Got a new micro 4-3 for snowboarding holiday next week, need beginners tips

Buffman · 15 Feb 2015 at 09:13

So got an Olympus E-PL5 and only got to play with it today... (14-42 & 40-150 mm lenses) included)

I will be taking it snowboarding in a week and would like to take some pictures of landscapes and snowboarding.

For snowboarding and quick moving shots from the little reading I've been doing I need a low F-stop (ie fast speed), but will auto focus? Also a high iso? (however lose quality with higher iso). Thus the lens with lower f stop would be better?

As for landscapes the larger focal length?

I've also heard that due to the large light quantity in a snow piste I will have to auto lower the iso.

If anyone knows any good websites, good tablet reads /books I can bring on holiday that would be great, cheers.

englishpremier · 15 Feb 2015 at 09:24

Set your exposure compensation +0.3-1EV (depending on how much the camera normally under exposes) to make sure the snow stays white.

I've used auto white balance before and didn't have any problems.

It's going to be so bright that you'll be able to keep the ISO low and enjoy less noise.

For fast moving shots you'll want it on continuous auto focus and probably a higher F-stop for greater depth of field, and fast shutter speed.. If you want motion blur then you'll need to practice your panning technique and use a show shutter speed like 1/8 or 1/15 depending your lens and if you have stabilisation etc..

ote1 · 15 Feb 2015 at 19:19

I'd pick up 'Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs'. I got it to learn the basics and it's very digestible with minimal jargon, plenty of examples and it's a very short read.

I think you'll get it for about £8 on the rainforest.

jasonsony735 · 15 Feb 2015 at 20:38

Stick Iso on 400 / 800 and then use a fast shutter speed ! adjust the speed as necessary

Buffman · 15 Feb 2015 at 22:29

englishpremier said:
Set your exposure compensation +0.3-1EV (depending on how much the camera normally under exposes) to make sure the snow stays white.

I've used auto white balance before and didn't have any problems.

It's going to be so bright that you'll be able to keep the ISO low and enjoy less noise.

For fast moving shots you'll want it on continuous auto focus and probably a higher F-stop for greater depth of field, and fast shutter speed.. If you want motion blur then you'll need to practice your panning technique and use a show shutter speed like 1/8 or 1/15 depending your lens and if you have stabilisation etc..

Thanks I'll set up a macro for these? Should shots tend to be 16:9 or 4:3? I imagine it depends on the image?
(downloaded the full user manual to work out how to change all these settings...

)

ote1 said:
I'd pick up 'Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs'. I got it to learn the basics and it's very digestible with minimal jargon, plenty of examples and it's a very short read.

I think you'll get it for about £8 on the rainforest.

Thanks should be some good holiday reading.

jasonsony735 said:
Stick Iso on 400 / 800 and then use a fast shutter speed ! adjust the speed as necessary

Thanks will do

Also should I be shooting in Jpeg or raw? I just bought a new 16gb class 10 card to keep up but I imagine raw is beyond what I need?

Smeghead · 16 Feb 2015 at 08:29

Personally I always shoot RAW + JPEG. Even if you don't know what to do with the RAW now, maybe a few months or years down the line when you start experimenting with them, you can always go back and have a play with them.

As for what aspect ratio to shoot, I suppose it can depend on what's in frame, but I don't know of many people who actually change the aspect ratio all that often. If you shoot RAW or just choose 4:3 (the native aspect ratio of your sensor), you can always crop it to whatever aspect ratio you choose afterwards. If you pre select it, then you're stuck with that for your photo forever.

Buffman · 16 Feb 2015 at 14:36

Ah yeah if 4:3 is the native aspect ratio I'll just keep to that rather than cropping.

When you say raw + Jpeg I'm unsure my camera can do both... Is it easy enough to convert raw files to Jpeg? (Also how big are they? As I ordered a 16gb card...)

AHarvey · 16 Feb 2015 at 15:12

I'd ignore any settings people give you, we won't be there at the time to help. It could be insanely sunny, or extremely dull.

You will need to adjust settings depending on the situation at the time.

In general, for sports/fast moving shots you will need a fast shutter speed, and remember it'll need to be even faster if you are zoomed in.

You then adjust the ISO (keeping it as low as possible to avoid noise) and the aperture to keep the it properly exposed. As advised, over expose each photo, the snow tricks the camera into thinking it is brighter than it is.

Get the book suggested above, practice with the camera before you go so you aren't wasting time figuring it out and have fun

Buffman · 16 Feb 2015 at 20:48

Got my peli case, time to take it to the top of mountains

Haven't been able to use camera much, however here's a quick picture of gfs dog when I was playing with settings

Buffman · 1 Mar 2015 at 19:06

thanks for the tips! A couple photos from the trip:

(weirdly my camera cant change exposure compensation in manual, it has to be done via the shutter speed/aperture or is this normal as these factors are in fact what alters the exposure?)

I appreciate i didn't give much (any?) time to practice with camera beforehand however I'm pleased with the trips photos. I did however read that book which was good for general info (I dont think I touched on much of the artistic side of it however!)

The pretty man in the yellow/blue is me