At Last – Small Camera Voting Thread

So….. What?.. How does one use it? Just screw it on, point and shoot? – Or do I have to do some heavy mathematics to calculate just how much this, and how little that, I need after waving some light intensity measuring device around for a while?

You just screw it on to the end of the plastic adapter ring that comes with the S5000 (this has a 55mm filter thread at the end) and the camera takes care of the the adjustments to exposure – you use the same neutral density filters that are for 35mm film lenses – they come in various ratings depending on how much light they stop getting through – basically it is just like covering the lens with your sunglasses. The higher the rating the less light they let through – there is a good web page here that explains it all. A mid strength one that reduces the exposure by a couple of stops (see the table on the above link)would be a good starting point. As it is only the intensity of the light that is altered the camera metering system makes all the adjustments so you don’t have to manually calculate and adjust the settings (you do with graduated ND filters – used a lot in landscape photography but these are not what you want).

Does it affect the shutter response time any? Which is pretty sluggish at the best of times. 🙁

Shutter lag can be a problem on the S5000 (please pilots – can you do a very slow pass for S5000 users!) but these filters will have no effect on that for aircraft photos on the bright days that require their use.

I don’t mind setting the speed and leaving the rest to auto, but I don’t want to do much more than that!

This is why these filters are ideal – just set the speed to blurr the props – 1/250 or so and the camera can do the rest – you will have noticed on bright days that if you use this shutter speed the camera gives the over exposure warning as it cannot set an appropriate aperture (the range offered by the S5000 is not as good as that on film or digital slrs) – the ND filter will reduce the amount of light entering the lens and enable the camera to pick a correct exposure with the range of settings it can offer.

One of the advantages I find with the S5000 is the ability to take the screw-in filters of a size that is relatively easy to find as it is often used on 35mm lenses – most camera shops seem to have a good supply of second hand filters for a couple of pounds – it is worth looking for a circular polarising filter also – as well as the specific features of the filter (eg reducing unwanted reflections) they also reduce the amount of light entering the lens (usually by about 2-2.5 stops) and I have used mine on occasions when I’ve left my ND filters at home and needed to obtain a low shutter speed.

So….. What?.. How does one use it? Just screw it on, point and shoot? – Or do I have to do some heavy mathematics to calculate just how much this, and how little that, I need after waving some light intensity measuring device around for a while?

Does it affect the shutter response time any? Which is pretty sluggish at the best of times. 🙁

I don’t mind setting the speed and leaving the rest to auto, but I don’t want to do much more than that!

mmm I’ve hard about these ND filters before – how do you use one? Oh, and where can I get one to fit mine?

Just get one to screw into the filter thread on the S5000 (55mm diameter a pretty common size for 35mm lenses so pretty easy to find) – I get most of my filters from either Ebay or second hand from Camera shops these days. Neutral Density (ND) filters just cut down the amount of light entering the lens and therefore enable a slower shutter speed. As you will have found on sunny days you tend to end up with a higher shutter speed than required due to the minimum aperture being quite large and the lowest iso value being 160 (on auto) or 200 with other settings.

mmm I’ve hard about these ND filters before – how do you use one? Oh, and where can I get one to fit mine?

Browse the internet, new deals all the time. I got mine from http://www.internetcamerasdirect.co.uk/ they were prompt, efficient, and a good deal at the time.

So where would be the best place to pick up an S5000 these days????

I got mine from Pixmania – the S5000 has now been replaced by the 4 megapixel S5500 which has a few improvements including a lower ISO setting – the S5000s is 160 which can make it difficult to get a low enough shutter speed to blur prop blades (often using a nd filter is the only solution)

So where would be the best place to pick up an S5000 these days????

My prize arrived on Thursday morning. Many thanks RobAnt. 🙂

🙂

My prize arrived on Thursday morning. Many thanks RobAnt. 🙂

As if I could afford it = both financially and mentally!!!!!

Twelve months to save up…

a crack at this competition again next year

As if I could afford it = both financially and mentally!!!!!

Hope he doesnt expect his prize to cover the value of that lot 😉

Right, without the tears of Paltrow, or sadly the wit of Gervais, here’s my winners’ speech…

It’s a real shock and surprise to have won the competition – there were some cracking shots among the entries. Some of you will know that I only took up photography in May of last year, but I’m lucky to count some of Britain’s best young aviation photographers among my friends, and they’ve given me plenty of advice.

Photography adds a whole new dimension to this wonderful hobby of ours, and I’m certainly glad I started “snapping”. Some of the guys on this forum produce stunning results with kit costing in the thousands, but at the other end of the spectrum you can have fun and get half decent results for a fraction of the cost. My kit (Fuji S5000, 2 x 512MB 1 x 256 MB cards) cost in total around £300. A copy of Photoshop though is an absolute must, as pictures “out of the camera” with non-DSLRs do need a bit of post-production.

I’m sure I will join the DSLR people in the next year or so, but at the moment I think I’ll hang onto the S5000 for the coming airshow season, and hopefully have a crack at this competition again next year.

Finally a few thanks – to Dan Butcher and Mark McEwan over at UKAR for getting me into photography in the first place, to Yak11Fan for inviting me to the Hardwick Open Day to get the “winning” shot, and to RobAnt for organising the competition and stumping up the prize out of his own pocket! And also to everyone on both UKAR and this forum for their kind words when I’ve posted my pictures. I think we’d all agree that its great to read some nice comments!

Now hopefully, my “success” will mean Mrs Dano will be more understanding when I say I’m off to Jessops to spend a few grand…

Well done Dan worthy winner and proof how we can get great photo’s with non D-SLR camera’s this has been a great thread and has made me think more on buying a photo shop to tweak here and there at moment other than resizing on camera(if needed) i do not do anything else, What programs do people recomend?, My Fuji S602 has got to last me at least another year yet and 2005 will be its 3rd season and i fancy a bit of photoshop fun if anyone can advise.
P.S Dan good luck with Mrs Dano on that Jessops trip. 😀

FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D well done mate!!!!

The Speech!

Right, without the tears of Paltrow, or sadly the wit of Gervais, here’s my winners’ speech…

It’s a real shock and surprise to have won the competition – there were some cracking shots among the entries. Some of you will know that I only took up photography in May of last year, but I’m lucky to count some of Britain’s best young aviation photographers among my friends, and they’ve given me plenty of advice.

Photography adds a whole new dimension to this wonderful hobby of ours, and I’m certainly glad I started “snapping”. Some of the guys on this forum produce stunning results with kit costing in the thousands, but at the other end of the spectrum you can have fun and get half decent results for a fraction of the cost. My kit (Fuji S5000, 2 x 512MB 1 x 256 MB cards) cost in total around £300. A copy of Photoshop though is an absolute must, as pictures “out of the camera” with non-DSLRs do need a bit of post-production.

I’m sure I will join the DSLR people in the next year or so, but at the moment I think I’ll hang onto the S5000 for the coming airshow season, and hopefully have a crack at this competition again next year.

Finally a few thanks – to Dan Butcher and Mark McEwan over at UKAR for getting me into photography in the first place, to Yak11Fan for inviting me to the Hardwick Open Day to get the “winning” shot, and to RobAnt for organising the competition and stumping up the prize out of his own pocket! And also to everyone on both UKAR and this forum for their kind words when I’ve posted my pictures. I think we’d all agree that its great to read some nice comments!

Now hopefully, my “success” will mean Mrs Dano will be more understanding when I say I’m off to Jessops to spend a few grand…

Well done Dan, a cracking shot. Just shows that its the person behind the camera that creates the shot, not the latest all singing/dancing dslr.

Congratulations, Simply stunning photo.

Now wheres the speech! 😀

I’ll second that

Speech (no tears no more than 90 seconds please 🙂 )

A worthy winner! Congrats Dan O’Hagan.

J.V.

Ok voting is now closed

The winner seems to be fairly obvious – 53/3 – well done.

Congratulations go to Dan O’Hagan for his stunning Hurricane picture.