New DSLR owner (70D), need some pointers

[nwolfe88]

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

[hsbn]

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

[Skirball]

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@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.

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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.

[Skirball]

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@nwolfe88 wrote:

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

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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.

[nwolfe88]

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

[hsbn]

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

[cicopo]

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

[nwolfe88]

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

[cicopo]

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.

[cicopo]

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

[nwolfe88]

Thanks for the reply's!