Some n00b questions to ask the experts ..

[ahmadka]

Hi all ... Well I recently purchased the Panasonic Lumix FX35 and I plan to take it out on an indoor Wrestling event in a day or two, and had some questions after experimenting with it ..

The questions I generally aimed at trying to take better pictures from a distant of some moving targets ..

The following picture shows the environment that I think I'll be in. Similar lighting, similar distance to the stage (probably a little bit further away maybe), etc ..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugecoo...in/photostream

Before I go on though, I just want to say that I know that I will most probably not get good photos as others have said before, but I still want to try

So here are the Qs:

1) What is the advantage/disadvantage of shooting in RAW mode than in JPEG ?

2) I plan on maybe trying to use the Burst mode as well, but from what I know, the FZ35 only allows burst mode when you're storing JPEG and not RAW or RAW+JPEG .. So what should I use now ?

3) When I'm using the Aperture Priority mode, the camera tries to focus on the target and sometimes I get an indication on the screen that the focusing didn't go well (i.e. red indicators all over the place) .. Why is this so ? I though the aperture priority just sets the amount of light the camera takes in and that it doesn't have to do with focusing as such .. ?

4) I understand that AE Lock locks the exposure setting based on a series of previously taken images (correct me if I'm wrong here), but on my camera I only see the AF/AE enable/disable button .. How do I tell it which pictures to based the exposure on ? Also, should I or should I not use the AE Lock option ?

5) And what is the AF Lock, and should I use it for my scenario ?

6) What is the maximum ISO I should let the camera use ? 400, 800 or 1600 ?

7) What mode do you think is best suited for me here ? A, P, S, M, or some other ?

In addition to this, any other recommendations on what settings/modes I should use would be highly appreciated ..

[Greg McCary]

Shooting RAW allows you to fix bad exposure, highlights and shadows much easier with the right software, Lightroom or ACR.
Aperture has nothing to do with focus but more about exposure. Higher F/stops for bright light and lower for low light. Aperture priority you determine the aperture and the camera determines shutter speed.
AF lock locks the focus, I wouldn't use it for wrestling.
Always shoot as low an ISO as you can and still get the shot. The higher the ISO the lower the image quality will be. In a gym you probably will have no choice but to shoot high, 800 or 1600. Since you want to freeze the action.
M mode would be the best but in your situation if you aren't use to manual I would shoot aperture priority.
In low light shoot high iso and low f/stop. Try and freeze the action. You are going to push a P&S camera to it's limits in a gym unless you are working in a bright gym.
I don't see a picture.

[ahmadka]

Alright, thanks for those points .. I will fix the link for the picture now .. I had this other thing to ask too:

So I was trying out the shutter priority mode by manually toggling between different shutter speeds to see the result for myself ..

I tested it on a pedestral fan running on its highest speed .. I turned the flash on because without flash the results were getting darker and darker with increasing shutter speed (I know the reason ) .. Here are some samples:

1/25:


1/50:


1/100:


1/200:


1/400:


1/800:


1/1600:


As you can see, the blade edges become blurier with increasing shutter speed, whereas from what I know, they should be getting sharper ..

Can anyone explain this to me ?

[OldClicker]

Alright, thanks for those points .. I will fix the link for the picture now .. I had this other thing to ask too:

So I was trying out the shutter priority mode by manually toggling between different shutter speeds to see the result for myself ..

I tested it on a pedestral fan running on its highest speed .. I turned the flash on because without flash the results were getting darker and darker with increasing shutter speed (I know the reason ) .. Here are some samples:


As you can see, the blade edges become blurier with increasing shutter speed, whereas from what I know, they should be getting sharper ..

Can anyone explain this to me ?

The flash (1/2000 sec to 1/10,000 sec or faster) is what is 'stopping' fan, not the shutter speed. As you increase the shutter speed, you loose light and the flash has to add more to make up the difference. The flash puts out more light by flashing longer, therefore the increased blur. - Terry

[freygr]

The problem I see with the camera is the lens speed, wide the speed is good but at the telephoto end it's a F5.6. You are going to have a hard time at a wrestling match as most if not all the time will be spent at the telephoto end during the matches.

You will find that to get sharp photo your ISO will end up being set at: High Sensitivity Mode : Auto (1600 - 6400); but you are trading of nosie for sharpness, and you may find out that converting to B&W may produce better photos an color.

[freygr]

Alright, thanks for those points .. I will fix the link for the picture now .. I had this other thing to ask too:

So I was trying out the shutter priority mode by manually toggling between different shutter speeds to see the result for myself ..

I tested it on a pedestral fan running on its highest speed .. I turned the flash on because without flash the results were getting darker and darker with increasing shutter speed (I know the reason ) .. Here are some samples:
clipp..

As you can see, the blade edges become blurier with increasing shutter speed, whereas from what I know, they should be getting sharper ..

Can anyone explain this to me ?

The test has no meaning as you used the flash. The speed of the flash is 1/100,000 sec or faster. Yes the photos will get darker as if your in full manual mode each time you half the exposure without adjusting the fstop or ISO.

Think of exposure as a glass of water with a half glass being the correct exposure. Over a half glass is over exposure (whashed out white photo) less than half a glass in under exposure (dark or black). The F stop is equvalate of the water valve and the shutter is the valve off or on. When the valve is only allow a small stream (high F stop) it takes a long time before the glass is half full, but with the valve wide open (low f stops) it just takes second to get the glass half full. Now the ISO is the volume of the glass the smaller volume the faster the glass reaches half full.

Now another thing RAW has larger tonal range than JPG, 8 bits 256 shades per color for JPG compared to RAW 10 -14 bits (1024 to 16K shades per color), also RAW files use lossless compression. JPG does not, by adjusting the compression settings you can have a very high quality and large file to a very low quality and a small file from the same image.