Settings for Canon "A" or "S" Series

[Chad_Ordelheide]

So we can all learn somthing! What settings are people using when they take their U/W Photos with Canons? Manual, Av, Tv, Auto/P and what are your f-stops & timing settings.

My Camera: A80 with Internal flash

I have been using Aperture Priority with the Cloudy setting, but I don't like the fact that the timing default is 1/60th. That ends up making the pictures blurry when I'm moving and the fish is moving. I'm thinking about changing to Manual and setting the timing at 1/100 or 1/125 and then changing the Aperature. Any thoughts on this would be great!!

 

[aquakiwi]

So we can all learn somthing! What settings are people using when they take their U/W Photos with Canons? Manual, Av, Tv, Auto/P and what are your f-stops & timing settings.

My Camera: A80 with Internal flash

I have been using Aperture Priority with the Cloudy setting, but I don't like the fact that the timing default is 1/60th. That ends up making the pictures blurry when I'm moving and the fish is moving. I'm thinking about changing to Manual and setting the timing at 1/100 or 1/125 and then changing the Aperature. Any thoughts on this would be great!!

I personaly find shooting shutter priority better as the A cameras don't have much of
a range of aperture settings.

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Does the aperature then default to 2.8?

 

[hdtran]

Does the aperature then default to 2.8?

Chad,

Look at it this way: It takes a certain amount of light energy to expose a picture properly. Too much light energy, and your picture is all white. Too little, and it's all black.

The aperture controls how large the "window" is. The aperture number is the inverse of how large the window is; e.g. f/16 is a smaller window (aperture) than f/2.8.

The (aperture size) x (shutter time) = total exposure.

If you set the camera on shutter priority, YOU have told the camera, "my shutter time is 1/100" (or whatever), Camera, figure out what the proper aperture is to get a good exposure.

If you set the camera on aperture priority, you tell the camera "my aperture is f/16, camera, figure out what speed is necessary to get a good exposure."

If you set the camera on "P" (auto program), the camera picks both speed & aperture.

There are some cases where if you select shutter or aperture, the camera is unable to expose properly (for example, a dimly lit scene, and you choose T=1/1000. No way can the camera open the aperture large enough).

In manual mode, you choose both T & A (no, not what you think! :11: ), and the camera tells you if you've got too much or too little exposure.

Hope that was helpful!

 

[hdtran]

Couple more things:

(1) If you default to aperture priority and choose the aperture setting, you choose the depth-of-field. This is interesting if you're composing a macro shot and want to blur the foreground/background. Small f/numbers give smaller depth-of-field (larger blur in background/foreground). Likewise, if your target is relatively stationary, but difficult to focus on, you can choose a large f/number, which will give you greater depth-of-field (larger span of distances are "in focus" for a given focus).

(2) If you choose shutter speed, you can 'freeze' motion, but you give up the control of depth-of-field.

(3) The more advanced cameras also give you control on "ISO", which is the digital equivalent to film speed (amount of light require to expose properly). I don't know if the A80 gives you that, though.

 

[RonFrank]

So we can all learn somthing! What settings are people using when they take their U/W Photos with Canons? Manual, Av, Tv, Auto/P and what are your f-stops & timing settings.

My Camera: A80 with Internal flash

I have been using Aperture Priority with the Cloudy setting, but I don't like the fact that the timing default is 1/60th. That ends up making the pictures blurry when I'm moving and the fish is moving. I'm thinking about changing to Manual and setting the timing at 1/100 or 1/125 and then changing the Aperature. Any thoughts on this would be great!!

If you are getting a default setting of 1/60 in Av mode than there is not enough light for the camera to get the proper exposure without flash. That is likely dangerous in that the tiny flash does not have enough power to illuminate much.

As others have suggested, you can shoot in shutter priority, however that will result in f2.8 if the light is low with the flash on, or off for that matter. The aperture will be displayed in red which indicates that the exposure is not within range.

Keep in mind that these digital PnS marvels have some drawbacks vs. their larger DSLR brothers. One is certainly low light focus, and if you are shooting at ISO 400, and can not get enough light to shoot UW at 1/60 at f2.8 it maybe not worth shooting at all as these camera's are not good at aquiring focus in those conditions, and will rely on the flash.

If you have an external flash, and use that as the primary light source, IF you can attain focus you will be fine. If you do NOT have an external flash, and the conditions are such that you can not expose at 1/60-f2.8 maybe do not bother shooting.

1/60 should be enough shutter to stop most fish *action* and to eliminate camera shake (depending on zoom settings) so I'm betting your blurry images may just be because the camera is having problems focusing.

 

[RonFrank]

Couple more things:

(1) you can choose a large f/number, which will give you greater depth-of-field (larger span of distances are "in focus" for a given focus).

More DOF does not provide more focus. Only one plane can be in focus in any image. However DOF gives the illusion of everything in an image being in focus. I'm not going to get into a circle of confusion discussion on why this is true.

Something else to keep in mind that another way to increas DOF is to use a wider focal length. DOF is not just a function of aperture, but also of focal length. The DOF on a 300mm lens is very shallow regardless of aperture, and at 15mm the DOF is very wide even wide open.

 

[LegoPacific]

I use the A70 and think it's a great little camera for the $.

Here's what I start with: "P" mode, flash off, exposure compensation: -2/3 , white balance: cloudy, ISO: 100, light metering: center weighted, red-eye reduction off, AiAF frame selection: off, AF assist: off, digital zoom: off, review: 2 seconds, resolution: 2048x1536 (large, superfine). Usually, I'll switch over to manual white balance as soon as I'm down.

Without the flash, dumping the AiAF and going to center weighted metering seems to improve the chances of a decent shot. With the flash, a small light helps the camera to focus.

Some pics: http://legopacific.com/

 

[dorset47]

I use the A70 and think it's a great little camera for the $.

Here's what I start with: "P" mode, flash off, exposure compensation: -2/3 , white balance: cloudy, ISO: 100, light metering: center weighted, red-eye reduction off, AiAF frame selection: off, AF assist: off, digital zoom: off, review: 2 seconds, resolution: 2048x1536 (large, superfine). Usually, I'll switch over to manual white balance as soon as I'm down.

Without the flash, dumping the AiAF and going to center weighted metering seems to improve the chances of a decent shot. With the flash, a small light helps the camera to focus.

Some pics: http://legopacific.com/

Wow. If you can come back with pictures that good, it makes it hard to justify a more exotic camera. Sure am glad I just got an A80.
Thanks for the setting info..

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

I use the A70 and think it's a great little camera for the $.

Here's what I start with: "P" mode, flash off, exposure compensation: -2/3 , white balance: cloudy, ISO: 100, light metering: center weighted, red-eye reduction off, AiAF frame selection: off, AF assist: off, digital zoom: off, review: 2 seconds, resolution: 2048x1536 (large, superfine). Usually, I'll switch over to manual white balance as soon as I'm down.

Without the flash, dumping the AiAF and going to center weighted metering seems to improve the chances of a decent shot. With the flash, a small light helps the camera to focus.

Some pics: http://legopacific.com/

Greeting from Guam!! I just graduated from Loma Linda School of Dentistry, down in San Bernardino/Riverside Area! I don't miss the smog and COOOOOLD water, but there are perks of being down there!! Out here in Guam we we have the bathtub water. Anyway, your settings intrigue me! As you might have read on the thread I posted I used Av priority and at 1/60th fish are blurred sometimes due to too much motion. Anyway, here are a few quick questions, if you want to post them on the thread, thats fine too.
1.) You mentioned you don't use flash? How is that possible in SoCal?
2.) Do you like center weight focus better than Spot focus?
3.) How do you set manual white balance?
4.) Does ISO 100 help? I use 50

Thanks for your thoughts, and enjoy a kelp dive for me!!

Chad