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Setting up your new camera.
When you get your camera home charge the battery overnight. After that, most batteries have a fairly short charge time of about 4 hours. Charging overnight on the first charge helps with the overall lifetime of the battery. Insert the memory card that you purchased. When you first turn it on, you will have to set date and time. Last, you want to go into the menu and format the card. See the instruction manual that came with your camera to find the specific instructions.
NOTE: The pictures used are from one camera model. Your camera may look a little different. The attempt has been made to make the picture references as close to as many different models as possible. Most cameras have all these different modes. However, your camera may name them or use a icon different than what is shown. Consult your instruction manual for specific information about your camera.
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Now you are ready to take pictures. Some picture modes to keep in mind:
Auto. This is an easy place to start. If you are not sure, use this mode. The camera does everything including adjust for flash, metering and auto focus. This is a good place to start. Learn this first, then move on. But keep reading so you know what is coming. See the Photography Basics if you want to learn more about general photography.
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Program/ Scene modes. The purpose of these functions is to specify to the camera what you are taking a picture of. The camera will then evaluate the scene and apply effects specific to the mode that you set. Some effects may include color filters, faster/ slower shutter speeds, increased/ decreased brightness, and selective focus. For example: The Portrait mode. The portrait mode tells the camera that you will be taking a picture of a person. The camera will then set the focusing and metering to properly expose a picture of a person. A few of the scene modes built into cameras are: Snow, Fireworks, Indoor Party, Landscape, Macro, Portrait, Kids and Pets, Sports, and Foliage. Many cameras have similar modes under different names.
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| Flash modes Most compact digital cameras have a built in flash. These flashes are fairly decent sources of light. They will have range of about 8-10 feet. When you are using the flash, expect to wait a little longer between shots so the flash completely recharges. The recharge time can be a disadvantage, but there no way to speed up the camera. What can be done is to get a camera with an external flash mount called a hot shoe. The hot shoe allows an external flash to be mounted which will recharge much faster, give out more light and a better quality of light. |
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| Along with having a flash, digital cameras have different modes to control the flash. |
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Red Eye Reduction: This mode usually gives off a pre-flash to shrink the size of the pupils in the eyes of the subjects in the picture. The pupil in the eye is what reflects light and causes red eye. A few cameras now have built in software into the camera which will automatically take red-eye out. |
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Slow Sync: A flash goes off at a speed of 1/250,000sec. The fastest shutter of any main stream camera is 1/8000sec. By default, the flash goes off at the beginning of the exposure. In low light, the shutter is much slower than the flash. In this mode, the camera will adjust the flash to allow for the slower shutter speed. This will help reduce motion blur from slow shutter speeds.
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ON: Turns the flash on |
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OFF: Turns the flash off |
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Auto: Turns the flash on Auto. Camera controls everything. You don’t have to worry about setting any flash functions. |
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| Self timer. Most cameras have self timers or remotes so you can get back into the picture or take a picture with your hands off the camera. Put the camera into Self Timer mode, press the shutter button and get in the picture. Wait till the camera takes a picture. Cameras usually have a self timer light or you can wait until the flash goes off. |
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| Viewing your Pictures. The first step to view your picture is to put the camera in to the play mode. Cameras have either a button or a switch. Once in the play mode, using the toggle button on the camera to move forward and backward through the pictures stored on the card. |
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| Zooming. While in the play mode, try using the zoom in/out button. This will allow you to zoom in/out on the pictures that you have already taken. This can be useful to check sharpness, to crop, or if you are printing directly to a printer then this would be how your would crop. (see printers) |
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| Deleting your pictures. There are two ways to delete pictures. The first is by using the delete button. Depending on the camera this method can delete one picture or all pictures. When a camera saves images to a memory card, every camera that uses that card creates a folder to put the images in. The delete button will only delete pictures in the specific folder for that camera. The Format function will completely clear the card of all data. Format can be found in the menu. Once you transfer your pictures to your computer it is a good idea to format your card before you use it again |
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Image Recovery. In case you format your card and lose your most valuable pictures, you still have a chance to recover the lost images. Some photo labs, including Tall’s Camera, have image recovery software which in many cases bring back your deleted images. There is also software available to recover your images at home if you are computer savvy enough. Image recovery is not always 100%. There is no guarantee that your pictures will be recovered. However, it is your only chance of recovering a lost image.
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Now that you have your camera setup, Lets go ahead and get you computer set up for your camera.
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