Thread: Dimage A2

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

Well I'll start with a whinge (mainly).

For some 20 years I used my Canon AE2 with fantastic results as I knew how to work it.

Around the time of acquiring the D3, I bought a Konica Minolta Dimage A2, 8mp "wundercamera".

It takes unbelievably good, huge photos. The two core attributes this camera had (at the time) over the opposition were (for the price) the "shutter" speed or delay between the button and the photo, and the size of the CCD.

For static photos it's great but for moving images (read 4WDs) I find it a constant pain. To the point were I have it setup to take 3 images in a row with differing exposure settings in an effort to get the photo I want. lately, I'm also learning the art of the moving focus point and white balance histogram.

Now I'm quite proud of the pics I've taken but the vast majority I have to delete. ie on a day out 4WDing I might take 100 stills of moving 4WDs to end up with 10 I'm happy with. While that's the beauty of the digital camera, it seems ridiculous that I seam to have gone backwards in skill and outcomes from the AE1.

On a side point: Paid $1800 for the AE1 in the early 80s, sold it on Ebay 2 years ago for $600. Not bad I thought.

one things is was taught in class was, if you are in the position to get a one off photo ALWAYS bracket your exposure.....that way you are sure to get the right exposure..(not that i ever do it)

so are you having problems getting your exposure? getting it in focus? or framing up a decent shot?

i'm still very much learning so it will be interesting to see the replies

One of the pro tips I got was to bracket and especially when in doubt. The histogram can be misleading depending on the camera, it also helps if you have the RGB histograms.

I'm lazy with whitebalance most of the time and just set it on AUTO as I shoot RAW. Shooting RAW also makes it easy to correct. But if I get really finiky I'll use a grey lens cloth that I have to give me a grey point in a test shot. Been toying with getting a WhiBal or some other WB card but haven't yet.

I won't give advice on moving objects and tracking them, I'll confess to being hopeless at panning shots.

Originally Posted by dullbird

so are you having problems getting your exposure? getting it in focus? or framing up a decent shot?

Focus with moving targets, caused (I think) by the shutter lag. Bracketing takes care of the exposure issues and using the locking focus point does help. Where I seem to come undone is objects moving away from me or come nearer to me, ie 4WDs ascending/descending climbs.

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

Focus with moving targets, caused (I think) by the shutter lag. Bracketing takes care of the exposure issues and using the locking focus point does help. Where I seem to come undone is objects moving away from me or come nearer to me, ie 4WDs ascending/descending climbs.

mmmmm i think the only way you could remedy something like that i would of thought is to prempt!! so taking picture of the action that hasn't happened yet!!.......

thats the only thing experienced off roaders have i think over someone that has never taken those sorts of pictures before is being able to draw from experience of possibly knowing how the car is going to react in certain situations.

do you have conitual focusing?

do you auto focus or manual focus?

Do you pan or static?

is the focusing motor in your body or the lens?

Are you in manual, aperture priority, shutter priority or a program?

can you tell anyone your settings?

it is very hard to judge the speed of anything coming directly towards or away from you, one thing i would recommend is to be at an angle to your subject

if you can answer some of the questions above may help people to answer your questions

i'm no expert i'm just trying to draw some conclusions from what i have been taught and what i have read, i still have a very long way to go myself


the other thing i would recomend is to not instantly delete the photo's that have gone bad, but to actually post them in here with the settings and see what suggestions other members can give you!! a lot can be seen just being able to look at the picture its self rather than you trying to describe it.

mmmmm i think the only way you could remedy something like that i would of thought is to prempt!! so taking picture of the action that hasn't happened yet!!.......
Yeah, I try to do that by locking the focus point onto (say) a rock in the track forward of where the vehicle is.

do you have conitual focusing?
Yes, not sure what they call it in the book but basically there's a moving green cross in the viewfinder. Holding the shutter button down halfway theoretically locks the focus point on an object (more or less).

do you auto focus or manual focus? Auto

Do you pan or static? Depends on the aspect being side or straight on. The biggest problems occur straight on.

is the focusing motor in your body or the lens? Now you're getting technical! No idea but I'd guess the body.

Are you in manual, aperture priority, shutter priority or a program? I think shutter, but like the D3 it has a habit of defaulting back to base settings when you least expect it.

can you tell anyone your settings? K?

it is very hard to judge the speed of anything coming directly towards or away from you, one thing i would recommend is to be at an angle to your subject
Point taken

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

mmmmm i think the only way you could remedy something like that i would of thought is to prempt!! so taking picture of the action that hasn't happened yet!!.......
Yeah, I try to do that by locking the focus point onto (say) a rock in the track forward of where the vehicle is.

do you have conitual focusing?
Yes, not sure what they call it in the book but basically there's a moving green cross in the viewfinder. Holding the shutter button down halfway theoretically locks the focus point on an object (more or less).

do you auto focus or manual focus? Auto

Do you pan or static? Depends on the aspect being side or straight on. The biggest problems occur straight on.

is the focusing motor in your body or the lens? Now you're getting technical! No idea but I'd guess the body.

Are you in manual, aperture priority, shutter priority or a program? I think shutter, but like the D3 it has a habit of defaulting back to base settings when you least expect it.

can you tell anyone your settings? K?

it is very hard to judge the speed of anything coming directly towards or away from you, one thing i would recommend is to be at an angle to your subject
Point taken

i have internal focusing in my lens so i have found that my tamron is a fraction slower at focusing than my nikon

i would also try taking it aperture priority....my teacher said to me that people automatically assume to take things that are moving you have to be in shutter priority...she said this is most defeinalty not the case especially in low light (shaded areas) you are better being in aperture priority...

this was taken in aperture priority


this wasn't the best situation as i was in a very shaded area...as you can see the background is quite blown out, but there is always a pay off in a situation like this you chose what you want to expose

but i find i get better results even with moving subjects in a rather than s