PISSED off with my Alpha, PLease Help!!

[OldFlower]

Apart from using Infra Red video cameras, I can't see how one could obtain a decent shot of animals at the Night Safari - and the establishment strongly discourages flash photography as it may disturb the animals.

It's way too dark, and pushing the output of your dedicated flash will capture a reasonable image but you mightr incur the stern advice not to scare the animals.

Hence, I never entertained the thought of shooting at the NIght Safari.. besides, I might fall asleep - I'm no Night Owl..

 

[maximize]

i almost wanna to ask for refund from the night safari... wah lau... i think they shld at least provide a night vision goggles or something.... the whole excitment abt the night safari is not abt seeing animals at their habitats but more like if u able to find one... then you will go 'yeh yeh yeh.. there got one rhino...but only see its butt leh'... but why pple thinking of taking flash photos of animal in night safari? go zoo lah.. hope other newbies when they read this will noe all valuable advices that fellow csers has provided regarding night safari...

 

[voldisinarta]

...ok now, i really got to go back to basics..!

You have to start from basic, especially for low light photography. It won't be easy though, my last trip to Night Safari only produced a small number of decent photos.

My tips:

1. Use a very high ISO with a fast lens. Your photo will be noisy, but usable:

2. Use a lower ISO, and wait until the animal pass under a light:

 

[Anson]

Throw to me... please...

Hmm.. rubbing salt to his wound...

 

[weishengg]

If the camera shutter release is in Focus Priority, I think you would not be able to snap any pictures regardless whether in AF or Manual Focus IF the picture is not focussed or unable to comfirm focus, like in the night safari. If you set to Release Priority, then you would be able to release the shutter, whether the camera comfirms focus or not.

sorry for digging up old threads. On the A300, if you're set in AF-priority mode, manual focus mode, but not really having anything in focus, you are still able to release the shutter.

you need not be in shutter-priority mode to release the shutter. All you need is manual focus.

 

[ardnirun]

Where there is light...there is photography

 

[BrokenDown]

Invest for a external flash
i suggest you off your "Eye start AF"
and uhhh go library borrow photography books. i know it's old but basics are there!

 

[Anson]

Invest for a external flash
i suggest you off your "Eye start AF"
and uhhh go library borrow photography books. i know it's old but basics are there!

I still prefer... shoot more... learn more.... :bsmilie:

 

[BrokenDown]

I still prefer... shoot more... learn more.... :bsmilie:

hahah that's what i did also lah but some people cannot straight away do hands on mah. sorry but yeah that's how it is yeah (to the guy who's pissed off with his a300 =/)

Used to shoot iso800 in bright sunlight D:

 

[vibranze]

Hi Kenxo,

Perhaps this website can help you in understanding about ISO, shutter and aperture.

http://dryreading.com/camera/index.html

Cheers,
V

 

[TME]

will be reading loads more, i do read the manuals, but its really badly written i must say (in comparison to the manuals i read for my job), for eg, EV compensator takes abt 2 paragraph..etc...

anyway, one more question, i bought the 50mm, F1.4 lens...is it JUST for portrait? what other uses ?

Hello kenxo... I think you really need to adjust your expectation of a DSLR manual... for a little PnS camera, two lines might suffice for the EV compensation... but in a DSLR manual, the description as well as explanation of the type of situation that using EV compensation is a little more detailed as befitting a more complicated camera with greater potential for much better image quality... so you will find that the A200 manual is probably a lot more wordy, with many more pictures and also a lot thicker than a PnS camera's manual...

BTW, most of the functions that are described in the camera manual are already pretty concise, summarised to the bare essentials... there's a whole ton more to read if you really wanted to... but for now, I would recommend that you read the manual, then try following the instructions to take a picture under similar conditions and see what the effects are like... this will help you to understand the functions of the camera rather than just read them cos, trust me, you're not going to remember how to use all of them...

The 50mm f/1.4 is what is known as a standard lens. It usually has minimal abberrations and distortions and is usually a fast lens at a low price point. It is supposed to take pictures which is close to what the human eye sees... note that this perspective is kept only when using full frame cameras... with the crop factor sensor that the A200/A300/A700 uses, this perspective becomes that of a 75mm lens... that is you see less around you through the lens... the effect is more zoomed in. So because of the very large aperture, many beginners (and even pros) use this lens as for low light work (where the wide aperture allows more light in and therefore shutter speeds that are hand-holdable) or for portraits (where the shallow DOF allows isolation of the subject). But it really can be used for anything... if there is a general purpose lens, then I would say that the 50mm lens is it... however, how you use it is really up to your imagination... I have a 50mm f/1.7 lens but it's really an emergency lens... I hardly used it so far...