Cannon S1 Pics

When i was asking for help and information buying a camera i THOUGHT i wanted manual focus......Screw that. There's enough other settings to keep me well behind in knowledge. I've screwed up alot of, otherwise good pictures and taken some good pictures with manual settings.

One things for sure though. Auto works pretty damn good. Anyway, here's some pics i like.

Good job !

Thanks Bro!

I'd have to say you made a good decision... Nice pictures.

-Blake

Thanks Blake. Here's the original of that last one. I think i made it alot better. I tried telling everyone to get off the beach on July 4th, but they wouldn't listen.

It's a great camera for the money. I love mine for sure... I'm trying now the manual settings, but it's hard to find the correct ones for wakeboardiing...

It does seem very hard to get the right settings. I'll think i have it then, OMG we turned the other way... or... Where'd the sun go. I'm starting to realize what does what to the picture when i need to change it, but until i get it right i'm missing alot of great pics.

The S1 is the bomb!! I think it is very user friendly!!! My one issue is with the shutter lag though. What settings and/or techniques are you using for wakeboarding? I'm missing tons of shots. I usually get half of the rider. How do you get those nice close up shots?

Here's a sample of my better pics.

Example of a shot that I know should be zoomed in more (nice head in the way!!) but I was tired of missing the shot!!

brandon,

The more settings you can switch to manual, the better. Manual focus will make it much faster. Manual aperture and shutter speed will give you more reliable exposures because there's no chance that the camera will pick the wrong area of the frame to reference.

If the camera doesn't have manual setting for everything, at least try to lock onto the rider (hold the shutter release half way down) as he/she is outside the wake and then pan as he/she cuts in, pressing the button all the way down at the peak of the jump. Hopefully, once the camera is pre-focused, the delay will be almost nothing. If not, you'll just have to anticipate the release.

I just bought this same camera and love it, it rocks! I just do like Salmon says and "follow" the rider even after I push the shutter button. My Wife and I take good pics, but if I hand it to another in the boat, I get those cool half rider or just wake pics too! I also love the movie mode too, for a still camera it takes some good clips!

here is a great s1 tip. Use the focus lock feature!!!! Frame your rider in the viewfinder, push the shutter button down halfway, THEN PUSH THE MANUAL FOCUS BUTTON. This locks the focus for your photo session and you get amazing pics. The big advantage is that when you let go of the shutter button, or take a pic the camera does not have to refocus for the next shot. The focus is locked in. It works great for wakeboarding because the rider is at a constant distance from the boat. The focus lock stays on till you turn it off or shut off the camera, The full instructions are in the manual. Shutter lag is a pain in the butt on all digital cameras.

Thanks for the tips. I'll be getting plenty of practice when I go camping next week. I'll be sure to post some pics!!

Just thought i'd let you guys know that there's a firmware update for the Canon S1 IS.

http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/pss1is/firmware-e.html

A lot of these pics are blurred probably because of too slow shutter. Try setting the camera to TV shutter priority mode and set it at 1000th. If you can't get enough exposure wide open turn the iso up. I notice the S1 has spot metering and exposure compensation. If the sun is behind your rider spot meter on the rider and lock the exposure before you shoot. The background will blow out but at least you won't have a black shape only. Or you can add some positive exposure compensation if you're shooting with full evaluative metering. If it's got a histogram that will show you better than anything if you're exposed properly. These P&S cameras all have a lot of shutter lag just get used to it the best you can. I see it has a continuous focus mode, I'd stay away from that and spot focus.

Rich,

Good stuff! Thanks! Can you explain what we should look for on the histogram?

Here are some from my friends Canon A-10. I have some better ones saved at home.

thank you so much for the info on the firmware update. They update fixed problems I was having with the camera.

You must download the firmware update if your camera does not have the latest installed. It makes the camera MUCH easier to frame and shoot your subject in the constant auto focus mode. The viewfinder no longer freezes when the focus is setting!!!!!!!!!! Makes it sooooo much easier to get even better shots. I have also had problems with the overexposure problem, and hope it fixed that as well as stated.

I'm not sure how the histogram is laid out on the S1 but on my cam (1D) it's divided into 5 sections with each division representating 1 stop of exposure. That means the 1D has a dynamic range of 5 stops before the you lose all contrast in the blacks on the left side or blow out (clip) the whites on the right side. The idea is to keep all the digital information (the histogram graph) between the far left (blacks) and the far right (whites), but with the understanding when you need to over or underexpose a certain part of the shot you bias the exposure to the left or right. If you see the histogram graph piled up against the left side you're way underexposed and piled up against the right side means you're overexposed. If you're shooting a contrasty scene like a wakeboarder and you want detail in the rider you'd want to see your exposure biased to the right. A perfect example is Jerrod's 2 shots above, the rider is exposed properly and shows good contrast but it's at the expense of the background which looks a bit blown out. If you looked at the histogram it would probably be heavily piled up to the right. You want the exposure to be biased to the right in this situation but not so much that you totally lose the background. You could take those pictures into Photoshop and add some contrast to save the sky but it may be too far gone. By making small exposure adjustments and watching the histogram you can find the sweet spot where the rider has good contrast and the sky isn't gone. For a scene like the above if I was shooting shutter priority (freeze action for wakeboarding), evaluative metering and letting the cam meter the aperature I would probably add 2/3rd to a stop of positive exposure compensation to move the histogram graph to the right and keep checking it until the whites start to clip a bit. If you're spot metering on the rider which is probably what Jerrod did you might even dial in some negative exposure compensation.

Thanks for the explanation Rich.

Thanks Rich, good read.

Here is a comprehensive article about what I'm talking about if you're interested.

http://www.outbackphoto.com/workflow/wf_45/essay.html