S1 Hints and Tips

[fabrice72]

Could anyone babytalk me into applying the following low light trick ?

I have a french documentation, and I'm not sure of what "set manual focus to 10'" means

And I'm so frustrated with low light focusing I think I might just return it for an olympus UZ (had a C730 UZ just previously, didn't have that kind of issues...).

Thanks for your help,

Fabrice

Low light focus problems?
Use hyperfocal. Use Av, set to f2.8, set manual focus to 10', zoom
out all the way and everything from 4.5' to infinity will be in
focus. No focusing needed so it'll be fast. Try in a completely
dark room. Save as Custom setting and you're all set for
Halloween-type pics. If the subject is closer than 4.5', you
should be able to focus on it the 'regular' way.

 

[MennoB]

And I'm so frustrated with low light focusing I think I might just
return it for an olympus UZ (had a C730 UZ just previously, didn't
have that kind of issues...).

"Since it has no AF-assist lamp, the C-730 has trouble focusing in low light conditions."

Taken from:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/c730uz-review/index.html

Let's face it, nearly all todays cams suffer from bad low light AF, specially the heavy zoomers (at full zoom that is). Even in the DSRL forums there's lots of complaints about it.

The only cams that do well at this are the ones with an AF assist light. However, as I really don't want to poke a bright assist light in my subject's eyes, personally I MUCH prefer the manual-focus-setting-trick as described in one of the posts in this thread.

 

[Corinto47]

Could anyone babytalk me into applying the following low light trick ?

I have a french documentation, and I'm not sure of what "set manual
focus to 10'" means

Fabrice,

10' = 10 feet = 3 meters, plus ou moins, ...

Hope this helps

--
Corinto

 

[Edgaress]

Maybe this is a tip?.......AF is analagous to auto transmission - if you never learn to drive a stick shift, what will you do when an occasion arises that you have to?

Some of us grew up before range finders on cameras, and had to estimate distance. Then came RF, which made life easier if still two-step. Then coupled RF to lens, incl SLR. Finally AF. But I do a lot of action shooting with my film cameras, and never use AF.

Turn off the AF and use the camera without it for extended periods of time. Film is not an issue so you can make lots of mistakes. In the process, you will come to feel comfortable and quite proficient without it.

Final point...these little cameras have such depth of field that in most cases below five times zoom, you can leave them set at an estimated distance and everything will still be in focus. And at higher zooms where you are much farther away from the subject, an rough estimate will still be OK.

And I try to explain to folk that just because it has 10X, that doesn't mean you should be lazy and use it when you can move closer without a problem. Extended zoom always degrades the basic image somewhat, with the additional impact of camera movement.

So there (voila)

Stan

I asked Mom if I was a gifted child...she said they certainly wouldn't have paid for me.

 

[MarcosV]

Could anyone babytalk me into applying the following low light trick ?

And I'm so frustrated with low light focusing I think I might just
return it for an olympus UZ (had a C730 UZ just previously, didn't
have that kind of issues...).

Although a really good AF assist beam would be great (i.e., one like the Sony's laser beam), I find the S1's auto focus in dim light to be acceptable.

The trick is to go wide angle at night rather than use the zoom. At telephoto settings, there's so little light getting through to the sensor, it's understandable. Even my DRebel has problems autofocusing in dim light with AF assist beam when I'm zoomed-in.

The other options are to use a flash light to illuminiate your target while you prefocus, manually focus or manually set for hyperfocal as someone has mentioned previously.

BTW, the S1 was able to get AF lock in dim light almost as well as my DRebel. I was quite impressed.

Thanks for your help,

Fabrice

Low light focus problems?
Use hyperfocal. Use Av, set to f2.8, set manual focus to 10', zoom
out all the way and everything from 4.5' to infinity will be in
focus. No focusing needed so it'll be fast. Try in a completely
dark room. Save as Custom setting and you're all set for
Halloween-type pics. If the subject is closer than 4.5', you
should be able to focus on it the 'regular' way.

 

[Edgaress]

At the request of several other testers, I am honored to advise (whew!) that one should turn off IS when shooting with a tripod.

The degree of image degradation varies with the conditions and at times it may not appear significant - but it does exist. At slower shutter speeds, the impact is significant.

For further details, see http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=9406740


I asked Mom if I was a gifted child...she said they certainly wouldn't have paid for me.

 

[ZacharySun]

I suspected the shortcoming of IS for a long time, just kind of feeling. I thought the IS know nothing, if you shake, they anti-shake, if you shake a tiny bit and it still anti shake, that might be too much.

Now I got prove from your thread. Thanks!!

At the request of several other testers, I am honored to advise
(whew!) that one should turn off IS when shooting with a tripod.

The degree of image degradation varies with the conditions and at
times it may not appear significant - but it does exist. At slower
shutter speeds, the impact is significant.

For further details, see
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=9406740
I asked Mom if I was a gifted child...she said they certainly
wouldn't have paid for me.

 

[John McCormack]

Don't know whether this link was posted, but here's one that discusses IS and usage on tripods.

http://albert.achtung.com/cameras/A80/index9.html

----
-John McCormack - pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/jpmccormac/s1

I suspected the shortcoming of IS for a long time, just kind of
feeling. I thought the IS know nothing, if you shake, they
anti-shake, if you shake a tiny bit and it still anti shake, that
might be too much.

Now I got prove from your thread. Thanks!!

 

[fabrice72]

"Since it has no AF-assist lamp, the C-730 has trouble focusing in
low light conditions."

Taken from:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/c730uz-review/index.html

Well all I can say is from my own experience with the C730 UZ (1 year and and a half). As far as I can remember (and i shot over 20K pictures before I was stolen my C730 2 weeks ago) I nearly never had a blurred or rejected AF with the C730. Of course most of my non tripod pictures were blurry when the speed was sub 1/30 but that's another shaking story...

personally I MUCH prefer the

manual-focus-setting-trick as described in one of the posts in this
thread.

I suppose you are mentioning the trick in the very first post. I'll try that one asap.

By the way,

Could anyone babytalk me into applying the following low light trick ?

I have a french documentation, and I'm not sure of what "set manual
focus to 10'" means

Fabrice,

10' = 10 feet = 3 meters, plus ou moins, ...

Hope this helps

It does help, thanks Corinto.

One more quetsion : anyone can tell me how to disable the AF beeps ? I found how to disable all the other sounds but not those beeps, and at a quiet concert, that is really not acceptable...

Cheers,

Fabrice

 

[TheTeh]

Simply turn the sound to "ON"!! With all volume to 0. Believe me not!!
Sounds paradoxical but true!

"Since it has no AF-assist lamp, the C-730 has trouble focusing in
low light conditions."

Taken from:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/c730uz-review/index.html

Well all I can say is from my own experience with the C730 UZ (1
year and and a half). As far as I can remember (and i shot over 20K
pictures before I was stolen my C730 2 weeks ago) I nearly never
had a blurred or rejected AF with the C730. Of course most of my
non tripod pictures were blurry when the speed was sub 1/30 but
that's another shaking story...

personally I MUCH prefer the

manual-focus-setting-trick as described in one of the posts in this
thread.

I suppose you are mentioning the trick in the very first post. I'll
try that one asap.

By the way,

Could anyone babytalk me into applying the following low light trick ?

I have a french documentation, and I'm not sure of what "set manual
focus to 10'" means

Fabrice,

10' = 10 feet = 3 meters, plus ou moins, ...

Hope this helps

It does help, thanks Corinto.

One more quetsion : anyone can tell me how to disable the AF beeps
? I found how to disable all the other sounds but not those beeps,
and at a quiet concert, that is really not acceptable...

Cheers,

Fabrice

--
Explore The Immortal Mind...
http://www.theteh.com/

 

[fabrice72]

Simply turn the sound to "ON"!! With all volume to 0. Believe me
not!!
Sounds paradoxical but true!

that's it. That simple You only need to notice that it is not a Sound mode but a "mute mode" so it needs to be on... humph

Thanks theTeh !

Fabrice

 

[JM_D]

One more quetsion : anyone can tell me how to disable the AF beeps
? I found how to disable all the other sounds but not those beeps,
and at a quiet concert, that is really not acceptable...

Cheers,

Fabrice

As said earlier on this forum, you can upload a custom "empty" sound for the AF lock.

JM_D

 

[emory]

Sorry, JM_D, but I just don't understand this. I've got the newest version of Zoom Browser EX, but "My Camera Sound Maker" only offers 4 customizable sounds -- and focus beep is not one of them. Or am I missing something? It would be great to eliminate or at least decrease the volume to an absolute minimum.

I'd appreciate any help on this.

emory

As said earlier on this forum, you can upload a custom "empty"
sound for the AF lock.

JM_D

 

[Richard Higgs]

To get the best WB from any digicam that allows you to set the balance manually, you need to use a white or light grey surface infront of the lens.
The S1 of course is no different inthis respect.

When you're out and about, it's not always easy to find something white to put in front of your lens, unless you're the type to always carry a white hanky or piece of white paper in your pocket

The simple slolution.....

Stick a round peice of paper to the inside of your S1's lens cap, or if you are more ambitious you can paint the inside white.

Simply zoom your S1 to full telephoto and use the lens cap to set WB
(No the lens cap is not too small a surface to use if you zoom in).

Now you've got no excuse for improoerly set WB !

Kind Regards

Richard Higgs
http://www.pbase.com/rhiggs1

 

[Yorky]

Is there no end to S1 users' ingenuity? LOL

Doug

To get the best WB from any digicam that allows you to set the
balance manually, you need to use a white or light grey surface
infront of the lens.
The S1 of course is no different inthis respect.

When you're out and about, it's not always easy to find something
white to put in front of your lens, unless you're the type to
always carry a white hanky or piece of white paper in your pocket


The simple slolution.....

Stick a round peice of paper to the inside of your S1's lens cap,
or if you are more ambitious you can paint the inside white.

Simply zoom your S1 to full telephoto and use the lens cap to set WB
(No the lens cap is not too small a surface to use if you zoom in).

Now you've got no excuse for improoerly set WB !

Kind Regards

Richard Higgs
http://www.pbase.com/rhiggs1

 

[MaxinAus]

Was by hariette who said :

"Review off. (remember you can hold to view your last picture) After your shot don't release your finger completely, you'll still have the green bracket ready for the next shot so you can shoot away as many pictures as you want and time it without loss of pre-focus or freeze. Practice it works."

That's found ... Menu button/Review/Off

Now a suggestion : that this thread be consolidated into one new thread so new S1 users don't have to wade thru 75 entries many of which are only replies or bumps (like this)
Just a thought,
Regards,
Max ...

 

[Yorky]

Didn't realise this excellent thread was still around.

Bumping it up for new S1 owners.

Doug

Was by hariette who said :

"Review off. (remember you can hold to view your last picture)
After your shot don't release your finger completely, you'll still
have the green bracket ready for the next shot so you can shoot
away as many pictures as you want and time it without loss of
pre-focus or freeze. Practice it works."

That's found ... Menu button/Review/Off

Now a suggestion : that this thread be consolidated into one new
thread so new S1 users don't have to wade thru 75 entries many of
which are only replies or bumps (like this)
Just a thought,
Regards,
Max ...

 

[nwflyfisher]

Edgar,

Some may know that Canon did, in fact, develop several IS lenses (read "Big Bucks") for the DSLR market that COULD be used with tripods; the vast majority could not. This was an excellent test on your part and your advice is well taken...In fact, Canon Support has just responded to my query regarding this question and they say "...Turn the IS OFF when using a Tripod."

Good on ya' for taking the initiative to test it out and providing everyone with an outstanding tip.

Greg

At the request of several other testers, I am honored to advise
(whew!) that one should turn off IS when shooting with a tripod.

 

[lion1308]

Guys n gals, looks like the S1 is getting some recognition in CTF.
It won't be long before we see a cult-like following with the S1
just like the UZI, Pro90, G series e.g. Before long, there'll be
dedicated S1 sites ...

Let's keep the ball moving by pooling our lessons together on
optimizing our experiences with the S1. I've certainly picked up a
few from forums such as this. So, I'll start with three but other
S1 users please jump in:

Unexplainable blurred pics?

Perhaps you have a bad S1 copy.
See
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=8792960

Low light focus problems?
Use hyperfocal. Use Av, set to f2.8, set manual focus to 10', zoom
out all the way and everything from 4.5' to infinity will be in
focus. No focusing needed so it'll be fast. Try in a completely
dark room. Save as Custom setting and you're all set for
Halloween-type pics. If the subject is closer than 4.5', you
should be able to focus on it the 'regular' way.

Need fill-flash for daytime pics?

Set slow-synchro to yes in menu, use Tv, set to 1/250 sec, set
flash on.

My S1 Samples Only Gallery
http://ritchie.smugmug.com/gallery/96167

 

[John McCormack]

The new upgrade makes this good camera close to outstanding. Go here:

http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/pss1is/firmware-e.html
--
John McCormack - pbase supporter
http://www.pbase.com/jpmccormac/s1