Joe McNally also called it that on one of his Kelby Training videos. ; That's probably the best term for it.
Roni, I usually do what you do and my setting is whatever it was when I turned it off. ; I need to get in the habit of going back to a base setting so that my shots don't come out blue because I manually changed the white balance the last time I was taking pics.
Aperture Priority, f8 Matrix Metering One Shot Focus ISO 800 Auto White Balance Low Speed Continuous Shooting Raw
Just curious... Why do some of you start back at ISO 800? ; Don't photos up that high come out pretty noisy?
That depends on the camera. ; Some of the newer models have much better high ISO performance, especially the full frame models. I would venture a guess that those who have stated that they start at 800 ISO tend to do a lot of low light or maybe sports photography that would make that a good starting point for them.
I start at ISO800 just so that I hope to have a high enough shutter speed with my f8 aperture setting should I need to quickly grab a photo; nothing magical about it and my settings are just ballpark anyway. ; If you know your camera well and have read the manual, you should be able to adjust the camera settings fairly quickly to adapt to any situation. ; All it takes is getting enough shooting time with your camera.
Magical? ; I'd say that was a magical ISO 12-15 years ago. I remember when technology had passed the Kodak Gold MAX line (the first one to try and say all you needed was one speed, esp. in a disposable camera) but Fuji sprinted past with the 4 layer Superia film, or preferably their FujiPress800 line.[nb]And to a lesser extent Portra 800, which was much better than Gold MAX. ; The film era died for me right after the introduction of Supra 800, which was everything that I wished I had in 98/99.[/nb] ; Heck I still have a few rolls of that from when I bought a full box of it.... It was the first film that allowed *acceptable* prints in almost any weather. ; Now however, I like to stay as close to the base ISO of the camera as I can.[nb]For maximum dynamic range.[/nb]
You kid.. but I'm certain that you could produce serious art if you started from that wacky starting point. ; I've seen too many photography exercises that start out with some sort of artificial restriction to ultimately force you to think in ways you haven't used before. ; I'm thinking in particular of the approach of taking a whole day shooting with only a prime lens. Okay, so anyway, as to the topic.. I don't really do this. ; And sometimes I've paid the penalty. ; Yeah, I have pictures taken in bright daylight at ISO 6400. ; The first two of the lizard pictures I posted were taken at a higher ISO than necessary because I totally forgot to consider changing it. ; And I have one spectacular shot that I'll post in the appropriate Disney World group some time that's a result of leaving my camera on manual, probably a setting I'd used for a night shot the night before. ; The thing is it made a really cool if "abstract" image that I'm glad I got. Roughly I may try to bring my ISO back to a generally average level, say something between 800 and 100. ; I try to switch back to aperture priority mode. ; I try to remember to turn off any special modes like timer or mirror lockup, but I often forget all of that. ; With photography either I'm in the zone, or else I tune out and just turn off the camera and put it away. ; I don't have a cool down phase, I don't have a time where I set everything back to standard. I've taken a picture only to find that I'm still in manual mode with a multiple second long exposure set more often than I care to remember. ; It's shocking, you press the shutter button and the shutter opens but then it stays open and doesn't close like you'd expect and suddenly it hits you that you've been a bonehead and that you never went back to Av after that night however long ago when you were out trying to be artsy shooting empty neighborhood streets after midnight. ; Yes, every once in a while I've gotten the blinking shutter speed readout telling me that the camera doesn't have a shutter speed fast enough for the current ISO and aperture setting. ; A few nights ago I found the camera apparently not reacting at all to my wired shutter release because I'd left it in timer mode (which it also uses for the IR wireless remote functionality). ; I hit the shutter release and nothing happened, then I noticed that the timer light was blinking and I realized what I'd done. Honestly I have no intention of trying to change. ; This is my way, for better or for worse. ; I don't deal with routine too well. ; I'll accept it when it's a matter of safety, but when the worst thing that can happen is an all white image that's blown out into oblivion I'll accept it. ; I sure hope I never lose a really important image to that, but I typically have the luxury of the first few shots that show me where I've screwed up before the big one comes along.
I had read a blog post by one of the more well known pros who shoots Nikon who had suggested that you do the factory reset every time by pressing the buttons with the green dots next to them. ; I don't think it puts everything back to factory but a very select set of options. ; I need to look into that again
Ray, that is correct for the more recent dSLRs from Nikon per a D-Town episode I found last night researching this topic. ; You press the buttons next to the green dots at the same time for a couple of seconds and that resets the basic controls (ISO, shutter, aperture, maybe more) WITHOUT changing any of the menu settings on the camera. ; This might be true for the latest Canons, Sonys or others. ; As always, read your camera's manual to find out how your camera reacts to a reset.
I don't really do a reset. I pick it up and look at the settings that the camera was on when I took my last shot and if they'll give me what I want I fire away. However, I really wish I would reset it to 200, 5.6, center point focus, evaluative metering and 0EV. That's where I like to start as a baseline and then start changing things up from there. The best part about not reseting everything is trying to get a beautiful shot at dusk...at f22 and no tripod!
That I am not sure of. ; Might have to consult your manual on that one. ; That sure would be handy. That's what Brian wants his to do, too.
My thanks again to Craig for starting this thread. ; I hope I have summed it up in my blog post today: I Forgot to Zero Out my Camera Have a great day and weekend everyone!
pretty sure its some kind of factory default. There was something I didnt like about the green button reset that made me never use it. Also, Nikons have the shooting banks that could play a major role in setting up your camera, but I cant grasp that either. Roger??
Brain is blank right now. ; And it's only partially related to my recent activities.[nb]See Facebook.[/nb] I've used the shooting modes to change shutter release etc, and 12/14 bit modes, color spaces, Fn button...but it doesn't affect the shooting settings....
