eBay auction - Index Fossils of North America

[DWhatley]

I am most worried about sharpness and color. It took awhile for me to set the Canon up and memorize the settings for the tanks and I would still get grainy pictures on occasion (I think Vaughn solved that mystery during our AU visit) but now I have to start all over. I found a great site to compare apples to apples (or close, no actual "i" anything ). Part of the problem with using it is that you can select DSLR in the photo comparisons ... Hopefully this will initialize with a Leica, Yours, Mine and the Canon G12. Move the blinking box to see the images from all. you can also change the ISO settings (individually or for all from the primary) as well as switching to RAW for cameras that support it. Pretty cool little tool and I bookmarked it for the next time someone mentions cameras.

 

[Terri]

Interesting link, already have a headache! Sharpness and grainy are one of my issues too, and I want sharp clear enlargments. I read somewhere if you go to a smaller picture size it will help with the graininess. My camera has so many different modes with soo many different settings. Right now I'm using a manual mode for fossils where I'll mostly try to get the settings right and leave it alone and use that one just for fossils. I'll have to read through that link several times before I GET it.

 

[DWhatley]

You can do this! Look at the larger picture. In the picture you should see a rectangle that hase a moving border. Now look at the four images below. Each one is of the same (or close) place in the larger picture, taken by the given camera. Put your cursor on the triangle. You will see a cross with arrows (or at least the cursor will change - browser dependency). Hold down your mouse button and drag the rectangle somewhere else (I recommend using the paint brush on the left and the pile of paper - gem - clips on the green whatever). You will see the photos tanke by each of the displayed cameras. Don't be upset that the first image is way better, that camera is in a completely different category and price range but I use it to see what the picture SHOULd look like.

 

[Terri]

Thanks! I'll give it another go.

 

[DWhatley]

Unlike our cameras, the only thing you can really mess with is the ISO (film speed). You will see as the ISO increases the quality decreases. One of the things Vaughn taught me about the Canon is that I could set the ISO to not exceed a specific number and my reading says that 200 is the not to exceed number for point and shoots so you have to then work with the lighting and opening speed (F stop). Using a tripod makes a world of difference and one of the reasons I wanted the remote control was to minimize my button pushing shake with a wide aperture (I think the Canon anti-shake was a little better but I have not dedicated enough time to the new one yet as I am still intimidated).

The other was to interact at one end of the tank with the camera at the other. I found a wired remote concoction I used for the Canon but it was a pain and eventually did not use it. I've ordered a remote for this one but am not 100% sure it will work with the video.

 

[DWhatley]

Terri,
There is a nice extension for Firefox offered free from Mozilla that is really, really simple to install (push a button) and will let you right click on any photo displayed in the browser window to see the shooting info. It offers an easy way to display your own photos in the browser window (without having to type in the full drive address) to view local picture information and I expect it to be helpful to find my best settings for the aquarium.

You may have this info available with your picture editor but this is a nice quick and dirty way to view it (you can't modify it with the plug-in). Firefox is not my browser of choice but I keep it handy for testing cross browser displays and will use it for my pictures since window has no problem with having multiple browsers open at one time. Let me know if you want something like this but don't have Firefox available and I will see what else I can find (hoping you don't use a Mac as I don't have a test machine to try out anything for Safari. I do have the Windows version though )

 

[Terri]

to see the shooting info

I have that on the software that came with my camera, and it is helpful, so you can see what your doing, either right or wrong. but still brain straining for me , still brain straining for me at this point there's also something I can purchase to go with the software that gives me more options, but still looking into that and re-reading your posts!

 

[DWhatley]

The nice thing about the Firefox plug-in is that you don't have to bring up other software so if you are viewing pictures (yours OR some else's) you can look at the ISO and Lens openings. I expect this will be more useful for me than you since I shoot under only about 3 differing conditions and want to find the best settings and save them to the presets. It still may be helpful to you though when you are shooting macro mode if you take a multitude of pictures, then pick the best ones and write/save down the two settings.

 

[Terri]

Well I've got a couple of different modes I want to preset for fossils, of course there's weather to deal with but those issues can (sometimes) be corrected through editing. But still playing around with those settings. You'll be able to see with the pics. I'll post in a minute are really grainy, but I used the same settings with the previous pics. posted, which are better and fairly clear.

The nice thing about the Firefox plug-in is that you don't have to bring up other software so if you are viewing pictures (yours OR some else's) you can look at the ISO and Lens openings

This does sound very cool!

Where could we start a photography thread? One that would include issues for fossil pics., tank shooting, videos and issues with new cameras. There are even issues with posting pics. and videos that could be addressed.

 

[DWhatley]

I started to make a supporters thread but decided the Octopuses Den->Photo of the Month (POTM) subforum (inactive) would be an ideal place to collect and discuss all the topics you mentioned and still be an open forum. There are scattered bits and pieces of photo wisdom around and I will try to copy them to the thread as I find them but new posts/questions will be the best way to bring information to the thread.