olympus 5050Z help required

[Jules]

So I know a few of you guys have got the same camera and despite two weeks of playing I am still not sure of
1) How can you tell when you have crossed over from optical zoom to digital zoom. my previous camera (not actually mine!) showed you in the display but cant see if and how this one does.
2) When you set it to machro manual focus how do you actually focus it??

I have even resorted to reading the friggin manual but cant find the answer to either of these, helpfully the full manual is on a CD ROM and I wasted half a tree printing it out and cant find the answer to either of these in there (but then i am an engineer and so reading the manual is not a skill I am readily equipped with)

And lastly, this is probably a horses for courses type of question but
3) Which one the many programme settings would you use for underwater shots?

Any hints and tips readily accepted. Underwater housing arrives tomorrow (or so I am promised).

Hope we get some viz in mull next weekend otherwise i may just get grumpy and it doesnt work with the diving grin..

jules

[JohnK]

Julia - try posting on www.digitaldiver.net forums - a lot of those guys have a huge amount of experience with the 5050

Hope this helps

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Julia C @ Feb. 29 2004,22:19)]And lastly, this is probably a horses for courses type of question but
3) Which one the many programme settings would you use for underwater shots?

Any hints and tips readily accepted. Underwater housing arrives tomorrow (or so I am promised).

Hope we get some viz in mull next weekend otherwise i may just get grumpy and it doesnt work with the diving grin..

jules

<font color='#0000FF'>Jules

This is the camera my course was based on so I will bring the notes with me at the weekend. &nbsp;I think it had all the underwater settings you need.

FB

[Jules]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (FionaB @ Mar. 01 2004,10:17)]

Jules

This is the camera my course was based on so I will bring the notes with me at the weekend.  I think it had all the underwater settings you need.

FB

Yes do please, thanks Fiona.

And kirky Iwill post it on there too.

jules

[Dr Stevil]

At least you're getting on a bit faster with yours than I am with mine, I'm still just pointing and shooting &nbsp;
Got my housing now though, yay.....

[Jules]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Steve W @ Mar. 01 2004,16:00)]At least you're getting on a bit faster with yours than I am with mine, I'm still just pointing and shooting  
Got my housing now though, yay.....

we can have a &quot;sad bastard with new camera&quot; corner in the pub in lochaline. I will show you mine if you show me yours and who knows we might even read the manual...
Underwater housing arrived at work today.....yeeee haaaaaaa
Cant wait to play,

jules &nbsp;

[Tim Ingmire]

Hi Jules, In answer to your question.

1. I don't bother with digi zoom so can't help you with that - I find that features like this are a total non-starter, I can't think of anything that you can can do with digi-zoom that you can't do with a photo-editing package, get a plug-in like fractal zoom if you really want to get closer artificially.
2. When in manual focus mode use the up and down arrows on the back of the camera - LCD should show an enlarged part of the image to help but in my experience this is not always helpful. &nbsp;Don't by any means use the distance markers when you start focussing, they are wildley innacurate.
3. Initially stick the camera in auto mode, once you've got the hang of it, then start playing with manual. &nbsp;You can set the camera My-modes to custom settings and I have these for scenic and macro modes. &nbsp;As Kirky said do a search over at digitaldiver.net for more info on this, that's where I picked up my settings. &nbsp;You can also goto www.splashdowndivers.com for a whole bunch of settings but a number of these are for use with an external strobe. &nbsp;Best have a play, experiment and learn that way. &nbsp;The good thing about digital is that you can see your results straight away and make adjustments as you see fit.

[Jules]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Timing @ Mar. 01 2004,22:19)]Hi Jules, In answer to your question.

1. I don't bother with digi zoom so can't help you with that - I find that features like this are a total non-starter, I can't think of anything that you can can do with digi-zoom that you can't do with a photo-editing package, get a plug-in like fractal zoom if you really want to get closer artificially.
2. When in manual focus mode use the up and down arrows on the back of the camera - LCD should show an enlarged part of the image to help but in my experience this is not always helpful.  Don't by any means use the distance markers when you start focussing, they are wildley innacurate.
3. Initially stick the camera in auto mode, once you've got the hang of it, then start playing with manual.  You can set the camera My-modes to custom settings and I have these for scenic and macro modes.  As Kirky said do a search over at digitaldiver.net for more info on this, that's where I picked up my settings.  You can also goto www.splashdowndivers.com for a whole bunch of settings but a number of these are for use with an external strobe.  Best have a play, experiment and learn that way.  The good thing about digital is that you can see your results straight away and make adjustments as you see fit.

Tim
Thanks

I found the answer to the digital zoom question when i RTFM-ed. Found out that i had the digi zoom off so that'swhythere was no indication of it being used! Doh! . Found out how to turn in on and then turned it off again. The 3 times optical zoom is plenty and as you say best to do digital zooming on the pc.
ok good tried the manual focus it's great, kids now think i am barmy sitting at the pc taking pics of the keyboard with camera in full underwater housing. yes the distance markers are way off arent they!

Havent found how to set the mymodes thing up yet but realised i might find them useful. I will find that section in the manual and read it tomorrow.

retail therapy, new toys, bliss!

Signed up to digitaldiver, and found some interesting stuff. I just love that you can take the same picture 10 times and throw away the worst 9! been messing around with bracketing, now have 9 pictures of my mobile phone to go with the ones of keyboards. oh for a nudibranc or two to pose for me!
Thanks for your answers and the initial advice you gave me when shopping around.
jules

[Norseman]

<font color='#0000FF'>Hey Jules.

I've got the Canon S40 and that's nowhere near yours, but I've found a few good settings:
- Distance: Auto, no flash, cloudy exposure
- Closeups: Aperture setting (A on the wheel normally). For depth set to F8.0. Turn the flash down one or two notches in order not to overexpose the little white worms and also in order to blank/black out the background.

When it comes to Digital Zoom I am glad you've come to the proper conclusion. Remember that all the Digital Zoom does is to &quot;go into&quot; the biggest image possibility on your camera.

One rule of thumb lastly: When it comes to digital cameras it is vital that you never overexpose. What's burnt stays burnt. Underexposure can almost always be fixed.

Enjoy your new housing.

Kyrre

[Narked@50]

Hi Fiona

I got the same camera about a couple of months ago and have found the settings vary dramaticaly according to conditions like, light, viz, depth, colour of water so every situation is different. I found many settings were just not suitable for where I was using the camera and resorted to building my own experiance bit by bit. A good start point is the &quot;white balance&quot; which changes the overall colour of you pictures from red though to blue, the spectrum. This is good because as water filters out red light first you can compensate for it bit at a time as you go deeper and save the settings in &quot;my mode&quot;. e.g. set for 5m, 10m, 20m ect. by trial and error using white balance, store the settings and then just get them at the press of a button as you change depth next time you go diving in similar conditions.

This is a huge can of worms, the most important thing is to have fun and not worry about it too much, just don't give up the day job yet.

James &nbsp;