get the shutter speed to change.  It was 'stuck' on 1/160.   I kept turning the command dial and nothing happened. 

All my action photos looked like this (actually, they looked worse - these are the best of the lot):

1/160, f/10, ISO 200, 120mm

1/160, f/10, ISO 200, 60mm

Since this is an old camera, I was panicked that there was something fundamentally wrong with the camera and my DSLR was bound for the scrap heap.  I was so desperate I even *gasp* downloaded the manual.  Yeah, yeah, how many times have I muttered "Read The F**king Manual, moron" under my breath at hapless users?  Alas, the manual had the helpful advice of 'set the mode dial to 'S', set your shutter speed with the command dial and take your picture'.  I kept turning the command dial and NOTHING!  Ahhhh!  Scrap heap for sure!  On a whim, I googled 'D70 shutter priority, can't change shutter speed'.

And the heavens opened.  Seriously.  I think I heard angels singing.  Apparently there is a setting in the menus that allows you to use the 'multi-selector button' in place of the command dial (at this point, there should be no question as to why I got the less complicated P520), and yes, my camera was set up to have the multi-selector button change the shutter speed.  I changed it back to the command dial and all is right with the universe.  (Of course, this all happened after I had come inside, so action photos on the D70 will have to wait for another day.)

But in looking through the manual for the shutter priority setting information, I came across about a zillion other settings the D70 has that I don't understand, and many that I could inadvertently change.

Such as focus.  It is possible to lock the auto-focus into one of several different positions (center, top, bottom, left, right), and if you DON'T lock the auto-focus, it is quite possible to move the focus around.  Which is why in this photo, Abby's ear is in excellent focus, while her snooter isn't.

1/160, f/5.6, ISO 200, 120mm

And in the bottom focus point, why Fi's frisbee and her nose is in focus and the rest of her face isn't.

1/160, f/5.6, ISO 250, 120mm

Needless to say, there are a large number of other 'options' that I don't really understand.  The good news is that the D70 really is a good camera; the other good news is that I can figure out what I want to do on P520, and then see if I can get the D70 to do it.  The other good news is that the D70 is actually a tad intimidating, so the P520 really was a great camera choice for me.  Will I get another DSLR when the D70 finally goes to silicon heaven?  Definitely.  But I'm glad I didn't start this photography adventure with a highly complicated camera.

And hey, at 1/160 shutter speed, I can still get some decent portraits. 

1/160, f/7.1, ISO 200, 80mm

1/30, f/3.8, ISO 1000, 48mm

Okay, so the last photo was shot using the automatic mode because I was hoping that I hadn't lost control over the aperture, too.  Which is a good thing, because I used the amazon gift card given to me by my bosses at work to by a refurbished f/1.8 Nikkor lens, and I would have been really bummed if the same day I bought the lens I discovered the D70 had gone to silicon heaven.

If you need me, I'll be one reading the manual.  For both cameras. 

Two Very Basic Things I Learned Today

By 'learned', I mean "I actually 'get it'" (well, kind of get it in the case of item #2), as opposed to "I've read it and it makes sense".

#1.  The Tripod Is My Friend

Yes, every photography book, website and article says 'use your tripod for sharp photos'.  Sure.  Makes sense.  Except that it means that you actually have to find the tripod, set up the tripod, and adjust the camera to make sure you are getting what you want.  Given then I have been a 'turn on the camera and push the button' sort of photographer for my entire life, the extra steps of the tripod have heretofore seemed a bit overwhelming.

And while using a tripod is still not second-nature, it is clearly worth the time to set it up.

0.769s, f/4.1, ISO 80, 100mm

 

1/2, f/3.8, ISO 80, 28mm

1/160, f/8.3, ISO 400, 60mm

The first guitar, BTW, can be seen in the upper left-hand corner of the second photo; with the camera mounted on the tripod, I just angled the camera straight up at it.  Nice and sharp.  

The last photo, maybe I could have taken it without the tripod, but given that it was 14F out when I took the photo, I was able to take several photos with several different settings (to see what the differences would be) without inadvertently changing my angle.  Very handy.

#2.  Action Photos Should Be Taken With a Shutter-Priority Setting NOT an Aperture-Priority Setting.

Yes, I know this should be patently obviously to even the most casual of camera users.  But for some reason I've been shooting with an aperture-priority setting hoping something good would happen (don't ask my why, although I'm going to justify it by saying that the light has generally been flat/varied, and I somehow thought the aperture setting would help with the light).  Yeah, not so much.

Cases in point:

From a distance (like if you don't biggify it), it is not a horrible picture.  But the point of focus isn't very in focus if you look at it closely.  Because aperture affects depth of field as well as the amount of light let in.  So when I use the zoom for an action photo in an aperture-priority setting, the chance of my subject being really sharp is nil.  Duh.

1/800, f/4.2, ISO 80, 105mm

So I get it through my thick skull, I will repeat the above comment: aperture-priority affects depth of field as well as light; aperture-priority + action shot + zoom = "muddy" photo.

1/1600, f/4.2, ISO 400, 120mm

While the last example is a tad better, it's 'muddy' - my guess would be because of the aperture (but I could be wrong).

1/2000, f/4, ISO 400, 85mm

Will using the shutter-priority setting cure all that ails me?  Probably not, but I'll try it tomorrow and see what happens.  This is, after all, a learning process.

Which means more frisbee time for my "long-suffering" doggies.  *grin*

1/8, f/3.6, ISO 400, 50mm

Nikon D70 - Dusting off the 'Dinosaur'

For giggles, I decided to see if I find our old Nikon D70.  When we got it (almost 10 years ago), it was a pretty high-tech DSLR.  6.1 MP!  Three fps burst shooting!  ISO range 200-1600!  Shutter speed range 1/8000 - 30 seconds!  We used the camera primarily for taking photos at ski races, which mean the camera was out in the cold, the snow, etc., etc.  And, honestly, I had No Idea how to use it.  Which mean it eventually got replaced by a series of point-and-shoot cameras.   But given that I am trying to learn how to use a 'real' camera, and I had a long holiday weekend, I thought I'd see if I could find the camera, see if the battery would hold a charge, and see what sort of shape it was in.

The good news is that I could find the camera, the battery miraculously holds a charge, and the camera turns on, and even takes pictures.  All of which is cool.  It does seem to have a little bit of dust on the mirror (which is not so cool, although not entirely surprising), but it's not tragically dusty, and for some photos the dust isn't even noticeable.  And the lenses seem to be in good shape.

Since my local camera shop would charge me $75 to clean the mirror, and I could (if I was so inclined) buy a refurbished body for about $110, I don't think I'm going to have it cleaned (besides, I think the camera may have sustained some other 'injuries' in its ski racing career, which would make it definitely not worth fixing).  But, since the mirror doesn't render the camera unusable, I may use it for some of its features, such as its 30-second shutter speed setting.  And it's external flash capability (assuming we have an external flash). And the fact that it can shoot RAW files (and not just JPEGs).  It definitely won't replace my wildly fun P520, but it's neat to know it's an option...

Here are a few shots I got with it today.

1/15, f/4.8, ISO 800, 75mm

1/30, f/4.5, ISO 800, 66mm

1/30, f/4, ISO 800, 42mm

It does have a nice soft feel in natural light.

The built-in flash creates surprisingly natural colors  (Fi and Abby are actually red and apricot respectively).

1/60, f/5.3, ISO 400, 97mm

1/60, f/4.2, ISO 400, 57mm

And it gets nice outdoor photos (as it should, after having taken 30,000+ ski photos)

1/500, f/6.3, ISO 400, 202mm

But with the snowy background, the schmutz can be seen...

Technically, it's mirror schmutz, but I don't write well using PS paintbrush!

And it gets some fun indoor shots.

1/160, f/5.6, ISO 800, 108mm

It's really not a bad camera, even with the little bit of schmutz on the mirror.  However, having gotten used to intuitive display screens, it's definitely not a 'natural' camera for me.  For now, I think I'll be putting most of my energy into the P520. But I'm definitely going to keep it and pull it out occasionally as it really is a cool camera, even if it is a bit of a dinosaur.