** Weekly X-Series Photo-Sharing Thread 07 APR – 13 APR **

I am just beginning my digital camera journey in earnest so I'm hoping to post something in the weekly photo sharing threads. This was my first venture out with my new to me XT3. I was focusing on the Aperature Priority setting as I understand this is commonly used. I used my 16-80mm lens (I only have one) and I was about 52mm from my highly accomodating subjects. It was a gloomy day. Question: I left EC at 0 - should I have made changes? ISO was 80 and exposure time (?shutter speed) was 1/180.

As I am just starting out I think I would benefit from some constructive critism please.

Using ISO 80 instead of base ISO (160) you are already effectively shooting with +1 stop EC in terms of exposure (but with the same resulting jpeg brightness as shooting at base ISO). There isn’t anything inherently wrong with doing this (you will reduce shadow noise by a stop) but in doing so you are reducing the available highlight headroom by 1 stop which can easily result in unexpected blown highlight detail in high dynamic range situations. Unless you fully understand the potential consequences of shooting at non-native ISO settings, I’d recommend sticking with base ISO.

That all said, you will want to adjust EC if the camera’s metering gets it a bit wrong and you want to produce a darker or lighter result than you would get at 0 EC. Simply adjust EC as needed. I highly recommend enabling the highlight warning blinkies in the EVF to know when you’re going too far and clipping highlight detail.

I would have probably applied some positive exposure compensation for your woodpeckers above, the snow (which ought to be white) will tend to cause underexposure - as the metering will want it to be middle grey.

Thank you Mustafa. I'm guessing the second of "Osprey approaching her nest."

Morris

Waterfall in the Blackforest (Schwarzwald near Bad Liebenau) - i've been with the family for eastern there. Fuji X-T4 / Sigma 18-50 at 40 mm f4, opened in Adobe Camera Raw, underexposed a little bit, added texture and dehaze, minimized sharpening to zero, just made the picture a little warmer in the white balance panel.

Thank you for this. The only setting changes I made intentionally was to move to A-Priority. ISO / SS were still on auto. Next time I will experiment a bit more with the EC / ISO and see what results I get.

I mostly shoot Aperture Priority (manual aperture with the SS dial and Auto ISO dial on "A") I use the 3 Auto-ISO presets (base ISO - ISO 12800 limits for all with a different minimum SS for each). With exposure compensation on the front dial (EC dial in "C" mode), you can shoot almost anything quickly and accurately with complete creative control.

Hi Morris,

I meant that photo with three Ospreys in flight. In this forum it is a little bit confusing because the replies do not appear just below the corresponding post. I hope this can be solved soon.

Mustafa

Ahh, Spring!

Comments and suggestions welcome,

Morris

Nice capture and color, Morris.

Bob

Thank you Bob,

Morris

Nice.... not too many of these where I live.

Bob

Falcon

I spotted two raptors riding the currents very high up over the Tanglewood Preserve on Long Island, NY. I suspected they were falcons yet when this one dove it was clear it was a peregrine falcon. This is my favorite image taken during the dive and it's a fairly large crop. As you can see some tree branches got into the frame yet they did not affect the tracking of my X-H2s.

Comments and suggestions welcome,

Morris

Nice photo, Morris. I have never been a BIF photographer except for the big metal birds in Air shows. I also have been somewhat limited on carrying heavy set of good telephoto lenses because of back surgery when I was 26. However, I have managed.....until the last couple of years. I am able to carry the 100-400 but not for too long. So, the other day I picked up the 70-300 and that is like carrying a feather. After buying it from the cam store I went out to the beach for a walk not expecting to use it... left it unopened in the trunk. Sat down and noticed lots of gulls and pelicans flying by. I had the time so I went back to the car and opened up the box, mounted the new lens on the X-T5, sat down and started shooting. I think I got some decent images and will be processing them today or tomorrow. However.....I have one question.... and surprisingly one question. At full telephoto range (and I know the IQ won't be as good), it is somewhat difficult to keep the little birdies within the field of view at times with IS off. That's the conventional way of shooting, I think, and that's the way I've always shot air shows and have been successful. While experimenting I noticed with IS on there was less random movement in the FOV. Do you ever shoot BIF with IS on? And I apologize if this is an inane, rookie, or stupid question.... especially with the entire site looking on. 😁 My SS is always shorter than 1/1000s. Thanks, Morris

Bob

Thank you Bob,

It used to be necessary to turn stabilization off when panning or set a panning mode. Most modern lenses will detect a pan and adjust as needed. I've never had a problem panning with stabilization on using my XF 70-300. The 70-300 is a fun lens as it's not only light, it has reasonable IQ and focuses close enough to photograph flowers.

Morris

Morris

Thanks, Morris

Bob--
For what it's worth, I've been shooting BIF with OIS enabled for a good while now, and with no issues. Now, my experience (and expertise) pales in comparison to Morris' here, but as he mentioned in his response, the recent cameras I've used (including the X-H2s I'm using now) do not require OIS to be disabled for BIF or other motion photography.

J.

My modest BIF contribution (to test thread in this category) was made with OIS activated. X-S10. 70-300x1.4, Custom Setting MORRIS BIF

Thanks to you and Jerry and Morris for the response.

Bob

Another eagle, flying over open water in the frozen Mississippi River off Harriet Island, St. Paul MN

Those fossils are AMAZING! What a find…

IMHO, that is absurd. Believe it or not, I'm pretty sure that most people here are happy to see examples from one brand or multiple brands without the discussion devolving into a "fanboy contest." Many people might well not be all that interested in wading through comments, issues, examples, and other discussions that relate to brands and cameras that they don't use. Hence, the reason why forums like this are often brand specific. TBH, I really can't see any reason at all why a forum like this cannot address the needs of people who are interested in brand specific discussions and which coexist with other forums that might be focused on specific types of photography and which are brand agnostic. I think there's a place for both types of forums. And, FWIW, I haven't seen much in the way of any "spiteful comments" here, and if/when that does happen, that's why forums like this are moderated.