Folks,
I'm definitely not a photo buff. In fact, throughout my life I've been reluctant to do much with photography. It's kind of like golf (as I see it)... there's lots of variables you need to keep control, conditions are constantly shifting, and you need to sort of see what you want to achieve before it exists. Equipment needs to be understood and manipulated. And the most critical thing is that it's about capturing fleeting moments that happen, then are gone. Each launch is unique, and the best part can me measured in 10ths of a second.
Rocketry is the first application where point and shoot cameras didn't give me results adequate to my wants and needs.
I've used simple point and shoot cameras for rocketry up until now, but I've been unsatisfied with the results of launch / staging / ejection / recovery. So a week ago I made the investment in a camera after seeking advice here in this forum (and via a poll in Watering hole).
While I bought a somewhat unconventional choice after processing all the information I learned and reviewing my options, I'm pretty confident I made a good choice for my needs. Time will tell I guess.
This situation: "a photo newby gets new camera and is daunted by how to use it" can't be unique. In fact it's probably pretty common here. So I decided to start a thread documenting my journey into rocketry photography.
I'm hopeful that more experienced members of the forum will offer suggestions for improving photo and video performance here, and that anyone going through a similar photographic learning journey will benefit as well. I invite others to post here as well, so that I can learn from you as well.
Yesterday I took some time and played with the controls, and this morning I took the new camera out and did a few launches, trying to capture decent photos. The initialy results were promising, but I have a long way to go before I understand how best to apply the camera, and certainly longer than that before I can develop a phtotographer's eye.
I'll be posting here later today some of these first shots. Stand by!
Marc
I'm definitely not a photo buff. In fact, throughout my life I've been reluctant to do much with photography. It's kind of like golf (as I see it)... there's lots of variables you need to keep control, conditions are constantly shifting, and you need to sort of see what you want to achieve before it exists. Equipment needs to be understood and manipulated. And the most critical thing is that it's about capturing fleeting moments that happen, then are gone. Each launch is unique, and the best part can me measured in 10ths of a second.
Rocketry is the first application where point and shoot cameras didn't give me results adequate to my wants and needs.
I've used simple point and shoot cameras for rocketry up until now, but I've been unsatisfied with the results of launch / staging / ejection / recovery. So a week ago I made the investment in a camera after seeking advice here in this forum (and via a poll in Watering hole).
While I bought a somewhat unconventional choice after processing all the information I learned and reviewing my options, I'm pretty confident I made a good choice for my needs. Time will tell I guess.
This situation: "a photo newby gets new camera and is daunted by how to use it" can't be unique. In fact it's probably pretty common here. So I decided to start a thread documenting my journey into rocketry photography.
I'm hopeful that more experienced members of the forum will offer suggestions for improving photo and video performance here, and that anyone going through a similar photographic learning journey will benefit as well. I invite others to post here as well, so that I can learn from you as well.
Yesterday I took some time and played with the controls, and this morning I took the new camera out and did a few launches, trying to capture decent photos. The initialy results were promising, but I have a long way to go before I understand how best to apply the camera, and certainly longer than that before I can develop a phtotographer's eye.
I'll be posting here later today some of these first shots. Stand by!
Marc