Heathrow Part 2.

[MWISimmer]

Well you learn something new everyday. Thanks for the heads up Doug  :)

[61_OTU]

Good work Rob,

two quick observations. The shutter speed on the Lufthansa was 1/680th of a second in comparison to 1/125th on the PIA, and I think that the difference between the two is quite clear in the shots. At 1/680th then you should have been able to get a sharper shot, so maybe some practice in panning shots is required  ;) Another possibility is that some post processing of the Lufthansa shot is required to get the best out of it, I'll PM you my email, send me the original and I'll see if I can sharpen it a bit.

The second observation is the ISO. At ISO 200 the camera is obviously able to obtain a higher shutter speed (evidenced by the 1/680th on the Luft shot, which is still well exposed) however your aperture is f6.4. This is a middling aperture which will give you a large-ish depth of field (the front-to-back area of the shot which is in focus). By increasing the aperture by a couple of stops you should still have been able to keep the whole aircraft in focus, and for each stop doubled the amount of light entering the camera. This would have enabled the camera to select a much faster shutter speed for the PIA shot and might have rescued it fromt he obvious camera shake.

As the light improves you may want to consider dropping the ISO.....down to 64 on a very bright day, as this maximises the quality of the images you take. Similarly the more overcast and grey the day becomes (just wait till you get to Wales  ::) ) then increasing the ISO may be the only way to get a shutter speed which can be hand held.

I'll PM you my email

Steve

[Omag 2.0]

Personally I like to shoot in the S-mode with my FZ5 and 400D, while spotting. This enables me to set shuttertimes that I know cause the least chance og cameramovement-blur. However, you must check out the result after the first shot, to see if they are clear enough...

If you choose a shuttertime of 1/focal length, you should be able to take sharp pictures.

example, at 300 mm => shuttertime of 1/300 or faster

Offcourse, if you have imagestabilisation, you might take it a bit slower, but not to much.

[61_OTU]

Personally I like to shoot in the S-mode with my FZ5 and 400D, while spotting. This enables me to set shuttertimes that I know cause the least chance og cameramovement-blur. However, you must check out the result after the first shot, to see if they are clear enough...

If you choose a shuttertime of 1/focal length, you should be able to take sharp pictures.

example, at 300 mm => shuttertime of 1/300 or faster

Offcourse, if you have imagestabilisation, you might take it a bit slower, but not to much.

A good point, but you run more of a risk of underexposing your shots, if you choose a shutter speed which the camera cannot compensate for with aperture alone. This is where it is important to appreciate where your ISO setting is, and how it works with the available light.

[Willit Run]

Nice shots in both post, Rob!!

You will get better and better as you go along and using the different software will get easier.  I always save the original shots on an external hard drive and work with copies so that if I mess something up ( which i've done plenty of times ) I just go back and get another copy of the original.  I feel the shots I take are getting better but, I still have along way to go.  It's just a learning process that pays off in the end!!