using digital camera on the mountain

my 2c (more like 25 cents) below:


I've been shooting boarders for about ten years now and One really
important thing to understand while shooting is depth of field. Snow
is well, snow. It doesn't provide depth. If you're shooting action
and you want to take a good shot, try to make use of shadows or
terrain or your environment to compose a shot that doesn't look like
someone floating on white stuff.

I use a Canon Powershot S50 (pretty big for digitals these days) for
various photos (while i'm boarding)- When I get on the mount I set
the white balance (all digis should have this option unless its
*really* cheap)- you basically set the white balance to your current
environ. You save that as a custom setting and use it for exposure.
Its really key if you want properly balanced photos.

Generically the rule is that anything slower than 1/125 will cause
blur (blur isn't bad, btw!). If you want to freeze a shot in bright
sun 1/500, auto aperture is a guarantee (say iso 50-100). Play
around- its digital

Consumer digitals typically have a problem with shot delay. It can be
anywhere from 100ms-1second(!) before your shot is actually exposed.
This is absolutely retarded for action shots for obvious reasons. You
can head this off partially by telling the camera to ignore focus
(pre-focus by holding the shutter down halfway on most consumer
digis)- When the guy hits 18' of air off a pipe you press the shutter
release down the last half and it should shoot near immediately
(~50-100ms or less hopefully). Experiment, experiment, experiment.
You can always delete later. Camp in a safe place and shoot people
doing jumps/rails/whatever and figure it out Never, ever, shoot
auto if you can help it. Learn your camera. RTFM

Finally- you may or may not know that there are different speeds of
flash memory- The faster the flash memory the more shots you can
crank out in succession ..it'll speed the camera up in almost all
shooting facets. Especially if you're shooting at your highest res.
Flash memory is cheap for cameras (and in general). Buying a good
32x, 64x or speed flash card is great for shooting multiples...

I could go on and on and on...But I digress...

If you post this question in rec.photo.digital you'll probably get 8
gazillion replies (and opinions).

Mine is merely one

good luck





Cheers,
-sd
http://www.zoom.sh

"Dmitry" wrote in message news:Zdd1c.26638$ko6.246338@attbi_s02...
"Arvin Chang" wrote

Good luck on your camera shopping, I will let you know if I decide on
a camera myself.

Looks like I'm getting a Kyocera SL300R. Extremely small, has AP mode,
manual focus, LCD that works in direct sunlight, 3x zoom, swivel, and
all reviews rave about very good power-up and shot to shot times.

If only I could figure out if it's worth paying $100 more for a T* lens in
the twin Contax..

The Kyocera looks like a fine camera... looking at the specs now,
wow... unlimited capture at 3.5fps, that's impressive. 12 seconds of
640x480 movie, 48 seconds of 320x240, that's not too bad. Looks like a
very spiffy camera, I will add it to my list of ones to consider.

"twin Contax" do you mean the Contax TVS Digtital, that's a 5MP
camera. I thought it was selling for like $700 compared to the $350
for the Kyocera? T* lens seem to help reduce internal reflections,
lens flare, and improve sharpness and contrast... all good things...
but I feel that they shouldn't be the deciding factor... of course I'm
not quite sure what model for Contax you are referring to. Could you
give me the full name and specs of the camera?

--Arvin

"Mike M. Miskulin" wrote in message . 3.44...
"Dmitry" wrote in news:zvU0c.99663
$4o.120672@attbi_s52:


Umm.. Filters.. Ok, this narrows the camera selection even more,
because not many consumer p&s have filter threads.

my canon g2 takes filters but you have to add an adapter. Think
with any of them like you said you have to move up the product
ladder a bit and then you run into the $ vs destruction problem!

Yea, but a G2 not only a bit higher end (although cheaper now that
newer models like the G5 are out), but also rather bulky. I mean the
Canon A70-80 is a little big compared to the S400, but the G2 is even
more so It's great if you have a camelbak or some other backpack to
carry it in. BTW, the A70-A80 series also takes filters with an
adapter, although the sleeker S-series does not (all metal body
though).

BTW, I don't own any of these cameras so I'm not really beholden to
one yet. I still use my Sony F707, which is a huge monster to carry
around. The Kyocera camera look intriguing.

--Arvin

"Dmitry" wrote in message news:Zdd1c.26638$ko6.246338@attbi_s02...
If only I could figure out if it's worth paying $100 more for a T* lens in
the twin Contax..

Oh, I just found the announcment for the Contax SL300R T*

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0402/04...anewmodels.asp

Hmm... T* is nice, if it were me, I would probably get it (how much is
it with the $100+?). Of course, over my years I've sort of become a
digital camera enthusiast. I'm not sure you will definitely notice the
difference in most photos though.

--Arvin

"Arvin Chang" wrote

Oh, I just found the announcment for the Contax SL300R T*

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0402/04...anewmodels.asp

Hmm... T* is nice, if it were me, I would probably get it (how much is
it with the $100+?). Of course, over my years I've sort of become a
digital camera enthusiast. I'm not sure you will definitely notice the
difference in most photos though.

Price difference is $429 vs. $329 at adorama.com, and I'm sure the
Kyocera can be found for around $300 in less reputable stores.

I couldn't find any samples from Contax to compare, even forum inquries
were all left unanswered. $100 is pretty expensive for a leather case, polirizer
adaptor and an unknown improvement in lens quality. I think I'll pass on the
Contax, all this stuff will be outdated in a year or two anyway.