topic Re: G15 action shot in Point & Shoot Digital Cameras

G15 action shot

BlueDiamond65 — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:19:05 GMT

I have recently purchased a G15 after several year of using G7. I am surprise to find a very limited scene modes on my G15. I'm I missing something or have I make a mistake. I do a lot of outdoor shooting at different landscape, views and action shots which the G7 made very simple. Have I made a mistake with G15?

Your comment are appreciated. Thank you

Re: G15 action shot

cicopo — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:38:44 GMT

I'd guess that Canon decided that buyers would be photographers rather than picture takers. As such they'd know what setting do the best job in every situation. The G7 used a mode dial to access programmed settings for each of the things you've named such as scene mode, sport mode, night etc. As such there was a built in set of settings that used the meter reading to decide what ISO, shutter speed & aperture MIGHT give you a good photo. For those who've taken the time to learn the basic rules of photography doing the same or a better job on determining which settings to use is relatively simple, & they'll just set the camera up to get the shot & if it's off a bit they'll reset & shoot again.

Fortunately it's easy to see results thanks to digital cameras & LCD's so now that you've spent the money take a bit of time to learn the basics & practice them learning & advancing as you go. For action you use the Tv mode (to set the Time Value or Shutter Speed). You need to pick a shutter speed setting that's high enough to freeze the action, but unlike the built in program of the G7 you pick a more perfectly matched shutter speed. For Landscapes you usually use Av mode (aperture value) & learn what different settings do.

No matter which camera you buy it's going to use the same combination of things to produce good photos, and that combination matches the ISO, the shutter speed & correct aperture to do it. No magic, just the rules that control an exposure, and more advanced cameras allow the user the control over those things.

Re: G15 action shot

7D5D — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:27:04 GMT

@BlueDiamond65 wrote:
I have recently purchased a G15 after several year of using G7. I am surprise to find a very limited scene modes on my G15. I'm I missing something or have I make a mistake. I do a lot of outdoor shooting at different landscape, views and action shots which the G7 made very simple. Have I made a mistake with G15?
Your comment are appreciated. Thank you

My wife and kids all have newer Powershots cameras. All those settings that you mentioned are now in kind of a submenu within "Function Settings" (at least on their cameras). I noticed Canon kind of hid those settings as compared to their older Powershot cameras.

Press the Function Setting button (probably labeled "Func Set") and scroll through those menus and look for a secondary icon to open a scene menu to display those settings--specifically look for "SCN." I can't imagine Canon pulling them but then again maybe they since they are really just canned TV/AV/ISO settings. You can also download the PDF manual from Canon and check there.

If they don't exist then consider this a blessing in disguise. Take cicopo's advise and teach yourself a little about photography. The landscape setting for example is probably just a low ISO with small aperture setting, the sports a high shutter speed setting and so on.

Open up some of your old G7 shots and see what the Exif data lists for camera settings. This can be a good starting point as to what your G7 set for those special scene modes.

BTW, just checked my Powershot S100, it does not have any of those "canned" settings.

Re: G15 action shot

cicopo — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:09:30 GMT

Well I just checked my G9 and it has all kinds of those modes including Underwater & Aquarium. I'm sure I knew that back when I bought it but I had forgot about them. I use it as my underwater camera when on dive trips but I shoot in RAW & have to use manual mode because the 2 strobes I use only fire at full power.

Re: G15 action shot

7D5D — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:32:15 GMT

@7D5D wrote:

BTW, just checked my Powershot S100, it does not have any of those "canned" settings.

Oops, I take that back. My S100 does have special scene settings. There is a SCN position on the mode dial. I always shoot TV, AV or M and forgot about those other positions. With that being said, the G15 has got to have SCN settings.