Welcome to s95site! We are a community of users of the the world's best pocket cameras: the Canon PowerShot S90/S95/S100 series. Here we swap tips and tricks, share photos, solve problems, and are constantly helping each other improve our photography. Sign in and join the community!
How to get the best kid photos out of S95?
-
Hi all, I'm new here and my S95 just arrived. I chose it to have room to grow, but at the moment my main need is nice photos of my toddler, which are especially tough in my poorly-lit apartment (looking forward to better weather and longer daylight hours for more outdoor shoots, but meanwhile life keeps happening in here)
Out of the box, using auto, results were OK but not really better than I would have expected from a lower end camera. (before choosing this, I had borrowed a friend's Elph 100 for a few minutes - it was decent but I felt I wanted even better image quality. What I got tonight was as good but not really better) Maybe I'll upload them tomorrow for discussion. They didn't seem so sharp, even when using flash, and looked definitely pixely when zoomed in just a bit. (with a couple of exceptions which were not so bad in the pixely look but still not as good and sharp as I'd have hoped.)
Any tips to help me improve right now, before taking the time to delve into advanced photography? -
Hi Knaidel,
let us look at your photos so that we can analyze them further, thanks :) -
I've uploaded a few here. Still going back for more.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37772637@N04/6554727937/ -
I also uploaded some photos from my old camera so you can see what I'm looking for. I think I let myself get suckered into spending too much money again... I am liking the S95 OK but I'm starting to feel like I could have met my needs for at least $100 less. Unless I'm doing something wrong and someone can help me get better, I'm heading for some MAJOR cognitive dissonance here... :-(
-
Hello,
I'm still experimenting with flash so am no expert. Useful comment put on flickr by someone for you which I agree with.
Personally I am using 'P' mode for flash shots at the moment and it is a little hit and miss at times (as with all compacts as far as I know). 'P' mode lets you use flash composure compensation from the menu. Reducing the flash output a little may help retain some detail.
ISO - On auto the camera seems to use ISO 640 at the maximum but you could also try setting a lower ISO to a low setting eg 80, 100 or 200 to see if that gives more detail.
You could try shooting in 'A' (Aperture Priority) and set the Aperture to about F4 to see if that gives sharper photo's as well.
You could try shooting in RAW as you can get sharper pictures that way. Don't know if you have started using RAW yet - I have just started fairly recently and it is not as frightening as I thought it would be. You can also sharpen JPEG's in the DPP software.
Hope this helps -
Just wondered what resolution you have the camera set at? Maybe you didn't load the highest resolution up to flickr? For example you can see quite a lot of detail in this picture at full resolution. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jon_alexander/6542896485/sizes/o/in/photostream/
-
@jda180 I have the camera set at highest resolution (L+fine?) but know nothing about flicker options. But I do know that on my computer screen, I can't discern hair and eyelashes as well as even my worst camera (see the high chair picture, where exposure is terrible but detail is clear)
@NB575, The only comment on flickr that I saw was on the one where the light was too low. I got that. But what about the flash photos, why were those not tack-sharp? I will have to try fiddling with those settings you mentioned, though it will take me some time to learn what they do.
I was so hoping to get good pics on auto and/or Kids&Pets out of the box until I learn the tweaks. I don't understand why it's not happening even with flash, this is supposed to be the best of the compacts yet the quality of detail and sharpness is not on par with my old cameras. I'd forgotten how much I loved my A530 until I was choosing a sample to compare... but that camera wasn't the greatest in low-light or no-flash situations, this one seems to do better with exposure and color in those situations, and it does seem zippier in speed (ok, the S95 is not quite SLR, but the A530 was very limited in, say, flash recycle. You got ONE chance for your shot because by the time it was up to the next one, your subject would be gone) but still working on the definition (pardon my vocabulary, I don't really know if I'm throwing around the wrong terms here).
Holiday weekend starting now so maybe tomorrow if the weather behaves I will get my daughter outdoors and see what we can do there. I did some non-people shots on my lunch break and started rambling about them but then I realized this post was getting obnoxiously long so instead I'll do some uploading and interested parties can read my comments there. The short version: Some nice results, some disappointment, much need to learn and very grateful to anyone who can help. -
look forward to seeing your next lot of pictures knaidel :)
-
Thanks! Some are up on the flickr stream already. Just now I took some that I didn't post yet, near a sunlit window, and I was still disappointed with the settings auto and K&P chose. Program did a lot better though, so hopefully when I learn more about how to use it I will get more of the results I want. I just wish it would do better on auto for those casual moments when I want good pictures and don't want to work for them.
Over here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37772637@N04/ -
Hello again,
I've put a couple of comments on Flickr under individual photo's which I hope may be a help.
Personally I never try to use the SCN modes as I prefer to be in control of what I do - they will do a decent job but may not give the results you are looking for.
'Casual moments but don't want to work for them' - consider using the 'C' mode for favourite settings.
The SCN modes are quick but a benefit of the S95 is that you have the 'C' (Custom) mode where you can save settings which will not be amended no matter what you do in other modes unless you deliberately save the changes to the 'C' mode. When you decide the settings you want in save them in 'Save Settings' in the 'Change Shooting Settings' menu.
Possibly some ideas here in this review - http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/s95.htm
For RAW settings (you mentioned on Flickr) there are a few threads on this site - on the home page click RWW and DPP in the 'Popular Tags'
Bit of a learning curve but the basics are much easier than I thought. I do a lot of shooting in RAW now having just understood the basics.
Hope this helps a bit. -
Thanks!
The problem with C is that you can save ONE set of settings. The advantage of auto is supposed to be that for dunces like me it will choose from 20-something presets to fit the situation. Until this went on sale on Amazon's gold box deals, I was having a hard time deciding whether to go high-end or just get a more basic P&S (like an Elph) and all around Canon's auto mode seemed to get great reviews. So I figured this camera should have that PLUS the more advanced options. Now I'm starting to worry that I've bitten off $200 more than I can chew. As I'm starting to get the hang of it, I do see potential though. -
(by the way, I'm delighted with the most recent picture I snapped of the baby. To the pros and serious hobbyists here it would look like *&%# due to bad composition and weird flash shadows, but to me it's called my baby was running around doing cute stuff in the kitchen, and I caught her quickly and clearly! The focus/detail is amazing, the color is perfect, and the image quality is as good as I could hope for from a pocket camera. It was on TV mode but I hadn't thought about it, must have left it there from before because I just P&S'd in the split second)
-
Hello again,
Just had another thought after looking at another thread for when your baby is running round-always lots of alternative things to try - question of finding what works best for you.
In the Menu functions.
You could try Tracking AF (Page 89 of the manual) to track her movements. If using flash this will freeze her movements. In available light if bright enough set a shutter speed fast enough to freeze her if there is enough available light - in TV mode.
Another one to try is setting Servo AF (page 94 of the manual) which seems to be similar.
To take continuous photos press Func/set and set it in there - Page 84 of the manual. Will be slower with flash due to the flash recycling times but in daylight taking lots of photos like this may increase the chances of of getting the best shot.
Good luck
-
Thanks. I'm not really clear on the difference between "tracking" and "servo" AF but maybe with enough playing around I'll figure it out. Light is a bit of a problem for me right now as it's always cold/dark out and my indoor light is terrible, so I'm pretty much limited to flash for moving people shots.
I'm pretty satisfied with the pictures I took at my family holiday get-together, especially considering the moving targets and lack of light (I didn't bother calling everyone together for a group shot, just candids) It's not an SLR, but then, you can't really get an SLR that will fit in your pocket, work with one hand, and cost less than $300 (including tax, accident protection, and accessories!)
I wish the jpeg compression wasn't so noisy. On the other hand, I can't really complain because there is RAW. I never knew about this before! Now I am hooked on RAW! But it does take more time to process. I wish I could get similarly pleasing results in auto or scn modes without having to go into a manual/program mode, take RAW, process, and convert. Ah well, can't have all, so at least I'm grateful to have that option for the better pictures. For the auto snapshots, the main point is that they get captured. -
Hey Knaidel, the trick is to try to get the shot there n then, and not to have the need to go back spending hours correcting the RAWs :)
-
When my grand kids were toddlers and they lived with us I took literally hundreds of pictures every week and now have thousands. When you take this many you are going to get some great shots and looking at yours you already have. I kept every single photo even some of the blurry ones. I have all on my laptop and main PC hard drives and on each I have a side panel running that have my photos appearing randomly. A lot of my shots were taken with an Olympus 2.1mp camera and on the computer they look fine. I get great satisfaction at glancing at the changing pictures which cover them from newborns to now 8 & 9. Its a good thing I didn't have a camera taking raw and jpgs as I would have run out of hard drive space.
Keep taking pictures and save and treasure every single one.
By the way take some in Black and white as well. You will be amazed at how some turn out. -
Adam, no matter how good I get the shots (so far) they still look better in RAW than JPEG. And even the best RAW seems to need processing of some sort.
Goldberry, I think I definitely will need a spare hard drive for all the RAW files, I'm astonished at how quickly they add up! But I think I will just keep taking them and delete the ones I don't need. The flops and the cute everyday snapshots are really OK in JPEG, but for real artistic value or blowup potential the RAWs are the way to go. And you never know when it'll happen. I just need to get organized somehow... -
Some new ones that I am quite happy with here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37772637@N04/6639053195/in/photostream/ The black and white is the same shot just desaturated, I figure working with RAW would probably get about the same effect as using the in-camera setting, while still retaining the color version just in case.
I have been getting quite a lot of nice snaps lately but not uploading them all to flickr, most are going on my private picasa page for the family.
Of course, nothing beats daylight and pretty scenery, but under the circumstances I'm a pretty happy customer now.
Quick shutter speed and maximum possible light (including flash when needed) seem to be key, still playing around with focus options, haven't found a reliable favorite yet (hint: I think it isn't servo) -
Servo AF means that it is always checking the focus and always keeping something in focus. Always. The whole time it is on. This is not great for your battery, but if you just turn it on and snap a few pictures, then it doesn't hurt anything. Having it on all night and taking random candids will really eat at your battery.
The tracking AF only sets the AF when you press the shutter, but it looks to see if your subject (whatever it focused on) is moving and tries to keep up with it by adjusting the focus while you are composing (pressing the shutter half-way).
As for RAW, I shoot in the L+Raw setting that way I have a JPEG right away and a Raw image if I want to do any post-processing on it. -
well knaidel, I have followed your canon S95 journey with much interest as I personally am shattered by the dissapointing results straight out of the camera and even those shot in raw and photoshopped. I bought this compact after extensive research and also by looking at the photo's on this site, many of which I am very impressed by and thought I was allowing for jpeg compression and that full size photo's with full resolutions would blow me away. Alas, bitter dissapointment!
The only pics I am happy with are those taken on 80-200 iso which naturally if not taken on a very bright day and not using flash required a tripod- the very thing I was hoping to dispense with for a while, till my 7mth old puppy stops charging between me and it. For me the noise in most other shots is unacceptable so anything moving like my dog is blurred as this camera relies heavily on a high iso to reach fast enough shutter speeds and noisy shots just don't do it for me.
I took macro shots of ornaments on my sister's Christmas tree which is where the clarity and sharpness were exeptional, beautiful bold bright and sharp- too sharp. On F2 this Camera gave amazing clarity with the depth of field not shallow enough, everything being in sharp focus even onaments on further away branches. The lights on the tree were blown out blobs without flash and with flash there was no modelling. I think the only way to get really good results out of this camera is to use manual mode and using a tripod and all the extra bits you can buy for this camera filters etc which defeats the object of a point and shoot.
I took lovely sunset shots but the image stabilizion was not enough to prevent camera shake- again the iso had to be whacked right up to get the shot.
I have excellent noise reducing software but reducing noise softened the shots.
The scene modes are all just a gimic and dont do anything for me. I did get fantastic "posed portraits" out of it but it is candids that I am after.I have used this camera for just a couple of weeks but am thinking of selling it.
-
Jamie, thanks for the clarification. I'll have to devote some more attention to tracking AF to see if that's what I'm after. I also use J+RAW almost exclusively, that way I'm ready for anything! I just delete the RAW's of the more casual photos afterward, which is why on another discussion I begged for an easy way to do this in the software...
Suelleanor, I'm sorry things aren't working out for you. What did you think of my photos? Even the posed ones were really candids, because a baby just doesn't pose. Definitely this camera's strengths are in non-auto modes, which is disappointing to me, too - though I appreciate the manual modes enough that I might get over it and just set a good "custom" mode to compensate. Though I would have assumed that such a high-end camera would have had auto at least as good as the Elph's, which are acclaimed. I do not, however, use extra bits like filters or tripods. I do not even own a tripod (though I'm thinking of getting a gorillapod or something just in case) How's your lighting? It's possible your expectations are unrealistic if you're trying to catch a moving puppy with low noise. Though kids and pets don't seem to be this camera's niche in general, I'm seeing a lot of landscape and stuff all over here and sample customer images on Amazon... There's a pet thread on here somewhere though. -
Hi Knaidel, apologies to you and everyone. Forgot what thread I was on whilst reading your comments and looking at your photo's. I bought this camera because it was rated highly as getting good pics in relatively low light but the puppy photo's I refer to were in daylight anyway. I will be assigning a few custom settings if I keep the camera. I was ranting a bit yesterday but was because I thought long and hard before spending that amount of money- it was a toss up between a carbon fibre tripod or a take everywhere grab the moment camera. I definately wish that I had come down on the side of the tripod. I am just not happy with the quality of the photo's. I like crisp and clean not soft or noisy. I think your photography is excellent and you have some beautiful photo's of your little girl. The photo of your husband is inspired. Will give this camera a fair crack of the whip before I get rid. Have been too busy to really give it a fair trial.
-
Yes, I think it is the low-light leader, both with and without flash (see high chair pic without flash - that was a "mistake," I didn't think any camera could get anything in that light, but S95 did.) Could be your needs are more in line with a more expensive camera. I definitely think for grabbing the moment, smaller is better. But I am honest about not expecting to get professional-quality sharpness out of it. I just about never print larger than 8x10 anyway, and my better pictures are easily good enough quality for that. My needs are family snapshots for albums and scrapbooks, the occasional large print for framing and hanging in the house or grandma's, and a little artistic pursuit just for fun. S95 seems to meet and exceed so far.
-
NB575 said: Aspect 4:5 ..... only available in JPEGS
??? ...
4:5 is treated the same as any aspect ratio (jpeg or raw+jpeg). The raw converter used may crop to the selected a.r., (the selection is in the metadata), or convert full size. Some prefer that the raw is left full size ... then cropping may be adjusted. Adobe Camera Raw crops to selected a.r. ... no choice. RawTherapee converts to full size ... good converter but has (to me) an awkward GUI.
-
Knaidel,
Just a thought if you are shooting indoors with flash - try using a diffuser on the flash - makes the flash light less harsh. Not used one on the S95 myself but i do use one on my SLR flashlight and it makes a big difference.
There are a few threads on the forum and some suggestions as to how to make one yourself which I am going to try.
You will find threads if you search diffuser but here's a link including a video for the Gary Fong one - http://s95site.com/forum/discussion/158
I would have bought one of these myself but the importer where I live has not had the right size in stock for the last few months and postage from the website is prohibitive. -
Yes, thanks - flash diffuser is definitely on my list of things to try! Wish I had more time for fiddling, work has been way too busy the past week or so...
-
Knaidel - By a stroke of luck the importer in the UK now has the Gary Fong diffuser. Just received one and used it tonight under tungsten light.
Shot in RAW with white balance set to tungsten - colours a little warmer than without it but it does give a much more even light distribution. Easy to alter the white balance in DPP though so very happy with it. -
Hello Adam - will do.
The photo's I took yesterday were of family and I never upload them to the internet as not everyone in the family feels comfortable with their photo being put on the net.
I'll try to take some others to hopefully demonstrate what it does in the next few days. -
hi knaidel,
check my suggestion
http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonpowershot_s95/discuss/72157628391833517/ -
Hello Adam,
Re Gary Thong diffuser - got a volunteer for photos so here goes - the Safety FE was set to on in the Flash Settings in the menu in all photo's - used 'P' mode Auto ISO chose 640 in all photos, White Balance Tungsten, all JPEG's, no post processing- hope this gives an idea of its effect :-
No diffuser.
With diffuser - the one with the diffuser overly warm but more evenly lit -If this was a RAW file the colour balance is easily corrected in DPP. Less of a dark shadow on the door by the face shows the light is being diffused. In my limited experience of the diffuser the more even light distribution is more obvious in wider angle shots.
Decided to experiment with DR Correction - auto did not make much difference but this one set to 400% - not much difference here but tames the highlights on the right hand side if the door a little when looking at the camera playback and histogram. To my eyes though the better one is with the DR off - more detail retained.
What are your thoughts?
-
Hello,
Further thoughts on the Gary Thong diffuser. Very pleased with it.
The only thing I found was that no matter what I set the white balance
to, in tungsten light taking pictures of people the pictures were still
too warm for my liking. Not much of a problem as shot in Raw and easily corrected in
DPP.
Just been experimenting and have found that if I set the camera up with
the flash up and diffuser on then do a 'Custom White Balance' (which
only really takes a few seconds and is really easy once you have tried
it) I get much more natural results.
To do a custom white balance - select from white balance options. In the
same light as the subject will be, fill the frame with a white or natural
gray object and press the Menu button - that's it, its set. You can further customise the
white balance if you want to though by then pressing the Func/Set button - what an excellent little camera. I have read the best
results to do this are obtained in 'P' mode. Not tried other modes myself yet.
Much less post processing needed now.
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!