hummingbird

[MikeB12]

hummingbirds have been in full force lately at my feeders...

these things are always a challenge to capture with a camera... canon powershot on auto.. (camera n00b)
me standing still like a rock for 15 min 4 feet from feeder... arm cramps holding camera
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/B12MHudson/IMG_0274.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/B12MHudson/1-41.jpg

[Olly_K]

2nd one is cool. Can you manually control the sutter on your camera ?

[[XC] riptide]

INcrease shutter speed, and aperature. Get it so that the bird is like a stone, fixed in the air.

[twilyth]

2nd one is cool. Can you manually control the sutter on your camera ?

Yes. Second one is very nice. There seems to be a little pixelation. Canon is a good camera so I would guess the problem is with the compression. Any chance of uploading the full version without photobucket compressing it to 1024x768?

[Nate P.]

Lots of noise. Camera probably increased the ISO automatically. But, as they always say, it's the photographer that makes the picture, not the camera! Props to you for the second one, I love it!

[Olly_K]

as Nate says, I think because the camera was on auto its put the ISO right up hence the noise

[MikeB12]

the first one was on auto.. I added the second pic with the edit about seven hours later.... after I RTFM.. LOL! shoulda done that in the first place...

the first one was on auto all the way, max res, super fine... and the flash went off..

the second was on fast shutter mode, no flash, large, fine (med settings).... but it was still in auto-fast shutter. so you're right, I bet iso was probably 400..

it's a canon A520, here's the manual http://scootplace.net/temp/canonA520.pdf
it has 3 diff modes where I can manually set ISO, but I haven't played with that yet...


here's a another on fast shutter in the same series that caught the second pic. you get a better shot of the wing... but still in fast shutter auto mode, so iso was probably topped out.
I looked for the originals, and my dumba$$ left them in my temp dir and they got wiped yesterday by accident. I should have copied them to my pictures like I usually do, but didn't... oh well, I refilled the feeders yesterday too, so I can always go back for more...
the only copies I have left are the ones I uploaded to photobucket for posting..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/B12MHudson/3-10.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/B12MHudson/2-20.jpg

anyway, I've got to figure out how to get the graininess out, or maybe the flash will fix that next time... I dunno. need to research the iso manual modes..

[MikeB12]

ok, I RTFM again.. and manually set shuuter speed to 1/2000 and aperature to 8.0 (max)...

I have ISO 50-100-200-400... so I manually set it to 50, the lowest... is that right? or should I go higher...

I'll catch some shots this afternoon late when they feed again...

[Olly_K]

lower iso means sharper picture but less light

[MikeB12]

yeah, I'm gonna have to play with this.. at those settings (1/2000 - iso50 - F5.0), I took a sample pic and it came out almost black it was so dark...


ok, I think I've got it setup ok from the sample pics after playing around...
1/640, 2-4F, iso 50, no flash... now I just need to wait and see what it looks like when they get active later...

anything faster than 1/640 gets dark as he11... and I need the shutter speed for a hummingbird, right. so that should be my main goal... maximize that, while keping iso50, and forfeit some aperature.... does that sound ok..
I know 1/640 has to be faster than auto, and the graininess got removed with iso50 like yall were saying. so we'll see later on today when I can get some posers.

this is definitely sharper than the pics above. thanks for the tips.. I'll post some new ones if I get any good action shots today. this still looks a little dark, I may drop shutter speed to 1/500, or leave it at 1/640 and go up to iso100.. maybe both and see what happens. in any case, it should be a better wing shot at 1/500-1/640 than auto was..
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/37/img0305dm0.jpg

[twilyth]

If you can, set to auto with aperture preference and set the aperture as low as it will go - probably f2. Then shutter speed will adjust for correct exposure. Also if the camera has this setting, have it weight the light meter for the center of the image. Then if you have a dark subject on a light background, it will over expose the bacground so you get the right exposure for the subject.

Only problem is a low aperture will decrease the depth of field. But that shouldn't be an issue here.

[Olly_K]

I would be very suprised if he can stop down the aperture to F/2.


and I need the shutter speed for a hummingbird, right. so that should be my main goal

Absolutely. So, you need to shoot fast. Your best results will be on a bright day. The shutter speed needs to be fast, set everything else around that. up the ISO a little more, and like twilyth said trying stopping down the aperture as much as you can. This means only the very centre of the image will be in sharp focus, but you'll have to experiment !

EDIT : just a thought, have you tried with flash ?

[MikeB12]

that sounds like what I was thinking Oily... when I use my flash, the RTFM said it automatically limits shutter to 1/500...

so I've been playing with manual shutter and iso50....
the lowestF will go is 2.8....

but when I put my camera in TV manual I can set a manual shutter and iso, then it will select an F for me for the shot.
anything above 1/640 gets pretty dark at iso50.

so I think I like TV mode which lets me set a high shutter (around 1/500-1/800) and iso50-100, then F is auto selected between 2.8-5 so far in my playing around pics... actually that mode lets me manually set the shutter at any speed up to 1/2000, and iso 50-400... but I wanted to keep iso50 for the quality.. so anything above 1/640 is getting real dark...

here's a full size sample I just took at 1/640 manual shutter, manual iso50, and auto F which it picked 3.5....
and spot center screen locked focus... http://scootplace.net/canon/IMG_0312.JPG
now I just need the little guys to come out... if I can get a shot with these setting in a pic like this sample pic, I should have a good one...
I'm not quite sure how 1/640 will freeze the wings, but it's the best I can do since a flash will auto set it 1/500...

[twilyth]

That looks pretty good. Foreground is nice and sharp and background is a nice soft blur. That might work. Good luck. :up:

[Olly_K]

yep i agree !

[MikeB12]

they weren't active tonight.. I expected them to come out bt 6-8pm like they have been... we do have some storms moving through, so maybe the pressure in the atmosphere had something to do with it... I'll try again tomorrow morning... they're off and on here for the next couple months... so even if these past couple days were just a group that went through, I'll have another group moving through soon, and the feeders are full.. they went through 2 full feeders in less than a week this past week, and I didn't pull the camera out until these past few days... now that I've got it tuned in, I'll be ready next time and not just go grab a n00b shot on auto..

[Olly_K]

are you thinking of getting into photography ?

I would suggest a DSLR and a nice telephoto means you have complete control over all of your settings and the telephoto lens means you can be quite away away from them so as not to disturb them !

[MikeB12]

it all depends on if I stay with it or not.... if I'm still interested in a couple months I may splurge on one...
actually I was looking at them at NE yesterday, and saw one I liked... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120278
dpreview had a pretty in depth review on their front page is what caught my eye http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos1000d/

anyway, $700 plus accessories is sizable chunk of change for me right now, especially when I have a beach house reserved for a vacation the first week of oct. so it'll probably be later this year before I have cash for a purchase like that.... but we''ll see if the interest stays or not.... there's no reason to buy one if I'm not gonna use it like it should be used in a hobby...
I've had that canon a520 for several years and used it here and there for still shots, this week was the first time I've played with manual setting.. but after I got used to it and figured out what controls did what and how the pics turned out with the 50 or so shots I played with yesterday, I found myself wanting more... I guess that goes with any hobby, same reason we end up buying high end pc components like mobos that have all oc controls...


it stormed here hard all night and is misty and cloudy this morning, my backyard is pretty saturated... I'm guessing that weather is what kept the activity down at the feeders... it still looks like about 6AM here, and it's really 9AM... no sun anywhere and everything is wet and misty...


that little a520 takes decent pics, it just lacks the fine adjustments and nice features a highend camera has..
it'll take great pics even on auto of stills.. so I'll have to wait and see if I'm still into it in a couple months..
a flower shot I took last spring.. auto (n00b) photo.. ;)

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5011/img0107lr7.jpg

[Olly_K]

thats a very nice pic tbh !

so your a bit of a canon man ? i prefer nikon but I guess the same applies to intel/amd and nvidia/ati !

[MikeB12]

I've never had a Nikon, but heard good things about them... that a520 was the first decent digital I ever bought. the one I had before that was a cheap 1st gen fuji back from the mid 90's... and the only reason I went canon last time was from the reviews on the point and shoot a5xx series... now that I've had it for a couple years, I do want something more.... the never ending upgrade syndrome... I have some time... so I'll do my research and figure it out, I haven't really delved into researching DSLR's yet. that was just a one stop read from the front page of dpreview yesterday... I'd buy anything that got the best reviews and proven value/performance Nikon or Canon... doesn't really matter, though this little canon has been good to me for the $200 I spent 2 years ago, so I am a little biased.