Large Scale Central

Liking my Cannon Xti a little better now

Model Photography
#1

I’m finally getting the hang of getting good pictures with my Rebel Xti. I use manual focus more often now, and I’ve become a big fan of the Auto Depth of Filed mode. Unless you have tons of light, this mode requires a tripod or other sturdy support. I took my latest railroad sets lying on the ground with the camera supported on scrap wood. This one came out so nice it has become my wallpaper. I love the texture of the rocks in the left foreground. Be sure to click for the hi-res version. [url=lsc.cvsry.com/SummerRun-12-1200.jpg]

[/url][color=blue]RS-3’s pose at the mouth of Deep Cut - FF: Click to Enlarge - IE: Right Click Photo and select Open Link in New Window to Enlarge[/color]

#2

The XTi is a great camera. What kind of trouble are you having with it? There are a bunch of tricks to using a DSLR if you want good shots. And the shot you posted looks good. Low noise, good exposure, white balance looks like it’s on and the DOF (Depth of Field) looks nice.

A few things to remember:

Smaller apertures give a greater DOF. Meaning more things will be in focus. Things up close all the way to things far away in the shot. But a smaller aperture (stopped down - bigger number on the camera means smaller opening in the lens for light to enter the camera) means slower shutter speeds which will cause motion blur (out of focus) shots.

Higher ISO’s can really help when shooting in low light. Like the shot above. Kind of a shady area. Increase the ISO setting to allow faster shutter speeds. But keep in mind the higher the ISO setting are the more grainy (called noise) the pictures will come out.

Shooting with a tripod will give you razor sharp shots. If you have to shoot at slow shutter speeds, smaller apertures and lower ISO settings a tripod will allow you to get a good shots every time.

You can also add lighting to get nice shots. Try reflecting a bright light off of a white board to create more light for your shots. Avoid direct lights as much as possible. A direct light will only cause hot spots in your shots, ugly shadows and really change the white balance of the shot in most cases.

Jon.

#3

Thanks Jon.

Lets see… I upgraded to the Rebel XTi a little over a year ago from a Fuji S602Z. I always ran the Fuji in "P"hotography mode which did everything automatically, but let me select the ISO and White Balance. I don’t think the camera ever took a bad picture.

When I bought the XTi, I selected a Tamaron 18-250 lens because I loved the zoom on the Fuji and didn’t want to lug two lenses around. The Tamaron has pretty good optical clarity across it’s zoom range, but the glass is rather slow. That’s probably the crux of my failures.

I usually run the XTi in it’s "P"hotography mode letting the camera select the shutter speed and aperture. I select the ISO based on my guess of the lighting which is adjusted when I hear the camera delay the lens closing. My problems have been primarily with blur which I think is most often caused by camera shake then by focus problems. I’ve yet to play with the many AF modes.

I’ve taken just under 7000 pictures with the XTi. I’ve probably deleted more than 1000 of those as totally useless and could probably classify about 1500 of them as good for my skill level. The rest suffer from focus or shake problems.

A lot of it is just me needing to take more time to get familiar with the camera. I have taken, and seen others take, some excellent photographs with this camera. I guess I was asking for point-and-shoot results from a camera/lens combo that was not designed to deliver that in less than perfect lighting conditions.

#4

I’ve got the XT (predecessor to the XTi). I shoot most of my stuff in Aperture Priority (Av) mode. I set the aperture to f22, and let the camera figure the exposure from there. If I really need to push the depth of field, I’ll push to f36, but my lens gets soft shut down that small. I also use the manual focus more than the auto when shooting the railroad. A tripod or some kind of sturdy support is a must–a fact which was reinforced this afternoon after some of my shots I thought were steadily perched on various objects turned out to be “not so good.”

Later,

K

#5

Thanks Kevin -

Some of the beautiful shots you have posted over the last several years were the reason I looked close at the XTi. Some day I hope to be able to afford some nice glass for it.

#6

Don’t worry about the glass. I use a Sigma 18 - 200, which is on par with the Tamron in terms of speed and price. For set-up model photography, speed isn’t an issue. You want to look at distortion above everything else in that instance, and both the Sigma and Tamron lenses are pretty good in that regard. They’re just slow.

Later,

K

#7

Glass is a super important topic. Better glass is far more important than a better body. I’ll bet most people could never tell the difference between some of my shots taken with a 300D, 40D or 5DMII when they were all using the same lens. Glass is critical.

The Tamron 18-250 lens. It’s not a bad lens but with so much range it won’t be razor sharp.

One more fairly important trick I forgot to mention is shutter speed vs. focal length adjustments. A lot of motion blur (camera shake) can be fixed by not shooting below your focal lenght. For example. If you are shooting with your lens at 250mm, don’t shoot with a shutter speed less than 1/250. If you are shooting at 50mm, don’t shoot with a shutter speed under 1/50. Anything below that hand held is difficult no matter what. My 50mm prime is a f1.4. Pretty fast. But still, it’s hard to get a nice crisp shot at 1/50 with the lens wide open and hand held. In fact, at that aperture the depth of field is so narrow most people can never find what I was focusing on to begin with.

The XTi is a good camera. You can set it up to act more like a point & shoot too. Go into the custom settings and play around with them until you are happy with the results. The more in camera sharpening you let it do, the more point & shoot it will act. The same goes for the other configurable settings. But when you do that you are limiting all the really cool things the camera is able to do.

Jon.

#8

This thread has shared some very good knowledge to have. After a recent gathering at my RR and comparing my pictures to others I realize(and have realized) I need a better camera as it does make a difference. However knowledge on how to use it and the features it comes equipted with is mind boggeling. I have been looking at the camera Jon Radder has along with a few others but want to make a good investment on something that won’t be outdated and will continue to be supported for several years for under a grand. Speaking of Jon…here is a picture(taken by my friend) showing ole’ evil eye at work!

(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f72/Shortybear/The%20Railroad/RydersShots150.jpg)

#9

“Ole Evil Eye” - I like that. Great picture.

#10

Jon’s a lefty eh?

You can get some excellent cameras for under a grand these days. I’m a Canon shooter so I’d suggest them first. But to be fair, Canon or Nikon will both provide good quality products. I’ve been told that Nikon lenses are a bit more pricey so that may be something to think about down the road. But, lots of my Canon friends also use Nikon glass on their Canon bodies. I’m looking at some manual focus Nikon lenses right now for landscape work…

Take a look at www.dpreview.com. They have some good info to help you decide what you might want.

Jon.

#11
David Russell said:
However knowledge on how to use it and the features it comes equipted with is mind boggeling.
Like anything Dave, using a camera just involves lots of practice. If you take a course with a 35mm they tell you to use slide film as it can't be manipulated in the development stage. You take a bad picture,(under-exposed, 0ver-exposed) a slide shows it. It will keep you aware of what you're trying to do.

With a digital it’s even easier. Go out and take lots of pictures. You can instantly see what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

You got a buddy there that knows his camera…pick his brain!

#12
Jon Foster said:
Jon's a lefty eh?

Jon.


No. I’m not sure why I favor my left eye, other than I can see through it better :smiley:

I usually take of my glasses when shooting. Scott caught me during a lazy moment :slight_smile: And if I’d had known I was the subject, I might have combed my hair :o

#13

Ken,
I know …the NEC rules!
Jon,
You are learning from that photo as I am also, that’s all I want to do…learn …LSC has allowed this!
:wink:

#14
Jon Radder said:
Jon Foster said:
Jon's a lefty eh?

Jon.


No. I’m not sure why I favor my left eye, other than I can see through it better :smiley:

I usually take of my glasses when shooting. Scott caught me during a lazy moment :slight_smile: And if I’d had known I was the subject, I might have combed my hair :o


My son shoots with his left eye most of the time. He’s a lefty. I shoot with both eyes open. I was brought up as a righty but I think I’m really a lefty too. I can do everything better left handed…

I actually like that picture. I don’t think combing your hair would have made it better. But I do love candid shots the most. They usually have a much better story to tell.

Jon.