EOS Rebel Settings (etc) Advice Please

[BigM 2]

Comments and advice please.

Shooting stills this weekend for the fir... uhhh... pre-second time. Shooting a Canon EOS Rebel X, with a 28mm f2.8 lens. Here's what I plan to set things at:
Lens on manual focus, either at infinity or right next to infinity... gaffer taped in place.

P (program) mode. (not the green "do everything" setting). In the green setting it sometimes wants to raise the flash. P mode it doesn't unless I tell it to. (Do I need to gaffer tape the flash down so it can't pop up?)

I have 100, 200, and 400 speed film. I plan on using 200 most of the time. 100 if blaring sun is out, 400 in the early morning and at dusk.

Also- when shooting pics for yourself (not for a customer) does anyone get their pics put on a disc at the photo shop? If so, what resolution and what size/format file do they put the pictures at?

Am I in the neighborhood? Many thanks in advance everyone.
Blue 111-
Jeff

"When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

[flyingarab 0]

Be aware that this answer is going to get some agreements and some disagreements. With everything I am telling you here, you can see examples from my website. This way you can determine if the way my pics is the same way you would like your pics to look. You can view mine at http://www.flyingarab.com under the stills section.

The last 800 stills that I have developed over the past 3 months have all had the same setting and the same film. First, the setting was on sports mode and the speed of the film was 200 speed no matter the condition. I was using the manual settings for a while but then realized that the cameras now are so advanced, all you have to do is set the lens to a notch slightly before the infinity mark and put the cam on sports mode (allowing for fast bursts) and you are set.

If you ask me, this is somewhat like the golfer that claims he needs new golf clubs or better golf balls to improve his game. No matter what the argument, if you can take a good picture, and you have good aim and a stable centered shot, the settings I have mentioned above will be more than satisfactory for anyone. I too use a canon EOS Elan 7e, EOS Rebel, EOS Rebel GII, and Digital Rebel. I make sure that they are all set this way.

Best of luck!

Sincerely,

FlyingArab
www.flyingarab.com

[Pendejo 0]

Give me a call when you get a chance. I use the same model still camera.

Pendejo

Pendejo

He who swoops the ditch and does not get out buys the BEER!!

[SabreDave 0]

A few things to consider maybe?!?
Photos are all about balance in everything from the composition to the settings on the camera.
I always use manual settings when I am shooting anything but that is just my preference. The light meter in a camera is calibrated for 18% reflective grey. It can be easily fooled but newer cameras are better than ever.
If you were to use "sports" mode what you would be doing is tellling the camera to open up the aperature as much as possible to attain the highest shutter speeds possible. Whenever I am shooting footbal, hockey or other pro sports I am opened right up to f/2.8 to attain faster shutter speeds as well as to blur distraction from the background.
My thoughts would be along these lines. If you want to use an auto shooting mode I would consider either aperature priority or shutter priority for this. If your aperature is wide open you are losing depth of field. If you shoot at f/8 you willl have the sharpest image quality possible as well as the added benefit of more depth of field (more of the pic appears to be in focus). This means if you are moving around a bit and varying your distance to the subject things will still appear to be sharp and in focus. The wider angle the lens is, the more inherent depth of field it will have. The other factor is of course the shutter speed and ensuring that it is fast enough to catch the action without blur.
The reason that the auto modes seem to do the trick is that film has a wide exposure latitude so if you are off on the exposure by a even a full stop or so it can be corrected when printed to look just right. For anyone looking to hone their skills a little, try shooting with a digi SLR or shoot some slide film. With slide film if you miss the exposure you will see it as it has very little exposure latitude.
That ramble might not make alot of sense to you but PM if you want to clarify any of it.

SabreDave

[cloud_monkey 0]

Try using the Shutter Priority Mode or TV-Mode on a Canon. Set your shutter speed to 1/500 on a nice sunny day and when it gets cloudy I use 1/400 or 1/320. My cameras adjust in 1/4 stop increments but most moderately priced cameras do not. For now anyway, I would stick with either ISO 100 or 200 film mainly because ISO 400 tends to get grainy when the pictures are enlarged. As far as the focus goes, if you use Manual Focus and set your distance to "infinity" (usually means 10 -12 feet or more away from your target on a 28mm lens) you will have to stay 10-12 feet or more away from your subject each time you take a picture. Any picture you take inside that range (10-12 feet and closer) will be out of focus. You could also focus on a subject on the ground at the distance you would normally fly in relation to your subject and then tape the lens at that point. On the other hand, if you can keep your subject centered within the confines of the Auto Focus Sensors, Auto Focus will work just fine in free fall. Many people will disagree with me on this but I have literally thousands of pictures to prove my point. The trick is simply to keep your subject perfectly centered and set the focus mode to Continuous - this means that the camera continuously adjusts the focus until the moment the picture is taken. I rarely use "Sports Mode" because it usually opens up the Aperture to such a large degree that you loose a lot of detail from the surroundings and I really like to have the plane, the clouds, or the ground in some cases, in sharp focus too. You'll have to play around with the settings on the camera until you figure out what works best for you but this should help you get started in any case.

Peace,
Z

[DaGimp 0]

I agree with Z completely.....I have mainly used my camera for freefall photography and have great results with my settings at TV-mode, ISO 500 and autofocus. Granted with camcorders you never want to use AF but on my Digi Rebel I use it all the time.

"Professor of Pimpology"~~~Bolas

[Canuck 0]

I agree with Z and Da Gimp.

I shoot on TV mode - 500 on bright days, 350 when it's a little hazy, 250 if it's dawn/dusk/overcast.

I use 200 film and have never had a problem. Keep the 400 for indoor shots.

I use autofocus in freefall with excellent results. I do find though that for shooting tandem landings it's better to switch to manual focus and set to infinity. My camera/lens seems to have a hard time focusing on the tandem as it's coming towards me.

Canuck

[bmcd308 0]

Search for "hyperfocal distance" on the web.

The smaller the hole that lets the light into your lens (the larger the aperture number), the greater the range of distances from the film plane that will be in acceptable focus. So you might try using Av mode with the smallest aperture that gives an acceptable shutter speed for that day with your film. Then you can put the lens on MF when it is focused at its hyperfocal distance for that aperture and tape it in place. Note that the hyperfocal distance will pretty much always be well short of infinity.

Brent

----------------------------------
www.jumpelvis.com

[linestretch 0]

I've been shooting tandems for years, and this is what I've used, and never had a problem with it, unless it's after sunset, then you are screwed anyway.

TV-mode @ 250 with 100-200 speed film, and auto focus. The camera will be slower to react, but from what I've seen come back from customers, the clarity is awesome. Your F-stop for this speed will be in a very good range, not right at the end of it's capabilities.

But really, its what you are happy with. This is what I've used.

my pics & stuff!

[BETO74 0]

Hey cloud monkey, I only have a hand full with the still camera and I'm using the setting you just mentioned I notice that in bright days I get a blur circle in the midle of the picture like it was over exposed, now TV mode supposed make the right ecuations to avoid that to happenen whatever is regulating the shutter speed or the aperture, what I could be doing wrong here? Remember is only in brigtht days

Thanks

http://web.mac.com/ac057a/iWeb/AC057A/H0M3.html

[cloud_monkey 0]

Quote

Hey cloud monkey, I only have a hand full with the still camera and I'm using the setting you just mentioned I notice that in bright days I get a blur circle in the midle of the picture like it was over exposed, now TV mode supposed make the right ecuations to avoid that to happenen whatever is regulating the shutter speed or the aperture, what I could be doing wrong here? Remember is only in brigtht days

Thanks

A blurry circle in the middle of the picture? That doesn't sound like overexposure to me. Are you using a filter by any chance? A common mistake is to use a Linear Polarizer (Designed to be used with Manual Focus systems) instead of a Circular Polarizer (Designed to be used with Auto Focus systems).

When you set your camera in TV-Mode, you are basically forcing the shutter speed and the light meter/processors will calculate and select the correct aperture size required for proper exposure each time you press the shutter button (the film speed is also included in that equation but once selcted it stays constant). In other words - your shutter speed will stay constant while your aperture size will vary.

It's kind of difficult to say what's happening but, if you scan a picture and post it maybe I can help-


Peace,
Z

[BETO74 0]

No no really using any filters, I'll scan a picture and posted as soon as I can.

Thanks a lot for your help.

http://web.mac.com/ac057a/iWeb/AC057A/H0M3.html