Things To Try/do With My Camera...

[Kirislin]

Kirislin - I played about with all sorts of sliders... on different tabs too... *grin*

How do you check where your focus point was in DPP? Maybe I should read the manual for it to find out what I can actually do with it, yes? I was just fiddling about really...

persephone - all of the flowers (except the one you liked) are my neighbour's flowers. The one you liked is actually on a weed "tree" thing in my yard... and that is what it did in response to being poisoned - bloody thing decided to flower rather than die... lol! And that one was actually the one that wobbled in the wind the most.. *sigh*

I have a Tamron 18-270mm lens on this 60D - and for the life of me I can't work out how to adjust the focus on it - it has a 9 point system, and I'd rather some less if possible...

I have a total of 3 lenses here - a Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS with broken AF (manual works though), a Canon EF-S 55-250 IS, and the Tamron 18-270mm DiII VC PZD. I should really test all of them on the 60D to see what I favour the most for different "jobs", yes?

Maybe when I have some money, I can get a nice Macro lens too...

T.

when you have the photo on your page right click on it and a number of options come up. it will say AF point.

Yes reading the manual helps although I dont think it says much about DPP there, I mostly worked stuff out by playing with it. At the top of the page you'll see a help button, that is where you'll find out alot.

I think it's a very good program for free but not many people use it.

[kja]

Focus tips for your camera/lens:

- select ONE point. you should see a single red box in the viewfinder. The centre point is the most accurate but it means you need to recompose if you do not want your subject centered. It's a good one to start with though until you can nail focus every time.

- make sure you are in single shot mode on your camera. Read your manual if you aren't sure how to set this (it's usually default).

- make sure you are not in continuous focus mode, you want the focus to lock when you half press. Again, see your manual.

- check your aperture setting. Don't try for wide open to start, stop down two clicks and start there until you get it happening.

- make sure your shutter speed is high enough that you aren't getting any camera shake. Starting rule of thumb: 1/whatever focal length you are shooting -> 50mm lens, minimum shutter speed for safe hand-holding 1/50.

- relax your breathing. Lock your focus, breath, shoot, breath. Don't shoot on an intake or exhalation. Find your rhythm.

- take more than one shot.

- try switching the focus to the * on the back of your camera (read your manual). I almost always have mine set up this way. You press that to lock focus and use the shutter to take the photo. Some people find it becomes a smoother motion for firing than half press and then full press of the shutter. Both methods take practice.

- have fun

[tdierikx]

Kirislin - thanks for the DPP tips - will definitely give the right click a shot... and read the help files... *grin*

Kristin - awesome focus tips - just gotta read up and work out how to change the focus point(s). I'm pretty good with the half press focus lock thing so far, but will see if your suggestion works better for me too. I think my breathing and hands are pretty steady, but will concentrate on both to find out if I'm a bit off there too. Oh - and the lenses I have have got the IS thing to help minimise any small shakes.

... and I need to find time in this lifetime to really get off my arse and properly explore all these things... *grin*

T.