Understanding camera settings...

[nac]

Hi!

Recently, I bought Canon SX130 IS. I understood few things by reading the manual and some information from online. Even after reading, I couldn't understand the depth of the information I read. There are lot I didn't understand completely.

I thought of asking before, but I felt it was too early to ask things. And I thought I would understand things when I started using my cam. But I didn't, So here I am...

I tried to take macro, and my camera allows to take picture as close as 1 cm. I put the camera closer to the subject, but I wanted to zoom the subject so that I can get bigger image with more details in it. But when I zoom I don't get correct focus. I tried manual focus too...

Subject is just an inch away (roughly) from the camera. And the camera is fully zoomed at 12x.

This may sound silly or you can even ask "How it is possible to get the clear focus @ 12x while the subject is just an inch away from your gear?"

I just wanted to clear this thing.

And this is not the end of it. I have plenty of things to clear up. I posted just one to not to scare you by asking too many things in the very first post.

Thank you.

Sujay,
I tried what you suggested, but still I didn't get it. I don't wanted to post in the thread which serves other purpose and disturb the thread viewers. So this new thread.

 

[sujoyp]

@nac U did the right thing by starting a saperate thread

But I cant help u much coz I have never used the cam...only guys having the cam can help u

 

[nac]

Sujay,

Ok, try this in your camera. I don't know how to figure out the zoom in SLR. I divide the bigger no. with smaller one. If this is right, you have roughly 3x zoom in your lens.

Now few questions to you,
* Do you zoom the subject when you keep the camera just next to it (say 1 inch or lowest possible in your cam)?
* If you zoom (not the subject which is far away), do you get clear focus?

I just want to know that,
Is this possible to get a clear focus both @1x and 12x where the subject is 1cm away in both the cases?

In all the three photos, camera is rested just next to "space bar".

Macro...

*img573.imageshack.us/img573/4320/img0484r.jpg

Zoomed little...

*img10.imageshack.us/img10/4301/img0486kp.jpg

@ 12x

*img233.imageshack.us/img233/2907/img0485wo.jpg

You can see that with no zoom, focus is clear. When we zoom, the focus is getting unclear and see nothing at 12x

 

[sujoyp]

I hope u r using macro mode...and in macro mode cameras minimum focus distance become very less automatically...u wont have space to zoom there

 

[nac]

Sujoy,

The first one was macro. Rest two are manually focused.

I think I found why I don't get a clear focus of closer subject.

Focusing Range - 1cm (0.4in.) - infinity (W), 1m (3.3ft.) - infinity (T)

Full zoom is telephoto, right? If this is correct, I can't get the focus if the subject is closer than 1m. It proves that the subject was not in the optimum focus range.

Found this from 7yrs old post in dpreview. There were people like me then

 

[sujoyp]

As for focusing, the Canon SX130 delivers several choices there as well. In Macro, it is capable of focusing on objects as close as 0.4 inches (1cm). You can enter into Macro focusing manually or the camera will do it for you automatically while shooting in Auto, which is nice.

Normal Focusing Range 1m (3.3ft.) - infinity
Macro: 1 - 50cm (0.4in. - 1.6ft. )

If u put the cam in macro mode then cams focus distance become 1cm to 50cm.
Do one thing put ur cam on macro mode and full zoom at 12x...then slowly move towards a subject and see the distance u can focus after full zoom.

similarly go to any other mode and try...see the focus distance...u will understand the things easily

 

[nac]

Now the next doubt

*img405.imageshack.us/img405/6008/aflock.png

What's the use of AF lock? Where I can use this feature?

After the focus is locked, why should I change the focus?

 

[Zangetsu]

@nac: the every camera lens has limitation on focus...@ a certain point it fails to focus..
like when I use my D3100 i can't focus more to click a Macro shot....

 

[nac]

@nac: the every camera lens has limitation on focus...@ a certain point it fails to focus..
like when I use my D3100 i can't focus more to click a Macro shot....

Wouldn't be good if the camera can able to focus at any given zoom/settings? In fact, I thought it was possible until I read about the focus range.

Ungalukku en intha kolaveri

 

[Zangetsu]

Wouldn't be good if the camera can able to focus at any given zoom/settings?

then we wouldn't had so many variety of lenses

 

[sujoyp]

yes if that happens the whole range of macro lens will become useless

I donno much about AF lock switch...I know only that with that button pressed we can keep the focus locked at a point...soo that lens do not have to focus as same point again

I am bit confused about it myself but it a very rarely used feature

 

[nac]

Okay...

My cam don't shoot in RAW mode. It shoots in jpeg (Fine and Normal). My doubt is,
Is it possible to sharpen the photos shot in jpeg mode photoshop?

I don't have proficiency on photoshop and I don't know how to sharpen the photos. I just read an article about sharpening. And here I am throwing my next question.

And I don't hear any sound of videos shot from in-camera speaker. But I hear sounds of shutter and all...
What am I missing here?
Should I check the settings? (I tried and all the sounds are on)

 

[sujoyp]

No raw is no problem...even if my DSLR have raw I dont use it coz my PC is bit old and takes time to process it

To sharpen the images Use Gimp the technique is very simple...
1.open the picture
2.go to filters menu
3. Go to enhance submenu
4. select unsharp mask
5. 0.50 makes it very sharp keep it around 0.25 to 0.40 , radius keep 4 and threshold =0

cant tell about photoshop coz I just started using it from last 3 days

About sound in video I am sure when u play the video there must be some options on the screen itself like speaker balance or mono stereo etc check them

 

[Zangetsu]

well I generally prefer JPEG over RAW...
bcoz of low size

 

[sujoyp]

If I had a dual/quad core PC I would have prefer RAW to jpeg conversion....but my P4 PC takes around 1-2 mins for each RAW to jpeg conversion...its soo irritating to convert 100-200 pics

 

[Zangetsu]

If I had a dual/quad core PC I would have prefer RAW to jpeg conversion....but my P4 PC takes around 1-2 mins for each RAW to jpeg conversion...its soo irritating to convert 100-200 pics

+ u need a HDD of lots of space...

 

[sujoyp]

+ u need a HDD of lots of space...

yaah thats soo true...I see nowdays photo enthusiast keep a 1 TB external HDD specially for storing photographs...even I have 40GB pics ...luckily I take only JPEGs

 

[agyaat]

Now the next doubt

*img405.imageshack.us/img405/6008/aflock.png

What's the use of AF lock? Where I can use this feature?

After the focus is locked, why should I change the focus?

yes if that happens the whole range of macro lens will become useless

I donno much about AF lock switch...I know only that with that button pressed we can keep the focus locked at a point...soo that lens do not have to focus as same point again

I am bit confused about it myself but it a very rarely used feature

Okay I posted this a while ago differently, deleted and I'm now redoing it.

AF/AE Lock is used to lock the exposure value at a focal length for a scene as determined by the camera's AF(or by setting it manually and then applying the lock - this may depend on the camera offering the feature) when focused at a subject. This is usually used when the subject to camera distance is nearly constant, and subject is desired to be off center or the lighting is uneven, Sun or a light source shining from a corner of the frame, etc.

Let's say there's a stage performance and the group is on stage with different performers getting spotlight at different times. In usual modes, the camera measures the entire light of the scene and decides the exposure value. So a lot of darkness + a spotlight area means that it believes that the scene is generally dark so it decides on a long enough exposure to bring it on to the film/sensor. This results in a highly blown up light on the performer who is in spotlight and he gets captured as a big blob on the film/sensor. On the other hand, if you focus on the spotlit person and decide the exposure, it will say that the shutter speed has to be very quick, and he gets captured correctly.

Now you want to photograph the scene as it appears to your naked eyes. What you do is:

1. First choose a focal length to decide the scene/frame to capture - this is constant for the click now on,

2. then you choose a focus point(in most cameras it is only at the center or thereabouts) aim it at the person in spotlight and check for the proper exposure to be suggested by half-pressing the shutter release button. What happens in this is that the camera measures the light mostly(about 85%, varies with cameras) from near the focus point and decides the exposure.


3. Once you see stable exposure values suggested, you apply the AE/AF lock to retain the exposure value for the click instead of clicking through. In most cameras this lock applies for 6 seconds after which it unlocks automatically and you will have to start over again.


4. In this time you can place the subject off-center - ie, not in the center focus square which you used to measure the exposure value - for usual compositional reasons, and click the shot with the AF locked value of the exposure.

 

[nac]

Good to know that I can sharpen the jpeg images. I tried GIMP today and I did what you suggested. But I don't see any massive difference between the sharpen image and the original one.

GIMP is also new to me. If GIMP is as good as Adobe, I can stick with GIMP and learn to use it.

Thanks for the steps to sharpen the image.

Today, I was little more active than usual taking photographs. And I dried one pair of batteries.

About that AF lock feature, I tried it. I don't know where I can use this feature. It locks the focal distance and lets us to do manual focus. As we do MF, the clarity is getting reduced. I don't know why the camera letting us to do MF after locking the focal distance.

I think one can use this feature where he don't want the camera to auto focus every time he positions at the subject (where the subject is not gonna move) as it takes time to AF (it's like reducing the work load of cam). He can lock the focal distance and take the photos.

Note: It just locks the focal distance not exposure. Exposure continues to adjust.

Ayaat, Thanks for your valuable time and explaining in detail. It helps to understand things deeper. As you said, this varies from camera to camera. In this camera, it means locking the "focal distance".

What you have explained is exactly same with the feature called FOCUS LOCK in this cam. Here as you said, it locks the focus and exposure.

I am OK with few of my shots taken today. I will post it the photography thread.

And there are two more locks in SX130, AE lock and FE lock. (Auto Exposure and Flash Exposure)

I don't see any settings for in-camera speakers. I think it's for sounds like beep, shutter sound, warning sounds etc... I will soon contact Canon and clear my doubt about this speaker.

Finally, I close this post with the question.

I read an article about hyper focal distance. There I read different camera types and I don't know which category my camera falls in.

These are the types,
*35mm
*4x5
*6x6
*DSLR

I am sure, mine don't fall in DSLR and I think it doesn't fall in 35mm too (I guess it uses film roll).

What's the difference between Flash exposure and Flash output?

 

[sujoyp]

@agyaat thanks a lot for all that info...it cleared some of my doubt regarding AE/AF lock button...but it locks just for 6 seconds thats too less

@nac ..I have attached a image in similar way, check it u will clearly see the sharpening effect...use 1 instead of 0.50 in the sharpening value...see the difference

35mm is not only film cam but the standard full frame SLR...all lenses r measured in this standard like 18-55mm its a measurement on 35mm SLR and it will give result of around 27-82 on a APS-C sensor or cropped sensor DSLR which is 1.5x on Nikon and 1.6x on canon (18*1.5=27)
35mm full frame DSLR cost more than 1 lac

dont know 4x4 or 6x6

DSLR is a Digital SLR
There r some more kind of cams too
Point and shoot - ur camera falls here
Bridge cam - like canon S95, S100, nikon p100, p500,canon G12, g10 etc which have slightly bigger sensor and better lens.
micro 4/3 - 4/3rd size of full frame sensor without mirrorflip and viewfinder
4/3 - 4/3rd size of full frame sensor with all capabilities
SLT - this uses translucent mirror technology...uses nomal sensor

*upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Sensor_sizes_overlaid_inside.svg/300px-Sensor_sizes_overlaid_inside.svg.png