New S2 owner looking for help

[waussie]

My SLR died about 10 years, it was fully manual- not even a light meter but I did get some reasonable photos.

I just bought an S2 and I am totally overwhelmed by the range of options. I have the manual, the PDF and I downloaded the web pages relating to the S2.

I now understand why many users leave their cameras permanently on full auto.

It's currently fall here, nice soft light and I would like to get some photos before a long wet winter.

Could somebody please help me with some starter settings for different situations? I will be mainly photographing landscapes, seascapes, birds and flowers.

A related question is how many custom settings can I save?

[nwyman]

I'm not the most knowledgeable, but I've had the S2 for about a year now. After the first week, I started using the Aperture Mode and have never gone back (except for indoors shooting, when I get lazy and use the programmed setting for that).

It all works on the same principles - there is a basic relationship between light, aperture, and shutter speed. Depth of field is controlled the same way as the film SLR, but a little harder to achieve with the compact camera.
Try using the aperture priority mode - say you are shooting a flower.... Set your ISO to automatic, and same thing with the AWB (white balance setting). Don't worry about exposure compensation and all that stuff. Try to get the sun behind your shoulder, set your aperture and shoot. Then try different aperature settings, and see what results.
Make sure you get the green "focused" signal before you shoot - if you can't, try backing up a bit and try again.
Let us know how it goes.

Nancy

[MoHo]

My SLR died about 10 years, it was fully manual- not even a light meter but I did get some reasonable photos.

I just bought an S2 and I am totally overwhelmed by the range of options. I have the manual, the PDF and I downloaded the web pages relating to the S2.

I now understand why many users leave their cameras permanently on full auto.

It's currently fall here, nice soft light and I would like to get some photos before a long wet winter.

Could somebody please help me with some starter settings for different situations? I will be mainly photographing landscapes, seascapes, birds and flowers.

A related question is how many custom settings can I save?



Lots of good information here: http://www.digicamhelp.com/canon-s2-blog/index.htm

[MoHo]

Lots of good information here: http://www.digicamhelp.com/canon-s2-blog/index.htm

And here: http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/pss2is/101-e.html

[Stefan A]

And if you are more into reading books, then try "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. It comes highly recommended on this forum and it really does a great job. You will understand when and why to use some of those manual controls. Then read and re-read the manual so you know how to use them. You will find that it's not as hard as you think.

Stefan