OMG: Am I in over my head??

[ChildOfThe60s]

No longer being happy with a P&S I just ordered the G3 as a camera that I can "grow into." After reading problems and lingo that are beyond my photographic understanding I'm now wondering if I've bitten off more than I can chew!

I ordered the instructional video & short course book on the G3 but I have some important family events coming up in the next month that I really wanted to capture. Is there anything that I should keep in mind, besides LEARN, LEARN & LEARN??

TIA for any help!

[new girl on the bloc]

Besides "learning", relaxing! There is a lot to the G3, but you can make it as simple as you want until you learn the more advanced features.

Take me for example, I'm in the embryonic stage of understanding the camera but still taking some great photos!

[CyberDyneSystems]

You said it yourself perfectly Child of the 60's,..

...you will grow into the new features.

Take it all one step at a time. I went through this a few years back when I bought my first "decent" Digital camera,. An Olympus C2100UZ. Shutter speeds? Aperture? Metering? I was lost. Prior to that my only cameras had been fixed focus!!!!

But as it had point and shoot and other "program" modes I was quickly able to grow into its more customizable features.

Likewise I am going through the same thing with the 10D that is now about 3 weeks old. It will be a loooooong time before I know my way around all the best uses of this camera,. and even longer before I get to fully realize the potential of "raw" files and software.

In the meantime I am taking the best pics I ever have. Mostly (98%) jpegs for now.

Don't let the settings and options scare you,.. it's digital. Just keep shooting :D

[new girl on the bloc]

CyberDyneSystems, how are you liking your 10D?

[CyberDyneSystems]

I love it.

As I say,. it will be a while before I am up to the task of taking full advantage of what I have,.. but no matter what skill level I'm at it seems to deliver for me! I got it because I wanted long lenses. I had no idea how much of an overall improvement it was going to turn out to be.

Plus it is just pushing me to take more pictures and experiment.

Yesterday I spent the whole day walking around woods and parks with the camera and my two retreivers!

It is a much better hobby than sitting in front of a PC!! (I do that enough at work,. like now! )

[new girl on the bloc]

Thanks for your response. I also love just getting out in nature and snapping away. I wish that I could take my dogs with me too but they would never stay close to me; they're a bit wild!

btw - nice website!

[CyberDyneSystems]

Thanks :)

heh heh,.. dogs yes,. well stand by,. in a few days there will be a "Dog photogallery"... by far and away my most cooperative models!

CDS

[NILOLIGIST]

ChildOfThe60s,

When in doubt, use Auto mode. It works pretty good in most situations. So, if you can't remember all the lingo and jargon, settings and the like, use the Auto mode. It is better than setting some setting that you don't fully understand and get some not so great photos.

Relax, have fun, shoot and don't put to much pressure on yourself, there will be other events if this one doesn't work out as you like, but I am sure you will be surprised. Oh, did I mention, use the Auto mode?

LOL

Good luck,

[kowen]

When you get it, take time to read through the manual. When I got mine, saw all the buttons, I thought "when and how long will it take to figure this out??", but the setup is similar to the EOS system-just more control.

It will explain modes, all the buttons, how to set it up, etc. I did read mine pretty thoroughly, I thought, looking up anything I wasn't sure about how to set. Then I just read about a week ago that on manual mode, you can press the wheel dial on the front of the handgrip tp alternate between aperture and shutter speed. Ding*ding* ding*ding*-wake up, Kerry.

While reading and using it-you will learn, and it will stick. I don't think I will ever get rid of this camera, you can have so much control with it. Hard to beat for the price, I think you will enjoy it.

Good luck with your camera,
Regards,
Kerry

[CowboyPoetWannabe]

You might also just take one mode today. Experiment. What can you do and not do. Read the couple of pages in the manual several times, take some pics, and read again. Tomorrow try another mode.

Was it Winchester who said, "I do one thing at a time, I do it very well, and then I move on." ('Course he got in trouble for it on MASH.)

By the way, I think most of us felt over our heads when we first thought about starting digital.

-CPW

[pleiades]

ChildOfThe60s: Sometimes you want Point and Shoot, especially at family gatherings indoors with people running everywhere.

I found a great link on this forum on how to set a custom setting on the G3 (the C1 or C2 on the dial) which enables you to point and shoot with a fixed focus. Thanks to Marc Jutras I now have a safe and fast way of shooting sharp indoor pictures:

http://www.marcjutras.com/ehyperfocal.html

Great for parties and action shots, it saves valuable seconds waiting for the focus. Make sure you test it first, I like to decrease the flash a little as well, so as not to make the faces of people too white.

And of course I agree with the advice the others have given: Practice, shoot a lot of pics, have fun with it, that will make you confident in the camera in no time.

[dabber]

Thanks for the tip! I am so new to all this. I wondered if you custom set the ISO setting, do you switch the flash adjust to manua?
Then there is MF - Point Zoom (on or off)
AF - assist beam - do you have to turn this off?
I would really appreciate any help!
Thanks,
Debbie

[BruceW]

I have found Canon Manuals are usually very good.
The G3 Manual is no exception. Although it is black and white, there is an electronic color copy you can either view or download from the intenet.

Manuals for other Canon Cameras, that I have bought, have given a little more insite into why you may use a particular function. The G3 manual assumes you already know the purpose of each function.

The most useful page in the whole manual is on page 204. From there you can usually find the reference page to info you want, very quickly.

With the AUTO mode there is very little control you have over camera settings. If you turn the camera off and back on, then there are no settings I can think of that will change. The P mode is almost identical to AUTO. The main difference is that you can change default settings, and some may remain after power down and other may not. Page 204 will tell you which remain.

This camera gives you creative control, so although you may want to start in AUTO mode, or even Portrait or Landscape, eventually, when you start to get more confident, change to P mode and try changing some of the options. Then you may want to start trying Tv and Av modes and even storing your favourite combinations in the 2 custom modes.

In non manual modes, if you change ISO, and using either the internal flash or a Canon dedicated flash, the camera will make all the appropriate exposure adjustments. You may find you can't adjust ISO in AUTO mode but can in P mode.

The MF Point Zoom is a personal preference. If you decide to use Manual focus, which again may not be posible in AUTO mode (see page 204 to confirm), then a magnifier will appear on the LCD to assist in manual focus. This may be annoying to you, so you can turn it off.

I suggest leaving most of the defaults, such as the AF assist beam, until you have a little experience with the camera.

The only thing I changed to start with was to set up custom mode C1 the same as P mode, with flash turned off. You will also find when you save to C1 that the lens position is also saved. I also turned Red Eye off, since I intend using the 420EX rather than the internal flash. Hence I could switch between P and C1 and the only difference was that flash was off in C1.


Bruce

[CowboyPoetWannabe]

Bruce brings up some great points. Can you recommend a Canon manual we can download that DOESN'T assume all that foreknowledge?

Also, concerning MF:

BruceW wrote:
The MF Point Zoom is a personal preference. If you decide to use Manual focus, which again may not be posible in AUTO mode (see page 204 to confirm), then a magnifier will appear on the LCD to assist in manual focus. This may be annoying to you, so you can turn it off.


I found a trick (by accident, because I don't remember seeing it in the manual). Once you accomplish the manual focus using the magnifier, the larger image usually gets in the way. Just click the main dial on the handgrip - the magnified window goes away but leaves the manual focus point where it was. Click one or two more times and the MF window returns, allowing further focus adjustment if desired.

-CPW

[BruceW]

Barry,

I'm glad you mentioned that finding, since I once set C2 up in MF mode. When I turned to C2 the manual control of focus was always inactive and I ended up pressing MF twice, once to go to Auto Focus and the second time to go to MF with the control active. It always seemed pointless setting MF on one of the custom modes, so I removed it.

I tried your little trick for the above scenario and it worked.

I checked the manual and there is a partial reference at bottom of page 106, second last bullet point. This reference is talking about Tv, Av and M modes. If you use any of these modes in MF you will realise how important this function is for these modes. It's a necessity.

Unfortunately the only online manuals I have seen are similar to the Canon hard copy.

Bruce