PaulCountyDurham
Well-known member
Any help with this would be hugely appreciated and if you ever need a favour returned then just ask me!
You could count on one hand my use of cameras for any purpose throughout my life, so that is the depth of my ignorance you're dealing with here: I'm pretty confident you could hand the camera to a blue tit and he/she would take a better picture of me than I'm able to take of him/her. When I first bought the camera (about three weeks back) I set it up as per Graham Houghton's tutorial, on IA mode, took it out with me, learned a few things on what positions I need to be in to take decent photos, 'was very impressed at what someone with my absolute zero level of camera experience can achieve (clearly that was the camera doing the work in IA mode rather than any skill I have, but never mind).
So, as time went on, I had some beauty photos lined up: sparrowhawk, kestrel and so on, and even in IA mode I managed to get them badly wrong. 'Thought: right, I've probably reached the limits of how much a camera's IA function can help a camera fool like me and so it's time to learn about the camera and move away from IA mode. I've been trying a few things out this weekend and I have a better understanding of how it works (as much understanding as a novice can garner in a few days).
Some adjustments I've made have been an improvement but some/many things I'm getting badly wrong, which is expected given that photography is a skill which is honed over years, as with any passion or interest. I don't expect to pick a camera up and be able to replicate what other people are able to achieve after years of hard work. On the other hand, I know this camera can produce outstanding photos because I've seen examples. What I want to do is just put one thing right at a time, and the biggest problem I feel I have now is focus. If I can't get that right then I feel whatever else I do I'll not get the desired results.
I have the camera in aperture mode, not much else has changed except setting a maximum ISO and a few other bits and pieces such as sharpness of jpeg photo and metering, I have the AFS on tracking mode. The problem is that the target/focus (yellow and red target) is jumping around all over the place. Some times the red target area comes up on my screen and sometimes the yellow and I can't work out why it's sometimes red and sometimes yellow, whether or not the red or yellow matters, and how I keep the target on the bird. On occasion, the target area won't set on the bird and this isn't always when there are branches and so on in the way (I think the camera will focus on the nearest branch because I have the aperture set to 2.8). I've looked around all over the internet and can't seem to get a clear and concise explanation that doesn't involve convoluted camera acrobatics that are monumentally beyond a camera novice like me.
'Long story short what I'd like to know is: why do I sometimes get a red target on my screen and other times a yellow one, which is more desirable for bird photography. Also, I'm trying to focus on the birds eyes to bring that out - is it possible without touching the screen and so on? Why do I sometimes not get the camera focusing on the bird, red or yellow target when I press the shutter half way down? Another way of answering this I suppose, is: what should I be doing to get a target on the bird that will blur the background and bring out the bird, in aperture mode?
Any help appreciated!
You could count on one hand my use of cameras for any purpose throughout my life, so that is the depth of my ignorance you're dealing with here: I'm pretty confident you could hand the camera to a blue tit and he/she would take a better picture of me than I'm able to take of him/her. When I first bought the camera (about three weeks back) I set it up as per Graham Houghton's tutorial, on IA mode, took it out with me, learned a few things on what positions I need to be in to take decent photos, 'was very impressed at what someone with my absolute zero level of camera experience can achieve (clearly that was the camera doing the work in IA mode rather than any skill I have, but never mind).
So, as time went on, I had some beauty photos lined up: sparrowhawk, kestrel and so on, and even in IA mode I managed to get them badly wrong. 'Thought: right, I've probably reached the limits of how much a camera's IA function can help a camera fool like me and so it's time to learn about the camera and move away from IA mode. I've been trying a few things out this weekend and I have a better understanding of how it works (as much understanding as a novice can garner in a few days).
Some adjustments I've made have been an improvement but some/many things I'm getting badly wrong, which is expected given that photography is a skill which is honed over years, as with any passion or interest. I don't expect to pick a camera up and be able to replicate what other people are able to achieve after years of hard work. On the other hand, I know this camera can produce outstanding photos because I've seen examples. What I want to do is just put one thing right at a time, and the biggest problem I feel I have now is focus. If I can't get that right then I feel whatever else I do I'll not get the desired results.
I have the camera in aperture mode, not much else has changed except setting a maximum ISO and a few other bits and pieces such as sharpness of jpeg photo and metering, I have the AFS on tracking mode. The problem is that the target/focus (yellow and red target) is jumping around all over the place. Some times the red target area comes up on my screen and sometimes the yellow and I can't work out why it's sometimes red and sometimes yellow, whether or not the red or yellow matters, and how I keep the target on the bird. On occasion, the target area won't set on the bird and this isn't always when there are branches and so on in the way (I think the camera will focus on the nearest branch because I have the aperture set to 2.8). I've looked around all over the internet and can't seem to get a clear and concise explanation that doesn't involve convoluted camera acrobatics that are monumentally beyond a camera novice like me.
'Long story short what I'd like to know is: why do I sometimes get a red target on my screen and other times a yellow one, which is more desirable for bird photography. Also, I'm trying to focus on the birds eyes to bring that out - is it possible without touching the screen and so on? Why do I sometimes not get the camera focusing on the bird, red or yellow target when I press the shutter half way down? Another way of answering this I suppose, is: what should I be doing to get a target on the bird that will blur the background and bring out the bird, in aperture mode?
Any help appreciated!
