topic Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

nwolfe88 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:05:12 GMT

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and am trying to learn as much as possible about my new 70D. I just have a few questions I was hoping I could get answered.

1. Should I always be shooting in RAW mode? I want the best possible images...

2. Should I always try to be using the lowest ISO possible?

3. What lense would you recommend as a prime? I have two kit lenses but am looking for something that would be good at everything (landscapes, portraits, etc.)

I'm sure I'll think of more but if I could get any responses on these I'd surely appreciate it!

Thanks

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

Skirball — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:35:48 GMT

1) Absolutely.

2) In general, use the lowest ISO that you can get away with and get proper exposure and sharpness. The most important thing is that you use the aperture you want for the DoF you want, and that you're obtaining a fast enough shutter speed to freeze motion (if that’s what you want). If so, then use the lowest possible (don’t go below ISO 100 if the 70D has the option, you gain nothing). But you shouldn’t worry about going up a couple stops in ISO, if you correctly expose the noise is more than acceptable on modern dSLRs. I will frequently use ISO 200 or 400 when using off-camera flash because it allows me to use less power and the increased noise is negligible in my opinion.

3) Which prime is totally subjective. But a 50mm prime is a very useful lens, IMO.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

hsbn — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:35:59 GMT

1) Yes, but then you have to learn post processing and need a bigger HDD to store your images.

2) Yes, whenever possible. But don't be afraid to pump up ISO in lower light situation to keep desired shutter speed or aperture. Newer camera is pretty good with high ISO.

3)There is no such thing. Generally, people use Wide angle lens for landscapes and mid-tele for Portrait. You don't have to get Prime, you can settle for zoom L-lens. They're much better then the kit lens and may fit your requirement better than prime.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

nwolfe88 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:43:55 GMT

Thanks so much for the replies! On #1, why do I need to learn post processing when shooting in RAW?

On 2, when shooting landscapes, wouldn't I always want to use the highest F stop possible? Like 22 or 26? What are the disadvantages of using such a high F setting?

I'd like to start shooting in manual and setting all the settings myself so I can start to learn what each one does and how they affect each other.

Will the Magic Lantern guide book for the 60D be relevant for the 70D as well? I looked and they don't have a 70D one yet.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

cicopo — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:49:48 GMT

'll say it a little differently since hard drives & memory cards are much cheaper now than when I made the switch. Shoot in RAW + large fine jpg until you learn to rework the RAW files you feel need to be worked on. Once you have files you want to perfect try your best to get what you thought the scene looked like on screen & save that as a jpg but use something in the file number to let you know later on whether it was a first attempt or the third etc. I number my files by using the original number IMG 1234v1. or IMG 1234v2 etc so I have an idea of changes good or bad as I progress through the editing process.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

nwolfe88 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:51:34 GMT

On 2, when shooting landscapes, wouldn't I always want to use the highest F stop possible? Like 22 or 26? What are the disadvantages of using such a high F setting?

I'd like to start shooting in manual and setting all the settings myself so I can start to learn what each one does and how they affect each other.

Will the Magic Lantern guide book for the 60D be relevant for the 70D as well? I looked and they don't have a 70D one yet.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

cicopo — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:54:30 GMT

A RAW file is just a file filled with computer language relating to the scene. It NEEDS to be converted to a jpg to be a photo. Many of see the very same scene differently & that's where working from RAW gives us the latitude to create what we saw or hope to create. The benefit is that each & every brand of camera that produces jpg's does so because the manufacturer had a team write software to do the conversion "their" way. Some favor richer reds, others favor richer greens ets. YOU get to do that to suit YOUR tastes.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

hsbn — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:49:28 GMT

You don't want to use small aperture such as F22 because it will degrade your image quality due to diffraction. Diffraction will cause your image to be blurry and not clear.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

nwolfe88 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:53:09 GMT

But I thought the higher the F number the more of the image that's in focus, which is perfect for landscapes.

Sorry - I'm a newb.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

hsbn — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:57:11 GMT

You don't need a book really, just read your manual. Canon has a really cool site you can learn about photography. They let you play with Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO and see the effect of each.
Here: http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

hsbn — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:16:13 GMT

Yes, you'll gain some DOF by stopping down the lens, yet diffraction will effect your image. We all wish we can stop it down without any penalty. You can read more and see some example here: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-diffraction.shtml

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

Skirball — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:17:20 GMT

@nwolfe88 wrote:
But I thought the higher the F number the more of the image that's in focus, which is perfect for landscapes.

Sorry - I'm a newb.

To a point. There's actually a sweet spot. As the aperture gets narrower diffraction starts to play a part, which softens the image. At which point depends on the aperture size, your camera's sensor size, and to a small degree the lens you use. We use a term called Diffraction Limited Aperture or DLA. You can do a google search and learn a lot, if you want. Or just don't push your lens all the way to the limit, f/16 or so is usually ok.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

Skirball — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:20:14 GMT

@nwolfe88 wrote:
Thanks so much for the replies! On #1, why do I need to learn post processing when shooting in RAW?

You don't have to, but I recommend shooting in RAW just in case some time in the future you want to go back to old images and edit the RAW.

If you have a decent post processing program, such as Adobe's Lightroom, you can have it automatically convert the RAW to JPG on import using standard settings. That way you don't have to mess with RAW. You can set your camera to RAW+JPG as recommended above, but that just slows down your camera and eats up SD card space. I'd just do it on my computer if I insisted on using RAW.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

nwolfe88 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:09:35 GMT

Thank you, that helps a lot. Are we aloud to post pictures on here, so I can get some critiques?

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

hsbn — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:53:58 GMT

You are allowed to post photo but most people come here for tech issue more than for photo. There are a lot of photography community out there where you can get great feedback for your images.

For landscapes, I recommend Naturescapes.net

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

cicopo — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 22:56:17 GMT

Yes you can post photos but they can't be too big. Use the 10th icon over from the left to do it.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

nwolfe88 — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:13:32 GMT

Here's one...it's overexposed on the sky, should be blue. What setting should I have changed for this?

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

cicopo — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 01:12:35 GMT

It's quite good as is and unfortunately in a case like that you have to give up a highlight to get the shadows. In MY opinion you did it right but others may disagree. That said there are ways to fix it (especially from a RAW file) after the fact or if you had a tripod by shooting the same scene at different exposure settings & combining the best areas of each exposure using programs like Photoshop. You can however use the RAW file in a similar way by making different jpg's & combining the areas you like.

Here's the link to one of my event albums from last summer, and it was a very dull day which forced me to shoot at about 2 stops (+2 EC) all day long. Had I shot for a nice sky everything else would be silhouetted.

http://plus.google.com/photos/114565060647135800760/albums/5885055489613946129?banner=pwa

I always meter for the plane and not the general scene which is usually too bright relative to the subject matter.

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

cicopo — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 01:38:21 GMT

Read this & hopefully you'll have a better understanding of how the camera tries to capture what we see but can't because of it's limitations.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

Re: New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

nwolfe88 — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:35:10 GMT

Thanks for the reply's!