mbird

Sorry Ian, I can't help as I have no idea what a T2 mount is. Could you educate me please?

Lovely shots Simon, great to see a bit of argy-bargy in action

Thanks for moving this to the right area etc Simon, I should have thought of that! Bruce, it seems I got partway there in that I did indeed have the exposure set to manual to maintain the same levels throughout. However, I did not use manual focus, nor indeed take the shots in portrait aspect. The three pictures making up this panorama had a lot of overlap, and the obvious joins are where pictures 2 and 3 are overlapped. I think the focus issue may have something to do with this. When I imported the raw files into LR2, I exported them straight to jpg with no adjustments at all. Does that mean LR2 would have used it's own initiative to render the jpegs, and hence the slight tonal variation. If so, would using a neutral preset on all three pictures, or indeed developing the first and then use "sync settings" on the other two have got over this do you think? More practice required!

WOW Col,

I've not played with Panoramas until this weekend, when I tried my first one at Cockshoot Broad. The camera was hand held and set to manual to ensure the same exposure. I used the Canon Photostitch software that came with the camera, but I am not completely happy with the result as you can see some tonal variation at one of the joins. The piccy itself is fairly uninspiring as it was just an experiment whilst sitting in the hide at the end of the boardwalk. Any suggestions as to how to achieve better joins guys?

Gravity

Beautiful old girls.... I am a little concerned about the name Brookwind though if pronounced in a Norfolk accent context "Blass me buh, ha ya Brookwind?"

I actually quite enjoy getting weird looks from people as I prostrate myself in public with my camera. Cromer pier was the best one, when I just laid down in the middle of it, and my eldest walked off in embarassment

I'm not sure which crop I prefer of the Reflections photo, the previous one or this one? Just for fun

Hi All Just a few snaps from the weekend ....... This one got me some odd looks! It was taken form inside the NWT visitors centre in Ranworth Broad, through the window. The trouble was that to get the angle I wanted, I had to move a display of Broadcasters and lay on my front on the floor. No-one seemed to mind though as lickily it wasn't busy! I had to wait for the sun to come back out to get the lovely spring green colours, and suffer the heckling of passing forum members (eg Colin )

LiveView is the term used for being able to see the image from the lens on the screen on the back of an SLR before you take the shot. Point & Shoot cameras have been like this for years now (some don't actually have a viewfinder as they rely on the image on the screen), but it is a relatively new introduction on SLR cameras simply due to the way they work.

Beautiful pic Paul.

HI Jill Yes, and that way the camera doesn't re-focus. If you let go of the button, it would simply re-focus where the camera was pointing. One thing to be aware of with this technique, though, is that at the same time as focussing, the camera is also measuring the exposure. So if you lock the focus where the scene is very bright, and then move the camera to take your picture, the exposure will be set where the focus was locked. This can result in the exposure being off if there is a big difference in the brightness.

Nice to hear you had a pleasant trip MJG. I have seen so many Summercraft boats out so far this year, and every one of them looks immaculate. In fact I think when you were at Womack, there were 2 or 3 other Summercraft boats there with you too weren't there?

Those settings sound the same as the Canon variants with different names Simon. In Canon parlance, the "One-shot" is for static images, "AI Servo" is for tracking a moving object, and "AI focus" starts of as static, but then attempts to track the subject if it starts moving. With regard to the Kingfishers, I was thinking more if we were approaching one sitting on a branch in the boat. I have had this several times this year already, but because I am son intent on trying to get a shot, I continually have to press the shutter button to refocus each time, by which time the boat is that little bit closer to the bird. I think by using my new found C1 setting, I can just point the camera at the Kingfisher and fire off a burst as we approach. Thats the theory anyway ........

Hi Jonny Good to see you are getting out there and taking pictures, with some nice results. I hope you don't mind a little constructive criticsm..... I like your B&W lock shots, but the only comment I would make is about the slight skew on the angle of the second one. I'm not sure if you were intending for a quirky angle to shoot from, as these can look very good, but if so you need to exaggerate the angle a bit. If you did not mean to get the camera off level, then Simon is bang on about trying to make sure the camera is level. All photographers tend to hold their cameras at a slight angle, and it is something you need to train yourself out of. I make sure the last thing I do before pressing the shutter button is to look at both sides of the viewfinder to make sure the picture is framed level (unless of course I am going for the aforementioned quirky angle!). The first picture of the Guinea Fowl you can see the grass infront of the bird is in focus whereas the bird itself is blurred. This seems to be a trait with P&S and bridge cameras, as my kids are having exactly the same problem with their Fuji, when trying to photograph birds in trees .The camera always tends to focus on the closest object, which I can only assume is down to it having a large AF sensor area. It would be worth you trying to get the focus locked before taking the photo, by pointing the camera at something the same distance away as the subject, but without the interference of closer objects, pressing the shutter button halfway to lock the focus, and then re-frame the image before pressing the button all the way. See what happens if you try a few test shots. Keep at it!

Of course Simon, silly me! I must admit, I thought you were going to come up with some fantastic technical reason, but I had overlooked the bleedin obvious

Hi Perry I haven't really played with the AI Servo mode too much yet, either on my 350D or my 50D. I tend to stick to one-shot mode, which I think is the undoing of my failed attempt to capture Kingfishers. Having read the manual to my 50D, the mode dial comes with a couple of customisable settings. I have now set C1 mode so that immediately I select it, the focus goes to AI Serve, centre focus point selected, multi shot drive mode, auto ISO and 1/400th shutter speed. Hopefullt this will give me a little less to adjust next time I go into Kingfisher country!

Nice shot Martin! Hi Simon, Can you explain to me in simple terms how you would have used LiveView to get closer to the subject, as to me, I'm afraid, I still can't see it being of much use. My new camera has the function, but I've never used it, so another idea as to how it could be of benefit would be most welcome

Hurrah! All Done Many thanks Perry, for pointing that out. No hitches and it only took about 5 minutes to do.

Ooh I'm updating it now.....

What a woman, you lucky chap! The second hand resale value is certainly something to consider in the justification department. When I was looking to fund the 50D, I had only reckoned I would get a couple of hundred quid for my 350D. Infact I even quoted this to another member on here incase they were interested. In the event, I stuck the camera and a spare flash on ebay, with what I considered to be quite high "buy it now" prices, and most of it was snapped up within a couple of days. The total sale was more than half the cost of the new camera body, which amazed me somewhat! The other arguement (which sides with heart not head) is that it can be a never ending waiting game. I'm afraid I cannot see Sony ever getting really stuck into the camera market again. Canon and Nikon are primarily imaging companies (cameras, copiers, printers etc) and I've never seen a Canon or Nikon TV or HiFi! However, Sony have their expertise and market chares elsewhere with consumer electonics, Laptops and so on. If this is true, there will be a point in time (might even be now) where second hand Sony/Minolta kit is raising a premium price, but this will fade as people migrate to the more mainstream manufacturers. I know this is a very simplistic viewpoint, but I think it's also something to consider (especially oif you need all the justification you can get ) Anyway, reading reams of paperwork and manuals will help take your mind of the pain, so call it medicinal therapy. As for LiveView being a deal breaker, now I've got it I really don't know what to do with it, other than the couple of situations mentioned by Bruce and Jonzo. I'm sure I'll find it very useful in the future but at the moment still treat it as a gimmick.

Hi Seaboater, Nice macro shot. When placeing images inline, just take a note of the location of the cursor, as you can see it can sometimes be in the middle of a word! You will experience a little softeneing of images, simply due to the compression of the image sizes I'm afraid. Well, done. Keep trying!

The thing to do is to ask youself what the D90 will do that your Sony doesn't, or what lenses are available from Nikon that you can't get in a Sony fitting. If the list is more than a few lines long, then I'd say you had some justification (like me with my 50D upgrade). If there are only a couple of things you can think of for the list though, then maybe it's better to sit the craving out (not easy I know) .

If you have Microsoft Office, there is a programe that comes with it called Microsoft Picture Manager, which is great at resizing pics. You can specify a maximum number of pixels in both directions and adjust a whole batch of files at once.