SLR settings

EireRoadUser

Ever since i bought my SLR ,I've only ever used the manual setting on it.
It's a canon so I had it on M all the time.
Today is the first time i looked at the other manual settings on the camera and I didn't realize how easy the other manual settings make it to take a shot.

What's the best setting for general walking around shots??
Obviously theres a best one for every shot ,but i just thought there might be one that a lot of people use.
I can't believe I was only using manual for so long ,and how much easier the other settings can make a shot.

Zombrex

EireRoadUser wrote:

Ever since i bought my SLR ,I've only ever used the manual setting on it.
It's a canon so I had it on M all the time.
Today is the first time i looked at the other manual settings on the camera and I didn't realize how easy the other manual settings make it to take a shot.

What's the best setting for general walking around shots??
Obviously theres a best one for every shot ,but i just thought there might be one that a lot of people use.
I can't believe I was only using manual for so long ,and how much easier the other settings can make a shot.

Using manual is good, it gets you used to the camera you are using. I hardly ever use the other settings, sometimes use the shutter speed setting when shooting sports in difficult light and want to look to a speed without have to worry about the correct apature (though my Canon sometimes gets it wrong so it isn't perfect)

Borderfox

I had used M myself and only today at Fairyhouse races used sport setting but found it hunted around too much looking for focus so went to back to M. I tend to leave the aperture at lowest and just use shutter speed to regulate exposure exxept when I have lots of time to think about it...Stick with the camera in M.

EireRoadUser

Cheers for your replies ,I'm on the same track so.

It just annoys me when it's cloudy or lighting changes ,when i'd take a shot I'd either over/under expose but in another setting the lighting would autoadjust.

Looking through the manual ,makes sense to use other settings so you can focus on the shot at hand.
Surely not using manual all the time isnt cheating.
Have stopped using autofocus now a lot since the meeting at the zoo ,I can use my 30mm to manual focus on things that I just couldn't do in auto ,I.E focus on subjects outside the the autofocus points and that are too close for autofocus.

Again ,nice one for the feedback.

joolsveer

Please don't take the opportunity of saying that it was predictable given the results but since I bought my dslr last July I have mainly used automatic focus and exposure settings and usually I have been happy with the results (even if few on boards agree). I sometimes use cameras where I have to do everything fom using a hand held incident meter to setting the shutter spring so it is refreshing instead to let the camera do most of the thinking for me.
I had very mixed results last Saturday with manual focusing on subjects very close to the lens and maybe my visual acuity is not what it should be!

Borderfox

I use the autofocus while in manual mode but I preselect the central focus point rather than all 7 on an EOS. I would agree with joolsveer in that sometimes it is nice to let the camera do the work for you and leave you to just compose the shot. I suppose it's horses for courses.

EireRoadUser

Good stuff lads ,I don't have to feel guilty not using manual all the time now
Horses for courses indeed boderfox

joolsveer

Here are a couple of my old cameras where you have to do everything manually. In the case of the Yashica which takes 6X6 negatives if you use 120 film you have 12 exposures per roll which concentrates the mind a bit. Both cameras are quite capable of taking usable shots though.

EireRoadUser

Thanks for showing them joolsveer ,they both look in mint condition and expensive.

I still think people should use film in the future ,I don't like the fact that companies are turning their back on film.
I hope if I get good on my digital camera ,I could start using film in the future.

EireRoadUser

Heres a camera i dug up this morning ,someone in the family owns it.
It's in mint condition ,it's amazing what a lifetime can achieve

Fajitas!

What size film does it take Eire?

Looks like a fun camera!

JV, how do you find using a TLR? Myself and a mate are thinking of heading over to Prague at the end of Summer for a one day trip to pick up a bargain.

I use 120mm frequently, and love it.

EDIT: And just to keep this on topic, I use the manual settings when I have time to play around with a shot, IE, use the settings creatively. In particular, night photography and studio shots. I use P quite a lot, usually in a gig setting, or out just taking random shots!

EireRoadUser

It says Kodak film 127 on the spot where you reel it .
Personally myself ,I couldn't see me getting any use out of it .It's nice to compare it to whats around now though.Plus it's a girl guide camera

EDIT : Considering what jools had to do with his old cameras and what film photographers have to do ,I think manual mode on a DSLR is like buttering bread. Finoblad told me when i picked up the lense off him that he also uses the P mode.

Fajitas!

Ah feic the girl guide thing I say!

Bring it to a camera shop, see if they can get film for it, and shoot off a roll!

EireRoadUser

Not as easy as that ,I haven't a clue when it comes to film and even if i could get film for it I wouldn't have a girls blouse how to use it.

Theres numbers on the opening that are 1 - 4 ,1 the smallest and thats it.
Theres a little slide button that clicks open to let light in.

Also the letters T and I are on it ,but I don't know what they do.

I like my 350D :cool:

Fajitas!

Was trying to google a users manual for it, but to no avail!

127 film was being made up until the last decade or so I think?

T and I control the shutter, and the 1 - 4 is either the aperture or the focal lenght... far from 100% certain on that though!

Edit: And it was typically held vertically...and made to fit in a vest pocket... Random facts I found searching for a manual on google!

EireRoadUser

Your right about T and I
tried T and I ,T - keeps the shutter open until the button is pressed a second time.
I - just clicks the shutter open and closed.

Fajitas!

There's very few ways of finding out for sure, but I can nearly garantee you that it's a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second!

joolsveer

Fajitas! wrote:

What size film does it take Eire?

Looks like a fun camera!

JV, how do you find using a TLR? Myself and a mate are thinking of heading over to Prague at the end of Summer for a one day trip to pick up a bargain.

I use 120mm frequently, and love it.

EDIT: And just to keep this on topic, I use the manual settings when I have time to play around with a shot, IE, use the settings creatively. In particular, night photography and studio shots. I use P quite a lot, usually in a gig setting, or out just taking random shots!

The tlr is quite easy to use as focusing is carried out on a ground glass screen on top. The image is reversed so it would make it difficult to pan for action shots. The aperture stops and shutter speeds are easy to set against a hand held meter. Unlike a dslr the shutter speeds are in discrete jumps e.g. 1/250, 1/125, 1/60 etc. You can't get 1/136 as you seem to on the 350D.
The Baldamatic has rangefinder focusing so it's dead easy to use. It's a 35mm film camera so it uses any currently available film. I am happy with the results from it too.
This is one from the Baldamatic on colour film which I converted.

EireRoadUser

like that photo jools

Fajitas!

That's a good photo Jools, bring up the contrast on it a bit more though!

I've been using a Hassy in college, but it's for studio only, so I haven't gotten much use out of it. I'll see how the budget goes anyways..

FinoBlad

EireRoadUser I use Aperature Priority mode on the canon. I'll switch to M in studio or lighting situation where I know the slr will be off. My main camera is a hasselblad though and everything is manual on it and thats the way i like it, the canon is for snaps.

127 film is still available from JandC http://www.jandcphoto.com/ and thats a nice little camera you got EireRoadUser, if the shutter is firing, you should rescue the puppy.

EireRoadUser

Sorry fino ,thought you said you use P ,i wasn't really on the ball that time as there was junkies hanging near by and I had my eye on my lenses, sorry.
I might actually get some film for that camera ,but I'll wait for a while until i find out where i can develop it aswell.

joolsveer

Here's another couple of my oldies FYI. Still work as well. I bought the Praktica new in 1976 I think and I got the Pentax second hand a couple of years later.

FinoBlad

Hey joolsveer have you a Halina 2000, that was my first camera?

FinoBlad

EireRoadUser wrote:

Sorry fino ,thought you said you use P ,i wasn't really on the ball that time as there was junkies hanging near by and I had my eye on my lenses, sorry.

No problem

joolsveer

I had a Halina years ago but I gave it to my sister and I don't know what happened to it. I probably have about 70% of all the cameras I ever had including my first digicam which was an Agfa with amazing 640 X 480? resolution.

I have two folding 6 X 6 cameras at the moment.

FinoBlad

joolsveer wrote:

I have two folding 6 X 6 cameras at the moment.

What are they?

Do you have any large format?

Fajitas!

If you ever feel like getting rid of the TLR, let me know

joolsveer

FinoBlad wrote:

What are they?

Do you have any large format?

I never had a large format i.e. 4X5 inches or more. The 6X6 cm negatives were the biggest I could handle. Gave up the darkroom work some years ago though I still have the enlarger and the gear somewhere.
One of my folders is a Zeiss Ikon rangefinder. It works fine and has X synchonisation so it has a relatively modern shutter. It dates from the 50s. The other is a rebadged Agfa which was made for the US market in the late 40s. It is not as useful as the Zeiss though.

FinoBlad

joolsveer wrote:

I never had a large format i.e. 4X5 inches or more.

Me neither. I was going to get a lens for my canon but now thinking of a linhof technika iv. I'm probably mad.

Fajitas!

If you are thinking about going for a large format/retro medium format, I know a shop in Prague that is a bargain compared to here and eBay, even including flights, you'd be saving money!

joolsveer

Fajitas! wrote:

If you are thinking about going for a large format/retro medium format, I know a shop in Prague that is a bargain compared to here and eBay, even including flights, you'd be saving money!

Have they got a website Fajitas?

Fajitas!

I actually don't think so. Was a very odd shop.

I'll google it now and try find out.

Fajitas!

http://www.prague.dk/italian/pragsh09.htm

That's a link to the big camera shops over there. Been to three of them, FotoSkoda being the one I was talking about. It's probably the most recognised out of all of them! And here, for your benefit, it their site in English!

http://www.fotoskoda.cz/default.asp?ids=356&idm=312&lang=eng

It's amazing when you go in, because the main shop is a tiny room, like the small Camera Exchange in Dublin, and there's a stairs down to the basement, which you can see in the photos...It's amazing...like, hundreds of cameras, from your newest Canon, to large format cameras built on their own tables.