S500 : noise sound when focusing?

I just received my S500 [white] ..... awesome btw! [thanks to all of those who put in their input!!]

I have one question:

When I push half-way on the shutter to focus ..... the camera is pretty loud [like a fluttering sound] ..... is this normal?

also, are there advantages to using multi-spot metering versus spot metering? does multi-spot just make everything in focus?

thanks

You have a sound set for the half shutter mode. You can change that in the menu, there's an option called Sounds under Set-up.

Yes, you have some little noise doing autofocus normal.

Try the Pan Focus mode. It is hyperfocal, so no focus time, no noise.

Basically, multizone metering analyse the whole picture to determine the correct exposition. Usually good in 90% time.

Central metering gives more importance in the center of the image : perfect for portraits

Spot metering analyze only a small spot, the one you want the exposition to be done.

I usually use Mutlizone for common pictures, central metering for portraits.

I rarely use spot metering, which I should practize more.

After reading the manual, I'm still not 100% certain on what "pan focus" is .....

should I be using this instead of autofocus?

[thanks for hte tips]!

I have the sound turned off already, the noise sounds like a fluttering noise when it autofocuses. Sounds weird. [and very audible]

Autofocus noise is normal, do not worry

Panfocus is the same as hyperfocal : it means that everything between X and Y meters are in focus. X and Y are displayed in the LCD.

For instance, at wide-angle, everything will be in focus from 1.7 meter to infinity.

This is very praticial for action shot, if your subject is at least at 1.7 m from you...

Use Autofocus : You don't care about subject distance but have a delay in doing the focus (and a noise)

Use Panfocus : Mostly for action shot when you have enough distance from the subject.

when you shoot in panfocus, does that mean everything closer than the hyperfocal distance at that focal length would become blurry?

shooting in PF, does that mean you don't have to manually focus [press half-way shutter]?

interesting ...... wouldn't it be better to shoot PF most of the time then instead of AF?

last question:

Tonight I went to Hollywood, and snapped some photos ..... and I have a question:

I tried to shoot people subjects with bright billboard/lights in the background ....... they subjects usually came out either really bright [because of the flash] or the image came out dark. The picture never came out "just right" ......... I shot using the "backlight portrait" best shot mode, and also tried the "high sensitivity" best shot mode (which ups the ISO to 1600).

Is there a better suggestion in getting a better shot in that type of situation? any tips would be great

badtz said:

when you shoot in panfocus, does that mean everything closer than
the hyperfocal distance at that focal length would become blurry?

Click to expand...

Exactt. That's why AF still exist !

badtz said:

shooting in PF, does that mean you don't have to manually focus
[press half-way shutter]?

Click to expand...

Yes. Ideal for action shot. Seems only Casio has this great mode and no review say it !!!

badtz said:

interesting ...... wouldn't it be better to shoot PF most of the
time then instead of AF?

Click to expand...

Depends of the subject distance

badtz said:

last question:

Tonight I went to Hollywood, and snapped some photos ..... and I
have a question:

I tried to shoot people subjects with bright billboard/lights in
the background ....... they subjects usually came out either
really bright [because of the flash] or the image came out dark.
The picture never came out "just right" ......... I shot using the
"backlight portrait" best shot mode, and also tried the "high
sensitivity" best shot mode (which ups the ISO to 1600).

Click to expand...

Use exposure compensation. Affect it to the left and right key. When you see your dark picture in the LCD, overexpose it by pressing the right key.

You can also use Spot metering to make the exposure analysis on the real subject.

badtz said:

Is there a better suggestion in getting a better shot in that type
of situation? any tips would be great

Click to expand...

Avoid antishake and high-sensivity mode. They are not well implemented in the software. The idea is good but implementation is bad. That's more Marketing than anything else.

Thanks for the suggestion about using the EV levels .... but a question:

When shooting @ night like that, should I let the AF determine the ISO, or should I keep it at 50 or 100? Should I turn the flash off?

OT questions :

Is even leaving the camera on "auto" for anti-shake be a bad thing? when exactly does it know to kick in?

When shooting in flash, when would you NOT want the red-eye option turned on? It seems that it should ALWAYS be on red-eye when flash is going to be in use?

when shooting in PF, do you set all the settings manually then, since it doesn't auto focus?

badtz said:

Thanks for the suggestion about using the EV levels .... but a
question:

When shooting @ night like that, should I let the AF determine the
ISO, or should I keep it at 50 or 100? Should I turn the flash off?

Click to expand...

Use a tripod and a nightshoot bestmode.
It will do what needed.

badtz said:

OT questions :

Is even leaving the camera on "auto" for anti-shake be a bad thing?
when exactly does it know to kick in?

Click to expand...

Do not use it. It enables ISO from 200 to 1600 which give ugly results contrary to the Fuji F10...

Too bad their implementation does not work. It is marketing nothing more

badtz said:

When shooting in flash, when would you NOT want the red-eye option
turned on? It seems that it should ALWAYS be on red-eye when flash
is going to be in use?

Click to expand...

Double flash to avoid red eyes. I correct them using gimp after

badtz said:

when shooting in PF, do you set all the settings manually then,
since it doesn't auto focus?

Click to expand...

No just the focus to PF. Then the camera does the rest

Thanks again for the tips

[last question promise!]

I just imported my photos from my night out in Hollywood ....

the photos looked good on the LCD, but came out very slightly blurry after imported.

Do you have any ideas on how to get better/non-blurred photos at night? I don't think you can control the shutter speed [all of this, while keeping the ISO around 50/100]?

badtz said:

Thanks again for the tips

[last question promise!]

Click to expand...

You can ask as many questions as you want. That's the goal of this forum, share our experiences.

badtz said:

I just imported my photos from my night out in Hollywood ....

the photos looked good on the LCD, but came out very slightly
blurry after imported.

Click to expand...

I guess you have used the Antishake mode ?
Antishake mode does increase the ISO : It will increase noise.
As a noise reduction technique, Casio applies a blur to the pictures.

On 4x6 print, it does look fairly OK, however terribly ugly on a computer screen.

If you have NOT used antishake, it means that the shutter speed was not fast enough due to lack of light : So you have blur shack. In such case, you should have used a tripod or the flash.

badtz said:

Do you have any ideas on how to get better/non-blurred photos at
night? I don't think you can control the shutter speed [all of
this, while keeping the ISO around 50/100]?

Click to expand...

At night, the best is to have a tripod and use the bestshoot mode for night shots. Without tripod, forget night shot.

This casio is so cool but you should mainly use it in bright light.

Too bad their high ISO is not to the level of the Fuji F10 (which is achieved mainly in the camera firmware, internal software, not by the sensor...)

In other words, if your S500 display more than 100 ISO, you can be pretty sure that you're gonna have an ugly picture...

badtz said:

Click to expand...

When you shoot in daylight with AF; does the Casio generally do a good job in picking out the right ISO/speed/etc.?

Does it put everything in focus [or @ least try to] when shooting AF?

[i'm trying to find out when exactly to use AF vs. PF]

Are you not able to determine the shutter speed yourself? and way to adjust this? [or do you just take what the S500 gives you]

thanks again for all of your great information!

In bright day, I use AF most of time. I use PF mainly for action shot where I know I have enough distance from the subject.

Concerning your speed / aperture question, yes, the auto mode does that quite well.

I also use the Portrait BestShot when needed.

You can't control Aperture / Speed. For speed, you know that some programs will give speed priority (sport, frozen water)

For aperture priority, you know that portrait will use the widest aperture possible (lower values of F in other words)

So basically, I leave it in auto, switch AF to PF for action shot, use portrait and sport programs.

and got nice results doing this.