1. High aperture , ie Wider lens, lower number means faster shutter, to freeze the action, and blur the background. There is no "better" aperture in this regard, it simply controls how you want the picture to look
ie if you want the background in focus, - ie cliffs, other windsufers, then a low aperture is better, on a clear sunny day 16 and 100 iso is a good guide.
A slower shutter -, ie low aperture and low IS0 , then you might get some blurred movement in the picture.
Generally speaking - I go for the high aperture (one stop above the lowest number), with about 200 iso , as I like crisp clear shots.


2. Bracketing exposure just means that the camera will take a set of pictures at -1 0 +1 exposure. ie 3 pictures. One under exposed, one normal exposed and one over exposed.
I think most camera's can only do this when taken on timer or a remote.

3. Spot metering would be bettter. Although I also have this problem and have yet to get it right.


4. Set to Cloudy.... day. even if its a clear blue day.

5. never used it.

Hello gestalt
for the best results shoot RAW,

1. aperture priority?
# Shutter Speed Priority mode is better it will maintain the optimum shutter speed and the camera will automatically a just the aperture. Best Rule: if the lens is 200mm minimum shutter shutter speed is 250th sec, 300mm 500th sec and so on

if i shoot in aperture priority mode is it "better" to set a lower aperture to increase the auto
shutter speed ?
# YES
and bracket the exposure (in case of under exposure) or just use a higher iso to start with. (how would a polarizer effect this)
#this will not affect the polarizer

# With ISO use the lowest speed at the same time maintain the highest shutter speed
on a bright sunny day use Iso 100
I never shoot higher than ISO 400 but I come from a film background
as for polarizers, these are great, they will juice up the colours and cut the glare

2. bracketing exposure? always try to expose for the subject
I hardly bracket with digital

does bracketing exposure slow down the the amount of frames per second ?
# not sure I always bracket in manual mode and bracket by ajusting aperture i

3. metering?
#if you are using nikon use centerweight metering

if shooting guys on the wave and there is large amounts of white water would it be better to use spot metering so the light is based on the rider or use centre weighted metering?
#because you are using a long lens I would stick to ceterweight as spot metering may meter the whiter water and underexpose the image

4. white balance? it can be ajusted in RAW and I always set the camera to auto white balance

what is the preferred white balance setting when shooting in good lighting conditions at the beach. 7000k for eg.?
# shooting out doors on a sunny day K will vary between 4250 to 5500k

5. white balance bracketing?
# use auto

does anyone use white balance bracketing?
# no

I hope this helps, the most important thing is just to have fun
simon

The setting to take the three shots at different exposure is handy for HDR shooting, look it up on google for more info, but it allows you to combine the shots to get a nice exposure across the whole frame. Could be very useful for wave sailing shots.

Generally I use AV mode if shooting portraits, a low aperture will give you that blurry background that helps show depth. Also good for low light, but you will want a lens that gets down to f2 or so for no flash low light shots that are hand held (the IS on your lens will give you about 2 stops better range).

I usually use TV mode for windsurfing/sports shots and play around with the speed depending on the effect I am after. A good effect for shooting something moving fast is to get the background to blur to show movement, slow the shutter speed and follow the subject with the lens to take the shot...takes a lot of practice and I am certainly no pro.

I have stopped playing with white balance after stuffing about 100 shots I really wanted to keep, I couldn't see enough detail in the LCD to pick up that there was a problem. I just leave it on AWB these days.

Sounds like you might have got a Canon 400D with the lens you have, I have had mine for a few months now and love it...but have realised the limitations of the lenses that come with them, saving for some better glass now.

You *may* see some degradation when you open up the lense fully, particularly around the edges. At least that used to be the case back in the stone age

btw - if u looking at buying cheap L series lenses here on goldcoast www.camerasdirect.com.au/

i've bought lenses from them no probs (international warranty), but don't recommend buying bodies as they are grey imports without aussie manufacturers warranty, though they do offer their own warranty but never put it to the test

howdy haircut,

as you know it's been about 9 months now that i've been waiting to get a camera. so i'm happy to be there now.

i've done some indoor shots with iso800, no flash, and been amazed at the quality. it seems to overexpose when i use the flash but the higher iso and wide aperture without flash works really well. setting the WB to indoor lighting produces really warm shots also.

the focus does seem to work really well. i got the 40d becuse the reviews rate it for sport as you have said and the reviews also claim it's photos looks as good as the 5d. that swayed me in the end. originally i was looking at the 350d or the d40x but decided against them becasue the case weatherproofing wasn't up to scratch and the 40d is so cheap at the moment.

i thought you had dumped the sony, the images you uploaded are quite different to the ones the sony took. nice one!

i haven't used the camera yet for windsurfing but i'll watch what you said regards the exposure and if it is a problem then i'll set the exposure -1 and set up a user setting.

cheers

Haircut said...

hiya gestalt - i might be going against the grain here, but imho you are probably going to need to use a 1/1600 shutter or faster for most sports stuff regardless of image stabilisation or not. i personally wouldn't bother with exposure bracket for sports - my experience with the 40d is that you'll get best results under exposing by 1 or 2 increments of the meter so its reading just above -1. Sometimes it does ok at 0 but it tends to be eratic at times regardless of whatever metering mode picked, and better to slightly under expose than blow out the pic if it does suffer a spaz attack. The nikon d300 i've been using seems to get the metering right most of the time and most shots are nicely exposed, but it's auto focus is not as accurate as the 40d with lower light or moving targets, and even with high end nikon lens the focus isn't as quick. Unfortunately one can't win em all I reckon you made the right choice though. I like the 40d for sports stuff. The last bunch of the pics i stuck in the gallery were with the 40d and 100-400 L IS and out of 300 shots almost all were as sharp as the lens could produce. anyway - at $1250 with 5 year warranty, how can could ya go wrong??

Haircut said...

lol aus301 - i know it's still not cheap, but much cheaper than the normal retailers etc

most of the stuff i've been using is from work, but i ended up buying a 40d body for myself coz they're so cheap now, but not from camerasdirect. nearly bought the d300, but after using it for a while i'm glad i didn't. nice to be able to make use of my lenses again after not having my own body for so long, and not having to sign forms everytime i want to take equipment home from work

i bet you got no issues signing the forms for that HD vid camera and l series lens.

Haircut said...

yeah the vid cams are great

don't have to sign for the 100-400 L, that one's all mine

gestalt - quick question, then you look through your viewfinder, can you see the furry brush strip that runs along the top in front of the mirror mechanism? i think it flips over and cleans the mirror? it blurs the very top of my viewfinder. it doesn't affect the photos but i just can't remember seeing it through the viewfinder in the other 40d

i had a look and no i can't see it. but you jogged me memory of something i ment to mention above.

after framinge an image, the top of the image gets cropped. found i had to shoot slightly higher to avoid this? could it be related?

KODAK 6490 on gumby or sport mode does it for me

took the camera out for it's first real serious run today,

shot off about 10 photos,

then

err99

yeah, i tried both of my lens, also formatted the card, upgraded the firmware, cleaned the contacts.

my last resort was to take out the card, remove the lens and then press the shutter button. still came up with an err 99 error.

i gotta say i'm gutted.

today i sent off an email to the shop for warranty, it wans't quite dead on arrival but not to far from that. so i'll see what they have to say on monday.

still, i'll do it all again haircut. any advice you have is appreciated.

Gestalt said...
today i sent off an email to the shop for warranty, it wans't quite dead on arrival but not to far from that. so i'll see what they have to say on monday.

I hope you bought the camera with an Australian warranty. From my experience I would only buy the very high end range of Canon DSLRs overseas. The price difference on the lower end models isn't big enough to justify the savings. While Canon Australia has been good in the past with bodies purchased overseas they are starting to clamp down.

You didn't mention what make lenses you have. Personally I have only ever seen error 99 on Canon bodies in combo with third party lenses. Try a reset as Haircut suggested by removing the battery and leaving the camera like that overnight. Then (if you have one) connect the camera to a power adapter rather than using a battery.

I had error 99 down at Robe and cured it by removing the battery completely and reinserting it. That was with a 20d.

while there are a bunch of photoheads all in the one spot - is there anyone local interested in a Sigma 18 - 200mm f3.5 - 6.3 DC Optically Stabilised lens which is barely 3 weeks old that was kind of purchased by mistake for me to use at work. I'll give you the store receipt for warranty. I think it was bought for around $640. I'd be happy with $520 and it's all in box, lens hood etc. it's sitting about going to waste

orsm