Why my Canon 300D almost died this weekend.

cwphotos

So after seeing some of the shots on here from Minnehaha Falls I decided to go there with a friend and take some pics. Well when I went to set the shutter to stay open longer under the AV setting it wouldnt work. It has worked many times before but it refused to work. I eventually got so pissed off that I switched to M and did it that way. That camera about found it's way to bottom of the falls !!! :humungus
Any thoughts on what I may have done wrong.... :scratch

DJ-S1

Isn't the only way to change the shutter speed in Av mode to change the exposure comp to +? Or lower your ISO, I suppose. If you want to control shutter and aperture, you have to use M. Unless I'm missing something?

cwphotos

Well mayhaps, it's just I have always accomplished it the way that I mentioned. If I have been doing it wrong shame on me !!! :cry

DoctorIt

Well, some shame on you for getting mad at your camera.. It was only trying to do its best for you! If you want it to do exactly what you want, you should be shooting in M anyway. If you know enough to want to dictate the shutter speed, why are you bothering with Av? Take the plunge, it won't hurt!



But really, if you do think there is some malfunction with your Drebel, you're not giving us enough information to help you. By your account, it was just a freak exposure situation that your camera was taking into account under an automated setting. Give us specifics.

cwphotos

I will admit, most of the time I use the longer exposure at night, i.e. lower light levels. This was at 11am against a ice covered waterfall with snow around it.

DoctorIt

cwphotos wrote:

I will admit, most of the time I use the longer exposure at night, i.e. lower light levels. This was at 11am against a ice covered waterfall with snow around it.

Ah, well, you've essentially just admitted you don't really know that much about how aperture and shutter speed combine to give you correct exposure. Gotcha!!!

If that is the case, your camera metered the scene as pretty bright - 11am, bright to begin with, then throw in ice and snow = a recipe for what the camera thinks is a very bright scene. It would take a very very small aperture (f/32) to give you a "long" shutter speed (> 1 second).

Seriously, dig through the Hall of Wisdom, or pick up any photography book for a quick tutorial on exposure basics. You'll gain a much better understanding of what your Drebel is doing and you'll be shooting in M all the time.

cwphotos

Sigh...... alas I am but an amatuer.......
Im taking a course this upcoming semester that will hopefully explain some of these things in depth. I wish I had a pro rebel user at arms length where I live that could be like " hey man this is how you do, this this and this and I would be set. Im more of a hands on learner. Thanks for the replies folks.

3rdPlanetPhotography

Well you could have soaked it in water.. just to wash it off a bit. Maybe it was dirty.

DoctorIt

cwphotos wrote:

Sigh...... alas I am but an amatuer.......
Im taking a course this upcoming semester that will hopefully explain some of these things in depth. I wish I had a pro rebel user at arms length where I live that could be like " hey man this is how you do, this this and this and I would be set. Im more of a hands on learner. Thanks for the replies folks.

the course will be helpful, but why not get a jump on things? You're already thinking well - like "hey, I'm shooting a waterfall, and I want a slow shutter speed for effect..." I mean it, pick up any old photography book you can get your hands on, digital, black and white, it don't matter. All you need to learn is basic principle of how the shutter speed and opening of the aperture combine to give you appropriate exposure. It can be taught in 1 well written page.

I can suggest: John Shaw's Nature Photography... treat yourself to a gift! $15 on Amazon, and its full of great photos as well as info.

cwphotos

I have nature photography by tom fitzharris and that has been a big help. I think my error lies more in what specifics of my camera I need to manipulate to get what I want. :uhoh

DJ-S1

Listen to the Doc, he's right. But I would add that you can find everything you need learning-wise right here on the www. There's tons of info on photography at your google fingertips.

As a side note, waterfall shots where you want slow shutter speeds in daylight often require ND filters to get the blur you want.

I was where you are now just last March; interest in photography, new DReb in my hands, and lots of questions. I learned most of what I know here on Dgrin. Now I just need to learn the other 99.2% there is to know about photography!

JimM

You definately want to learn the basics of how the film speed (ISO), shutter speed, and f-stops combine to give you a correct exposure.

I am confident the problem you had on AV was you had the f-stop all the way closed down (either f22 or f32 on that lens probably) and shooting at ISO 400 made it so you were still at something near 1/30/ or 1/60 of a second. You could have changed your ISO (only in the digital world can you effectively do this "mid-roll") or used a neutral density filter to make it darker. On manual, how did the images turn out? Was it still too bright?

cwphotos

Yeah....they turned out very bright. Oh well. Im going to salvage what I got and go from there. Oh and for everyones info I've had my setup for a year now, but never needed more than the auto. Lately I have gone all RAW and started using the other stuff. Yeah in Av mode I was at 22 and I do know how to change the ISO from there. Crap..... ah well.

erich6

The Canon Digital Learning Center is a good resource for your camera:

http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/index.html

Also, the Imaging Resource has a nice set of tutorials and many are specific to the DRebel:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/

This website has a good series of tutorials for general picture taking:

http://www.photozone.de/active/news/index.jsp

Erich