A520 - How to choose the right settings?

[riga]

Hi,

I don't get it.
All these shooting modes - P,Beach,Cloudy,etc.

I had a very simple situation yesterday.
It was 7 PM, no sun, it was cloudy.
I was walking with my little daughter and tried to make
good pictures of her.

First I chose AUTO, but Flash was making it too light.
So I disabled Flash. The quality wasn't good enough.
So I tried P (Portrait). But then I realized that maybe I just should
program certain shooting modes for specific conditions
and remember it and then choose that mode later.
But how do I remember which mode was programmed for which weather conditions?

My wuestion is - what are the best practices here?
Should I not touch Settings and just choose a proper shooting mode
or I should play around with MENU/FUNC buttons to change settings inside shooting modes?

Thanks,

[mes444]

I have an A510. I will give you some settings to try and you will just have to test each and see what works for you. Go to P setting on the top ring, (it's not portrait, but an adjustable setting). Then push the Func (Function) button below the LCD and try: Metering - evaluative, ISO 100, Exposure Comp minus 1/3, Picture Color-Vivid, auto focus assist lamp-ON, Red Eye mode-OFF, white balance-auto, digital zoom-Off. Then go into Menu and turn off AiAf and use center focus. In the menu area is where you adjust some of the above things, just look and you will see. If stuff is too dark, use exposure comp 0 or plus 1/3, or ISO auto, just play around till it looks good. Also learn to use the histogram which you see if you push display twice in playback. Good luck.

[riga]

Thanks mes444,

So these settings should help me to make a sharp picture even if
my daughter is constantly moving?

I will try it this evening.
Thank you very much.
Robert

[mes444]

riga, those settings are a good start for what might work for you. If you want to stop movement, in the scenes setting there is a "pets and kids" setting which actually does stop movement, I tried it with my dog, so give that a test too. Check out the owner's manual and it has lots of info about the different settings and what they do.

[jessie25]

I own the A520 and I've been experimenting with the settings quite a bit lately.

If your daughter is constantly moving, you'll want to use a faster shutter speed to avoid the photos coming out blurry. What that means is that you'll probably need to use the flash in lower light. The camera will automatically use the lowest possible aperture when taking flash photos (2.6 at wide-angle). You might try using "kids and pets" mode to force a faster shutter speed, though I've found that doesn't always work well enough; you may need to go to Tv (shutter speed priority) mode and force a faster shutter speed.

If you're not using the flash and you need a fast shutter speed, then you should try forcing the ISO up higher (200 or even 400). You can do this in shutter speed priority mode. However, be aware it will probably add noise to your photos.

[riga]

Thank you jessie25,

What is shutter speed priority mode - P?
Thanks,
Robert

[jessie25]

"P" is program mode; it's just like "Auto" except that you have control over more menu items such as ISO speed.

"Tv" is shutter speed priority mode. You pick the shutter speed, the camera matches the aperture. Though with testing I've found that the camera still tends to pick too low an aperture in some cases in this mode, underexposing the photo. You may need to switch to full manual to force the camera to the lowest possible aperture at higher shutter speeds.

As Mes said, learn to use the histogram; it's an invaluable tool for checking exposure. See this thread (http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9280) for more information.