Shooting Stills

[rwsmyhi 0]

Santa came early this year with a Canon T2i. Only have the 18-55mm lens available at this point, and would like to ask those with the same equipment how they setup their camera (manual vs. auto?\filters, etc) when shooting stills in FF.. I understand there will be more than one setup due to different conditions, and any advice would be much appreciated.

[billvon 2,393]

The 18-55mm kit lens works pretty well. It's light and just about matches a typical .5 lens on a CX100-series camcorder.

I generally will go fixed focus and 1/500 for most freefall. I'll switch to program for pictures inside the plane, and will sometimes back off to 1/250 or so during cloudy/dusk-y jumps. Sports mode also works but it makes me nervous because I don't always know what it's going to do.

Tape or use rubberbands on lens to prevent unexpected zooming. I use a small piece of gaffer's tape so I can "break it free" under canopy to add some zoom for canopy shots.

[gearless_chris 1]

I like the 18-55 lens, but it zooms in during freefall if you don't hold it in place. I use a large rubberband to hold it. I shoot Tv 400, ISO 100 most of the time. I bump the ISO up to 400 in the morning and up to 800 in the evening. I also shoot in RAW+JPEG, but for tandems I would only use JPEG.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[0013 0]

I used the 18-55 IS for a while as well. With rubber bands around the zoomring to lock it at 18mm

Mainly used it on Aperture priority set to 5.6 with focus on the central point and in continuous burst mode, 800 ISO

Downside of using autofocus with this objective is the fact the autofocus can't handle the wind, so if you are shooting down you might get focus errors, missed shots due to lack of focus confirmation for the camera or even damage to the focus motor. I never tried it with a manually locked focus but it sounds like a good idea to me

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www.youtube.com/l0013

[rwsmyhi 0]

Thanks very much for the hopefully continuing guidance, and please add any additional thoughts, tips and tricks. I haven't jumped my still in 10yrs, and that camera (Canon 35mm film) is night and day compared to the new DSLR's capabilities. This site is the only resource available for this type of information I could find (please point me to others you may know of) as there are no local "still" camera flyers to get advice from, for myself, and I'm guessing many who are interested. Thanks again.

[gcollados 0]

Are you sure that is ISO800 at 5.6 aperture that you are using?

seems overkill in a sunny day

[gearless_chris 1]

Probably good for in the plane though, and it would stop all the movement. It's an action shot though, there should be some flapping going on. Just for fun I shot a couple of the team practice jumps with a shutter speed of 60, you pretty much lose the exit shots, but once it stabilizes you can get a couple of good ones. I'm going to try 80 and a flash next year.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[0013 0]

Yes, f/5.6 + iso 800 is what i recall using with that objective.
browsing through my archived shots i hardly have any "true"-blue sky pictures with it. Always partially cloudy.

I like to keep shutter times quite low. I prefer a totally frozen frame and as little as possible motion blur but tastes do tend to vary regarding this.

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www.youtube.com/l0013

[gcollados 0]

I'm using a EOS Xt and Iso 800 is too grainy for me. I know that the T2i and T3i has improved a lot on high iso though.

Maybe Santa can send to me a T3i for Christmas

[sinjin 0]

even during cloudy days iso 800 is not the best choice. iso 100-200 during the day light hours should be plenty. the customer will have less quality pictures if they are enlarged. i would re think this use of iso in daylight conditons.

dont let life pass you by