Any tips with Canon 40D

[Striker]

Hi Guys,

I picked myself up a Canon 40D with the 17-85 IS lens, yes I know it's a kit lens but I am just looking to start out doing terestrial imaging and have got a lot to learn.
I have the 70-200 F2.8 L series on order.
I am going out today to have a play around with the settings so I am not expecting too much.
I am not doing any astro work with this camera.

I am not into birds inparticular pelicans as I think every pelican in Australia has been imaged by someone from this forum but I will have a go at bird imagging.

I may start with some landscape photo's.
I would love to get some nice images of the top fuel action at the drags and will look at long telephoto lens.

I know i havn't given you much to go on so I am really saying hi and hopefully I can learn and contribute to this forum again.

Hi Again

Tony

[seeker372011]

Hi tony
sorry i cant help with your question but just saying hello

narayan

[acropolite]

G'day Tony, good to see you back.

If Landscape is your goal, you need a good tripod, Manfrotto, Gitzo or one of the Tiawanese clone types would be fine. A mate of mine bought a carbon fibre clone with ball head from the US at less than half the cost of the Manfrotto/Gitzo equivalent and it's every bit as good. A ball head is nice and often the widest lens you can find helps, the Cannon 10-22 or Tokina 12-24 are both good lenses, the Tokina being quite a bit cheaper. If you're going to do waterfalls or seascape shots ND filters are handy to allow shooting a few stops slower.

[Striker]

Thanks and hi guys,

I already have a Manfrotto 055 Tripod with Gear driven Manfrotto 410 head plus a Manfrotto 681 Monopod I picked up yesterday.

So the 17mm range of the 17-85 IS wont do me for starters...????


Should I shoot around F8-F16 Aperture for Landscape.

I was thinking of setting it to AV and playing with Aperture first.

[RB]

Lowepro Tony.
You need to get a Lowepro.

:P

Sorry couldn't resist. :lol:

[acropolite]

17 will do just fine, that's the widest I have, it's just that sometimes you can't have a wide enough lens.

[Terry B]

Just go out and experiment. Try the different settings. I generally use the P mode at ISO 800. Digital film is cheap :lol: so just experiment. Try different modes with the same image and compare them.

[Striker]

Hahaha...you remembered.

I purchased the Mini Trecker Lowepro before I even got the camera....lol

Just took about 500 photo's if I am lucky I might post 1 as the target I was imaging was a Huge Jet powered R/C Plane moving at 200km/h imaging hand held....lol

I dont mind making it hard for myself.

Yes I played around with some settings most have now been deleted with about another 99% still to be deleted...lol

[acropolite]

FWIW it's recommended that image stabilisation is turned off for moving shots and Tripod use.:whistle:

[Striker]

You could have told me that before I started imaging Phil....grrr

But thanks will remember that.

I have just finished deleting 490 shots out of the 500 I just took.

[Striker]

The plane was awesome and yes that's them blocking the ears starting up the turbines....wimps.

The public can't get close we can only observe from the viewing tower, I only have the 1 lens 17-85 and would loved to have the 70-200 2.8 or longer to take these shots.

Mainly used the burst mode with IS on thanks Phil...wont happen again.
Images are only cropped and resized nothing added or edited shot in Jpeg.

Most shots taken approx 75m away from the plane.

Average settings 1/1000 exposures
Aperture 6.4
Iso 400

Taken hand held.

Was lots of fun even though most were deleted.

[iceman]

Hey Tony, nice to see you back!

When are you going to sell the 40D? :lol:

[acropolite]

I should clarify that, IS of for shots where you're panning with the action.

[Striker]

No Mike I wont be selling for atleast 3 months.
Got ya Phil.

How about night shots with city lights, are they done on long exposure low aperture settings...???

[sheeny]

Welcome back Tony!
:hi:
Al.

[citivolus]

For Canon lenses that have it, there is an IS mode applicable to panning shots, and that is "Mode 2". It disables IS on the axis of motion, allowing it to still function for the other axis. The 70-200 f/2.8 L IS is one of those that has it. I see you have the 70-200 on order, hopefully it is the IS version. It is very nice for tracking moving objects, especially those in flight.

Regards,
Eric

[Striker]

Thanks Eric,

I do have the 70-200 on order but it's not the IS version...I couldn't justify spending another $800 just for IS especially so early in this hobby...maybe later.

[Dennis]

Hi Tony

Nice to hear from you again! Best advice from me? Expose to the right of the histogram! (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml)

Cheers

Dennis