Another bemused beginner

[ruthb]

Is there anyone patient anough to help me please? I am familiar with SLR techniques, but my Nikon 4500 has me stumped, and reading the manual three times day a to find facts is trying my temper!!
Problem 1: tried a straight photo of Spiranthes spiralis ( 8cm high, narrow flower) and the camera focussed on the grass behind.
Problem 2: HAD to attempt digiscoping a Red Backed Shrike: too tempting to ignore. Camera kept insisting it wanted to use the flash ( I think I was in Auto). Then I tried switching to Aperture priority, and it gave me all sorts of negative messages, so after 2 shots I gave up. It was an overcast day, but the light was bright, but it was offering me shutter speeds of 1/8, etc. To my amazement, when I got home, I found 2 fairly reasonable shots.
I think the ISO is set to 100, but changing that in the field is pushing my little brain cells a bit too far at the moment.

[Richard Ford]

Hi Ruthb

Welcome to BF on behalf of the Moderators and Admin :t:

You've come to the right place.
You will find plenty of friendly help and advise here from like-minded individuals so don't worry.

The Manual that comes with the CP 4500 is without doubt confusing and unless you know what you are looking for then you will find yourself swamped with information you may never need to know, and of course there is nothing about digiscoping in there.

Different rules apply when it comes to Digiscoping than with SLR photography you can forget depth of field generally for a start. Keep the Aperture low to give you the maximum shutter speed. You will have to be lucky to get good results on the Auto setting too. So aperture priority is a good starting point.

I see you have found the Digiscoping Forum so have a good look around and you will find a lot of advice about settings for the camera etc. You could also try looking a Andy's site. ( www.digiscoped.com )
That should get you started with Digiscoping at least, I look forward to seeing your results

The focusing problem is common, and if you are using the camera in Auto, it will be more so. Aperture priority is a good place to start and I would get your focusing set to use the five Spot AF areas. You can more easily pinpoint the area you want the camera to focus on with the mini joystick, and though this is not fool proof you will have better luck. Try to get the subject as large as possible in the shot and you will be less likely to confuse the camera. It is also possible to fool the auto focus into doing as you ask by focusing on a similar object at a similar distance, holding down the focus lock (half press) and then moving the camera into the correct position.
I have done a fair bit of Dragonfly photography using this method.

Anyway I expect that has confused you further so I will leave it at that for now.

I am sure others will contribute with their take on the CP 4500 first impressions, believe me there are many people on this Forum who own one.

Good luck :t:

All the best

Richard

PS. The button on top of the left half of the camera near the flash, (which also controls the ISO) is the one that scrolls though the flash settings. You can turn it off from here, a kind of lightning bolt flash symbol with a line through it in the top right of the display means 'flash off'.

[ruthb]

Thanks Richard,
I'd worked out where the flash control button was. My husband is constructing a digimount so I don't have to remove the eye-piece rubber. He was worried that I might scratch the glass of the eye-piece with the camera lens too; it will also leave both hands free for other controls.
Ruth

[ivewalmer]

Hi ruthb,

I had the same problems with my CP4500 and you might want to have a look at some of the soloutions I was given in this thread:

http://www.birdforum.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6057

(hope that works!).

I tried the suggestions and they mostly worked. Still had major problems trying to photograph autumn lady's tresses a couple of weeks ago though - looks like it's something Nikon could work on.

Ivan

[ruthb]

Thanks Ivan, I'll follow up your suggestion.
Ruth

[stevo]

Hi Ruthb

On my cp4500 I find that setting the focus to Macro(flower symbol) & zooming up to about f3.6-f4.0 gives me the best results.Using this method lets more light into the camera & therefore gives you a faster shutter speed.
Regards Steve.

[ruthb]

Is that the double flower symbol in Scene mode, or the single symbol in I've-forgotten-which mode? The camera was insisting that the light was a no-go with flashing messages and symbols everywhere, and it wasn't a gloomy day, by British standards. I freaked out at attempting shots at such slow shutter speeds. Does the f stop alter with the amount of zoom?
Thanks, Ruth

[Joe A.]

Hi Ruth, All of us with cp4500's went thru the same thing you're going thru now. I found Andy's suggested settings for digiscoping quite handy because he uses the cp4500. Other site are also equally helpful.

Below is the url for his page. You may have to cut and paste in to your browser.

http://www.birdforum.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3302

Best wishes, we look forward to seeing your photos in the gallery.

Joe A.

[ruthb]

O.K. I've tried some new settings, and tried some more shots the last couple of days. I think my problem now is the actual focussing: not being able to see clearly anough in the monitor to tell when I am in focus. Am pondering monitor shades etc., and whether one that magnified the image would help. The bit of advice that says refocus the scope once you have focussed the camera is the sticking point.

[stevo]

Hi Ruthb

I find having the image magnified by 2x certainly helps you to see what`s in focus.I have used both the eagleeye sunshade viewer & the one made by camera bellows,both work well.Andy Bright`s website has details on a cheaper version,which you can trim to size yourself price £1.99.Hope this helps.

Regards Steve.

[ruthb]

Hi Steve,
Yes, I'd read that thread, and was intending to follow it up. Worth a try at that price!
Thanks, ruthb