Pentax--Optio W80 Camera

Okay, I finally broke down and bought myself the camera mentioned in the
subject header--B-Day gift to me, from me!

Anyway, as the instructions manual is about 270 pages of tech. goobledy goop
and I have no *real* photography experience, other than taking **** poor
pics with **** poor cameras, I am asking if anyone has any experience with
this particular camera and can tell me how best to utilize the macro
function to take pics of flyz I have tied or will tie in the future.

I realize that I can set the thing in one of the two macro modes, but I am
still having difficulty getting it to focus head on to a fly-it blurs out
and focuses on the background? I am reading the instructions, but there are
many different ways to utilize the many different modes and settings. What
would really help is a tutorial that is specific to this camera and macro
picture taking--preferably taking macro pics of flys. Anyone know of any
such tutorials?

I have signed up with Digital Photography School
http://digital-photography-school.com/ , but I figure it never hurts to ask
the experts here!

Thanks!

Op

On Dec 28, 8:22*pm, "Mark Bowen" wrote:
Okay, I finally broke down and bought myself the camera mentioned in the
subject header--B-Day gift to me, from me!

Anyway, as the instructions manual is about 270 pages of tech. goobledy goop
and I have no *real* photography experience, other than taking **** poor
pics with **** poor cameras, I am asking if anyone has any experience with
this particular camera and can tell me how best to utilize the macro
function to take pics of flyz I have tied or will tie in the future.

I realize that I can set the thing in one of the two macro modes, but I am
still having difficulty getting it to focus head on to a fly-it blurs out
and focuses on the background? I am reading the instructions, but there are
many different ways to utilize the many different modes and settings. What
would really help is a tutorial that is specific to this camera and macro
picture taking--preferably taking macro pics of flys. Anyone know of any
such tutorials?

I have signed up with Digital Photography School http://digital-photography-school.com/, but I figure it never hurts to ask
the experts here!

Thanks!

Op

Don't know anything about that particular camera, but most high end
cameras these days (whether "slr" or point and shoot) have some sort
of focus lock feature. This allows you to focus wherever you like and
then move either the camera or the subject while maintaining a lock on
the focus at whatever range it was first set at. Thus, you can let
the camera focus on whatever is convenient (which is to say whatever
it decides is best) and then move the camera or the preferred subject
until it is maximally clear in the view finder. Takes a bit of
practice, but shouldn't be too difficult to master. Can also be done
with exposure.

Electrons are cheap. Lock the focus and take several shots at
slightly different distances from the subject. A little bit of
practice will work wonders. Dump the bad ones. I save somewhere
around 1-2% of my digital photos. I'm sentimental. You (and I)
should probably save about a couple out of every thousand.

Don't know what page in the manual covers that.

giles.

Okay, I finally broke down and bought myself the camera mentioned in the
subject header--B-Day gift to me, from me!

Anyway, as the instructions manual is about 270 pages of tech. goobledy goop

and I have no *real* photography experience, other than taking **** poor
pics with **** poor cameras, I am asking if anyone has any experience with
this particular camera and can tell me how best to utilize the macro
function to take epics of fly I have tied or will tie in the future.

I realize that I can set the thing in one of the two macro modes, but I am
still having difficulty getting it to focus head on to a fly-it blurs out
and focuses on the background? I am reading the instructions, but there are
many different ways to utilize the many different modes and settings. What
would really help is a tutorial that is specific to this camera and macro
picture taking--preferably taking macro pics of flys. Anyone know of any
such tutorials?

I have signed up with Digital Photography School
http://digital-photography-school.com/ , but I figure it never hurts to ask

the experts here!

Thanks!

Op
One method involves the
Use a tripod - a good one - and a cable release

Your exposure is determined by your shutter speed and the F stop or the
diameter of the opening in the lens
Both functions control the amt of light coming thru the lens and how long
it's opened
The smaller your F Stop (the lens opening is smaller as the #'s increase) -
the longer your exposure must be
But the smaller the F stop - the greater your depth of field
You cannot really handhold under 1/125 or 1/60 of a second
So you can opt for longer exposures with longer shutter speeds 1/30 or 1./8
(meaning greater depth of field) - because of the tripod and cable release -
you do not have to touch the camera.

Another method:
You may also want to "fool" the camera by changing your ISO setting and
making it "faster"

I hope that this makes some sense to you
The digital photo lessons are a good idea.
There are also several newsgroups for digital photography both SLR's and
point and shoot models like Roff where people will answer your questions
and some of the same insanity and flames also occur (on one particular
group)

Good luck
Fred
Who opted to buy the Olympus 720 another waterproof point and shoot because
the LCD screen was much brighter than the Optio.

"Mark Bowen" wrote in message
...
Okay, I finally broke down and bought myself the camera mentioned in the
subject header--B-Day gift to me, from me!

Anyway, as the instructions manual is about 270 pages of tech. goobledy
goop and I have no *real* photography experience, other than taking ****
poor pics with **** poor cameras, I am asking if anyone has any experience
with this particular camera and can tell me how best to utilize the macro
function to take pics of flyz I have tied or will tie in the future.

I realize that I can set the thing in one of the two macro modes, but I am
still having difficulty getting it to focus head on to a fly-it blurs out
and focuses on the background? I am reading the instructions, but there
are many different ways to utilize the many different modes and settings.
What would really help is a tutorial that is specific to this camera and
macro picture taking--preferably taking macro pics of flys. Anyone know of
any such tutorials?

I have signed up with Digital Photography School
http://digital-photography-school.com/ , but I figure it never hurts to
ask the experts here!

Thanks!

Op
I don't wish to sound pessimistic or negative, but macro photography has
one real problem for the amateur and that is Depth of Fileld.
That is to say the amouint of the subject that is in focus. In Macro the
depth of field is very, very small and it is very dfifficult to get the
whole fly in focus
because the length of the fly is greater than the available depth of field.

A tripod would be extremely useful for taking shots of flies in a vice as
this would allow the smallest aperture giving maximum depth of fleld while
also giving long exposures.

Varying to ISO rating will allow you to get shorter exposures but the best
quality will be at arond 100 ISO.

This is a huge subject and I'm sure there are those will disagree with my
point of view.

Keep trying, and success will be sweeter when it arrives.

Happy New Year.

Bill

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...

"Mark Bowen" wrote in message
...
Okay, I finally broke down and bought myself the camera mentioned in the
subject header--B-Day gift to me, from me!

Anyway, as the instructions manual is about 270 pages of tech. goobledy
goop and I have no *real* photography experience, other than taking ****
poor pics with **** poor cameras, I am asking if anyone has any
experience with this particular camera and can tell me how best to
utilize the macro function to take pics of flyz I have tied or will tie
in the future.

I realize that I can set the thing in one of the two macro modes, but I
am still having difficulty getting it to focus head on to a fly-it blurs
out and focuses on the background? I am reading the instructions, but
there are many different ways to utilize the many different modes and
settings. What would really help is a tutorial that is specific to this
camera and macro picture taking--preferably taking macro pics of flys.
Anyone know of any such tutorials?

I have signed up with Digital Photography School
http://digital-photography-school.com/ , but I figure it never hurts to
ask the experts here!

Thanks!

Op
I don't wish to sound pessimistic or negative, but macro photography has
one real problem for the amateur and that is Depth of Fileld.
That is to say the amouint of the subject that is in focus. In Macro the
depth of field is very, very small and it is very dfifficult to get the
whole fly in focus
because the length of the fly is greater than the available depth of
field.

A tripod would be extremely useful for taking shots of flies in a vice as
this would allow the smallest aperture giving maximum depth of fleld while
also giving long exposures.

Varying to ISO rating will allow you to get shorter exposures but the best
quality will be at arond 100 ISO.

This is a huge subject and I'm sure there are those will disagree with my
point of view.

Keep trying, and success will be sweeter when it arrives.

Happy New Year.

Bill

Thanks Bill. I have a tripod that I just bought, but it ain't quite what I
thought it would be for $16.00 :~^ )
It actually looks like it belongs in a Barbie Doll toy collection. It
doesn't stand high enough to get the camera in line with my fly vise.
So, I resorted to employing one of my many clamp-on fly vise stands and made
my own momo-pod that swivels and turns just fine.
Funny, the bolt that holds the jaws of the Griffin Duperior #2A and the bolt
hole, in the Optio W80, for tripod mounting are the same size!

It's as if the two companies had seen me coming, or could it be a
conspiracy? Nevertheless, it works and actually works better than a tripod,
as I can clamp the camera any where on to my tying table or bench.

I'm going to send you a few pics that I have taken, including fly tying
bench area. I'll send them one at a time--compressed--as I don't want to
clog up your e-mail server. Realize of course, I'm still playin' around with
this camera thingy, so the pics will be crap at best.

Op

as I can clamp the camera any where on to my tying table or bench.

I'm going to send you a few pics that I have taken, including fly tying
bench area. I'll send them one at a time--compressed--as I don't want to
clog up your e-mail server. Realize of course, I'm still playin' around
with this camera thingy, so the pics will be crap at best.

Op

Hi Mark,

All received and I've replied by e-mail.

I look forward to seeing even better shots when you really get the hang of
it.

Bill,

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...

as I can clamp the camera any where on to my tying table or bench.

I'm going to send you a few pics that I have taken, including fly tying
bench area. I'll send them one at a time--compressed--as I don't want to
clog up your e-mail server. Realize of course, I'm still playin' around
with this camera thingy, so the pics will be crap at best.

Op

Hi Mark,

All received and I've replied by e-mail.

I look forward to seeing even better shots when you really get the hang of
it.

Bill,

Thanks Bill! You do know you have created a monster, right!

Op

"Mark Bowen" wrote in message
...

"Bill Grey" wrote in message
...

as I can clamp the camera any where on to my tying table or bench.

I'm going to send you a few pics that I have taken, including fly tying
bench area. I'll send them one at a time--compressed--as I don't want to
clog up your e-mail server. Realize of course, I'm still playin' around
with this camera thingy, so the pics will be crap at best.

Op

Hi Mark,

All received and I've replied by e-mail.

I look forward to seeing even better shots when you really get the hang
of it.

Bill,

Thanks Bill! You do know you have created a monster, right!

Op
I'll see yours and raise you 10 :-)