FZ28 settings (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

I am a beginner to photography and I have been using my FZ28 for a couple of months now but I am still in a position of being unsure about getting good results when I try to take a picture of a bird. My main problem seems to be that it is still very 'hit and miss' when it comes to focusing. The camera is indicating that my target is focused and I take the shot ok but then the result is poor. I currently use Aperture Priority for my shots with Spot Focusing selected and I,m wondering if my focus selection needs to be changed in order to maximise my chances of getting a nice shot. Does anyone have any advice as regards settings. Most of my shooting is done at 5 or 7 megapixels in order to benefit from the extended zoom feature.

Thanks very much.

Distance too far? Shots longer than 40m will be difficult. Use Optical Stabilization too.

Shutter speeds? Generally you want 1/125 or faster at full zoom. Never let it go below 1/30 at any zoom setting.

ISO value? Higher ISO can give faster shutter speeds but comes with progressively more noise that can "blur" you image due to the camera noise reduction. Lock it down to 400 or lower if you mainly print. 200 or lower if you pixel peep.

Using Aperture Priority with a digicam brings nothing to the image. The camera will always use its widest possible aperture according to the zoom position anyway. Shutter priority is more usefull in some situations actually. Best shooting mode choice may be Program Auto and let the camera do its thing. You make quick changes to shutter speed by adjusting ISO.

May need to increase Contrast and Sharpening levels in the picture controls too. Of course, if you shoot RAW instead of JPEG you will need to do this in processing.

good luck,
Rick

RJM said:

Using Aperture Priority with a digicam brings nothing to the image. The camera will always use its widest possible aperture according to the zoom position anyway. and
Best shooting mode choice may be Program Auto and let the camera do its thing.

Click to expand...

Rick, I absolutely disagree with this part of what you write. From experience with my FZ18 (no theoretical considerations), I have found that the camera if on program mode often will try to increase the aperture number even if that means slowing to shutter down to about 1/40 or so, much to slow for bird photos. My standard settings can be seen in second post on this thread.

I do agree with some of the other thoughts in the above post: how do you know that the problem is focusing and not camera shake? Try to walk around the house (or if the lightning is more similar, on the shady side of the outside of your building), take photos of say power outlets almost parallel to the wall, and compare flash with non-flash photos. If the flash photos are good and the others not, then your problem is most likely to be camera shake.

Niels

Niels, the digicamera makers know these tiny lenses always are sharpest when wide open and a have designed the shooting mode firmware to keep the widest aperture whenever possible. So in a sense, the camera always shoots semi-Aperture Priority.

The maximum aperture on a lens zoom also cannot be locked at one setting, ie., F2.8
through the entire zoom range. It will change as you zoom the lens. This is the effect you are seeing I bet.

Aperture also should never get smaller than the maximum with a digicam UNLESS you are focused on a target at or near infinity, and/or a small target that doesn't fill the focus point. With few exceptions (like more than one bird at various distances within the focus point), I think this excludes most digiscoping scenarios.

Even then, F8 will be the smallest value to avoid diffaction and only to make sure there is sufficient depth of field to bring ALL these distant targets within the focus point to focus. If you try to force it wider under this scenario then you may have focus issues.

Thus my suggestion for Program Mode as an out of focus image is useless at any shutter speed while the time worn method of burst shooting can at least let you have a chance of getting "freeze frame" at low shutter speeds.

cheers,
Rick

RJM said:

Niels, the digicamera makers know these tiny lenses always are sharpest when wide open and a have designed the shooting mode firmware to keep the widest aperture whenever possible.

Click to expand...

In theory maybe. What I was telling you is that my experience says otherwise.

Niels

Thanks for the help guys, I think that its fair to say that a majority of my shooting is done at full zoom in order to try to get a really good close-up of the birds. I usually go for the smallest 'f number' I can and use aperture priority mode which is my normal selection. Today I got a few shots of a Cuckoo but could only get about 50m away before the bird spooked. My shots came out very grainy when I zoomed them in using Photoshop. I am also wondering if the fact that I use spot focusing may be asking for trouble at such great distances as the focusing indicator needs to be aimed more accurately than I may be able to manage. The only way I think I might be able to help my pics is to leave the resolution set to 10 megapixels so that I do at least get half a chance of zooming the bird in Photoshop without losing so much detail. This does however reduce my camera's zooming capabilities so I,ll have to practice my aiming !!

I think that my problem may be that I am simply asking too much of my camera.

Yup, you are asking too much. Think about adding a X1.7 teleconverter if you haven't already got one. Believe me it helps. Sometimes you just have to face the fact that the bird is just too far away to get more than a 'record shot'.

Simmo1111 said:

Thanks for the help guys, I think that its fair to say that a majority of my shooting is done at full zoom in order to try to get a really good close-up of the birds. I usually go for the smallest 'f number' I can and use aperture priority mode which is my normal selection. Today I got a few shots of a Cuckoo but could only get about 50m away before the bird spooked. My shots came out very grainy when I zoomed them in using Photoshop. I am also wondering if the fact that I use spot focusing may be asking for trouble at such great distances as the focusing indicator needs to be aimed more accurately than I may be able to manage. The only way I think I might be able to help my pics is to leave the resolution set to 10 megapixels so that I do at least get half a chance of zooming the bird in Photoshop without losing so much detail. This does however reduce my camera's zooming capabilities so I,ll have to practice my aiming !!

I think that my problem may be that I am simply asking too much of my camera.

Click to expand...

In my experience, using everything but spot focusing increases the chance of the camera focusing on something else than what you think. Many cameras think that rounded leaves are the perfect imitation of the heads of people that the engineers think customers will take photos of.

That being said, even using digiscoping (camera taking a photo through a telescope) has difficulty taking a half way decent image of a cuckoo on 50 meters distance. That is, unless your cuckoo is an Australian Channel-billed Cuckoo of about two feet long . On another thread I saw someone talking about improving his field skills as more important than getting better gear.

Niels