Use manual mode. Its bit overwhelming at first but after practicing it you will be more comfortable using it. The trick is to balance the holy three (iso / apature / exposure) . Heres a simplified description for each of the attribute.

iso : high - picture becomes noisy but able to shoot in the dark
low - picture become less needs high number of exposure, low aperture (f/2.0) to compensate more lights

exposure : high - needs a very, very steady hand or tripod
low - no need steady hand (at rate of 1/60) anything lower than that needs a steady hand but have to increase iso / low aperture

aperture : high - less light comes in ; creates a depth of fields (aka bokeh)
low - more light comes in; image looks flat.

For this image here's my configuration



Exposure : 0.8 (needs a tripod or steady arm)
Aperture : f/2.0 (means more light)
Focal Length : 5.1 mm
ISO Speed : 80 (image with less noise)

Hmm.. I think high aperture allows less light to impact on the CCD as well as a deep depth of field. Is bokeh equal to shallow depth of field?

high aperture means lower f-stop number meaning f/2.0. this will allow more light to come in. lower aperture means the number are bigger (f/5.0) means less light will come in.

yes bokeh is equal to shallow depth of field due to the lower aperture setting.

Read more: Introduction to Aperture in Digital Photography - http://digital-photography-school.com/aperture

To help visualize the relation of large apertures and low apertures here's a simple diagram to understand it.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...ure_diagram.svg

This post has been edited by Uzumaki NaruTo: Apr 6 2009, 12:31 AM

This term is a very misleading one.
Aperture = size of the shutter opening.
So a big aperture @ small F number (f/2.0) leads to smaller depth of field @ more bokeh.
Small aperture @ high F number (f/8.0) leads to higher depth of field @ less bokeh.
Just remember that for aperture, the rules are always reversed compared to the "number" we r seeing n using.
Even I still get this mixed up sometimes when discussing with frens.

so, can i translate it as,

F/2.0 = blur background
F/8.0 = clear background

??

still terbalik.

F/2.0 - clear
F/8.0 - blur

This one i just hentam hotlink if out get it from wikipedia entry ya


the blob represents how much light comes in. the smaller the number , more lights will come it and the the depth of fields (bokehness) is lesser
the bigger the number the less light will comes in thus creating a deeper depth of fields (bokeh/blur)

This post has been edited by Uzumaki NaruTo: Apr 6 2009, 10:11 AM

according to this

So a big aperture @ small F number (f/2.0) leads to smaller depth of field @ more bokeh.
Small aperture @ high F number (f/8.0) leads to higher depth of field @ less bokeh.

how come it's terbalik ?

edit: i assumed laichong is talking about background

This post has been edited by uranverein: Apr 6 2009, 10:11 AM

haha i think im the terbalik one .Sorry for the mistake



This post has been edited by Uzumaki NaruTo: Apr 6 2009, 10:31 AM

thank you! i tried to use ur setting and it works! thanks a lot. now i know the trick. will save this setting in one of my manual setting. easier next time no need to set2 anymore.

but i have a question. according to http://digital-photography-school.com/aperture , it says that small apperture (large number) creates more Depth of Field. as far as i know, smaller apperture (large number) = less light into cam. so, wont the pic be quite dark n gloomy especially during night time/dark places when the shots are taken?

This post has been edited by barteria: Apr 6 2009, 12:00 PM

Hahaha.. that was my point.

Ahaks glad it worked for you. But try to play around with the settings. lurk more around flickr and see their meta data (if possible) Thats the best way to learn in photography. Each settings needs to cater certain environment. I am also into street photography so i dont usually have the leisure of setting up tripods and long exposure.

Well there's a cheat code to a cleaner image but still using high iso. You can use Imagenomic's Noiseware to clean up noises generated by high iso.


Original Size

This picture is taken with iso 400 but a quick whip at Noiseware will drastically reduced the noises.

This post has been edited by Uzumaki NaruTo: Apr 6 2009, 12:32 PM

thanks for the tips

@barteria

i guess for low lighting it is advisable not to use f8.0 etc unless ur expose time is long, correct ?

im still learning day by day, thanks to u guys

hey guys, am looking for a compatible external flash for my LX3.

a friend of mine told me to get from Nikon or Sigma due to their reputation. i'm not really sure of my budget as of now.

i need some suggestion and pointers here.

wut do u mean by expose time is long? sorry, im noob

exposure time is your shutter open/closing speed. it can be 1/200sec, 1/100sec, 1/80sec,1/20sec, 1sec, 2 sec and alot more...
u can set this in manually using the stick (same as how u adjust the aperture F/stop).
the longer the shutter open time(sec), more light will go through....

oh, ure talking abt the shutter spee. ic ic. if its the shutter speed i know la. never know ppl call it exposure time too. learned something new again. i just love this forum.

Leica Lens expensive?? coz hear some ppl said this kind lens so expensive d? but im not sure la

of course it is. google any leica lens and see for urself. enough said

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Added on April 6, 2009, 3:43 pmgus, i found this. kinda cheap. u think they do postage to here in malaysia?

http://www.pinoyphotography.org/forum/inde...p?topic=39483.0

calculated the price for all 3 lenses. only around 520 and 991 for all lens+set-up ring+case+hotshoe cover+ricoh lc1 without any tax+postage cost.

This post has been edited by barteria: Apr 6 2009, 03:50 PM

that could be the "Pandabase" Tube. the seller Fotobestbuy is from HK and had advertised in ebay.com
i'd purchased my tube+uv filter+hood+lens cap from him yesterday, now waiting the parcel to reach.