Idle thoughts 1 - Take control

Idle thoughts 1 - Take control

Yesterday's post was my first ever blog. Yes, Folks, I Was A Blog Virgin...

Anyway I listed some of the things that we say most frequently in the Critique Gallery. Now I'm going to look at them individually.

I'm starting in the kitchen. Bear with me, this is relevant...

Just before Christmas my old microwave gave up the ghost and I replaced it in Curry's sale. I found a really good bargain, a reputable brand, less than half price, very neat looking, the specifications on the card were exactly what I wanted. Of course you can't actually plug it in and try it out in the shop...

I got it home, unpacked it, plugged it in, tried turning dials and pressing knobs. Absolutely nothing recognisable happened.

OK, if all else fails, check out the manual... Well you need to read as far as page 9 before it tells you how to unpack the thing, and then it's straight into delayed start, combining defroster with reduced-power cooking... And I couldn't get any of that to work.

I fiddled around, and found a number of automatic settings. A1, A2, A3, A4... I couldn't sort out what any of them did, and none of them worked particularly well.

Eventually after a couple of days frustration I started to find my way round. You have to press the defrost button twice, not once, to select it. The timer dial works anti-clockwise, going backwards from 95 minutes to 30 seconds. Then you can turn clockwise – but you can't start off clockwise...

It seems totally illogical (a bit like the largest aperture having the lowest F number not the highest), but I'm sure there is a logic. (There's a perfectly logical explanation for the F number, after all).

It's all there in the manual by the way, but it's a couple of brief sentences tucked away under masses of other guff. Very much like my Nikon manuals...

There are still a couple of things that I need to sort out, but I'm getting there. I can tell it to do exactly what I want, and how I want it done.

So what has this got to do with photography? A very great deal. A digital camera, of whatever description or level, is a highly sophisticated machine, capable of doing far more things than you are ever actually likely to need. But as with other sophisticated machines – microwaves, washing machines, central heating systems, tumble-dryers – the quality of the results depends to a very large extent on the quality of the instructions that you give it.

So if you want to get your money's worth, find out what the main controls actually mean, and what they can do for you. Start with the basics – ISO, aperture, shutter speed; getting just one focus point and using it properly. And then take control, because that's how you'll stand a better chance of getting the pictures that you want.

Do look at the manual, even if it devotes umpteen pages to 'This is the front of the camera. This is the back of the camera...' and then dives straight into in-camera HDR and action-tracking, possibly combined. The basic essentials will be tucked in there too. But just as important, experiment with settings and look at the results.

And if you really want to use scene modes, at least make sure that you know and understand the parameters within which each mode calculates settings.

The camera has an extremely good brain when it comes to calculation, but it has no imagination or initiative. You need to supply that.

Tags: Critique Critique gallery Critique Team