4500- Simple settings needed (1 Viewer)

My apologies up front for such a meanial question about something that really should be mundane to me.....
Since obtaining my 4500 2 years ago, I used it mainly on the auto setting changing not much more then the white balance, images size and quality which worked fine for what I needed it for-indoor shots of my paintings or reference shots of my cats. Of course, these settings dont work for taking active shots of the birds outdoors and I have no idea how to change them to what I need or what I need to change them to in order to get acceptable images. I have attached one of the images I took yesturday as well as the settings it was taken at. I would be so greatful if one of you camera experts could guide me to what settings I maybe should have taken this at and how to manipulate around the camera bit more to set it to what I should be...

Camera settings:
telephoto2
focal length 115.2mm
exposure mode: aperture priority
metering mode: spot
1/60.3 sec -f/10.3
exposure comp 0 EV
sensitivity auto
balance: cloudy
AF Mode: AF-S
tone comp Auto
digital zoom ratio 3.60
saturation comp 0
sharpening- High
noise reduction Off

Caron said:

My apologies up front for such a meanial question about something that really should be mundane to me.....
Since obtaining my 4500 2 years ago, I used it mainly on the auto setting changing not much more then the white balance, images size and quality which worked fine for what I needed it for-indoor shots of my paintings or reference shots of my cats. Of course, these settings dont work for taking active shots of the birds outdoors and I have no idea how to change them to what I need or what I need to change them to in order to get acceptable images. I have attached one of the images I took yesturday as well as the settings it was taken at. I would be so greatful if one of you camera experts could guide me to what settings I maybe should have taken this at and how to manipulate around the camera bit more to set it to what I should be...

Camera settings:
telephoto2
focal length 115.2mm
exposure mode: aperture priority
metering mode: spot
1/60.3 sec -f/10.3
exposure comp 0 EV
sensitivity auto
balance: cloudy
AF Mode: AF-S
tone comp Auto
digital zoom ratio 3.60
saturation comp 0
sharpening- High
noise reduction Off

Click to expand...

Hi Caron,

Don't know if this is of any use, but this is what Andy Bright recommends for digiscoping with the 4500:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=3302

Richard

Thank you Richard for that link... I had already gone to it and had been trying to set my camera according to what it says but my images are now black and even though I can use photoshop to bring the light back up, they still seem to be out of focus and really rather...ka-ka...I really could use some advice as I am missing out on some great pics..

Caron said:

My apologies up front for such a meanial question about something that really should be mundane to me.....
Since obtaining my 4500 2 years ago, I used it mainly on the auto setting changing not much more then the white balance, images size and quality which worked fine for what I needed it for-indoor shots of my paintings or reference shots of my cats. Of course, these settings dont work for taking active shots of the birds outdoors and I have no idea how to change them to what I need or what I need to change them to in order to get acceptable images. I have attached one of the images I took yesturday as well as the settings it was taken at. I would be so greatful if one of you camera experts could guide me to what settings I maybe should have taken this at and how to manipulate around the camera bit more to set it to what I should be...

Camera settings:
telephoto2
focal length 115.2mm
exposure mode: aperture priority
metering mode: spot
1/60.3 sec -f/10.3
exposure comp 0 EV
sensitivity auto
balance: cloudy
AF Mode: AF-S
tone comp Auto
digital zoom ratio 3.60
saturation comp 0
sharpening- High
noise reduction Off

Click to expand...

Hi Caron just a couple of points to try.

You are in aperture priority that is ok but try to get the aperture more open i.e. F4 or lower this will give you a fater shutter speed which with birds is the name of the game. Also check your ISO setting try to use 100.

You have put in your settings DIGITAL zoom. The cp4500 has two zoom ranges 1. OPTICAL zoom 2. DIGITAL zoom.
Try not to use DIGITAL zoom it is useless I don't know why manufacturers bother putting it on.

Hope this helps

Pete

Caron,follow the settings from Andy(Bright) and you will not go wrong.When I received my 4500 a couple of years ago,I hadn't a clue,but I set it to the recommended settings on Andy's posting,and have left them as such,and I have occassionally managed a few decent pics.There does seem to be some debate as to Macro versus infinity.I personally find I take a better pic using infinity,but the most used one seems to be Macro.But a great deal does depend on the light,and you do need to be reasonably near to your bird to take a decent pic,although it does appear on your lcd screen when it is a great distance away.

Caron, these are the settings I use 90% of the time when the camera is on the scope.
WB Auto
Metering Spot AF Area
Continuous
Image Adjustment more contrast
Saturation +2
Image Quality Fine
Image Size 1600x1200 (for faster action taking and switch to 2272x1704 when the bird is stationary for long enough)
Image Sharpening High
Lens Normal
Focus Options AF Area Mode Manual
Auto-Focus Mode Continuous AF
Zoom Options Digital Tele Off
Startup Position Last Position
Fixed Aperture Off
Noise Reduction Off
I also have Exposure Compensation of -0.7 stops permanently set to be changed when necessary.
Other settings I leave as the Default.
I hope this helps, Neil

Pete, Christine and Neil, thank you.. Im going to try your suggestions tomorrow in the light and see how it goes. In general I get most of my pics at the feeder right outside the patio door. If I stand there for a few minutes, they dont seem to mind me and come back. I can get a handful of pics with them only 3-4 feet away so Im hoping for some good ones. Im reading the book to find out about the 'optical' and 'digital' zooms and how to go about that.....
Here is the pic I took the other day with the above settings....as you can see, they arent turning out great..(I meant to post it above but forget.. :eek!: )

Caron,I am no expert,but you may have overdone the zoom in your pic.It is very frustrating when digiscoping.One sees the image on the lCD screen,but when put onto the pc,they all look out of focus and blurred.But keep practising,you will get there eventually,it is a challenge!!

christineredgate said:

Caron,I am no expert,but you may have overdone the zoom in your pic.It is very frustrating when digiscoping.One sees the image on the lCD screen,but when put onto the pc,they all look out of focus and blurred.But keep practising,you will get there eventually,it is a challenge!!

Click to expand...

Your right Christine, on the screen they look great!...and then I download....
So should I not be zooming in? I figured if I didnt zoom and only cropped the final pic, the bird would be more so out of focus....

Caron said:

My apologies up front for such a meanial question about something that really should be mundane to me.....
Since obtaining my 4500 2 years ago, I used it mainly on the auto setting changing not much more then the white balance, images size and quality which worked fine for what I needed it for-indoor shots of my paintings or reference shots of my cats. Of course, these settings dont work for taking active shots of the birds outdoors and I have no idea how to change them to what I need or what I need to change them to in order to get acceptable images. I have attached one of the images I took yesturday as well as the settings it was taken at. I would be so greatful if one of you camera experts could guide me to what settings I maybe should have taken this at and how to manipulate around the camera bit more to set it to what I should be...

Camera settings:
telephoto2
focal length 115.2mm
exposure mode: aperture priority
metering mode: spot
1/60.3 sec -f/10.3
exposure comp 0 EV
sensitivity auto
balance: cloudy
AF Mode: AF-S
tone comp Auto
digital zoom ratio 3.60
saturation comp 0
sharpening- High
noise reduction Off

Click to expand...

Caron, your main problem is using digital zoom, it is impossible to take good pictures using it, turn it off and then you can start again with a good chance of getting some excellent pics.
Regarding your black pics - in aperture priority mode zoom the camera to fullly wide angle and turn the command dial until the aperture reads f2.6, zooming towards tele will then select the aperture and the fastest shutter speed available for the existing lighting conditions.
Most of the rest of your settings are pretty good, you could try White Balance on auto - it works very well, sharpening is better at Low or Off - this can be done better in Photoshop, as can the other image adjustments.
I would suggest setting the metering mode to centre-weighted as you are using just the camera, rather than having a lens/scope in front of it, this will give you a wider exposure area as you are so close. Set focus distance to macro (flower symbol) by pressing the bottom left hand button, and set Lens to normal.
The other thing you may want to try is shooting in continuous, taking up to four shots at a time by holding down the shutter-release button, this gives a better chance of a good picture as the birds are swinging on the nut-hopper.

Hope all this throws some light on your problem and gives you just that little bit more enjoyment by getting some good pictures.
john-henry