Camera Question?

[YoungNastyPainter]

Greeting I\'m having major trouble trying to get any of my pictures in focus with my Olympus Camedia C-50 camera.To give you an idea here\'s my last failed attempt.

Does anybody use this camera to good effect?Or has anybody any tips that could help?Thanks in advance.

 

[airhead]

back up a bit and use a photo editor to crop the image. You are closer than the camera can focus. Check to see if there is a macro setting (usually a flower icon) - that will let you focus closer.

Change your lights from standard bulbs - too yellow. Use Reveal bulbs (blue tinted) or halogen bulbs to get a whiter light.

Increase the amount of light on the mini. It looks kinda dim. or correct the brightness with your photo editor.

Use a tripod and set the exposure as long as possible (around 1/8 or 1/4 second works good for me). You cannot hold the camera by hand for those shutter speeds without blur.

Finally, look in my sig and see the spot that says I am \"brilliant\" (not always true) - click on it and go download the blue/white fade. Print it out and put it behind your mini.

 

[Fizl]

I don\'t know this camera personally, but one thing to look at is the focal range of your macro mode. How close to the figure are you getting wwhen yu take the picture? It may be that you need to pull back a bit as you are too close.

I\'m sure someone with more know how than me will come along in a tick with more help

Shaz

 

[MarkusTay]

I have an Olympus, I think a C-5000, but I\'m not sure because I\'m at work right now. It\'s taken me awhile to get halfway decent pics, if you check my gallery you will see what I mean. They\'re getting better, but I\'m still not very satisfied with the results. I know you gotta fiddle with the macro settings, but since I\'m not sure what settings I use each time I take a pic I can\'t help ya\'. I know you\'re better off taking the picture from further back to get it in focus, rather then using the ZOOM. It will look small in the pic but you can crop it in Photoshop (or whatever) and it will come out much larger on CMON (providing you have taken the photo on high def). Good luck, from what I can see of your painting it is definately worth taking better pics, your Elf looks great!

- Mark

Edit: In the time it took me to type this two other people responded! Wow, CMON\'s too quick now. lol

 

[Spacemunkie]

Is it on a tripod or supported?? If not then get it on one!!

Use the macro mode and find out the minimum distance to your subject - in this case it\'s 20-30cm - not great for mini photography, but useable.

If zooming in, only use the optical zoom. Shoot on highest res setting and set your aperture to f8 - the best depth of field you\'ll get here.

Do everything else in your image editor - preferably Photoshop!!

HTH

 

[MarkusTay]

I support my wife, I support my kids, I support my jock, and now you tell me I gotta support my camera? Damn! Do I at least get to claim it on my Income Taxes as a dependent?

(Gotta go to Walmart tonight and get me one of them thar tripod thingies) :duh:

 

[Avelorn]

Originally posted by Spacemunkie
Is it on a tripod or supported?? If not then get it on one!!

Use the macro mode and find out the minimum distance to your subject - in this case it\'s 20-30cm - not great for mini photography, but useable.

If zooming in, only use the optical zoom. Shoot on highest res setting and set your aperture to f8 - the best depth of field you\'ll get here.

Do everything else in your image editor - preferably Photoshop!!

HTH

I agree with most, however sometimes you can experiment with a lower aperature size to get sharper images. (different cameras have different \"sweet spots\" depending on the lens) The depth of field is very important though, if you want to shoot a larger mini and get everything more or less sharp.

 

[Duende]

You should be able to find your camera here:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_archivedproducts.asp

Maybe you could check out the online instruction manual for help.

 

[airhead]

@Avelorn - I think he was saying that f-8 is the smallest that camera has - if not, use f-16 or even f-32 if you have it, but a lot of digi cams stop at f-8.

 

[Avelorn]

Originally posted by airhead
@Avelorn - I think he was saying that f-8 is the smallest that camera has - if not, use f-16 or even f-32 if you have it, but a lot of digi cams stop at f-8.

Yes.. but I ment that you could experiment with lower aperature sizes also. example, F5.4, as cameras tend to have a spot where you can get the sharpest images. You may not always need a large focal-range.

 

[Spacemunkie]

@Avelorn: Hmmm. Don\'t agree. And when you are trying to explain to someone how to use aperture settings, that sort of advice really doesn\'t help.

Use the smallest aperture you\'ve got. \'Mythical\' sweet spots rarely exist with macro photography.

I personally use a 50mm macro lens set at f32. Works for me.

Oh. A heads up on a new camera. If you\'ve got a few hundred quid to spare, go and but a Canon EOS 350D. They are stupendously awesome for the cash.

 

[Mosch]

While we\'re on the subject of cameras, I have a question...

What exactly is the ISO-setting I can choose? My camera has an automatic mode which I have always used so far and also settings from 64 to 400. I tried taking pictures with different settings, and ISO 64 seems to be \"truer\" to the colour than the others, I am not entirely sure of it though. Can anyone explain to me what I just did?

EDIT: Played a little mroe... could it have something to do with the cameras sensitivity to light?

 

[finn17]

Absolutely!

Originally posted by Mosch
EDIT: Played a little mroe... could it have something to do with the cameras sensitivity to light?

Like everything else in photography, one thing is traded off against another.

Basically:

A very high ISO (1600-3200) will allow you to take pictures of coal in a coal mine, but the quality will be crap.

The lower the ISO ,the more light you will need, but the quality of the resultant image will be higher...in theory

 

[Mosch]

So basically it would be best to use the lowest setting possible for miniature photography?

 

[Spacemunkie]

With digital cameras, use the lowest possible ISO setting ALWAYS!

You can add better noise and control it far more easily in Photoshop later on.

In the days of film, higher speed film let you take pics in lower light. The trade off was in the \'grain\' of the film. The faster the speed, the grainier the image - it was often a beautiful effect. Unfortunately, digital grain is just cack!

Not really sure why it\'s still included on digicams. Probably for die-hards like my old man.lol

 

[finn17]

Sorry Avelorn...I don\'t understand...???

Originally posted by Avelorn
Yes.. but I ment that you could experiment with lower aperature sizes also. example, F5.4, as cameras tend to have a spot where you can get the sharpest images. You may not always need a large focal-range.

Apertures and focal ranges are completely different concepts...Also, I would tend to agree with Mr Munkie that camera\'s don\'t have \'sweet spots\'. It\'s basically down to physics not witchcraft or astrology.

Fact: The smaller the aperture - the greater the depth of field...the greater the aperture the smaller the depth of field.

That\'s just physics...

 

[MarkusTay]

Originally posted by Duende
You should be able to find your camera here:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_archivedproducts.asp

Maybe you could check out the online instruction manual for help.

I downloaded mine from there a few days after joining CMON, because I wanted to take better pics. It\'s been on my hard drive for months now and my pictures haven\'t gotten much better.

Maybe I\'m supposed to actually READ it? ???

What ever happened to the good ol\' days of \"point and shoot\"? lol

 

[Naukhel]

What ever happened to the good ol\' days of \"point and shoot\"? lol

\"Point and shoot\" is still a perfectly valid instruction. It goes with the Guns for Tots campaign that went over so well, recently, in Harlem.....

(If you didn\'t watch The Daily Show last night, this will make no sense at all .)

 

[Avelorn]

Originally posted by finn17

Originally posted by Avelorn
Yes.. but I ment that you could experiment with lower aperature sizes also. example, F5.4, as cameras tend to have a spot where you can get the sharpest images. You may not always need a large focal-range.

Apertures and focal ranges are completely different concepts...Also, I would tend to agree with Mr Munkie that camera\'s don\'t have \'sweet spots\'. It\'s basically down to physics not witchcraft or astrology.

Fact: The smaller the aperture - the greater the depth of field...the greater the aperture the smaller the depth of field.

That\'s just physics...

piuh. I first of alla made a stupid mistake with the aperature size. I didn\'t think. f4 means fraction of 4.. i ment number.

aperature and sharpness.. hm I thought that the camera did have its spots depending on the lens. But I guess I was wrong.. More of technical error then of physics I presume..?

My old physics teacher will probably give me a scoulding! Sorry guys n girls, just ignore my posts.

And I apologize for only confusing .. but I learned something anyway.. and that\'s a good thing too.

 

[MarkusTay]

So did I. I\'m getting me one of those tripods tonight... although my nickname USED to be tripod...



lol:bouncy::flip: