Newbie Questions - Please offer advice

Hi all.

I'm new to the forums, new to my camera (C-3040), and basically new to photography. I have more questions than can be addressed in any one post, but I've got 2 biggies I'd like to start with:

(1) While I hope to expand my subject matter and explore what the camera is capable or, my initial interests are dominated by two areas: landscapes/nature photography, and trackside photography of moving race cars. Can anyone recomend a souce of information (preferably on line), specific to digital cams, which can help me take better pictures? Although the camera is clearly capable of great clarity, my photos thus far are pretty pathetic. For instance, is it even possible to change the depth-of-field with this thing? What kind of settings should I play with when taking shots of moving cars??

(2) From what i've seen so far, I like the 3040. (Of course, I don't really have anything to campare it to!) But from the shots I've taken, I'm getting the feeling I would really like some sort of zoom lens. What is available, and what is recommended? Please, no suggestions for me to go buy a different camera! I've no idea what an Uzi is, but I get the feeling someone here will suggest dumping my camera and buying one! Not the advice I'm looking for! Are there aftermarket lenses that will fit which someone recommends?

Thanks for your help!

John Chasse said:

(1) While I hope to expand my subject matter and explore what the
camera is capable or, my initial interests are dominated by two
areas: landscapes/nature photography, and trackside photography of
moving race cars. Can anyone recomend a souce of information
(preferably on line), specific to digital cams, which can help me
take better pictures? Although the camera is clearly capable of
great clarity, my photos thus far are pretty pathetic. For
instance, is it even possible to change the depth-of-field with
this thing? What kind of settings should I play with when taking
shots of moving cars??

Click to expand...

Controlling DOF is done by setting the aperture, and by framing your subject ... the more it's magnified on the CCD ( by zooming or getting closer ), the less depth you'll have. As for web sites that teach and inspire, I like this one, photo.net, and luminous-landscape.com.

John Chasse said:

(2) From what i've seen so far, I like the 3040. (Of course, I
don't really have anything to campare it to!) But from the shots
I've taken, I'm getting the feeling I would really like some sort
of zoom lens. What is available, and what is recommended? Please,
no suggestions for me to go buy a different camera! I've no idea
what an Uzi is, but I get the feeling someone here will suggest
dumping my camera and buying one! Not the advice I'm looking for!
Are there aftermarket lenses that will fit which someone recommends?

Click to expand...

People will advise you to get a Uzi because it has a good, long zoom lens. They'll tell you add-on teleconverters are available, but much lower quality than you'll get from a real lens. However, if you're not willing to spend several hundred dollars on a second camera, you can get plenty acceptable results with a TC for $50 to $200 or so, if you use it properly. I would recommend a tripod, stopping the lens down.

Also, you can add some reach by cropping your photos ... although this is a serious trade-off. If you want to get twice as close ( 3x to 6x, 100 mm to 200 mm ), you can get that effect by cropping your picture to half the height and width, but that will leave you with only one megapixel. If it's a sharp, well exposed picture, and you massage it in Photoshop, that might be enough for a good print.

And, of course, you can try the add on TC lens plus some cropping ... find a solution you'll be happy with.

Good luck!

Check out the Kodak site. Topics referring to film also apply to digital such as composition, etc.

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/nav/takingPics.shtml--21oo , B-3oo3o4oJuli

TC= teleconverter lens. If he's new to photography, he might not know what you are saying here. --21oo, B-3oo3o4oJuli

Forrest,

Thanks for the info! Regarding DOF, my understanding was that it was controlled by aperture setting, but I have played around with it, taking dozens of shots of the same subject while varying the F stop on the 3040 with no apparent change in DOF. Or, alternatively, look at the c-3040 sample photos gallery here on this site. Image #3 (subway) and image #12 (fenceline) are great examples...how is this done? Is the huge difference the result of different F settings? When I do this it doesn't seem to have a similar effect. (And btw, whats CCD?)

Regarding zoom, can you recommend a TC??

Thanks again.

John Chasse said:

Thanks for the info! Regarding DOF, my understanding was that it
was controlled by aperture setting, but I have played around with
it, taking dozens of shots of the same subject while varying the F
stop on the 3040 with no apparent change in DOF. Or,
alternatively, look at the c-3040 sample photos gallery here on
this site. Image #3 (subway) and image #12 (fenceline) are great
examples...how is this done? Is the huge difference the result of
different F settings? When I do this it doesn't seem to have a
similar effect. (And btw, whats CCD?)

Click to expand...

The aperture is half the equasion ... but there's more. For example, a 100 mm f/2 lens and a 50 mm f/1 lens have the same DOF at the same distance, because they both have 50 mm apertures. But the 50 mm lens will put you twice as far away as the longer lens ... if you move your camera closer, so you get the same framing with those two lenses, the 50/1 will have less DOF, because at the same aperture, it's being focused much closer.

How does this apply to you, without being able to swap lenses like that? Try putting your camera in macro focusing mode, and choose a subject about a foot away. Zoom in as close as you can get while keeping the subject sharply focused ( use the LCD monitor to frame your shot ). Take one shot at f/1.8 and another at f/10, and compare them.

John Chasse said:

Regarding zoom, can you recommend a TC??

Click to expand...

No. I've never used any of them. But plenty in this forum have ... if you dig a little, you'll find all the info you can read.

Using a 2x TC will cut your depth of field in half, and double your f-number ... f/4 becomes f/8.

John Chasse said:

Forrest,

Thanks for the info! Regarding DOF, my understanding was that it
was controlled by aperture setting, but I have played around with
it, taking dozens of shots of the same subject while varying the F
stop on the 3040 with no apparent change in DOF. Or,
alternatively, look at the c-3040 sample photos gallery here on
this site. Image #3 (subway) and image #12 (fenceline) are great
examples...how is this done? Is the huge difference the result of
different F settings? When I do this it doesn't seem to have a
similar effect. (And btw, whats CCD?)

Regarding zoom, can you recommend a TC??

Thanks again.

Click to expand...

Take a look at this DOF illustrator:

http://www.88.com/exposure/simcam.htm

--21oo, B-3oo3o4oJuli

Here's an interesting article, and current, that explains the f-stop relationship to focus and depth of field and the difference of digital to film. Short and sweet.

http://www.zdnetindia.com/reviews/hardware/digital_cameras/stories/46941.html

--Suzn

John,

The "CCD" is the device behind the lens in the camera that the images are focused on. It means "Charge Coupled Device." The CCD is the thing that gives your camera the MegaPixel rating.


Steve in Fairbanks (Happy to know he knew one answer)

John Chasse wrote:
(And btw, whats CCD?)
--Old Film Dog. Looking to Learn New Digital Tricks.

Suzn said:

Here's an interesting article, and current, that explains the
f-stop relationship to focus and depth of field and the difference
of digital to film. Short and sweet.
http://www.zdnetindia.com/reviews/hardware/digital_cameras/stories/46941.html

Click to expand...

OK, this quote from the link reinforces what I've seen in my experimenting...

"which means that manually selecting f-stops (on those cameras that even offer the option) won't affect depth of field in the slightest"

So, I guess I still don't understand...can I effect the depth of field in photos taken with my 3040? If so, how? Judging by some of the digital shots in the galleries, it looks like it can be done. But I still can't seem to do it.

Anyone...?

The higher f stops, 5.6, 8, & 11 produce a smaller aperture and more depth field. The larger f stops, 1.8, 2.8, have less depth of field. Have you looked at this site?

http://www.88.com/exposure/simcam.htm--http://www.pbase.com/julivalley/galleries21oo , B-3oo3o4oJuli

Juli Valley said:

The higher f stops, 5.6, 8, & 11 produce a smaller aperture and
more depth field. The larger f stops, 1.8, 2.8, have less depth of
field. Have you looked at this site?

http://www.88.com/exposure/simcam.htm
--
http://www.pbase.com/julivalley/galleries
21oo, B-3oo
3o4o
Juli

Click to expand...

Hey Thanks for the info/links Juli and Suzn, thats exactly what I've been looking for too !