New Life

[Jake Conner]

Ahhh, a blank forum. So much space, so much potential. To keep this on topic, I'll offer a good first tip for any new photographer: stop reading the fourms, turn off your computer, and go take pictures. If you're reading this, you've probably got a digital camera, so you have no excuse to go a day without shooting. Go outside and take pictures of anything. Take pictures of things you're sure will never turn out. 99% of the time they won't. Delete them, and try again. The other 1% will be awesome. For that matter, don't go outside. First, take a look around your living room. I guarantee there are at least 5 great pictures in there waiting to be discovered. Go find them.

Jake

[D70FAN]

Jake, Nice to see you made it. Prophetic as always (a complement). Please keep in mind that we are all "junior members" .

[NewToDIgital]

I just bought a Cannon A80 and it is great but I have trouble taking 'snapshots' of my grandchildren. Since this is my first digital (and hopefully my last) I don't know if this is always be an issue but by time the shutter opens and takes the picture I've missed the shot I wanted. They are no longer smiling or even have turned around. I am using the AUTO setting - is that the problem? Seems the auto focusing is what takes so long...

The general shots outside and even some inside are great.

How do I get snap shots from a digital?
Thanks

[GregC]

Unfortunately, all but the best of the best digital cameras seem slow compared to film, but there are some things you can do to speed things up. First of all, try half-pressing the shutter button to auto-focus the camera before you take the shot. This will cut some of the time between when you press the shutter button and when the photo is actually taken. The reason there is a delay is that the camera has to (if you didn't pre-focus) focus, determine the exposure, set the aperture, and various other things before the shuuter opens to take the picture. Also, in regards to getting snapshots from your camera, as an alternative to taking your memory card to the photo lab or drugstore, you might wabt to check out the Epson PictureMate whick is a small $199 4"x6" printer that has gotten some rave reviews and is supposed to be very easy to use. It's worth a look. Hopefully I was able to help a little bit, and enjoy your digital camera!

[Nick]

Digital cameras, especially smaller compact ones, aren't always the ideal thing to pick for shooting fast moving objects, especially those such as children. The Powershot however is a fine little thing, and you should be able to get some good photographs. Half pressing the shutter is something you should do to focus on an area - but if it's instant focus which you seek, that's a different league of cameras.

Rather then letting the camera set the settings for you, try shooting in Shutter or Apature mode, or full manual, assuming you know what to do.

Here's a small article from elsewhere to easily explain things, for starters, if you don't know yet

here