[ravnostic]

1) Make sure to turn ‘long exposure noise reduction’ on.

2) use mirror lockup if you have a cable or remote-shutter fob (if you don’t you might consider getting one.)

3) If you DON’T want star trails, use high ISO’s, and short time intervals (viewed at full res, a shot at 28mm for even 30 seconds will cause blur.) You’ll have to fiddle with the settings to determine how high you can go with the ISO with reasonable noise (and reducing image size for viewing will often take care of quite a bit of it.)

4) If you DO want star trails, use lower ISO’s, and longer exposures.

A decent 300mm lens will give you Jupiter’s moons, with a long enough exposure (and I’d have to find the pictures to determine how long you can go without it moving–it’s not long–Jupiter will, of course, be overexposed to get the moons). Also, find the absolute darkest skies in the least polluted areas as you can. Light pollution turns the night sky brown. You can use a tungs. setting to minimize this, if need be.

[thinks] what else? If you have that 300mm lens, give Orion’s nebula a shot–you should be able to get it. Same with the Andromeda Galaxy, if the skies are dark enough.

[ravnostic]

I’ll be derned. I can shoot in just RAW. Honestly, I once set it, then fergetted it.

[ravnostic]

fry’s electronics can get you a Tb for under $100. I thought mine would last forever. I’m 1/8th full (I could delete a whole ton of she-at, but that takes time, too.

And, look; I’m $50 deep in twinkies, ding dongs, suzy Qs, Zingers, etc. So one little blueberry cake isn’t much to ask, is it?

[ravnostic]

causeIsaidso I did both RAW and JPG for a while, but I found it redundant. I never used the jpegs once I got comfortable with the RAW files. I do my previewing in DPP any more (the thumbnails tend to give me an idea) but there’s also a windows plugin for XP, and if you have Vista or Seven you just need the codecs to view them in the preview panes if that’s your preference…

Is there a way to eliminate the JPG save when shooting in RAW? I haven’t found it, but I could eek out a couple more images, if so. It’s so easy to convert to JPG after processing (or not processing, when it’s right), I’d love to save the space on the CF…

[ravnostic]

but have decided that 4GB cards are large enough.

I agree. In fact, with the xTi, 8 Gigs is the limit (I learned that the hard way after buying a 16 gig; even if formated to 8 gigs it would freeze up the camera.)

[ravnostic]

The sad part is both my parents were scuba instructors, and I got certified years ago. And they have underwater photo equipment. None of this does me any good since I live in Phoenix: FAIL. Maybe I’ll talk mom into participating since she’s now a fark member.

[ravnostic]

I’m thinking Bass Pro Shops, myself. It’s easy, it’s close, and they have an aquarium or three.

[ravnostic]

*do* get another memory card – I’ve found a single 8GB is more than enough for a single day’s shooting, even on a heavy day. (I’ve come back on at least one occasion with the card half-full). Plus, having a second card in your bag is always nice for when you leave your main one in the card reader…

Oh, and *do* have fun with it 😉
/also, throw your P&S in your purse, or your car. It’s never a bad idea to have one around

Wow olavf, only 1/2 full? I have two 4 gigs and a 1 gig and have actually filled them all (of course, I take a lot of experimental shots that get trashed; still learning, you know.)

Also *do* get a spare battery!! I never leave home without two fully charged ones. There’s nothing worse than composing the perfect shot only to see “battery low, replace immediately” just before you click the shutter.

*don’t* rely on flash–learn proper exposure and you won’t have to, and it EATS the battery. You can take hundreds of shots without it, maybe a hundred to two with it. Usually lighting is better without flash (there are many exceptions to this, of course, but as a general rule…)

My camera also tells me it’s not loaded with a card–and there’s a setting that won’t let you take pictures without it. Useful way to not think you’re having a ball, only to go *doh!* later.

I can’t stress strongly enough about the extra memory card. Mine uses flash memory. The 1 gig ALWAYS stays in the bag. When I shot the street scene in Tempe for ‘Classic Green’? Shot on the 1 gig. Left the others at home by mistake. Wouldn’t have got those cool shots I posted in the forum had I not had the 1 gig tucked away.

And the P&S is good for hubby taking a picture of you taking pictures.

[ravnostic]

p.s. You know, cloud–your going to totally have to remake that blueberry cake for “Just Desserts”, don’t you?

[ravnostic]

Congrats to Silver Stag!! Hell–congrats to everybody–this were a loverly contest to view.

[ravnostic]

I have the EOS xTi. I love it. DO use the software that comes with it for post processing. They also have an nifty stitching program that does a nice job.

You’ll love what a simple thing like changing the f/stop (aperture) can do to a composition. Not to mention all the other nifty stuff.

Congrats on your new toy!! May we look forward to some gallery shots with your early ventures?

[ravnostic]

Well, I now have 10 individually wrapped Twinkies and 12 individually wrapped Ding-dongs, if the packaging is to be believed. In the pantry I find corn syrup, cocoa powder, chocolate chip morsels, and assorted baking supplies (flour, sugar, etc).

*sigh*

I’ll have to come up with something. If I can keep my average up, this contest will put me over 1000 total votes.

[ravnostic]

He’s a sailor. This is New York. We just have to get him laid, how hard can that be?

mind out of the gutter…mind out of the gutter…mind out of the gutter…

/turnabout is fair…

[ravnostic]

mind out of gutter… mind out of gutter… mind out of gutter…

I’ll make you a deal, shower boy; you get your mind out of the gutter, I’ll get my mind out of the same.

/kestrana would approve.

[ravnostic]

NP, caradoc. And I should add that the credits were inserted by me, mom doesn’t do bold font.

🙂

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