I am an idiot....

I'm glad I read this thread, as it does happen to everyone. I was doing a HTC roadshow at the weekend there, and slipped the camera into Av due to being indoors and outdoors too quickly. I had set f8 on my last Av trip and due to that all the indoor shots were a little shaky.

I wasn't allowed to use a flash which didn't help. Saving grace?

The guy running the roadshow said "Paul you only really need to get shots of the people coming into the van and the gazebo thing we set up, but i like your enthusiasm"

Phew!!

The trick is to always assume you are making a mistake and try to find it,..


BEFORE you come onto POTN and post a new thread saying that your gear is broken!

So you get high marks!!!

This happened at one of the weddings I shot:

We just finished the ceremony and were heading out to do the family portraits outside. I ended up taking a couple of shots and my shutter speed was 1/8000. I was a little puzzled but didn't really care cause the photos on the LCD screen look fine. After a couple minutes, I notice my shots were taken at ISO 1600! I bumped it back down and finished the shoot there. Stupid 5dm2 even looks good at ISO 1600 so I couldn't tell

HiepBuiPhotography wrote in post #15703081
This happened at one of the weddings I shot:

We just finished the ceremony and were heading out to do the family portraits outside. I ended up taking a couple of shots and my shutter speed was 1/8000. I was a little puzzled but didn't really care cause the photos on the LCD screen look fine. After a couple minutes, I notice my shots were taken at ISO 1600! I bumped it back down and finished the shoot there. Stupid 5dm2 even looks good at ISO 1600 so I couldn't tell

I've benefited from the high ISO capabilities of the 5D in a similar fashion. In fact I almost deleted the shots in-camera one when I did this because I could essentially take a repeat shot, but didn't at the last minute figuring ISO1600 might not be too bad.

Then when I processed the images, the ISO1600's were the best; with good light and proper ETTR, they were not obviously noisy - no problem at all on an 8x10.

We all of us have done things that have produced images with poor IQ because of our own poor IQs.

digital paradise wrote in post #15700869
Went to an air show with a new lens. I was so excited to try it out I put my ISO on 1600 instead of my shutter. Took about 100 shots before I realized it.

Probably couldn't get any prop blur to save your life!

My brother-in-law was shooting a wedding (his first as the primary), and accidentally bumped the select wheel to B(ulb). He couldn't figure it out, thought his camera had failed, broken shutter, etc. Went to his back-up, and when the wedding settled in to eat, he went back and found the problem. It was a brand new 5DII, so his first thoughts were a defective camera. Now when you talk to him, his number one desited feature is a locking selection wheel . . .

drmaxx wrote in post #15698461
@xhack: Your story remembers me of an other blunder of mine. Trying to take some shots in Florence. I couldn't get it to focus. AF on. The usm motor worked, but everything I focussed on was all blurry through the viewfinder. I already accepted the fact that the lens was defective.

But then after a while I remembered the little wheel on the right of the viewfinder. And voila - turning the dioptric adjustment wheel fixed my problem right away. And it only took me 2 hours to figure that one out.

heh, had that happen to my new (to me) 5D3. Previous owner probably adjusted. Slapped a lens on, looked through the viewfinder and starting freaking out. A good half-hour passed until a buddy suggested I check the dioptric adjustment!

golfecho wrote in post #15706692
Probably couldn't get any prop blur to save your life!

Sun was behind the birds as well so exposures were not the best. My error as well. After cropping and trying to bring some life to the shots it got pretty noisy. I have yet to attend an air show with the sun to my back.

I recently bought a used 50D on this forum. Unpacked it, mounted one of my lenses and proceeded to test it out. Wouldn't autofocus at all. Checked the AF/MF switch on the lens. Nope, that's not it...it's set to AF. Mounted a different lens. Same result, won't AF. Now I'm getting concerned and mad at the same time, thinking there's something wrong with the body. That's when I remembered reading something only a couple days before about "back button focusing". Hit the AF ON button on the back and it immediately focused. Maybe I'm not the idiot in this story, but I would have felt like one if I hadn't figured out the problem and accused the seller of sending me a broken camera.

Yep. Stuff like this happens to us all. Be glad we have digital now and we can usually figure it out quickly instead of waiting 2 weeks for the proofs to come back from the lab.

It happens to the best of us.

The very first time I used my Canon Kiss x4 (Rebel T2i I think in the US), I couldn't see a thing from the viewfinder. Kept on checking if it was turned ON, if battery was inside. Turned out the lens cap was still attached. It happened in a park, full of people. Imagine my embarrassment. If that helps you feel better..

kelikoi wrote in post #15713923
It happens to the best of us.

The very first time I used my Canon Kiss x4 (Rebel T2i I think in the US), I couldn't see a thing from the viewfinder. Kept on checking if it was turned ON, if battery was inside. Turned out the lens cap was still attached. It happened in a park, full of people. Imagine my embarrassment. If that helps you feel better..

So what was the problem? Did you figure it out at that time?

HiepBuiPhotography wrote in post #15714164
So what was the problem? Did you figure it out at that time?

The problem was that the lens cap/cover was still attached hence everything was dark. And yeah I finally figured it out. I So I simply took it out and viola! All's fixed LOL! Such a noob

I have a "duh" moment nearly every time I turn on my camera. I can't seem to drop the "point and shoot" mentality and I have had an slr/dslr for 7 or 8 years. Each time I turn it on and take a quick shot it's done with the settings from the last time I used the camera. Kind of a pain when your last shot was a bulb shot and now you are just wanting to capture a fleeting moment.