Hi guys
Being new to photography, can anyone advise me on the best settings to use for general bird/wildlife photos. I use a Fuji HS20 EXR Bridge camera which has a manual 30x zoom which goes from 28mm wide to 720mm telephoto. It also has the ability to use manual focus. There are a number of settings the same as a DSLR, Programme auto, Aparture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual and EXR auto etc. It also is capable of RAW shooting as well as jpg.
I have tried most of the programmes available and Programme Auto is giving me the best results. However, I feel that if I knew how to set the camera in the other modes the results would be better.
Also, I have read that when using a tripod you should switch off image stablisation. Is this the case?
The reason I opted for this camera was even though it looks like a DSLR, it is a lot lighter and you don't have to carry any extra lenses. It's great for ID shots and has a really good macro setting which allows you to get as close as 1cm from the subject.
Below is an example shot taken on max zoom at about 150 feet away using Programme Auto.
Regards
Steve
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Hi Everyone,
A great pocket sized book to own is the Lonely Planet - wildlife travel photography by Andy Rouse.
Its packed with lots of technical info and example photos of how to get the best out of your camera when in the field. Its very easy to read and you can get some really quick and improved results from reading it.
heres the link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wildlife-Photography-Lonely-Planet-How/dp/1740599004
Ignore the "new" price as this link is to show you what the book looks like. On ebay I got mine for about a fiver!
Good luck
Craig
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. - Albert Einstein
Hi lolly
I tried the manual setting briefly yesterday in my back garden. Because there is a lot of activity on the feeders, the manual setting wasn't good at the settings you recommended. However, at the weekend i will give it another go bumping up the shutter speed and ISO and see what happens. I have used Aperture Priority a few times and it is a bit hit and miss as I keep forgetting to change the ISO setting to increase the shutter speed lol. Anyway, I have the whole weekend to play and the light conditions look best on Sunday so that will be the day when i experiment the most.
Hi Galatas
That's the good thing about digital. You can always delete the bad ones! Imagin using film, the amount of film that would be waisted!
Not your fault at all Lolly, some how i managed to post my reply twice! Have no idea gow that happened. Enjoy the book as there are some great tips in there.
Hi Guys
Well i had some fun over the weekend with my camera set in Manual mode. I also shot the photos in RAW to make sure I got the best out of it. Here is just one of the photos I took whilst over The Chase at Dagenham on Sunday.
There was a rast improvement in the quality of the shot but it took a while to master the settings as I found that I had to change the shutter speed depending on the conditions, which in turn set the exposure for the shot.
Hi all
This website www.cambridgeincolour.com/forums is a hive of inforamation for all kinds of photography, its run by like minded people and you can learn a lot of stuff from them and ask for advice on any subject. I use it all the time and have learnt tons, it doesn't cost anything and a lot of the forum topics can be viewed without even registering.
Trev
"There was a rast improvement in the quality of the shot but it took a while to master the settings as I found that I had to change the shutter speed depending on the conditions, which in turn set the exposure for the shot."
Hi Steve - think this is why we were suggesting most people including the pros (just been to talk by a wildlife journalist photographer who said the same) use aperture priority. Once you understand the effect of aperture you don't have to worry about setting anything, so as long as you achieve your minimum required shutter speed which is probably about 1/125th for your camera with IS you can just point and shoot.
Dave
Hi Lolly,
I know, some of those prices for this book are ridiculous!
Ebay does copies for around 6 quid.
Good luck to whoever is trying to flog it for £95 :0
In sunny conditions the F16 rule is a good guide to follow.
Here is a very good link that explains it:
www.photomigrations.com/.../0403200.htm
Hi guys i use a mixture of AP and TV but i found as was said on here spot metering is pretty good for shooting small birds. Swans and Crows may fool the camera into under or overexposing the shot due to the amout of white black so a different metering mode would be better.
However sometimes you will have to bump up the iso to enable a faster shutter speed.
Manual mode i would find extremely tricky unless the bird is sitting round all day and you could miss the shot messing around with different settings (this is fine for landscape though).
The apeture used would usually be wide open but depends on where your lens is sharpest.
i found this guy helpful but you just have to do what works for you.
www.ophrysphotography.co.uk/.../tipsandtutorials.htm
I use a Canon 7D with a 100-400L lens amongst others, i have shot a lot of images at f8 as i get a sharper image than at f5.6.
i would like a 300mm f2.8 but at 5.5k i'll be left wanting for a while longer.