Recommend Me Some Settings Please

Gumbo

Guys,

Got my 550D yesterday (1st SLR).
Have to take a photo of my dads shop plaque today, its for inclusion onto a logo of some sort.

Its about 4 foot X 3 foot and on the wall inside his shop. the shop is well lit and the wall is tiled.

I plan on taking the pic, cropping it out using Coreldraw/Photoshop and adding address details etc

But i what im asking is, can anybody shed some light on some manual settings to try?
I will take a couple on auto also just incase but any advice welcome

Camera 550D
Lens - 18-55 IS (Kit Lens)

Splinters

First thing Id recommend is getting rid of that 18-55...its hands down the worst lens I ever owned and was glad to see the back of mine. You dont have to spend big money on a lens either...just spend wisely. Check adverts.ie for a second hand 50mm f1.8. You can usually find them for 60 euro or there abouts. Obviously on a cropped body the 50mm wont be ideal for every shot but for the price its stunning.

Second piece of advice would be get rid of that 18-55.

Third would be.... can you guess

Gumbo

Splinters wrote: »

First thing Id recommend is getting rid of that 18-55...its hands down the worst lens I ever owned and was glad to see the back of mine. You dont have to spend big money on a lens either...just spend wisely. Check adverts.ie for a second hand 50mm f1.8. You can usually find them for 60 euro or there abouts. Obviously on a cropped body the 50mm wont be ideal for every shot but for the price its stunning.

Second piece of advice would be get rid of that 18-55.

Third would be.... can you guess

agh im happy with teh kit lens, till xmas at least. when the GF asks what i want, it'll be a nifty fivty

jpb1974

But i what im asking is, can anybody shed some light on some manual settings to try?

Best thing would be to put your camera on a tripod for stability.

Then put the camera into AV mode (Aperture Priority), set the aperture value to about F8, and set your ISO as low as it'll go (100 on the 550D?). Turn off the flash.

There's not much wrong with the 18-55 lens... it'll do a good job for you, as it did for me back in the day when I was starting out -

Splinters

In that case you'll have from now until christmas of continually taking disappointing shots to look forward to, enjoy

Gumbo

Splinters wrote: »

In that case you'll have from now until christmas of continually taking disappointing shots to look forward to, enjoy

Jez, you have an issue, don't ya?

Borderfox

Splinters wrote: »

In that case you'll have from now until christmas of continually taking disappointing shots to look forward to, enjoy

Heres over 100 pages of dissapointing shots

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=185522&highlight=18-55

Splinters

kceire wrote: »

Jez, you have an issue, don't ya?

Past tense, I HAD an issue.

Then I sold it and bought a better lens

hbr

kceire wrote: »

But i what im asking is, can anybody shed some light on some manual settings to try?
I will take a couple on auto also just incase but any advice welcome

Camera 550D
Lens - 18-55 IS (Kit Lens)

Take a few in the auto or semi-auto modes just in case.

Use a tripod or some firm support. Stop the lens down by 1-2 stops
to improve sharpness. Somewhere in the range f/8 to f/11 should be
good. Use ISO-100 to keep noise to a minimum. A reflective brass
plaque will probably confuse the camera's exposure metering.
Bracket your exposure to ensure that some of your shots turn
out right. You can use the exposure bracketing feature of the camera. If
you are using manual mode, just take a few shots ranging from too dark
to too bright with several steps in between. Go back and try again
tomorrow if it doesn't work out

The older 18-55mm Canon lenses weren't great. Newer IS versions are
very good. Don't just take my word for it. See the sample shots and resolution
tests here: http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/181-canon-ef-s-18-55mm-f35-56-is-test-report--review?start=1

From the Photozone reviiew:
"The center resolution of the lens is extremely high throughout the tested zoom and aperture range and at its sweet spots it matches or exceeds the sensor resolution of the 8mp base DSLR used for testing. Normally you would expect a severe drop off beyond the inner image portion but this is not the case. The border and even the extreme corners remain on a very good level especially at 18mm. This is not unprecedented - the Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED is also darn good - but it's certainly something new for a budget Canon standard zoom lens. Rest assured that you may not be the only one reading this in disbelief. "

This matches my own experience with the Canon 18-55mm IS kit lens.
http://pix.ie/corkpix/1658017/size/1200
http://pix.ie/corkpix/1573580/size/1200
http://pix.ie/corkpix/1730858/size/800

Promac

The recent 18-55 is a cracking lens to start out with. Some of my best (in my opinion) shots were taken with my kit lens on the 450D.

Canon aren't gonna put a sh1t lens on an enthusiast-grade camera cause they want to draw that enthusiast in and get him to buy a 5Dii with a 24-70. He won't do that if he constantly takes disappointing shots with his first camera.

Back on topic - HBR pretty much covered it I reckon.

Gumbo

Thanks lads, i tried out a few shots, the auto systme actually put the ISO at 100 too. Its not actually a brass plaque as such, its an oval piece of glass with blue text on it.

CabanSail

Splinters wrote: »

First thing Id recommend is getting rid of that 18-55...its hands down the worst lens I ever owned and was glad to see the back of mine. You dont have to spend big money on a lens either...just spend wisely. Check adverts.ie for a second hand 50mm f1.8. You can usually find them for 60 euro or there abouts. Obviously on a cropped body the 50mm wont be ideal for every shot but for the price its stunning.

Second piece of advice would be get rid of that 18-55.

Third would be.... can you guess

^^ This is poor advice. It is typical of someone with a little experience who has GAS. The kit you have is more than capable of stunning shots. What is needed is a understanding of light & exposure. Couple this with being conversant with your gear &, most importantly, imagination and you will be fine.

To answer the question you asked.

If you are taking a sign, then a Tripod is good advice. The next thing is to keep the sensor plane parallel to the sign, this will keep the sides of the sign parallel too.

You will not require a wide depth of field, so having the aperture open will be fine, but keep it back a couple of stops from the limit will keep the lens close to the sweet spot. Using Av set to the desire Aperture (f5.6 or f8) will be fine.
Make sure that the speed is at least 1/60th second or faster (if not on a Tripod). If slower see the next point on ISO.

Keep the ISO as low as possible. 100 is native to Canon I believe, but move up if needed. Up to 400 should be fine, but 100 is best if you have a tripod, as you can slow the shutter speed right down.

Shoot in RAW and then you can adjust the White Balance when editing. Shoot RAW + Jpeg if not confident yet.

If using a Tripod, then turn the IS off.

Good luck & enjoy the new toy.

Gumbo

Thanks people