New to site and digital cameras

DigitalAirman

Hi all.

Two days ago I bought a Fuji S5000. I am new to the site and to the world of digital photography. I was just curious of any beginner tips about taking pictures, how to use all the buttons on the camera and what not. I have read a little through the site and you all seem to know your stuff, so I am curious and ready to learn about everything about digital cameras and photography.

Parker

wxwax

Whew, that's a tall order, Airman! Is this your first ever camera, your first camera with full manual controls, or just your first digital camera?

For photography tips, I'd do a web search using those words. You'll find lots of free online tips about how to frame your shots, light them etc. As for using your camera, it has a full set of manual controls. You might try shooting for a while with it full auto. Then maybe switch to Aperture Priority mode and play around with depth of field.

DigitalAirman

This is my first ever digital camera, I have taken pictues before with 35mm cameras, and figures I would jump on the digital bandwagon.

Parker

wxwax

If you're used to the manual controls, then not too much is different, except that you only have to pay once for the 'film'!

The other thing to watch for is blown highlights. As I understand it, shooting with digital cameras is more like shooting slide film than print film. They're sensitive to too much light, and will easily overexpose highlights. Better to underexpose and fix it later.

Seamaiden

Well, I finally found the appropriate thread to say hello. Please excuse me, I have impulse control issues and have piped up in other threads. Feel free to visit my site (or http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/ or http://www.wetwebmedia.com ) to make yourselves just as pesky as me.

I purchased my first camera.. Jesus, I haven't owned my own camera in decades, and even then, cheapo doesn't quite describe just how cheap. For some reason I got the bug up my butt, and spent just under $300 for my Olympus C-740UZ. I went ahead and purchased an additional after-market warranty, all this after spending literally MONTHS researching. I ended up with a choice between this Olympus, and the Konica Minolta DiMage Z1 (man.. I hope that's the model!).
I chose this camera for a few very important reasons:

- 10x OPTICAL zoom. Why spend the money to get pixelation?

- Compatibility: I can run this puppy as its own "hard disk" directly from the USB on my Linux platform. MANY other cameras seem to be married to Windows, and the more I learn the less I like someone (read: something) else making my decisions for me. The C-700s are pretty much fully supported in Linux, and the manufacturer has taken pains to ensure their cameras are compatible with most OSs. Me likey.

- Full auto to almost full manual features. I'm wishing there was something like a hotshoe on this thing, but honestly, I hate flash, and won't use it much anyway.

- Stuff "in the box". By this I mean I didn't have to spend extra $$ for lens cover, strap, lithium batteries (which were very long lived!), USB cable, video cable.

- Light weight.

- Can use my native Linux proggies to tweak photos (The Gimp). CAN'T say I know what I'm doing yet, but persistence and determination are omnipotent. Just learned about the "unsharp mask" tool last night. Ooo-eee-aahh fun!

- Ergonomic design. I played around with Momma-san's Nikon Coolpix, a cool little camera, to be sure, but not quite for me. This thing's a "fit", if that makes any sense.

- Metal case.. or at least it seems to be metal!

So, at this point, the more I get to know my camera, the better I like it. I'm using the auto settings less and less, but still need to learn SO much about f/stoppage, shutter speed, ISO, noise reduction, exposure differentials. I am enjoying it! Now, if only I could get the issue between proper exposure and motion stopping for my 'real life' indoor photos (I really hate using flash), I'll be on my way to uber-groovy.

I'm actually hoping to get my father interested in photography again - the man showed enough talent to get into one of Ansel Adams' workshops a couple years before he died. He's got the sick Yashica MAT-124, several SLRs, one of those big old wooden Polaroids that's like an accordian.. lots of stuff. I've lucked out because I went ahead and, when I purchased the AC adapter for the camera picked up the lens adapter, too, and have found all kinds of filters that just happen to fit the 55mm adapter. Even lucked out and found a +10 macro adapter!

gus

Have a look here under 'Article Index'

http://dpfwiw.com/index.htm

Seamaiden

Thankee muchly.

pathfinder

Seamaiden wrote:

Well, I finally found the appropriate thread to say hello. Please excuse me, I have impulse control issues and have piped up in other threads. Feel free to visit my site (or http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/ or http://www.wetwebmedia.com ) to make yourselves just as pesky as me.

I purchased my first camera.. Jesus, I haven't owned my own camera in decades, and even then, cheapo doesn't quite describe just how cheap. For some reason I got the bug up my butt, and spent just under $300 for my Olympus C-740UZ. I went ahead and purchased an additional after-market warranty, all this after spending literally MONTHS researching. I ended up with a choice between this Olympus, and the Konica Minolta DiMage Z1 (man.. I hope that's the model!).
I chose this camera for a few very important reasons:

- 10x OPTICAL zoom. Why spend the money to get pixelation?

- Compatibility: I can run this puppy as its own "hard disk" directly from the USB on my Linux platform. MANY other cameras seem to be married to Windows, and the more I learn the less I like someone (read: something) else making my decisions for me. The C-700s are pretty much fully supported in Linux, and the manufacturer has taken pains to ensure their cameras are compatible with most OSs. Me likey.

- Full auto to almost full manual features. I'm wishing there was something like a hotshoe on this thing, but honestly, I hate flash, and won't use it much anyway.

- Stuff "in the box". By this I mean I didn't have to spend extra $$ for lens cover, strap, lithium batteries (which were very long lived!), USB cable, video cable.

- Light weight.

- Can use my native Linux proggies to tweak photos (The Gimp). CAN'T say I know what I'm doing yet, but persistence and determination are omnipotent. Just learned about the "unsharp mask" tool last night. Ooo-eee-aahh fun!

Welcome Seamaiden - here is a link about Compact Flash and Linux which I know verry little about - does the Oly 7040 use CF or has Olympus stuck with other media types?

It is generally easier to read from the media directly than through the camera interface - thus allowing most cameras to be used on Linux systems I believe....

Seamaiden

Greetings, pathfinder, and thank you for the welcome. But.. the link?

The Oly C-740 uses the xD card. I happen to really like its small size, and the place I ordered from gave me a choice of purchasing just the camera, or the camera with a couple of different "kits". I compared pricing, and found that I simply couldn't find a better deal on the 128MB card. Turned out that I got a neat little credit card-style holder that will hold up to six cards. Since I'm not married to any other cards/readers at the moment I don't think I have the same issues as others may have.

The way camera detection/linkage works in Linux is more a matter of detecting the device via the USB cable. This means that (assuming you have the proper modules installed in your kernel, and this is usually not a problem for most distros) you must tell it where to look, giving it a device name. Mine is /dev/sda1. No other software is required. Then, I simply open it up, use The Gimp to save/modify my images (because mine is a dual boot machine I save certain things to my shared F:\ drive) and I'm golden.

At this moment I've got some kernel/module issues and the machine can't see the USB ports, so, I open up a command line as root and tell it " insmod usb-ohci ". Then, I just click on my "disk management tool", tell it to "mount" (God I love that) the camera, and voila. So far I've had no issues other than burning up the original set of batteries a bit faster than I would have had I already had the AC adapter.

wxwax

Seamaiden, great to have you aboard, matey! Great post describing why you like your camera. That's a keeper for anyone interested in the Olympus C-740UZ.

Does Linus support a card reader for your xD cards? If so, you might find it to be a better option. No batteries to wear out, and the possibility of faster access to your shots.

Knowhwatcha mean about problems with your 'nsmod usb-ohci' -- my roots give me trouble all the time.

Seamaiden

Thank you, wx. You have roots..?

I haven't researched card readers, but open source has so many people working on it I'm sure it would simply be a matter of research. gphoto has TONS of information, and the site I frequent most is http://www.linuxquestions.org - again, I wouldn't be surprised if it's more a matter of device detection, and applying the correct device name, than anything else.

But, I haven't researched readers at all, didn't think there was any need, as I use the adapter for power (plus, I took all those Best Buy gift cards and got a rechargeable battery system that handles AA-AAA batteries - gotta keep my Palm powered, too) and I feel more comfortable using the USB cable at this point that taking the card in and out.. although the card's pretty nifty. Not exactly nano-technology, but it's damn small and I like that.

I will look into it, as it seems that, as I age, I'm becoming a bit of a gadget freak. No one told me this would happen. :twitch

wxwax

The card readers are USB... that's what makes them so handy.

For a non-tech guy, I've become a bit of a gadget freak meself.

Seamaiden

Indeed, very good, oh wax'd one. This is why they seem frivolous and unnecessary to me. It's kinda like adding a middleman, ain't it?

gus

Its a choice thing...they download a lot faster than when you download from your camera. If you have a big card & take hundreds of pics at a time then no doubt they would be handy other wise just plug in your camera.

fish

Humungus wrote:

Its a choice thing...they download a lot faster than when you download from your camera. If you have a big card & take hundreds of pics at a time then no doubt they would be handy other wise just plug in your camera.

yah...speed is the thing. Add big megabyte files to the mix and you want the fastest transfer mechanism possible.

wxwax

The masses have spoken. The great, unwashed masses. The great, stinking, unwashed, corpulent masses. The great, stinking, unwashed.... sorry.

Seamaiden

Good to know kinda stuff here, guys. I had no idea it made a difference either way. One thing's for sure, I am finding I much prefer using the higher quality compression setting, so I'm going from an available 162 shots on the 128MB card to a much more manageable 67 shots. Still a pretty damned good deal when compared to film. I hear the xD cards go as high as 512MB, true dat?

Seamaiden

<sm, still waiting for pathfinder link the link.> <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/ne_nau.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

wxwax

Seamaiden wrote:

Good to know kinda stuff here, guys. I had no idea it made a difference either way. One thing's for sure, I am finding I much prefer using the higher quality compression setting, so I'm going from an available 162 shots on the 128MB card to a much more manageable 67 shots. Still a pretty damned good deal when compared to film. I hear the xD cards go as high as 512MB, true dat?

True.

Visiting a sports photographers site.... a bunch of guys shooting high megapxel cameras.... in their poll the vast majority prefer to shoot on 512 memory cards. That surprised me. I would have thought that they would prefer 1GB or higher.

1GB was second, but only barely, over 256 cards.

Here's the poll.

Deacon

Practicing Caution
Friends who shoot sports professionally have told me that 1 gig plus hold too many shots. If a card goes bad you could be in real trouble. Their theory is divide and conquer by using smaller capacity cards they are required to change and potentially save themselves from a failure.

Deacon

wxwax

Thanks Deacon, Patch has told me that before. I'm wondering how often a CF card goes bad? I've had the occasional bad image, but never a card. I'm not well read, but I haven't heard of complete card failures. I wonder how common they are? Or is this an example of pros who can't afford even the slightest risk?

cmr164

wxwax wrote:

Thanks Deacon, Patch has told me that before. I'm wondering how often a CF card goes bad? I've had the occasional bad image, but never a card. I'm not well read, but I haven't heard of complete card failures. I wonder how common they are? Or is this an example of pros who can't afford even the slightest risk?

Actually the risk involved in changing cards is much higher than the risk of a CF card going bad. The news photo pros and sports pros that I have run into are using 1G or higher with microdrives being one of the top choices. I think Mike Werner pointed out that they were the first choice in the news agency his brother was involved with.

See here

wxwax

Hmmm. That makes the sports shooters' poll even more interesting.

jimf

Seamaiden wrote:

Indeed, very good, oh wax'd one. This is why they seem frivolous and unnecessary to me. It's kinda like adding a middleman, ain't it?

I use a reader, for two reasons. First, because using the camera just eats its batteries unnecessarily. Second, because I can unload the images from the card while shooting with a different card. And third, because it's faster.

Ahh, but several of you say it's not faster. You're right, if you're using a typical cheap USB reader. Try a firewire reader instead; the firewire reader I have is five times faster than its USB counterpart. (You pay for that, of course; the unit will be $40+ and you'll have to get a firewire card if you don't already have one.)

Someone else mentioned that a reason to use smaller cards is to reduce your losses if something goes wrong. I've never had a CF card fail outright, although I've had a couple of SM cards corrupted through no action of my own. I have, however, accidentally yanked a CF card out without "ejecting" (unmounting in UNIX parlance) it, inserted another, and then "ejected" the first with the wrong card in there -- which wiped out the info on the second card. I have also accidentally formatted a card before I got all of the images off (thanks to Canon's habit of putting no more than 100 shots in a single folder).

If you're doing this stuff, you will occasionally do stupid things like that, or the card will have some random failure, or whatever. My suggestion is to be ready for the eventuality: Go buy photorescue and have it handy. Very, very handy tool. It saved two full cards of photos for me just last weekend.

wxwax

You're saying Firewire is that much faster than USB2? If so, that's the first time I've heard anyone say that. I'm not at all technical, but the transfer rate numbers I remember seeing showed USB2 to be faster than Firewire.

jimf

wxwax wrote:

You're saying Firewire is that much faster than USB2? If so, that's the first time I've heard anyone say that. I'm not at all technical, but the transfer rate numbers I remember seeing showed USB2 to be faster than Firewire.

No, I'm not saying that; not if you are using USB2. But almost all USB CF readers are 1.1 and it's not always easy to find a USB2 version. I found it easier to locate Firewire versions.

To be honest, I wasn't aware that USB1.1 was slower than the CF cards, but it is -- a lot slower nowadays. Some CF cards are hitting 12MB/s! That's close to ten times the rate of USB 1.1.

Deacon

readers
The usb that comes with the Lexar 1 gb card is slower than mollassas. I typically use the pcmcia card into the laptop, pretty fast and occassionally use the Belkin reader to download to the IPOD then firewire to laptop.

I have not had a complete failure, but a couple of partials. Everyone with a mouth you know. Some think microdrives are very fragile and if dropped...I did have issues with the microdrive in sub 0 weather and the cf cards worked fine.

Deacon

Seamaiden

Jim, seems you're *nix knowledgeable? My beau absolutely loves his firewire, but he paid a bit more than $40 (IIRC, it was in the hundreds range, but don't hold me to it). Says it's slicker and quicker'n snot, too. However! (With me, there's always a butt..), he's not got his software set up on his Gentoo machine to transfer photos.. don't really know why, it seems to me that gphoto has shown excellent support for a LOT of cameras out there. Of course, I'm still very, very new to the *nix thing myself. I've got two sets of rechargeable batteries for the camera, so at this point it's not a big worry for me at this point.

I made myself proud yesterday - d/l'd some bz2 (bunzip2) files, had NEVER seen nor heard of such a thing. I've become somewhat familiar with tarballs and gz's, but not these. Thanks to the power of Google and that which is opensource, I done learned m'self how to open and install the packages. YAY! (If any of you are familiar with how difficult it is for most folks to work with command line who aren't familiar/trained.. then.. well, I hope you're proud for me, too.)

In any event, I have been keeping the same thinking about my card. Not much written on the xD's, so I don't want to put all my eggs into one basket.

wxwax

I'm proud of you. Not that I understand even a little bit of what you said!

I bought the Lexar USB2 card reader a month or so ago. Paid between $30 and $40, I think. Was slow at first... then I upgraded my ACDSee, and it's much quicker to show me galleries.