New Camera, Settings Help Required.

Bri · 28 Jul 2006 at 21:49

Hello

I've not so recently procured (been given) a Canon EOS 1000F 35mm SLR camera with a sigma 35-80 lens.

I'd like some advice on settings really, having only ever had a point & shoot Fuji S3500 before.

I may be going to the Sunderland airshow tomorrow & would like some advice on what sort of settings I should be using to get the best results.

Thanks in advance

DRZ · 29 Jul 2006 at 08:53

80mm isnt going to be much good for an airshow unless you can get close to planes on the ground.

As for settings, if you want blurred props etc you will need to have a reasonably slow shutter speed. Other than that, its all trial and error until you get a feel for it

King_Boru · 29 Jul 2006 at 09:23

Set the shutter speed between 200 - 320/s to blur the props. For jets, 500+/s. Best mode would be 'S' (shutter priority). Taking pictures of the static display I used to sway between F8 and F16 depending on the plane/heli size.

You'll be best getting some ISO 400 film if one minute your shooting static the next flying. If however you shoot a whole roll statci then I used to use ISO800 film which helped me achieved the large DOF without having to resort to too long of a shutter speed. I shot with ISO200 for flying on a good day and ISO400 on a bad day. Tend to of brought both with me.

Sometimes I even swapped film, used an old Praktica MTL3 with a manual wind so made notes on where the film was, swapped it out and then plopped it back in at a later date. That is quite dangerous though, lost many a decent shot doing it.

MichaelG · 29 Jul 2006 at 18:43

Hi Bri, have you tried getting hold of a manual for you camera. I think it might be worth a read. Good luck.

Bri · 30 Jul 2006 at 09:53

Just dug out the manual, it's like war & peace :eek:

I went & got a new lens yesterday, a Tamron 70-300 4-5.6 Tele-Macro as really the lens that I got with the camera didn't have the range I want. Got it for £140 with a UV filter so not too bad really.

Seems like a canny lens, I was experimenting a bit with some of the settings so I'll see how they came out when I pick up the pics later today. We didn;t stay at the airshow for that long, only an hour os so, it got really overcast & the missus was cold :rolleyes:

so when we got back, I had a mess on in the garden with some macro shots so I'll post them later if they're any good, even if they're not, constructive criticism is always nice