YAY! great blue heron!! YAY!!

[eric s]

You can always take some test pictures at different ISOs and see how it looks. The newer cameras have less noise at higher ISOs (one of the really nice thing about newer cameras) and the G2 isn't new... so don't be surprised if it does. But there is only one way to find out... take some pictures and see. I would suggest doing it of the sky, so you don't have to worry about blury details.

There is a nice program called neatimage that can remove noise from a picture. It isn't hard to use in its simplest settings, but it can do a lot (that I don't know) which makes me wonder if I couldn't get even better results out of it. Go to:
www.neatimage.com

The camera has a built in light meter, but that is separate from a auto mode. The auto mode is just where the camera does everything for you. It picks the aperture & shutter speed. On some cameras, it might even pick a better ISO and if you should use a flash or not. It is the easiest setting to use, but if you take any unusual pictures they might not come out right. Auto is more for the usual "friends at a part" or "picture of the MET." It isn't make for "backlit bird standing on a log" or "fox running across snow" because those have tricky lighting situations.

Eric

[photosbyvito]

next time i go i'll play with the settings.....
hmm....wat does a light meter do? (i know it shows correct exposure but wouldn't it pick a shutter speed and arperture? .......lol i've never seen a light meter so i haven't the faintest of wat it looks like or shows after it is done metering....

[eric s]

The light meter measures the light in the scene.

The camera's processor uses the data from the light meter to pick the shutter and aperture. But it isn't the light meter that does it. So you have the right idea, but your giving the light meter more brains than it has.

Learning the settings your camera is capable of is all part of the game. Then you'll be able to use the right settings for the job and you'll get better pics!

Eric

[photosbyvito]

so how does the light meter "express" how it measured the light?

[eric s]

I don't know.

The processor in the camera responds to your pressing of the shutter and asks the light meter built into the camera to read the light in the scene. How it does depends on what the metering mode is (my camera has 3, one meters at the AF point that is chosen, the other two modes do an average of the scene (either weighted at the AF point or not.)

But the way the information is sent back to the camera's processor I don't know.

Eric

[photosbyvito]

i'm sorry....i'm not clarifying wat i'm asking well enough.....
i mean the old light meters.....that photographers used to meter.......

thanks for trying to explain this lol