Nikon D200 tips - scenic coastal shots

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Help.

Complete newb.

Help.

Laughing

scott a · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 9810

I heard auto mode is pretty cool. Question

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

Make sure you take the lens cap off.

scott a · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 9810

no, but seriously...shoot in manual mode with an aperture of f8 (if possible, given the light). Then if you have any doubts on how to meter it, then take a pic at the "correct" exposure and then drop the shutter speed a click or two so it's brighter than what the camera says is "correct," and then take a third pic with the shutter speed a bit faster than what the camera says is "correct." You'll end up with three pictures of varying exposures and then you can pick from that which picture you like best. Oh, and also shoot in RAW mode, and set the focus on infinity.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

ontrider, thanks! Laughing

scott a, I think the camera has a feature that does this automatically. My boss (it's his camera) was trying to explain how it does this to me but he may as well have been speaking Japanese. Laughing

I'm gonna give what you said a shot to see/understand how it works, then see about an auto mode.

Otherwise it will be in "auto mode" most of the time!

scott a · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 9810

hah...yeah, what I described is called "bracketing." There should be an easy way to set the camera to do this, it's just a matter of RTFM.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

scott a, RTFM is not my strong suit! I don't have much of a choice here though. Evil or Very Mad

ontrider · Ladies Man Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 16491 City: Russia

chavez, if it's stuff you actually want pics of and are not just playing around with it, I'd stay in auto mode for now or at least take one in auto and then play around with settings.

As for metering... I usually just go with the brightest area in my shot and meter that near the middle.

Damon · Posted: May 14, 2007 3:46 pm Post subject:

Take a tripod, and I'd set the aperture to even higher then 8, maybe 16-18. And I'd just set it in aperture priority mode, so you don't have to worry about shutter speeds. They should be slow enough to give the ocean that smoothed out look.

But of course this all depends, if you shooting straight into the sun then it would be different, but if you shooting along the waterfront then my suggestions should be just fine.... unless you wanna do a pano...

ikonxone · Criminal Joined: 02 Apr 2007 Posts: 72 City: Henderson

it really depends on lighting conditions, but i usually shot in "A" mode. that way i can focus how i want and if the shot doesn't come out right i can see what the camera auto selects and adjust the manual mode from there. i would like to shot in raw, but a lot programs don't support the raw image format from nikon unless you use the nikon software to convert it first.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

Damon - I have it set in Programmed Auto mode right now. Seemed to be the most universal according to the FM (the F'ing Manual).

Scott - So... I figured out how bracketing works, but since I am a noob, which bracketing would give me the best results? WB or AE? Or is this one of those "no right answer" kind of questions?

I definitely like the idea of getting a range of settings as one shot - should help eliminate some of my ignorance.

Ont - yeah I am going to stay in as auto a mode as possible. I am just going to toss in bracketing to give us more choices when we go to print. We have a 4g card and are bringing the laptop to offload as we go, so sky is the limit with the ## of pics we can take.

dmb · Posted: May 14, 2007 8:35 pm Post subject:

Depending on the lens, you might not want to go up to F18ish area like suggested, while it will give you a large depth of field, it will also start to make the picture soften than at say F8, where most lens' sweet spots are...

When you're using a wide angle lens take scenic shots, the hyperfocal distance will be reasonably short, so regardless everything will be in focus...

But like I said, it all depends on the lens

scott a · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 9810

White Balance (WB) bracketing...well...isn't something that you'll need to ever use. Just set the camera in Auto White Balance (AWB) and leave it there. If you're super worried about getting the right white balance then shoot in RAW mode and set the WB in photoshop.

The setting that you're gonna want is Auto Exposure (AE) Bracketing. In a nutshell, you choose the specific shutter speed and aperture (or set it in auto mode and let it pick for you...), then it takes one picture at that exposure, then just alters the shutter speed so that you end up with 3-5 pictures of varying exposure. This is helpful when you wanna make 100% sure that you get the right exposure of a shot.

So yes, there is a "right answer," it just depends on your situation and what you're looking to accomplish. For you, AEB is the way to go.

Also look into the different metering modes that the camera has. It'll change how the camera determines what the "correct" exposure is. One setting will expose the shot based on the middle 10% of the frame, and another will expose based on the middle 50% of the frame. Not sure how the D200 deals with this, but it's worth looking up. I'd advise that you set the camera to meter as much of the frame as possible.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

scott a, ok, thats what I was looking for. The camera is already set to meter as much of the frame as possible - this was part of my stupification to auto mode of the camera per the FM.

dmb, the lens is a Nikon 18-200/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Vibration Reduction Digital Nikkor Zoom Lens IMP

I have no idea what that all means but great googly moogly $900....... Shocked

This one:

scott a · Ladies Man Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 9810

DRAGON88 · Posted: May 14, 2007 10:06 pm Post subject:

joedirt00 · Posted: May 15, 2007 4:07 am Post subject:

Spend a few bucks before you go and get a circular polarizer for your lens.

A tripod is a good idea.

As said before, shoot in aperature priority mode and let the camera pick your shutter. I would start around the middle of the road at f/11 or f/13.

Do not forget about your ISO setting. I usually do Embarassed

Unless you can remember to change the WB setting to the current situation, You can probaly just set it auto so its one less thing to mess with.

When in doubt flip it over to full auto.

chavez · RIP MHL 04/25/1958 - 01/11/2006

scott a, thanks coach! Laughing

DRAGON88, $1500? Sad

joedirt00, polarizer in place.

Tripod? - hey now lets not get personal here

Seriously though, we are going to ahem... "find" room for the tripod. Maybe there is some room in the engine bay? Laughing

Dragonlady8 · Black Widow Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 9198

I would say don't drop that lens....... the most highly sought after len and after 2 yrs still back ordered....took me 4 mos get it and that was last year (but it was for the mere cost of $749 no tax or shipping). You can get the body almost anywhere now.

If you do drop it, drop the entire set up since it's easier to find the camera with that lens as a kit. for @2150.00

tmbrown · Outlaw Joined: 03 Jul 2004 Posts: 218 City: East Roseville

i was able to get that lense of amazon surprisingly easy... it was one of their store partners... but yeah, it's typically easiest to get the combo. As far as the suggestions of Auto, that camera somewhat lacks a simple Auto setting... you seem to have to set auto in a few places... nothing like the dial on most models. still a kick-ass combination.