New Lens, Need Help On Settings

[Marcie]

Hi, I just want to thank all of you who helped me to find new lens which is the 70 - 210 f/4 lens. Its awesome. I have tried it out around the house tonite.

Okay i have a few questions!!!

1. I tried with external flash, with the flash i get a shadow on botton like its half pics. Without the flash its fine.

Is there something i need to do to the external flash!!!


2. What setting should i set my camera on for the indoor sports for cheerleading.

What setting should my shutter speed be too!!!!

Sorry for asking all this I am very new to DSLR world. Dont know much on the setting on the camera.

Any other setting i should do please let me know As im leaving tomarrow morning and ahve another shot on Sunday too!!!

Thanks Again,
Marcie
Owner of Sony A100

[payn817]

For the flash, was it mounted on the camera? if it was, you may need to use the zoom option and zoom it out to avoid the shadow. Another possibility is that it was caused by the lens hood. I never use the hood unless shooting in sunlight, and without flash, and have never had a problem. However, some of those lenses have flare issues, honestly, I have never seen it, so rarely use the hood.

As for the settings, I would get there and shoot a few tests if possible before the person(s) you are planning to shoot go onstage. Try ISO 800 and put it in Amode, set your apeture to f/4. If you still get blur, goto ISO 1600, and see if you can get a fast enough shutter speed. Some motion blur can be desirable, as long as main features are sharp, and it may actually help SOME photos to have a little blur.

I shot a pageant at ISO 1600 f/4 with the same lens and got around 1/1000 shutter, the light should be similar.

The magic # for your shutter will likely be around 1/250 at the very least.


It's great that people ask questions, it helps us to keep the knowledge, and give back what we have received, so ask away. Post some results from the shoot!

[Marcie]

Wow!!! Thanks for the info. Now im really confused. I under stand the shutter and how to set that but how do i now the shutter is 1/250!! Oh u mean max should be 1000 and least 250 I hope i got that right!!! I will do some test shots as well to set the settings since I have some time span between two teams and I have sunday to try again. Ok how do i set my apeture to f/4 I never really understood that. I will try my iso at 800 first

Okay as for the lens i didnt have the lens hood on. I did try with and without and it came up but when i took my external off it was fine. Pretty strange. Il have to play around with that too. I may be dif in a large arena to get dif effect. Again thanks for your help this is really good info for a newbie with dslr.

Marcie

[Marcie]

HI, Went to the competiton today. BOO HOO!!! We couldnt take pics!!! But i did video tape though. Tomarrow we are allow but no flash is allowed. How do i take pics without the flash. I know I will have to use a high setting on the iso that i know but what other setting should i try to use. I will test out as well!!!

Thanks for any info.

Marcie

[cr_mmurillo]

HI, Went to the competiton today. BOO HOO!!! We couldnt take pics!!! But i did video tape though. Tomarrow we are allow but no flash is allowed. How do i take pics without the flash. I know I will have to use a high setting on the iso that i know but what other setting should i try to use. I will test out as well!!!

Thanks for any info.

Marcie

I am new to photography also. I started about six months ago, but I did a lot of reading and spent lots of time on this site posting and asking questions.

I personally don't like using flash. I would rather go with a higher ISO than shoot in flash. You lens is already set to F4 so you don't have to change it. Getting a good picture is the balance with three things:

1. Aperture, which is the size of the hole that opens to bring the light in. The lower the F stop (F4) the bigger the hole that opens to bring more light in. The bigger the hole, the faster shutter speed you get. The smaller the hole, the longer you need to keep the hole open to bring more light in.

2. ISO, which is the sensitivity of the film or in digital sensor. The lower the ISO the less sensitivity, but better picture quality (less grain). The higher ISO the more grainier. Setting the ISO higher can give you a faster shutter speed. I don't usually go over 800 ISO on my Alpha.

Faster shutter speed means less blur. I takes a while to soak this stuff in, but be patient and practice all the time. Shoot manual so you can learn. Do lots of practice shots. Once you get the concept, you will have to worry about composition. Composition to me is the arrangement of subjects or elements in a picture.

One of the best article I saw on this is about the histogram.

Check out my gallery

[Marcie]

Ok I looked on my camera!!! I understand everything you said. I got the ISO at 800 my f stop is at 4 Now my shutter speed I have no clue what number to keep on!! When i take some pics some are all dark and black. I guess I will have to keep testing it to get it right on the speed!!! If there a specific number I should start and work my up or down please fill me on that. The rest I fig. out by playing with the camera!!!!. Again thanks for helping me out and answering my questions!!!

Marcie

[cr_mmurillo]

Ok I looked on my camera!!! I understand everything you said. I got the ISO at 800 my f stop is at 4 Now my shutter speed I have no clue what number to keep on!! When i take some pics some are all dark and black. I guess I will have to keep testing it to get it right on the speed!!! If there a specific number I should start and work my up or down please fill me on that. The rest I fig. out by playing with the camera!!!!. Again thanks for helping me out and answering my questions!!!

Marcie

You should have a light meter arrow. Keep it in the middle. Look in the manual to see a picture of what I mean. You can guess, but the light meter is a better at that.

[Marcie]

HI back from day 2 of the competition. No camera forgot it so i took my video cam. Any way I played with the light meter!!! Wow what a diference that makes. Im gonna go to some local indoor sports at the school here and play with my settings and get it ready for the next competition. Which is in january!!!!

Thanks for everything!!!!! I just have to work on the clear and not so much blurry. But when i play more Im learning more about the camera and loving it. and asking questions for help is a really big help here!!! Thanks for everything you are the best.

Marcie