New Camera, big pic

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R00k
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New Camera, big pic

Post by R00k »

So I got my new camera a couple weeks ago ( Canon PowerShot A520 ) and I've been pretty happy with it.

I took a trip to Northern Virginia (and D.C.) with my gf this weekend and had a little time to play around with some of the features and settings. I took about 200 pics - some turned out great, and some like complete crap.

Anyway, I haven't had a chance to crop or adjust any of them yet, so I thought I would just post one of them to see what you guys thought, since they're so big.
I don't know what kind of flower it is, but the color and contrast made it a great pic:
[lvlshot]http://rook.perfunction.com/flower.jpg[/lvlshot]

I'm by no means a pro, but I was pretty proud of myself for a few of the better ones I managed to get off. I've wanted a good digicam for a while now, and I didn't realize how fun it is to try and compose photos.

Anyway, that pic shows off the quality and detail level the camera is capable of, and I'm pretty happy with it. I was using the macro mode and playing with the zoom to try to get the background out of focus a little.

What do you guys think? Do I have what it takes to be any good at this? :icon32:
SoM
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Post by SoM »

yeah, the first pix i took with my sd200 were shit, but once you get to know th camera, u'll be ok :)
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zeeko
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Post by zeeko »

how much was it?
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/HerrDrFunkenstein/lol.jpg[/img]
Don Carlos
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Post by Don Carlos »

Nice pic
Where were you when the West was defeated?
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netrex
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Post by netrex »

Yeah, nice pic :) Love the detail. I'm no wizard, but I would like to have something like that available :) Love taking pics, but my Nokia 6230 isn't very good ;) hehe
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saturn
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Post by saturn »

lol, the first pic people take with their digital cam is always a flower :)

Experiment with all the settings on you cam and take a lot of shots, that's the nice thing of digital, you instantly see how it turned out.
Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

Get used to NOT using it in auto mode. Get your head around shutter speeds and aperture settings. Oh, and balance out your colours in ps and maybe add a unsharpen mask to the main subject area using quick mask. I mostly use unsharpen mask around 75% at 0.8 pixels
Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

yours
Image

mine
Image
R00k
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Post by R00k »

Nice DB, thanks for the tips.

I've played around with the shutter speed just a little bit, but the aperture value I'm still having a hard time understanding.

I have been trying to avoid the auto mode though. On the dial, aside from the Auto mode, there's one spot that lets you adjust everything but the shutter and aperture, one where you can set the aperture but the shutter speed is auto, one that's the opposite where you set the shutter but the aperture is auto, and one that is fully manual.

I've tried playing with all the settings, but I don't think I know enough about the aperture values to do any good with it yet. It apparently determines how much light is allowed through the lens and can be used to change the background/foreground focus -- but it seems to me that it would only change the brightness of the picture?

I also don't have a tripod and I'm learning that my hands aren't the steadiest in the world. It's not too bad with normal shots, but when I start adjusting the light values it makes the pictures really blurry.
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plained
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Post by plained »

nice cam man enjoy :up:

but be aware

putting sharpening on pics and vid is a common error in low end production.

never do it
it is about time!
R00k
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Post by R00k »

Thanks for the comments, guys. :icon32: :icon14:
zeeko wrote:how much was it?
I got the camera for about $240, from beachcamera.com. It came with a 16 meg memory stick, so I also got a 512 meg stick to replace it.

I got an underwater case for it too, which cost nearly $200 by itself, and I'm hoping this weekend I can take it to the pool to play with that. I'll post some pics up if I do.
Last edited by R00k on Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
R00k
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Post by R00k »

plained wrote:nice cam man enjoy :up:

but be aware

putting sharpening on pics and vid is a common error in low end production.

never do it
What makes you say that? The flower pic looks pretty damn good with the mask applied to it.
lars63
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Post by lars63 »

It takes very nice pictures good choice.
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Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

plained wrote:nice cam man enjoy :up:

but be aware

putting sharpening on pics and vid is a common error in low end production.

never do it
rubbish
R00k
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Post by R00k »

saturn wrote:lol, the first pic people take with their digital cam is always a flower :)

Experiment with all the settings on you cam and take a lot of shots, that's the nice thing of digital, you instantly see how it turned out.
Yea I couldn't resist. I took a lot more too, but I won't post any until I've had the time to crop and resize them. A lot of them are 2.5 megs, at 2272x1704.
R00k
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Post by R00k »

brisk
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Post by brisk »

Doombrain wrote:Get used to NOT using it in auto mode. Get your head around shutter speeds and aperture settings. Oh, and balance out your colours in ps and maybe add a unsharpen mask to the main subject area using quick mask. I mostly use unsharpen mask around 75% at 0.8 pixels
Or if you're using CS2, try the new Smart Sharpen filter, which is even better.
Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

whatever :icon8:
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PhoeniX
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Post by PhoeniX »

Since we're all posting flowers. Mine: http://www.atac78.dsl.pipex.com/flower.jpg

Taken without a tripod, so it was a bit blury, and with no touching up.
Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

nice,

this is the last one i took with my R-D1

Image

don't have a host so sized it to 20 x 15ish[/img]
Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

oh, and some pissed nutter last week

Image
Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

oh and this

Image

this was 4080 x 5440 pixels at 4 pass shot on a hasselblad H1 with a Phazer 22 mpix back
R00k
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Post by R00k »

Nice pics. What is that first one from? It looks like a movie set or something.
Doombrain
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Post by Doombrain »

Pro Focus show at the NEC. It's a show for pro photographers
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