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XZ-1 advice/tips

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jeegnesh

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I have used dpreview forums everytime I bought a camera and I have bought alot of camera's, always window shopping but decided it was finally time to join.

So after some good reading on here I went for the XZ-1 and am really really please with it, I have a Nikon D7000 but found with young kids it wasn't the easiest thing to carry around and after trying a number of camera's (NEX-5, s95, G12, P7000), for one reason or another were not for me, I am really liking the XZ-1 for my usage level. Have purchased Dublin 30 case as I wanted the slighest of cases I could get away with, seperate charger and 2 extra batteries (cheap on eBay), and the LC-63A auto lens cap.

Some questions I had:-

1 - Indoor shooting when the lights are on I get very yellow images, I am guessing I need to use a specific WB setting?

2 - What setting to use for kids when there running about eg. sportday or even my little girl who just will not stay still for pics. I found outdoor in good light I could use 1/400 in S mode and pics came out pretty good, but I guess I would not be able to use that indoors?

3 - I find pics are rich in colour but frequently on the dark side, tend to use fill light in picasa a fair few times, should I get the exposure to +something?

Any other tips for a new shooter, there was settings on here about P mode, center, fish icon, I have set them and am using those already.

Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome aboard, enjoy your XZ-1.
Are you using jon404 setting?
 
jeegnesh said:
1 - Indoor shooting when the lights are on I get very yellow images, I am guessing I need to use a specific WB setting?
Click to expand...
Right. In fact, I often need to increase the exposure. I feel that certain light source tends to cause more noise.
jeegnesh said:
2 - What setting to use for kids when there running about eg. sportday or even my little girl who just will not stay still for pics. I found outdoor in good light I could use 1/400 in S mode and pics came out pretty good, but I guess I would not be able to use that indoors?
Click to expand...
For outdoor, I either use A-mode or P-mode because F4.0 is sharpest base on experiments done by other forum members. And it also keeps just about everything in focus. If you use S-mode outdoor, at 1/400, you risk over exposure. Also when the camera choose smaller aperture, image quality suffers. I use S-mode mainly indoor so I don't ended up with blurred image.
jeegnesh said:
3 - I find pics are rich in colour but frequently on the dark side, tend to use fill light in picasa a fair few times, should I get the exposure to +something?
Click to expand...
That would help. Also, stick to RAW file for indoor shots.
jeegnesh said:
Any other tips for a new shooter, there was settings on here about P mode, center, fish icon, I have set them and am using those already.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
 
jeegnesh said:
Some questions I had:-

1 - Indoor shooting when the lights are on I get very yellow images, I am guessing I need to use a specific WB setting?
Click to expand...
Yes. Indoor light is much yellower than sunlight so you need to use the WB setting appropriate to the source (tungsten light). Or, if you used flash, you would use the WB setting for flash which approximates to daylight.

On many cameras the 'auto WB' setting does a good job in most outdoor / flash situations but doesn't get indoor light right (as you have found) in which case you need to set the WB manually for tungsten lighting (or use flash, or shoot RAW).
jeegnesh said:
2 - What setting to use for kids when there running about eg. sportday or even my little girl who just will not stay still for pics. I found outdoor in good light I could use 1/400 in S mode and pics came out pretty good, but I guess I would not be able to use that indoors?
Click to expand...
You need, of course, the fastest shutter speed possible. outdoors in good light that is easy. Indoors there is no way you'll be able to use 1/400 sec even with the lens wide open, unless you use the highest ISO setting in which case image quality will be very poor due to noise. So use flash indoors unless the subject is sitting still.
jeegnesh said:
3 - I find pics are rich in colour but frequently on the dark side, tend to use fill light in picasa a fair few times, should I get the exposure to +something?
Click to expand...
My XZ-1 exposes very well. Without specific examples it's difficult to guess, but what you describe could arise fro including too much bright sky in the picture (the camera sees very bright areas and gives a short exposure, which means that the less brightly lit parts of the scene are underexposed).

If you have bright sky in the background, add +0.7 or +1 stop of exposure compensation. or (easier) is to use manual mode. Take a meter reading by pointing the camera at the ground and set that manually. Then the setting will be correct until the light changes, even if you include sky in the picture.

Best wishes
--
Mike
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/mikeward
 
joe6pack said:
jeegnesh said:
1 - Indoor shooting when the lights are on I get very yellow images, I am guessing I need to use a specific WB setting?
Click to expand...
Right. In fact, I often need to increase the exposure. I feel that certain light source tends to cause more noise.
joe6pack said:
2 - What setting to use for kids when there running about eg. sportday or even my little girl who just will not stay still for pics. I found outdoor in good light I could use 1/400 in S mode and pics came out pretty good, but I guess I would not be able to use that indoors?
Click to expand...
For outdoor, I either use A-mode or P-mode because F4.0 is sharpest base on experiments done by other forum members. And it also keeps just about everything in focus. If you use S-mode outdoor, at 1/400, you risk over exposure. Also when the camera choose smaller aperture, image quality suffers. I use S-mode mainly indoor so I don't ended up with blurred image.
Click to expand...
Will try that out.
joe6pack said:
joe6pack said:
3 - I find pics are rich in colour but frequently on the dark side, tend to use fill light in picasa a fair few times, should I get the exposure to +something?
Click to expand...
That would help. Also, stick to RAW file for indoor shots.
Click to expand...
Never got into RAW think that has to be my next step.
joe6pack said:
joe6pack said:
Any other tips for a new shooter, there was settings on here about P mode, center, fish icon, I have set them and am using those already.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
mike703 said:
jeegnesh said:
Some questions I had:-

1 - Indoor shooting when the lights are on I get very yellow images, I am guessing I need to use a specific WB setting?
Click to expand...
Yes. Indoor light is much yellower than sunlight so you need to use the WB setting appropriate to the source (tungsten light). Or, if you used flash, you would use the WB setting for flash which approximates to daylight.

On many cameras the 'auto WB' setting does a good job in most outdoor / flash situations but doesn't get indoor light right (as you have found) in which case you need to set the WB manually for tungsten lighting (or use flash, or shoot RAW).
Click to expand...
I will play with WB next time, When I use the flash the pictures come out fine but look quite fake, again I am sure its a setting thing, but don't know what to set when using flash. I like pics when you use bounce flash but thats not possible with the built-in flash off course.
mike703 said:
mike703 said:
2 - What setting to use for kids when there running about eg. sportday or even my little girl who just will not stay still for pics. I found outdoor in good light I could use 1/400 in S mode and pics came out pretty good, but I guess I would not be able to use that indoors?
Click to expand...
You need, of course, the fastest shutter speed possible. outdoors in good light that is easy. Indoors there is no way you'll be able to use 1/400 sec even with the lens wide open, unless you use the highest ISO setting in which case image quality will be very poor due to noise. So use flash indoors unless the subject is sitting still.
Click to expand...
So are you saying for indoor movement use flash all the time?
mike703 said:
mike703 said:
3 - I find pics are rich in colour but frequently on the dark side, tend to use fill light in picasa a fair few times, should I get the exposure to +something?
Click to expand...
My XZ-1 exposes very well. Without specific examples it's difficult to guess, but what you describe could arise fro including too much bright sky in the picture (the camera sees very bright areas and gives a short exposure, which means that the less brightly lit parts of the scene are underexposed).

If you have bright sky in the background, add +0.7 or +1 stop of exposure compensation. or (easier) is to use manual mode. Take a meter reading by pointing the camera at the ground and set that manually. Then the setting will be correct until the light changes, even if you include sky in the picture.
Click to expand...
Yes you are spot on, these pics are ones with the sky in the background, will have a go at stepping up the exposure first of all.
mike703 said:
Best wishes
--
Mike
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/mikeward
Click to expand...
 
jeegnesh said:
I will play with WB next time, When I use the flash the pictures come out fine but look quite fake, again I am sure its a setting thing, but don't know what to set when using flash. I like pics when you use bounce flash but thats not possible with the built-in flash off course.
Click to expand...
That's the nature of direct flash - the lighting does look a bit unnatural. the only way around that is to use off-camera flash (which you can do) but that gets complicated, requiring a separate flashgun, stand, diffuser etc. If you are that interested in flash photography normally you'd use a DSLR. For the convenience and portability of a compact you have to accept some limitations and this is one of them
jeegnesh said:
So are you saying for indoor movement use flash all the time?
Click to expand...
I would, unless the light is very bright and you can get a shutter speed of 1/250 sec or so with the lens at f/1.8, which case you can do without flash. but for a moving kid you do want a fast shutter speed.

Best wishes
--
Mike
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/mikeward
 
I just realized that the WB was set to fish icon with jon404 settings when indoors with lights on, guessing that probably didn't help much :-)
 
Is there an XZ-1 for Dummies published yet? My C750UZ was a lot easier to use and the results were more consistent.
It's a good camera. I'm the problem.
 
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