Olympus u820, S820; How to use it better

[delarosa]

I would like to find out if anyone knows how to navigate this camera as it seems that most of the pictures that I've taken are either blurry or very grainy. Lately I have been playing with it using the various scenes and it's working pretty well but I am still not satisfied with the result.
I do not have a manual and I have been looking for its review on the net but I have not found any.

You can view the photos I have taken in this link and I would appreciate any suggestions or inputs on how to use it better. People have been telling me it's a good camera so I know that I'm not utilizing it well.



Thanks
Lois

[David Metsky]

Which pictures do you think look bad? If you are taking snapshots out of a moving car at night it's going to be very difficult to get anything that isn't blurry and grainy.

Some of the other shots are taken at ISO 800 with no flash. With this camera I wouldn't go over ISO 400. You'll need to learn how to set the ISO value, you many need to go into one of the manual modes to do so. The flash range of this camera isn't very far, so if your subject is more then 15 feet away the flash won't do you much good.

Many of the mall photos are taken in low light areas with shiny objects (bad for flash). This isn't an easy environment for any camera. Since you probably aren't carrying a tripod around with you it's tough to hold the camera still for long enough to capture enough light. The camera is pushing the ISO as high as it can to compensate for low light but that results in grainy shots. It may help to set the camera down on a ledge, set the ISO to 200, and use the autotimer to take longer exposure shots.

BTW, Dubai looks amazing. Lots of things to take pictures of.

[Beowulff]

I can only agree with all David's already said.

You can check out a detailed review HERE and also check out the review gallery of shots (under the "Samples" tab) on that site. The camera settings for each pic are shown too, which might give you some more ideas about exposures etc.

Yours are a nice set of pics though, and I wouldn't be too worried that there's anything in particular seriously wrong overall. Bear in mind too that you can always guarantee throwing out a lot of pics from a shoot (and you have to be pretty ruthless about it as well!).

And yes... there's obviously some fabulous architecture there.

Cheers

[delarosa]

Hi David & Beowulff,
Thanks for the very helpful tips you've mentioned. I was playing with the camera last night and I have discovered really great ways to use it. Also I've noticed that the camera settings are all in Auto, I have never get to adjust the ISO before or any other settings while taking pictures. You are right I better get myself familiarize with the manual functions of the camera.

Yes Dubai is a feast for a photographer's eyes. It had inspired me to take photography seriously. You should come check it out.

[delarosa]

Which pictures do you think look bad? If you are taking snapshots out of a moving car at night it's going to be very difficult to get anything that isn't blurry and grainy.

BTW, Dubai looks amazing. Lots of things to take pictures of.

Many of those pictures I edited in my PC, I didn't use any special software or anything just a Microsoft Office Picture Manager to just basically adjust brightness and contrast. As I said, I been playing around with the camera lately and it's pretty awesome but the other thing I am not happy about till now is its color. I compared it with the photos from my really-old-and-not-so-hi-tech Sony DSC P32 and the Olympus photos looked pale. Is there anything I can do to adjust it?
Also I want to know what camera can you suggest for me to buy to take Architecture and Landscape photos.

And thanks for the educational information

[Beowulff]

...As I said, I been playing around with the camera lately and it's pretty awesome but the other thing I am not happy about till now is its color. I compared it with the photos from my really-old-and-not-so-hi-tech Sony DSC P32 and the Olympus photos looked pale. Is there anything I can do to adjust it?
Also I want to know what camera can you suggest for me to buy to take Architecture and Landscape photos.

Colour correction is something that you can do easily with any decent post-processing software such as Adobe's Photoshop Elements, which you can buy for around $150. You need to be looking at saturation, gamma, and curves etc.

If you have Photoshop, you can correct an under-exposed, or "washed out" image like THIS.

If you check out the other links on that site, you'll find all sorts of corrective procedures that you can use to fix up any images you're not completely satisfied with. For that reason alone, I'd be considering buying Photoshop — maybe even before you buy a new camera — and give it a go.

If you really wanted to take a lot of architectural stuff — and particularly tall buildings — you'd need to buy what's known as a "tilt" (and/or "shift") lens to avoid the distortions of parallax and perspective. That's why all your building shots look as though they're leaning away from the camera or are tapering in at the top.

You can buy older, second-hand tilt-shift lenses for mounting on to current model dSLRs with an adapter, but unless you particularly wanna follow this type of photography, the cost of the lenses isn't worth it IMHO.

Cheers

[delarosa]

(----)
If you really wanted to take a lot of architectural stuff — and particularly tall buildings — you'd need to buy what's known as a "tilt" (and/or "shift") lens to avoid the distortions of parallax and perspective. That's why all your building shots look as though they're leaning away from the camera or are tapering in at the top.

You can buy older, second-hand tilt-shift lenses for mounting on to current model dSLRs with an adapter, but unless you particularly wanna follow this type of photography, the cost of the lenses isn't worth it IMHO.

Cheers

Thank you very much for the helpful info.
Architecture photography is my top priority but I would prefer to also shoot other subjects like Wildlife and Nature as well as Portraits. I am very curious now though about how much this tiltable lenses cost as it sounds very expensive.
What kind of brands and models should I be looking for to serve the purpose of the type of photography I am keen on pursuing?

I have Photoshop CS2 and Image Ready CS2 will that work too?

p.s. I saw your post on the "Introduce yourself" thread, you been taking photos way before I was born. I can only imagine how much knowledge you have acquired. It must be really cool to hang out and take photos with you. I'm sure I could learn a lot.

[Beowulff]

Unfortunately, tilt-shift lenses are around USD$1500 for a Canon such as THIS.

There's an excellent site HERE that explains how tilt-shift lenses work and reviews a couple of lenses in a lot of detail, and has numerous before-and-after sample images.

Please bear in mind though that you'd want to be very involved in architectural and/or scenic photography to contemplate both the expenditure and the steep learning curve needed to fully utilise one of these lenses. Most amateur photographers (like me) wouldn't be interested because it's such a "specialised" part of the hobby.

Photoshop CS2 is actually ideal for the sort of image corrections you're looking at. There's quite a good review of CS2 HERE, although I'm obviously not sure just how familiar you are with Photoshop? Have you used it a lot, or are you still finding your way into it?

Also; thank you for the compliment! ! I guess one does acquire a fair amount of "knowledge" over the years — photographically-speaking — but I have to admit that mine's more of an intuitive type rather than a strictly technically-oriented skills base.

One of the main "issues" that I have with digital photography is that all too often (in my humble opinion) the art of photography, as such, gets subsumed by the technicalities — which is typified so often by the so-called "pixel peepers" on sites such as this for example. I've even seen ongoing arguments about whether a particular camera looks better in black or in silver! Time and again, we see people arguing over the tiniest, and usually immaterial, "benefits" of one model of digital camera over another model.

Cheers

[delarosa]

(----) I'm obviously not sure just how familiar you are with Photoshop? Have you used it a lot, or are you still finding your way into it?

One of the main "issues" that I have with digital photography is that all too often (in my humble opinion) the art of photography, as such, gets subsumed by the technicalities — which is typified so often by the so-called "pixel peepers" on sites such as this for example. I've even seen ongoing arguments about whether a particular camera looks better in black or in silver! Time and again, we see people arguing over the tiniest, and usually immaterial, "benefits" of one model of digital camera over another model.

Cheers

I have not seen your gallery (but I very much like you *insert request for the link*), but amateur would be the last thing that would come to mind in catergorizing (apologize if you are not fond of categories) your skills.

As for my skills of photoshop I am afraid I have forgotten how to use it. I was in my first stage of my Graphic Design course when I quit and that was when I was done with the first SFW which is the CS2 crossing to CS3, I didn't do much on it since so I have to re-study. Also I found one of your post where you inserted a link about Photography Tutorial and I just been reading and understanding that now.

I agree about your opinion with the Digital Photography, I have the same beef, I'm lost with the technology and sometimes it takes away to real subject from it's context i.e. taking pictures because the argument becomes improvising the shot, no offence to many that enhance photos, I can't deny that I also like to be technologically savvy but I would like to better enhance my skills in taking pictures hoping that I could shoot something that I do not have to modify using a software. I am old school somehow. I like all the manual and hardwork (that's not saying that the modifications done via photo enhancing software is not considered hard work because it is)