New to digital

[cherik]

Hi!

I made the jump to digital and finally decided on the Fuji s5000. So far I love it! The zoom is fantastic and the picture quality is great! My head is spinning though trying to figure out all the different things this camera can do! So far, I've mainly kept it on the auto mode and have been happy with the results, but I really want to make the most of what this camera has to offer. Any suggestions on web sites or books written in an easy to understand manner? I think what throws me most is shutter speeds, aperature setting and white balance. I appreciate any tips anyone has to offer!

I will be taking shots of my family (kids), indoor/outdoor and sporting events (hockey and tennis in particular) and vacation.

Thanks!

[Photo-John]

Congratulations on your new camera. And welcome to the site. Happy to have you

Aperture and shutter speed are basic photography controls. They aren't digital at all. Sounds like you need to learn the basics of photography more than you need to learn about digital. The digital stuff can follow later. You can ask us questions or just go buy a basic photography book. And to get you started - aperture is the size of the hole in the lens that allows light to reach the sensor or film. Shutter speed is the time that light is allowed through the aperture to the camera's sensor or film. Aperture and shutter speed are used together to get the correct exposure. When you use your camera in auto mode, it makes all of the decisions for you. When you use manual exposure, aperture priority, or shutter priority, you get to make the decisions.

White balance is a digital control, but it's not that complicated. Different types of lights and light conditions have different color characteristics. You know how when you're outside at night and all windows look yellowish? That's the color of tungsten light. Your eyes and brain automatically compensate when you go inside so that you see things in their normal colors. A film camera can't do that. But a digital camera's white balance control can. It has presets for different types of light and auto white balance to choose the white balance on the fly. My recommendation is to leave it in auto for now.

One nice thing about digital is that worry about film or film processing. And you get instant results so you can see the effect of your chosen settings immediately. That means there's no reason to worry about making mistakes. Try the different settings and see what happens. Experiment a lot. That's the best way to learn. And with digital, there's no reason not to.

[malum]

If it's anything like the S7000, which I have, then in full manual control there is a little meter on the screen that tells you if the shot is going to be exposed correctly and you can adjust the aperture/shutter speed accordingly which is a great help.

I knew nothing about shutter speed and/or apertures when I got it a couple of months ago and now I take most of my shots in full manual mode.

just to confuse you: the smaller the aperture the larger the f number.
Also the smaller the aperture the greater the depth of field.

[jcitsog1]

I bought my camera in Febuary and I love it. My photography skills as improved 1000%. I do not use the Auto. I use the "P" setting on my camera because with that setting it displays all of the settings on the screen. I have learned alot while using this.

There seems to be a few people that are experienceing some focus problems with this camera. The focus setting to the left of the flash seemes to have corrected this for me.

[cherik]

Hi!

You say you keep your setting on "p". Do you learn how to adjsut it just through trial and error?

Any other tips for setting the focus?

One more question, any suggestions for getting some good, clear pictures of hockey players?

Thanks for your help!