
Don't Shoot In Auto - Advice For DSLR Newbies - geofffox
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346715,00.asp
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dryicerx
Pretty good article, covers all the basics. Some key points I cannot stress
enough, from the article and me.

* Built in Flash = Badness. Never use this. But if you really must, put a white piece of paper in front to diffuse the flash.

* 50mm f/1.8 or better. It's a must!

* DoF Preview. Use this feature!

* Get optical filters for all your lenses (keep the lens front element from scratching, UV doesn't really make a difference in Digital), specially when travelling and outside. Remove this for night shots (internal reflections more visible due to many point lights).

* Circular Polarizers, they do wonders for sky, water, or various reflections from subject/items.

* Use center AF only and get used to aiming at subject, AF hold, and shoot. Kind of painful, but less painful than having the camera guess the wrong AF point for a great moment.

* Auto (Bad), Tv (Sports, Action, Fast things), Av (still, portraits), Program (Keep on this by default).

* Join a photography forum or community and post photos to be critiqued and people to give you feedback.

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daragh
I'm not too sure how useful the DoF preview feature is, in what common
circumstance do you recommend I use it?

Also, you shouldn't restrict yourself to the centre AF point; focus-and-
recompose will produce blurry images if your depth-of-field is shallow. You
should learn to quickly select an appropriate AF point when composing your
shot.

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quizbiz
Good rules of thumb: \- Av or Aperture priority for landscape/portrait photos
\- Tv or shutter speed priority for action/sport shots \- Unless you print on
a billboard scale or are pro, you don't need high level SLRs with whatever
grand amount of mega pixles. \- Don't sacrifice too much shutter speed. Better
to pump up the ISO and use noise removal software.

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mindhacker
I am very interested in photography. Can you please suggest a good D-SLR and a
good book for a newbie? Thanks!

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dryicerx
Canon Rebel XSi.. got a nice balance. The next version was announced, so
expect to see price drops pretty soon (or get the XTi, which is the latest)

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andrewhyde
Also consider a nice lens. Should be at least half of your budget, but makes
the photos.

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jrockway
The article is more than "don't shoot in auto", but I have to wonder who buys
an SLR without knowing how to use it. If you know nothing about photography,
you should probably save your money and get a point-and-shoot instead.

(With that in mind, I spend most of my time in Auto or Program AE. Those both
do a great job 99% of the time.)

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menloparkbum
_I have to wonder who buys an SLR without knowing how to use it_

Really? It's almost everyone who buys an entry level SLR.

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carterschonwald
the thing is, with a good quality SLR, auto is amazing for quality shots,
especially if you take photos in a "bursty" way (ie 4-8 shots at once) because
it'll sample a number of candidate good fstop vs shutter speed configuration
points, and thence if you've configured it properly and chose a sane ISO, you
can also construct a High dynamic range photo and hence with a little work,
get the naked eye experience in the photo! (and you can always delete the
one's that don't work well for you)

playing with fstop and shutter speed by hand is all well and good and fun, but
unless you're taking art shots or action shots, auto on a good quality modern
camera will definitely be very very nice on average.

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carterschonwald
why is this being downmodded? Am I incorrect in some fundamental way? then
enlighten me!

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daragh
If you are using a DSLR in burst mode it probably won't choose a variety of
apertures and shutter speeds. It will determine what it believes to be a
correct exposure for the scene and set an aperture and shutter speed it
considers appropriate, if the shutter speed and aperture change they will
probably only vary relative to each other; the exposure will be the same. You
can do something similar to what you've described by putting the camera into
auto exposure bracketing mode where the camera varies shutter speed to give a
predetermined degree of over or under exposure per shot in sets of three (or
more) shots. In the somewhat unlikely event that your camera was unable to
sufficiently capture the dynamic range of a scene you can merge multiple
photographs of the same scene with differing exposure values to produce an
image with greater dynamic range that can then be compressed through tone
mapping.

If you don't think "playing with fstop and shutter speed by hand" is only
worthwhile for "art shots or action shots" then why bother framing a shot the
way you want it? Decisions about aperture and shutter speed affect more than
just exposure.

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mikebo
The best $20 I ever spent on photography was the book Understanding Exposure.
Fantastic book and will improve your photos dramatically

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quellhorst
Is this Hacker News?

