Gutted I missed last nights Sunset, by the looks of the pics on FB it was very colourfull
Took this one Monday night

ryda wrote:Gutted I missed last nights Sunset, by the looks of the pics on FB it was very colourfull
Took this one Monday night

Nice, Ryda. Is that Pulau Mana out there?

EoinC wrote:

ryda wrote:Gutted I missed last nights Sunset, by the looks of the pics on FB it was very colourfull
Took this one Monday night

Nice, Ryda. Is that Pulau Mana out there?

Thanks, To the left, sure is Mana took the pic from behind Plimmerton Fire Station

ryda wrote:

EoinC wrote:

ryda wrote:Gutted I missed last nights Sunset, by the looks of the pics on FB it was very colourfull
Took this one Monday night

Nice, Ryda. Is that Pulau Mana out there?

Thanks, To the left, sure is Mana took the pic from behind Plimmerton Fire Station

Even nicerer. I grew up (to the extent that such a process was actually undertaken) just around the corner at Karihana Bay. Back in the day, Plimmie Fire Station was always the scene of a huge bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night - Kind of Farenheit 451-esque, whereby the Firemen light fires instead of putting them out..

A couple from today..

So desperate for new glass me.

Good things come from desperate people, Malcy...Well, apart from things like the Jonestown massacre, that is.

What were you using for the tele shots?

10 minutes ago...

EoinC wrote:Good things come from desperate people, Malcy...Well, apart from things like the Jonestown massacre, that is.

What were you using for the tele shots?

So Canon 7D, but I bought a body only. Clipped on was a 10 (at least) year old 70 - 300

Nice chopper in your last shot there

Yesterday I took a few pics at the Santoft 5hr http://goo.gl/eSBHi1



What I found was when I using the flash in manual mode I limited to a shutter speed of 1/200
in the sport mode is Auto set to 1/320, I was using my EF-S 18-55mm lens, is it the lens that is putting the restrictions on ?
with my old camera I often was up around 1/1200 -1/1500 in similar light conditions

Cheers

The 1/200th restriction (this differs between cameras, as they have different amounts of "lag" tolerance) is to ensure syncing such that the flash does not occur as the second curtain is closing on the shutter. In Manual, you should be able to over-ride this (ie set a faster shutter speed), but you are likely to have a number of shots that have a black band running across them where the shutter is closing while the flash is still cascading light. If you are using normal flash settings, and want to be assured of getting the shot, stay inside the syncing speed. This is a balancing act between the flash and ambient light - The more flash vs ambient, the more a moving subject is stopped by the flash, rather than by the shutter speed (ie a flash can freeze a moving object in a shot with a shutter speed that has everything else blurred).

Some flashes have a high-speed sync, allowing faster shutter speeds (sometimes by pulsing the light). Check your manuals (I know that's sacrilegious, but it's sometimes worth the eternal damnation) for how to use it with your combination of camera and flash. Incidentally, down-powering your flash (eg 1/32) results in a shorter flash duration - The intensity remains the same, but the net amount of light emitted is reduced. This can help in getting better definition in moving objects, such as water drops.

Best thing is to set up some practice shots, so you get to know what works where. That way you are likely to have more keepers when you go to an event...and have fun.

I'm pretty sure ryda is using the built in flash - so not sure there is much room to move in terms of sync adjustments?

Not related to your flash issues though - but a couple of general things to add/question:
1) Avoid any of the automatic modes like the plague (sport, portrait etc). Sure they give you a hint as to what settings should be used - but they lock you into a jpeg only output (well, my 450D does at least). This may be fine for what you are doing now - but I guarantee that down the track you will want to start playing with RAW processing, and will kick yourself it a lot of your shots are joeg only.

2) Following on from that - as an alternative try experimenting with the Av (aperture priority) and Tv (shutter priority) modes. These are still a step down from full on Manual mode, but give you a nice degree of creative control.
Aperture priority lets you dial up the aperture value that you want (ie to control the depth of field that you desire) - and then sorts out the appropriate shutter speed to give you the correct exposure.
Shutter priority lets you dial up the shutter speed that you want (ie to control the length of exposure that you desire) - and then sorts out the aperture to give you the correct exposure.

Both of these modes allow you to change the ISO manually to force an increase/decrease in aperture/shutter speed (ie, if you're in shutter priority mode, and there's not enough light available even at fully open aperture, then upping the ISO may allow a correctly exposed shot).

3) The high shutter speeds you are used to on your old camera are probably to do with high aperture settings - if you check the lens specs on that camer you will probably find that it has a max aperture of say 2.8, whereas your 18-55 will have a max aperture of 3.5-5.6 (depending on zoom). But this is a bit of a false economy, as the quality of the optics in your old camera will be well below that of the SLR lens (ie you get a nice wide aperture but the lens isn't as good so end result is also not so good.

Pretty much all of the bike related stuff I've shot with my kit lenses (same as yours) have been done in aperture priority (Av) mode, with the aperture cranked as far open (lowest f-stop value) as the camera will allow. Given that the max aperture of your lenses is 3.5 on the 18-55 and 4.0 on the 55-250 then you're not getting into mega depth of field situations at those apertures anyway. You may come unstuck if you try the same thing on your 50mm f1.8 though, at full aperture you will find that you will have incredibly sharp image at the focal point, but this will fall away rapidly with the depth of field.

Crikey - long post is long...

Cool thank you very much, has plenty to work on,
yes only using built in flash at the mo but would like to go to remote one

ryda wrote:Yesterday I took a few pics at the Santoft 5hr http://goo.gl/eSBHi1

IMG_0119.JPG

What I found was when I using the flash in manual mode I limited to a shutter speed of 1/200
in the sport mode is Auto set to 1/320, I was using my EF-S 18-55mm lens, is it the lens that is putting the restrictions on ?
with my old camera I often was up around 1/1200 -1/1500 in similar light conditions

Cheers

Was your old camera a DSLR?
Non-DSLRs have no problem syncing flash at high speed because they don't need to control exposure via a focal plane shutter.
AFAIK even supercheapies do it.

SLRs have to use a focal plane shutter, and they have roughly similar max speeds of around 1/200 or 1/250 sec if the full frame is open all at once for flash sync.

Nikon Auto FP / Canon HSS are pulsed flash techniques as mentioned by Eoin above. They don't work with popup or with all hotshoe flashes, but with a compatible flash it effectively spreads the flash duration out by releasing it in pulses over a slower time, avoiding the black bars. This makes it useless for stopping motion though, it basically turns the flash unit into a continuous lamp.

Another method I read about is for a DSLR to additionally using the same electronic shutter technique that compact cameras use, ie switching off the CCD. This allows you to further reduce the ambient exposure for a given flash & aperture combination. This sounds attractive for flash use only.

Here's a good thorough article on flashing:
http://www.scantips.com/lights/

A few I took at the Hampton Downs 12 Hour. Just learning night photography, and with a borrowed camera (Canon EOS Rebel - yes I know, old dinosaur!)










Two of the best I managed:

I like the 2nd of two of the best.

Try lowering the ISO for the graininess, so I've been told. :-)

It's bloody good fun though eh?