Just Got a G10...Now Tell Me How to Use It!

[The Reverend Floater]

Yeah, I know how jongy that sounds. It's like those Texans showing up in Breck on brand new rippin' boards and falling over in the lift line.

Truth is, I've always enjoyed photography and living in the mountains of Idaho, we get some pretty cool photo ops of wildlife, scenics, sports, etc. I always wanted a nice camera but shied away from buying one because I have a horrid propensity to break everything I own, including myself. That said, I got a good deal on a new G10 and am ready to start going beyond the "auto" settings.

Can you point me towards either some good beginner sites or books you'd recommend that illustrate how to utilize the manual settings on an SLR (I know the G10 isn't a true SLR but it's close enough for this kid).

I've already taken some pics with it that could have benefited from some knowledge and I'm leaving for AK on Saturday, so help a brother out!

THANK YOU!

My burgeoning photo blog: cockblockerman.tumblr.com

[Artie Fufkin]

I just picked up a G10 and have been messing around with it, I found these:


http://g10.tumblr.com/


http://g10tipstricks.blogspot.com/


http://www.bill.lockharts.com/blog/2...more-thoughts/

[dumpy]

I'm a big fan of this book:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Digital-Photography-Jay-Dickman/dp/B0012FBAEW"]http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Digital-Photography-Jay-Dickman/dp/B0012FBAEW[/ame]


It covers pretty much all of the basic aspects of digital photography, composition, shutter speed vs. aperture, post processing, etc. It's very well written and is a good way to get the fundamentals down.

I'm a big fan of learning to shoot by always shooting in manual at first, figure out how ISO, shutter speed, aperture and white balance all play together. Then move on to the "cheater, time saving modes" like appeture priority or shutter priority.

Shoot a lot, look at what worked, what didn't, look at exif data, etc. Digital is great for learning because you can shoot all you want and it doesn't cost you anything.

[muted]

I have the G9 and the screen is amazingly accurate for setting exposure.

Here is some real basic advice. Once you understand the stuff below, do what you want and read up on better, advanced tips. Honestly though, it's a point-and-shoot. I get great results from *basically* or exactly doing the stuff below. Reading in-depth articles is just confusing for a beginner, I think.

First pick an ISO. 100-200 is good for sunny days, anything higher than 400 (for low light exposures) turns out grainy, although the grains -won't- show up on the viewfinder, so be careful.

Then pick shutter speed. Something like 1/60 for scenics and 1/250 to 1/1500 for action, depending on how fast the action is.

Then pick an aperture. Sometimes it's so bright that you have to crank the shutter speed to 1/2500 so everything is not blown out, even if you are just shooting a landscape. This is more for snow shots or mid-day shit. As I said, use your screen to see if anything is blown out. (Adjust the brightness of the screen if it doesn't give an accurate reading after you take some pics)

The auto color balance is really good, you can keep it on and be fine. Your choice. I use autofocus, if you want to have some stuff in and out of focus, just center frame what you want in focus, press the trigger half way so it sets the focus, then move the frame (with your finger still half-way down) until it's framed how you want it. I think that makes sense? Hopefully.

Basically take a bunch of pics and everything will make sense on what works and what effects what. Sorry if shit is different than on a G10, can't be that different though!

[The Reverend Floater]

This thread is awesome. Thanks so much guys--exactly what I needed to get started!

[The Reverend Floater]

Snapped this photo this evening playing around with some manual stuff...I wanted to lighten up the backdrop since the sun was coming in the wrong way but didn't quite do it. Still a nice shot for my skills...

[muted]

Can't see the pic.

Also I forgot about the ND filter in the menu. It's basically like putting sunglasses on the camera when it's super bright out or for snow shots. Helps out and makes the skies darker and more blue, too.

If you want file advice, I usually shoot two quality steps below raw. Maybe 'Fine'? Can't remember. Plenty of quality for fucking around and also still really big shots for the web. RAW is awesome, but it takes up a huge amount of space and drains my battery quick. I really stopped shooting RAW all the time because I was sick of editing the massive files on my computer, which bogged it down, and also converting them to jpgs and finding enough drive space for storing them. And my computer is pretty damn fast.

I only use it when I'm shooting night shots (G9s suck at night shots) or something really cool. Otherwise, on a lower quality setting that battery lasts forever and the shots are great. Going through a 100 drunk photos in RAW format, sucks.


Edit: Also, I recently found out that 'Vivid' mode is pretty nice. Before I'd go through every pic I shot in Standard mode and bring down the darks and bump the saturation a bit...then I started shooting in vivid mode and realized it made my shots almost exactly how I want them to look. Saved a lot of time in Photoshop and it doesn't over saturate them at all.

[Huck_Schmuck]

I convinced my dad to get a G9. He likes it but is sure that it has loads of shutter lag. I haven't played with it, any thoughts? Is it shutter lag or user error? He is likely to be shooting in Auto at the moment...

[muted]

The shutter lag def makes action shots hard on the G9. Does he press the trigger button down half-way so it can read the scene before taking a pic? If he does that before the action starts, it eliminates some of the lag. Also the flash makes it lag a lot. Flash sucks on that thing anyways.

I usually put it on 'mutliple shot' for action. I try to time the first shot as best as I can, as in press the trigger before the person is in frame, and then also hope the other shots capture something if I fucked up the first one. Problem is that multiple shot mode shows you the shot for a second or two after you took it on screen, so if you are trying to pan with the action and the screen is showing a shot you took 2 seconds ago...no dice on live framing and panning. You have to turn the 'show my sweet shot after it's taken for about two seconds' mode off which is a pain.

[ak_powder_monkey]

shoot RAW, use Av to control depth of field (larger the apeture smaller the DOF) was Tv to play with action (Faster the shutter speed lower the motion blur) use ISO at the lowest possible setting for the best image quality, but don't be afraid to bump up ISO if you need to stop action.

[LeeLau]

hey ross - some good advice in this thread.

What muted said about the ND filter particularly for skiing

Read the manual about custom settings. I've set up custom settings for low light and for bright lights so I don't even have to think and it minimizes farting around time for action shots

[Eldo]

The shutter lag def makes action shots hard on the G9. Does he press the trigger button down half-way so it can read the scene before taking a pic? If he does that before the action starts, it eliminates some of the lag...

Good advice, since what a lot of people refer to as "shutter lag" is really autofocus lag + shutter lag. When you press the shutter button the camera needs to focus before it can take the photo, and that focusing is what really makes a P&S feel slow for taking action shots. By framing the shot and pressing the shutter button halfway you are pre-focusing, and then the remaining shutter lag is quite minimal.

I usually put it on 'mutliple shot' for action. I try to time the first shot as best as I can, as in press the trigger before the person is in frame, and then also hope the other shots capture something if I fucked up the first one. Problem is that multiple shot mode shows you the shot for a second or two after you took it on screen, so if you are trying to pan with the action and the screen is showing a shot you took 2 seconds ago...no dice on live framing and panning. You have to turn the 'show my sweet shot after it's taken for about two seconds' mode off which is a pain.

If you pre-focus on a spot where your subject will be going past, then catching that first shot should be easier since shutter lag is consistent and once you are used to it you have a sense of when exactly to release the shutter.

Also, don't just turn off the review mode, turn off the LCD and use the optical viewfinder instead. You get to see your subject the entire time – since the LCD doesn't black out when you take a shot – which makes it easier to track a moving target. On many P&S cameras with an optical viewfinder, the shutter lag is also dramatically reduced when the LCD is off.

For example, on a G9, once you have prefocused by pressing the shutter button halfway, the shutter lag using the LCD is .12 secs. If you turn off the LCD and use the optical viewfinder it is only .05 secs, which is so quick that shutter lag ceases to be an issue.

[muted]

Also, don't just turn off the review mode, turn off the LCD and use the optical viewfinder instead.

That's a good idea. I never use the optical viewfinder because it does not provide an accurate picture of what you are taking....but I'd make an exception for action shots since the other option hasn't really worked well for me.

[Laxcrazy23]

Great Camera. Much easier to ski with then an SLR.

Check out http://digital-photography-school.com/tips for manual settings and all that.

Take it everywhere and just shoot as much as you can.

good luck

[The Reverend Floater]

Great Camera. Much easier to ski with then an SLR.

Check out http://digital-photography-school.com/tips for manual settings and all that.

Take it everywhere and just shoot as much as you can.

good luck

Sweeeeeeet. Thanks. Got some good manual pics in AK just f'in around.