Canon Camera Settings?

[runway27r]

I'm curious. What settings do the Canon camera users here use?

ISO, aV,Tv or Manual, etc.
Plus, JPG or Raw
and lastly
The custom settings (Sharpness, Contrast, etc.)

Paul

[stuart schechter]

I use Av for the planes and M for everything else.
nwafan20 turned me to RAW and i love it.
I don't use any custom settings, everything I can do in post-processing.

[pgengler]

Aperture priority (Av) at f/8 for jets, adjusting ISO for shutter speeds > 1/500s. Shutter priority (Tv) at 1/125 or lower for props to get prop blur. Everything is shot in RAW, with contrast, sharpness, etc. all tweaked in post.

[adam613]

My settings are pretty much the same as Phil's, although I use M when it's partly cloudy and the light isn't consistent. I shoot at the lowest ISO that lets me keep the shutter speed high enough...usually ISO 100 in good light, but even at ISO 800 you don't get a lot of noise if you overexpose a bit...

[T-Bird76]

My standard shooting mode for sunny conditions are the following

ISO 100
TV Mode- 400 to 800th of a second which will acheive an F stop of between 9 and 10 which is the sweet spot for my camera and lens.
Exposure compensation dropped by 1/3

Cloudy conditions.

ISO 200
TV Mode- 400th of a second
Exposure compensation increased by 1/3

Josh May got me into TV mode and I haven't gone back, I swear by it. My shots are infinitely better when I use TV mode over AV mode. I think you have more flexibility.

Walk around shoot (non aviation)

Manual mode

I shoot in JPEG mode, if you take the shot right the first time there is no need for RAW as it takes up needless space on a memory card and the PC. I believe if you know how to use your camera and manipulate the light correctly the first time your post processing will be kept to a minimum. RAW is a crutch IMO but some ppl swear by it.

[lijk604]

Sunny days:
M anual mode
ISO 100
f/8 or f/9 depending on how much light.
Shutter 1/500th

Cloudy days:
AV Mode
ISO 100
f/8 or f/7.1 if the clouds get more prevalent.
Keep the shutter as close to 1/400th as possible.

Non-Aviation
Full Manual, set the camera for the situation so I am 1/3 stop over neutral.

[SmAlbany]

I normally use Av with ISO 100 for aviation. Aperature set to F/8 or F/7.1 if the light will allow. I'll move it down to 5.6 if the light conditions require it.

When I was using the Digital Rebel (300D) I used to go to manual mode for predominantly white aircraft (F/8, 1/500 would normally be a good starting point on a sunny day). The Dreb's metering was poor and would overexpose white aircraft.

Now that I have the Xti, I put the metering in center weighted - seems to have solved the problem.

[Jetinder]

I'm curious. What settings do the Canon camera users here use?

ISO, aV,Tv or Manual, etc.
Plus, JPG or Raw
and lastly
The custom settings (Sharpness, Contrast, etc.)

Paul

Depends on which Canon SLR (film or digital).

I still have a Canon EOS 3 film SLR, still feel i got a good camera.

5 years ago for taking Concorde photos i used the following settings with a 80-400mm zoom + x1.5 converter
:-

Take off
--------
ASA 400 film, tv at 600 - 800sec (depending on weather and light)
metering = Evaluation, Motor winder = 6 PFS.

Landing
--------
ASA 400 film, tv at 600 - 800sec (depending on weather and light)
metering = Evaluation, Motor winder = 6 PFS.

On the ground
--------------
ASA 100-200 film, full auto mode, metering = Evaluation, Motor winder = 1-3 PFS.

Eye focus = switched off

(While waiting for Concorde) For subsonic planes
--------------------------- -------------------

Take off
--------
ASA 400 film, tv at 600 - 800sec (depending on weather and light)
metering = Evaluation, Motor winder = 1-3 PFS.

Landing
--------
ASA 400 film, tv at 600 - 800sec (depending on weather and light)
metering = Evaluation, Motor winder = 1-3 PFS.

On the ground
--------------
ASA 100-200 film, full auto mode, metering = Evaluation, Motor winder = 1-3 PFS.

Eye focus = switched off

Custome settings for all aircraft
------------------------------
Make sure all 45 AF points are used by the camera automatically

Make sure the camera re-winds film so the front cranked part still sticks out.

Make sure spot metering is linked to the AF point youre looking at.

Scanning them in to PC
----------------------
For archiving and very high quality work use 35mm negatives and scan them in TIFF format at your scanners highest setting.

For just sending to friends (via e-mail), posting on the internet use a photo and scan in at JPG at around 300 dpi.

Use Adobe Photoshop or Coral paintshop Pro to clean up images and correct the colours.