PDA

View Full Version : Digicam help!



thich
10-11-2003, 03:21 PM
Ben or Melinda or anyone, hope you guys and gals could help me figure this out and help a fellow recreational photographer :)

On my analog SLR camera I can focus the camera where the subject is sharp and the background is blurred or vice versa.

HOWEVER, I just realized I can't do this on my Powershot S45!
what kind of settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO?) should I be shooting in to achieve this effect? I tried the Manual function but it doesn't work (it shoots everything very vividly and focused).
AV or TV function?

and my stupid manual doesn't explain too well.... mebbe i will go and test it again some more.

any help is very much appreciated

bigboom
10-13-2003, 10:04 PM
to make the subject sharp and the background blurred wouldnt you use the portrait mode? other than that does spot metering help acheive it?

thich
10-13-2003, 10:50 PM
i dunno :S i've never used portrait..... hmmmm.
mebbe i should try that! haha.

Melinda
10-14-2003, 01:05 AM
Haha it's all about depth of field...if you want it so your subject is clear and your background is blurred then try something like apperture of f/2.8 @ 1/2000 of a second...but usually the bigger the apperture (ie: the smaller the number) the less depth of field you're gonna have...hope that helps!!!

P.S. the "modes" on your camera are useless, especially for the effect you're trying to achieve

thich
10-14-2003, 09:11 AM
thanx mel!

GTS Jeff
10-14-2003, 10:06 PM
aperture, shutter speed, iso....dont really affect focus. the focus setting does. press MF on your camera, then use the keypad to crank it whichever way..

thich
10-14-2003, 11:19 PM
i tried that and it sorta works... but i know aperture and shutter speed do affect the depth of field... just never was able to manipulate it well on the digicam.

i can do it on the analog SLR, but not the digicam... weird :P
i knew i shoulda gotten a G4 or something

RC-Cola
10-15-2003, 10:15 AM
I never had a film SLR before but from what I have read digital cameras have a greater depth of Field then film cameras do. The problem is that with a camera like the S45 is it's going to try and "make the picture right" instead of letting you get more creative with the picture. Mel is right, you must use a bigger apperture (small F stop) to get a blurred background.

You also might want to check on the what your camera is focusing on. In my camera (Digital Rebel) I tell it what part of the frame to focus in on so the metering will be correct instead of the camera trying to focus the complete frame. I'm not sure if you can do that on the S45 or not, but it might be worth a try.

GTS Jeff
10-15-2003, 10:45 AM
Originally posted by RC-Cola
I never had a film SLR before but from what I have read digital cameras have a greater depth of Field then film cameras do. The problem is that with a camera like the S45 is it's going to try and "make the picture right" instead of letting you get more creative with the picture. Mel is right, you must use a bigger apperture (small F stop) to get a blurred background.

You also might want to check on the what your camera is focusing on. In my camera (Digital Rebel) I tell it what part of the frame to focus in on so the metering will be correct instead of the camera trying to focus the complete frame. I'm not sure if you can do that on the S45 or not, but it might be worth a try. yea on the s45 theres a flexizone blah blah that lets u pick a focus point...

Moonracer
10-19-2003, 11:10 PM
Mel is correct, aperature is where it's at but one thing that wasn't mentioned is focal length. When shooting wide angle the depth will be greater than with a telephoto or even macro. So with your little point and shoot digicam you'll need to use manual mode and select a larger aperature.
Too bad I didn't see this thread sooner for you probly have it figured out by now. ;)

C4S
10-20-2003, 12:07 AM
Make the aperture to the biggest (lower number) and then use the most tele zoom as possibble ..that will make the main object sharp and the rest blur ..... ^_^

RC-Cola
10-20-2003, 07:19 AM
Originally posted by C4S
Make the aperture to the biggest (lower number) and then use the most tele zoom as possibble ..that will make the main object sharp and the rest blur ..... ^_^

The only thing you have to be a little careful with is you always want the lowest ISO as you can get. When you use a big F-stop and a slow shutter speed it will increase your ISO. When you increase your ISO you increase the amount of noise on your picture. I always try and stay under 800 ISO.

thich
10-20-2003, 12:52 PM
i don't think that's much of an issue on the S45 tho :P
i can only go max 400ISO i think