Steve'sDigicams

jaseyboy · Dec 24, 2005, 11:47 AM

hi all

had a great time today following some butterflies and other creatures at a local butterfly park. some great shots came out of it but i have two questions:

1. in the pics below, i expected to get more out of the butterflies' eyes and detail than what we did. something closer to tchuanye's spider macros in his post below. is there photoshop work required here or is the 250d not providing the same detail as the nikon 6t?

2. the park was quite humid and light not fantastic, so would this explain why when looking at the pics at 100%, the detail is not 100% crisp and sharp in most of the photos? at anything other than 100%, or when cropping, the pic is superb. but at the full 100% resolution, there is definitely some fine blurring going on.

any thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated.

jason ( merry christmas!

)

- this first pic below came out sharpest of all, even at 100%, without 250d attached of course

jaseyboy · Dec 24, 2005, 11:49 AM

this next pic again without 250d, looks great cropped and resized but at 100%, quite a bit of blurring around the wings and bodies of both butterflies. why?

by the way: all shots taken on Auto (focus and aperture/shutter), except when 250d was attached, when camera was set to AF Macro. so no self-imposed manual focusing, f stops or the like. which is maybe my problem all round here ... but i couldn't take 30 years on each pic, as the butterflies would move so quickly, so relied on camera's Auto settings.

jaseyboy · Dec 24, 2005, 11:51 AM

this shot was taken with 250d + AF Macro. here you can see that the eye, while great, isn't as detailed as tchuanye's spiders.

jaseyboy · Dec 24, 2005, 11:52 AM

and like the one above, i've cropped and resized this to show the limited detail on the eyes ... well, not up to tchuanye's macro standards anyway

jaseyboy · Dec 24, 2005, 12:29 PM

another thing i just thought of asking: i've never managed to successfully focus (auto or manual) at 12x zoom. come to think of it, nothing above maybe 9 or 10. is there ever a situation that 12x zoom focusing WOULD work in?

tchuanye · Dec 25, 2005, 12:42 AM

It would be good to post the settings for the shots, especially on those "why is it like that" type of questions so that a better understanding of how the shots were taken.

I tried to find EXTIF info but could not.

Anyway, the focusing can be done at x12. Sometimes, the AF cannot work cos its not within the working distance..i.e. too close or too far from the subject.

But I would recommend using MF rather than AF, as at times the AF focus on what it thinks is the best place to focus....and not on what we want, which is namely the eyes of the subject.

Its really not difficult to shoot at MF and at M mode. As once you fix the parameters, I find that the only parameter to adjust is the shutter, which in your case for the FZ30, would be easy to do with the dial.

-So fix the zoom (usually at full x12)
-Fix the focus distance
-Choose the Apeture (usually F11, the smallest)
-Set you ext flash setting
-Move the camera towards subject, and when the eye appear sharp on the EVF, just snap. OR, at the working distance (around where the subject appear sharp) sway your body with the camera, and you will see the image blur-sharp-blur, so snap when it is sharp.

Adjust the shutter speed according to the shot...if overexposed, increase speed, if underexpose, reduce shutter speed....but not too slow else camera shake.

KENNETHD · Dec 25, 2005, 2:20 AM

Just a comment on the shots.....I love'em!

Kd

jaseyboy · Dec 25, 2005, 8:45 AM

[Hey Ken, thanks so much .. we had a HOT time taking them, in the very humid indoor park ... but what a wonderful experience to be surrounded by all this beauty!]

Tchuanye, thanks for the comprehensive reply and guidance! I'm going to play with getting manual focus, aperture and flash settings to get these to line up nicely. I've found though that the manual focus just doesn't work ... on most shots I can turn the ring forever and still the picture doesn't get sharp. Why is that?

I'm going to sit down in my garden and take different pictures of the same thing at every aperture/shutter setting and record each one to see what the exact difference is. I hope one day I get to be able to take pictures as quickly on manual settings as I do with the Auto ....

tchuanye · Dec 25, 2005, 9:03 AM

jaseyboy wrote:

Quote:

I've found though that the manual focus just doesn't work ... on most shots I can turn the ring forever and still the picture doesn't get sharp. Why is that?

Could it be due to the subject not in the working distance(WD)? Or are you saying that in AF, you can get focus, but in MF you cannot, with the same WD?

jaseyboy · Dec 25, 2005, 9:37 AM

I find that I struggle to focus anything manually, at any working distance.

With autofocus I can't go past 9x zoom if I want to focus.
And with manual focus, whatever distance and whatever subject at whatever light, just won't focus in the display (I don't use the EVF ever ... would that be easier?)

Dec 24, 2005, 11:47 AM	#1
jaseyboy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 46	hi all had a great time today following some butterflies and other creatures at a local butterfly park. some great shots came out of it but i have two questions: 1. in the pics below, i expected to get more out of the butterflies' eyes and detail than what we did. something closer to tchuanye's spider macros in his post below. is there photoshop work required here or is the 250d not providing the same detail as the nikon 6t? 2. the park was quite humid and light not fantastic, so would this explain why when looking at the pics at 100%, the detail is not 100% crisp and sharp in most of the photos? at anything other than 100%, or when cropping, the pic is superb. but at the full 100% resolution, there is definitely some fine blurring going on. any thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated. jason ( merry christmas! ) - this first pic below came out sharpest of all, even at 100%, without 250d attached of course Attached Images

Dec 24, 2005, 11:49 AM	#2
jaseyboy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 46	this next pic again without 250d, looks great cropped and resized but at 100%, quite a bit of blurring around the wings and bodies of both butterflies. why? by the way: all shots taken on Auto (focus and aperture/shutter), except when 250d was attached, when camera was set to AF Macro. so no self-imposed manual focusing, f stops or the like. which is maybe my problem all round here ... but i couldn't take 30 years on each pic, as the butterflies would move so quickly, so relied on camera's Auto settings. Attached Images

Dec 24, 2005, 11:51 AM	#3
jaseyboy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 46	this shot was taken with 250d + AF Macro. here you can see that the eye, while great, isn't as detailed as tchuanye's spiders. Attached Images

Dec 24, 2005, 11:52 AM	#4
jaseyboy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 46	and like the one above, i've cropped and resized this to show the limited detail on the eyes ... well, not up to tchuanye's macro standards anyway Attached Images

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Dec 24, 2005, 12:29 PM	#5
jaseyboy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 46	another thing i just thought of asking: i've never managed to successfully focus (auto or manual) at 12x zoom. come to think of it, nothing above maybe 9 or 10. is there ever a situation that 12x zoom focusing WOULD work in?

Dec 25, 2005, 12:42 AM	#6
tchuanye Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 1,279	It would be good to post the settings for the shots, especially on those "why is it like that" type of questions so that a better understanding of how the shots were taken. I tried to find EXTIF info but could not. Anyway, the focusing can be done at x12. Sometimes, the AF cannot work cos its not within the working distance..i.e. too close or too far from the subject. But I would recommend using MF rather than AF, as at times the AF focus on what it thinks is the best place to focus....and not on what we want, which is namely the eyes of the subject. Its really not difficult to shoot at MF and at M mode. As once you fix the parameters, I find that the only parameter to adjust is the shutter, which in your case for the FZ30, would be easy to do with the dial. -So fix the zoom (usually at full x12) -Fix the focus distance -Choose the Apeture (usually F11, the smallest) -Set you ext flash setting -Move the camera towards subject, and when the eye appear sharp on the EVF, just snap. OR, at the working distance (around where the subject appear sharp) sway your body with the camera, and you will see the image blur-sharp-blur, so snap when it is sharp. Adjust the shutter speed according to the shot...if overexposed, increase speed, if underexpose, reduce shutter speed....but not too slow else camera shake.

Dec 25, 2005, 2:20 AM	#7
KENNETHD Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 1,724	Just a comment on the shots.....I love'em! Kd

Dec 25, 2005, 8:45 AM	#8
jaseyboy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 46	[Hey Ken, thanks so much .. we had a HOT time taking them, in the very humid indoor park ... but what a wonderful experience to be surrounded by all this beauty!] Tchuanye, thanks for the comprehensive reply and guidance! I'm going to play with getting manual focus, aperture and flash settings to get these to line up nicely. I've found though that the manual focus just doesn't work ... on most shots I can turn the ring forever and still the picture doesn't get sharp. Why is that? I'm going to sit down in my garden and take different pictures of the same thing at every aperture/shutter setting and record each one to see what the exact difference is. I hope one day I get to be able to take pictures as quickly on manual settings as I do with the Auto ....

Dec 25, 2005, 9:37 AM	#10
jaseyboy Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 46	I find that I struggle to focus anything manually, at any working distance. With autofocus I can't go past 9x zoom if I want to focus. And with manual focus, whatever distance and whatever subject at whatever light, just won't focus in the display (I don't use the EVF ever ... would that be easier?)