camera settings

[telboy]

hi,
what settings are normally used indoors under the flourescent lighting when shooting our cars?

[jimmy]

Generally you'll have to set a custom white balance for the lighting if you want to get the best results indoors. your manual should tell you a way to do that, but I usually take a photo of something white (like a basketball backboard) and use that as a white balance reference photo.

For action photos you want to run the biggest (smallest number) aperture as your camera / lens can do. also run the highest ISO you can get away with without looking too noisy, that enables you to use a higher shutter speed.

I don't usually use flash as its hard to get nice results.. but general rules are that the aperture controls the flash lighting and shutter speed controls the ambient light entering the camera.
Its a balance between flash and ambient light to get the best results.

[Northy]

Yep, what Jimmy said.

What camera and lenses do you have?

G

[telboy]

nowt too special, a fuji s9600, it has all the setting to set a custom white ballance as jimmy said, and you can alter everything else on it to like the aperture and ISO, and shutter speed etc.

I like it cos it can as easily be used as a 'snapper' too without having to worry about all the gubbins!

The lense that is on it is fixed but has a 300mm zoom on it so it should be fine for these things.:o

[telboy]

:wtf: How wrong was I ?!

It was mega dark in the worksop hall, the lighting wasn't that good at all even after the halogen lights had warmed up.

So advice and constructive coments would be appreciated....Pleeeese.

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6954/dscf0599wgj3.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6954/dscf0599wgj3.jpg)
This was probably the best of the day....bad I know. This was when I was messing around with the setting on the camera.....then I forgot what they were so went back to jimmy's recomendations and....
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4826/dscf0945wne0.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4826/dscf0945wne0.jpg)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6308/dscf0954wum3.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6308/dscf0954wum3.jpg)

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/206/dscf1015wps7.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/206/dscf1015wps7.jpg)

Just couldn't get the shutter speed fast enough without it going completely black...Help.;)

[jimmy]

My fuji6900 was terrible at anything above iso100, literally unusable at iso400 (sensitivity)

Modern cameras, especially those with big sensors like SLR's, are loooooads better with higher ISOs. So, I would imagine yours would be alright above ISO 400 -which is what you were running for those photos.

I would never consider shooting at iso400 indoors and usually shoot at iso400 in daylight to give me some flexibility. Indoors I would usually use at lease iso800 - or up to 1600, which can be too noisy but is usually accepable.

So anyway, thats something to play with, see if you can go highter, which will let you run a faster shutter speed to freeze the action..


At the end of the day though, indoors is always going to be hard and good results are always going to be hard to get. Part of the reason I started doing reviews is so I had an excuse to go out in winter and get some nice shots.

[telboy]

Thanks jimmy, the bottom three were taken with the iso at 400 unfortunately cos anything higher and the noise was ridiculous.
Maybe it was just too dark for the camera to work at. I'm going to take it with me to don valley next weekend where its a lot lighter and has a bit of natural light coming in so I'll see how I go then with the same setting and try it at a higher iso. It goes up to 1600 then down to 800, 400, 200, 100 and 80, so I suppose you're limited to what ISO range is usable with these 'non pro' slr imitations really.

[mark christopher]

i used a flash to do mine. cannon power shot g5

http://freespace.virgin.net/mark.christopher/pictures/Worksop%208%20jan/IMG_7826.JPG (http://freespace.virgin.net/mark.christopher/pictures/Worksop%208%20jan/IMG_7826.JPG)i

http://freespace.virgin.net/mark.christopher/pictures/Worksop%208%20jan/IMG_7782.JPG (http://freespace.virgin.net/mark.christopher/pictures/Worksop%208%20jan/IMG_7782.JPG)

[Stu]

When you get outside on a nice sunny day you will both get much better shots, when there is lots of light it gives you many more options to play with settings/zoom/shutter-speeds. Unless you have fairly specialized stuff indoors without flash is a nightmare.

Mark's flash-shots are good, considering the images look like they are relying on the flash for all/most of the light, rather than just using it as an aid.

[telboy]

It was pretty F****** dark in there!:eh?: Marks shots are good and clean but I was trying without the flash to get an idea what me new camera could do.:rolleyes:

I tried a shot on auto without the flash an it was soooo dark you could hardly make anything out.

Its just a shame I couldn't get the shutter speed up.

[mark christopher]

When you get outside on a nice sunny day you will both get much better shots, when there is lots of light it gives you many more options to play with settings/zoom/shutter-speeds. Unless you have fairly specialized stuff indoors without flash is a nightmare.

Mark's flash-shots are good, considering the images look like they are relying on the flash for all/most of the light, rather than just using it as an aid.
that what i have found outside i have no problems, but inside, just not enough light, could do with my studio flashes to brigthen it up lol

[Stu]

Big flash guns, yeah, great, I really like them, no I really do.

http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/batley121106/bigimages/batley54.jpg

[telboy]

Haha....

You gave as good as you got though if i remember...:D

[jimmy]

I see you haven't yet forgiven me stu!!! :( sorry!! :)

[rojna]

Hi Jimmy, I will be taking indoor shots of TC this weekend with my D70s ... never shot indoors before & the D70s is fairly new to me :) Do you have any basic set up suggestions for the D70s ?? I dont know if they will let me use a flash, I will be using a nikon 70-300 F4-5.6 lens. Do you prefocus or use the AF-C for taking shots of cars ??

[jimmy]

Hi mate
F4-5.6 is fairly slow (doesn't bring in much light) so you might be looking at one of the high iso's like 1600iso - which usually isn't too bad.
The lower the light, the slower your camera can focus also, so pre-focusing is going to be the best option usually.

The colours are not easy to predict since your camera can pick them up very differently to your eyes, and every hall is different. If you can use incandescent (lightbulb) white balance, or one of the other presets, that is great. Otherwise you might have to set a custom white balance on the D70. I think for this you need to take a photo, and then use this as a sample for the camera to decide the correct white balance. Your manual should tell you the details though.

[Stu]

If you can't get a fast shutter speed concentrate on 'pan' shots that follow the car side on, you should get some cool shots that give a good perspective of speed, also it's easier to focus if the camera os struggling to keep up.

Just cos' yuu can't get a fast shutter speed don't mean you can't get cool shots, they may not be the sharpest but I personally really like them.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/northernracer1/southport4wd/28.jpg