F30 I like it so far :) Pics of Clouds/sky havin problems

ItsJustaRide · Jan 27, 2007

Hi all,

Not long had the F30, exchanged it for a Ricoh R4 which I wasn't very happy with,, the menu selecter wouldn't work sometimes and the lense didn't retracked once after switching off (not good)

I have had a quick read of the F30 manual(I will have good one though when I get a spare hour or so)

Ok,,, sorry if this is a dumb question but,,,,

When trying to photo the sky I keep getting the AF flashing at me,, I'm thinking it's because of too much light?
Is there a quick fix/setting I could use to stop this?

Many thanks

Gary
--

Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying.

mrbr · Jan 28, 2007

ItsJustaRide said:
Hi all,

Not long had the F30, exchanged it for a Ricoh R4 which I wasn't
very happy with,, the menu selecter wouldn't work sometimes and the
lense didn't retracked once after switching off (not good)

I have had a quick read of the F30 manual(I will have good one
though when I get a spare hour or so)

Ok,,, sorry if this is a dumb question but,,,,

there are no dumb questions in my opinion.

ItsJustaRide said:
When trying to photo the sky I keep getting the AF flashing at me,,

AF = Auto Focus, see page 27 - 31 in the user manual.

ItsJustaRide said:
I'm thinking it's because of too much light?
Is there a quick fix/setting I could use to stop this?

my proposal :

use landscape mode ( focus on infinity ) or use prefocus technique ( see p30 in the user manual ) and focus on a a far away object.

Good luck.

Marc

ItsJustaRide said:
Many thanks

Gary
--
Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls.
Intelligence is not trying.

mrbr · Jan 28, 2007

mrbr said:
ItsJustaRide said:

Hi all,

Not long had the F30, exchanged it for a Ricoh R4 which I wasn't
very happy with,, the menu selecter wouldn't work sometimes and the
lense didn't retracked once after switching off (not good)

I have had a quick read of the F30 manual(I will have good one
though when I get a spare hour or so)

Ok,,, sorry if this is a dumb question but,,,,

Click to expand...

there are no dumb questions in my opinion.

mrbr said:

When trying to photo the sky I keep getting the AF flashing at me,,

Click to expand...

AF = Auto Focus, see page 27 - 31 in the user manual.

mrbr said:

I'm thinking it's because of too much light?
Is there a quick fix/setting I could use to stop this?

Click to expand...

my proposal :

use landscape mode ( focus on infinity ) or use prefocus technique
( see p30 in the user manual ) and focus on a a far away object.

forgot to mention :

prefocussing also locks exposure ... so you will have to try untill the exposure looks good on your LCD screen and probably have to do some postprocessing also !! ( i use average metering instead of multi metering and EV compensation to avoid blown highligts ).

there is also a scene mode SUNSET, see p47 in the user manual.

QUESTION ( maybe somewhat late ... ) : when you take a picture of the sky , is that in bright daylight or are you trying to capture clouds ( colours and shapes ) or maybe sunrays ??? Maybe you can post an example ??

some examples of my testshots :

mrbr said:
Good luck.

Marc

mrbr said:

Many thanks

Gary
--
Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls.
Intelligence is not trying.

Click to expand...

mrbr · Jan 28, 2007

Hi,

http://www.pbase.com/arn/fuji_f30

will give you more information af the F30 ( recommended reading !! ).

My suggested settings for the Finepix F30 in "normal conditions" ( after reading a lot of threads , thanks to all contributors !! ) :

1. Go into setup and change the LCD brightness to -2.
2. Set the mode dial on top of the camera to "M".
3. Push the Menu button and set the WB to Auto.
4. Push the Menu button and set light metering mode to average.
5. Push the EV button and change it to -1/3EV
6. Push the "F" button and change the ISO to Auto1600
7. If possible use ISO Auto400 for better image quality.
8. Use flash when necessary.

See thread http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1012&thread=21449028 for more usefull information and links.

Greetings,

Marc

ItsJustaRide · Jan 28, 2007

Hi Marc and thank you for the tips,

Good captures there, pic 1 and 3 especialy. ((Nice one))

Just starting to learn what all these functions do

I've always been a auto point and shoot man until the f30, (I'll give them a go tomorrow)
Been more interested in the sky recently2004, some great&weird shots to be had.

Here's a coulpe of mine,

Over on the right of this picture you'll see a optical phonomena they call SunDogs.

Another

My first sighting of a circumzenithal arc(all new to me) that i spotted on the 17thJan07, it looked like a upside down rainbow high in the sky

Again thx for replying

Gary

--

Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying.

ItsJustaRide · Jan 28, 2007

Whoops,, I ment your picture 4 not 3.

Gary

Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying.

mrbr · Jan 29, 2007

Thanx Gary !!

Maybe the following scientific websites will be of interest to you :

http://solarviews.com/cap/index/clouds1.html

and if you really want to look far away :

http://www.galacticsurf.net/

and my favorite ( also for phenomena in earth atmosphere !! ) :

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

Greetings,

Marc

mrbr · Jan 29, 2007

mrbr said:
Thanx Gary !!

Maybe the following scientific websites will be of interest to you :

http://solarviews.com/cap/index/clouds1.html

and if you really want to look far away :

http://www.galacticsurf.net/

and my favorite ( also for phenomena in earth atmosphere !! ) :

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

Did you observe the "green ray" !!

Jules Verne even wrote a book about it !! See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Ray

mrbr said:
Greetings,

Marc

Bart Hickman · Jan 29, 2007

ItsJustaRide said:
When trying to photo the sky I keep getting the AF flashing at me,,
I'm thinking it's because of too much light?
Is there a quick fix/setting I could use to stop this?

It's because there's nothing to focus on. The F30 has a hard time focusing on clouds if they're too soft and fuzzy--of course it won't focus on blue sky. You need to find some clouds with harder edges and focus on those, then recompose.

Bart
--
http://www.pbase.com/zumbari

mrbr · Jan 29, 2007

Bart Hickman said:
ItsJustaRide said:

When trying to photo the sky I keep getting the AF flashing at me,,
I'm thinking it's because of too much light?
Is there a quick fix/setting I could use to stop this?

Click to expand...

It's because there's nothing to focus on. The F30 has a hard time
focusing on clouds if they're too soft and fuzzy--of course it
won't focus on blue sky. You need to find some clouds with harder
edges and focus on those, then recompose.

Bart
--
http://www.pbase.com/zumbari

Hi Bart,

Thanks for your "to the point" answer.

Makes me wonder how the focusing in the F30 exactly works.

I looked it up in wikipedia :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autofocus
and also
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/autofocus.htm

conclusion taken into account your answer and wikepedia : the F30 uses "passive autofocus" based on Contrast measurement .

worth to remember : ( from "how stuff works" )

Is Autofocus Always Accurate and Faster?

It is really up to the person using the camera to determine if the subject is in focus. The camera merely assists you in making this decision. The two main causes of blurred pictures taken via autofocus cameras are:

Mistakenly focusing on the background
Moving the camera while pressing the shutter button

Greetings

Marc

mrbr · Jan 29, 2007

Bart Hickman said:
ItsJustaRide said:

When trying to photo the sky I keep getting the AF flashing at me,,
I'm thinking it's because of too much light?
Is there a quick fix/setting I could use to stop this?

Click to expand...

It's because there's nothing to focus on. The F30 has a hard time
focusing on clouds if they're too soft and fuzzy--of course it
won't focus on blue sky. You need to find some clouds with harder
edges and focus on those, then recompose.

Bart
--
http://www.pbase.com/zumbari

Hi Bart,

In another thread also about focusing ( and DOF )

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1012&message=21859037

i thought about a live view on the LCD screen of focal length and DOF ( from-to ) ( instead of just a bar-graph representing the actual zoom-level -> maybe this info could be written in the bar-graph itself ? )

and also a menu setting to force setting focus on hyperfocal distance ???

Is something like this already existing ?? Do you think this is this technically possible ??? Would you find this useful ??

Greetings,

Marc

Bart Hickman · Jan 29, 2007

The AF needs some feature to focus on. The sharper the feature the faster and more accurate the focus.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Is Autofocus Always Accurate and Faster?". It's the only option you have on the F30. I usually keep my F30 at center focus--ie., it focuses on whatever is in the center of the frame. So I aim at the item I want to be in focus, then recompose and take the shot. If the auto-exposure gets messed up by reframing, I adjust EV comp to compensate, and take another shot.

Bart
--
http://www.pbase.com/zumbari

Bart Hickman · Jan 29, 2007

mrbr said:
i thought about a live view on the LCD screen of focal length and
DOF ( from-to ) ( instead of just a bar-graph representing the
actual zoom-level -> maybe this info could be written in the
bar-graph itself ? )

DOF is so loosely defined I think people who care about (ie., enthusiasts) would ignore the number and judge acceptable DOF just by zooming in on the preview shot.

mrbr said:
and also a menu setting to force setting focus on hyperfocal
distance ???

Is something like this already existing ?? Do you think this is
this technically possible ??? Would you find this useful ??

Sort of. My Casio Z750 picks hyperfocal for video mode. It works in that case because video is only 640x480 resolution. I don't think I'd ever use hyperfocal for shooting photos because the resolution is so high, the background would be noticeably blurry compared to infinite focus (which would be a much more useful feature IMO.)

Bart
--
http://www.pbase.com/zumbari

pegleg666 · Jan 30, 2007

For a great picture (motion) of the green spot, go to APOD, the astronomical photo-a-day. They posted it a couple of days ago (and it stays up there).

Pegleg

mrbr · Jan 30, 2007

Bart Hickman said:
The AF needs some feature to focus on. The sharper the feature the
faster and more accurate the focus.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Is Autofocus Always Accurate and
Faster?".

Hi Bart,

I copied this from the website

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/autofocus.htm

Bart Hickman said:
It's the only option you have on the F30. I usually
keep my F30 at center focus--ie., it focuses on whatever is in the
center of the frame. So I aim at the item I want to be in focus,
then recompose and take the shot. If the auto-exposure gets messed
up by reframing, I adjust EV comp to compensate, and take another
shot.

I agree Bart, that is what i also do !! I use Average metering, so the probability that the auto-exposure gets "messed up" by reframing is not as great as with multi metering !!

I use spot metering to avoid blown highlights.

eg : metering on the ladies face in the middle.

Greetings,

Marc

Bart Hickman said:
Bart
--
http://www.pbase.com/zumbari

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F30 I like it so far :) Pics of Clouds/sky havin problems

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