Hello Mimoun,
It's nice to hear from a fellow Ixus 500 user, I was beginning to think I was the only one!
I am afraid I don't have any great tips as I am new myself and have only done two trips with the camera. However Sabine said, in another thread, that it takes great colours so that's a great start.
On my first trip I did not have any corrective lenses in my mask and could not see the symbols on the screen so had to set them before I dived and on the whole I was very pleased with the results. You can see them under Bonaire at Webshots at the following address:-
http://community.webshots.com/scripts/controlPanel.fcgi
The settings I used, on the advice of a friend, were as follow:-
ISO to 200, but I have since learned that ISO 50 would be better.
Resolution L, the largest possible.
Compression to S, superfine.
White Balance off, it is better to do it manually using your slate. Ideally it should be done for every shot but realistically it needs redoing when you change depth or the light changes.
Centre weighted metering with spot focus so that the camera focuses where you want it.
Set the pre-focus by partially depressing the shutter release.
Apart from the first three the settings are made in an effort to reduce shutter lag.
Using the resolution and compression settings gives you plenty of scope for playing later in Photoshop but it does mean you need large capacity Flash Cards - I have a couple of 1gig cards with a 256 and a 128 as back up.
That's it for the camera the rest is diving skills and composition.
If anyone else can come in with tips for beginners I am sure Mimoun and I would be very grateful.
mimoun:
Hi, sorry cant help with the filter thing but i would be interested in any tips you might have for taking good photos with the ixus 500. I am very new to photography and totally confused with all the possibilities. Using auto i have some fairly decent shots (by beginner standards i,m sure) but would love to get to grips with some of the other options on the camera. Is it basically a matter of shooting and see what you get or do you have any great tips that could help me improve my photos. Trying to work my way through the manual isnt being much help to me!
Any help or advice would be very welcome.
Thanks in advance
