first of all I'm new and decided to try here! sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum area

just got a new sony cybershot t1 and it's nice but so many features seem confusing

EV Modes:
0EV , +.03 EV, +.07EV...what the heck is that stuff? the manual just says use this for adjusting exposure... dosent really get into details

- metering modes... spot and multi

- ISO 400 / 200 / 100 / AUTO

??????

if I wanna shoot car racing, say at a nascar racing with fast cars going by
it has a burst mode, but what kind of exposures would I set the camera to? does it matter
or just leave it on auto
I find it easy using the defaults

I was just wondering if anyone has this camera and the best way for shooting

thanks

Matt

With my limited understanding - the EV Modes are for imposing a bit of preference to the exposure the camera will use if you think that the automatic exposure won't be right. Say there is something small and brightly lit you are taking a photo of, but the majority of the frame is dark. Depending on how the camera works, it may set the exposure to lighten up all the dark stuff, but by doing this it will overexpose the thing you wanted. You can use the EV settings to tell the camera not to be so heavy on the exposure, or vice versa.

The spot and multi metering modes are linked to this - spot metering tells the camera to only read light and focus on a very small area, usually centre frame, multi metering reads several parts of the image and tries to reach the best solution to make the whole thing work ok.

ISO numbers show fast a film 'speed' you are using (or the digital equivalent). The smaller the number the 'slower the film', so it needs more light to get a proper exposure. Pictures taken on slow film can look great when they are used in the right sort of conditions (bright light or long exposure times), as they don't tend to have so much of the digital noise which makes your picture look a bit grainy. For Nascar though a slow film is likely to be a disaster, the long shutter speed will mean the cars will be back in the pit lanes before you've finished exposing your shot. Probably best to leave it on auto.

I think that is right, if I'm wrong one of the pro's will soon set me right!

regards,

matt

You done good, mattp. Your advice was right on target and I don't think you got anything wrong. Thanks for long, detailed reply. I'll just add a few thoughts of my own.

The Sony "EV" mode is what we usually call Exposure Compensation. It allows you to overide and fine-tune the exposure your camera's light meter chooses. Since you can see the image in the LCD after you take your picture, you don't have to accept it as is. If you think it's too light or dark, use the exposure compensation to make a lighter or darker photo. I'm not sure if the T1 has a histogram feature, but if it does, learn to use it to ensure perfect exposures.

Your camera's processor uses the light meter to determine and evaluate how light or dark to expose an image. There are lots of different ways to make light meters work. Currently, the most common metering modes are spot and multi-patterned. Basically, multi-patterned metering evaluates most of what's in the viewfinder, usually "weighting" the center more heavily. Multi-pattern metering usually uses a database of different lighting situations stored in the processor to evaluate a scene and make an exposure based on commonly encountered lighting. For instance, when a subject is backlit, the camera will be able to tell and compensate for the backlighting. Of course, when you use an "evaluative" exposure mode, you're trusting the camera to make the correct decisions. Camera's aren't magic and they don't know what you want. Sometimes they get it wrong.

The spot meter is for someone who wants more control. It uses only a small area in the center of the frame to set the exposure. Most compact digital cameras have exposure lock so that once you depress and hold the shutter release button halfway down the exposure settings will be locked until you completely depress and release the shutter button. Using the spot meter and exposure lock allows the photographer to choose their exposure by selectively metering and recomposing. For example, I can aim the spot meter at bright part of a scene and then recompose while I keep the shutter release depressed halfway. Metering off of a dark area will make the camera expose lighter. If I want to take a picture of a person at the beach on a sunny day, I would meter off their face and then recompose however I wanted before I actually took the picture. That would make sure the camera was exposing for the important part of the scene rather than brighter sand and water.

That's pretty much what I have to add. About shooting NASCAR and other action - technique is often as important or even more so than your camera settings. You can get good pictures with pretty much any camera, with any setting, if you use the right technique. Don't expect the camera to take the picture for you. Learn the rules of your subject and your camera, and don't expect magic. Most digital cameras are very powerful, but you still need to understand your camera and your subject, if you want to get the best results. And we're here to help you :)

thank you for your replies. I just got back on the computer, it's been crazy here.
I read the manual a few times, and I swear they just repeat words and make it more confusing! I don't understand alot of photography terms and thier meanings so thats why I wanted to try here.... so far I'm having fun with the new camera, I guess auto is the best way for now!!