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**Lea** · 16 October 2006, 09:32 AM

Originally posted by prion View Post

What kind of camera do you use? (can you post a sample picture?)

Canon Powershot S2, 5MP and 12x zoom (optic). You can see my photos here:
http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m127/my-photoworld/
What's the minimum distance zoom you need for a con (3x?) if you're saying, sitting in the fifth row, as compared to the back.

**ForeverSg1** · 16 October 2006, 09:35 AM

Originally posted by prion View Post

Lots of us haven't done cons in a while, or drool over pictures we've seen posted here, so thought I'd start a thread that would help the neos.

For the 'pros'...

What kind of camera do you use? (can you post a sample picture?)
What's the minimum distance zoom you need for a con (3x?) if you're saying, sitting in the fifth row, as compared to the back.

Just thought I'd start off with those questions and let folks add as we go (hopefully)

I'm still a novice at this myself so I'm not sure how much help I can offer, but from what I have noticed it really doesn't matter how good a quality of camera you have if the lighting is really bad or you are inexperienced with the camera you are using. I've seen really wonderful pictures from less expensive cameras and really poor quality photos from expensive cameras. Whatever camera you do use, I would truly suggest familiarizing yourself well with the camera before you try to use it at a con. I borrowed a camera for one con and sadly spent most of the afternoon just trying to figure out how the camera worked.

I would also suggest purchasing a small tripod or monopod if you can afford one because they really do help to steady your hands which is often the cause of blurry images taken with high speed digital cameras.

Oh and a good quality flash is also a good investment in my opinion, especially if it allows you to bounce the light off the ceiling.

And lastly, be prepared to take a lot of less than perfect photos, because one of the things I recall reading is that most photographers take literally dozens of photos hoping for that one great shot. Personally I think anyone who manages to leave a con with a handful of good shots has done really well.

As for me, I use a Nikon D50 with several different lenses (28mm-200mm).

This is a photo I took with my camera from the back of the hall at the Vancouver 2006 convention.

Vancouver 2006

And here is an photo I took from the fifth row of the Shore Leave convention.

Shore Leave 2006

One thing I have noticed is that the more you have to zoom in for an image, the grainier the image tends to be and if the convention hall is poorly lit, be prepared to do a lot of photo editing in order to get a decent looking picture.

Oh and spend the money on the faster memory cards if you can afford them because they really do make a difference.

**sabrina_lane03** · 16 October 2006, 01:11 PM

I also used a canon s2IS and was quite pleased. I found that what was most important to me was the optical zoom because I was in either row J or row L and with a 12 optical I was able to take pictures that make it seem like I was sitting right next to the actors. When I was looking at cameras I thought it was important to have a high digital zoom but using that feature made some of my pictures blurry. Pleas do not think that you need an optical as high as a 12. I know people that had 8 and 10 optical zooms and there pictures came out fine. One girl that was pretty close to the stage even had something less than an 8 and her pictures came out ok. Plus, you can always use a program like photoshop to zoom in and crop the pictures and since you are in the fifth row you shouldn't have to worry about random elbows or heads getting in the way. However, no matter what camera you get you should make sure that it has a fast shutter speed and can take pictures in low light because some actors do move around. Also, another thing to consider is that you probably want to get a camera that can handle a memory card that is at least 1GB. I know one girl who did not upload her pictures before she started the set tour and since her card was only a 512 she ran out of space within five minutes of the set tour starting. In terms of megapixles, I wouldn't suggest getting something that is higher than a 5 unless you want to make posters.

**sabrina_lane03** · 16 October 2006, 01:14 PM

I forgot to mention that on Saturday I purchased a 2GB memory card from office max for 35 dollars. I am not sure if the sale is still going on but it is a great deal considering that I ran out of space last year and since I was not able to upload I was forced to spend around 169 on a 1GB memoray card in Burnaby.

**prion** · 16 October 2006, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by Lea View Post

Canon Powershot S2, 5MP and 12x zoom (optic). You can see my photos here:
http://s103.photobucket.com/albums/m127/my-photoworld/

Wow, NICE dragonfly!!Oh wait, I'm loooking for con shots. Nice shots! Wow, you even give the technical data. Very nice!

**svala** · 16 October 2006, 03:58 PM

nice shots Lea , I have the Canon Powershot S3 IS , 6.o MP 12x optical zoom, but I still have to get used to it , until several weeks ago I used an analog Canon with different lenses , I hope this camera will do as I want , so far I had no problems , even without the flash the pictures looked quite good , will find out soon what this camera is capable of

*or myself*

**prion** · 16 October 2006, 04:03 PM

Originally posted by ForeverSg1 View Post

As for me, I use a Nikon D50 with several different lenses (28mm-200mm).

This is a photo I took with my camera from the back of the hall at the Vancouver 2006 convention.

Vancouver 2006

And here is an photo I took from the fifth row of the Shore Leave convention.

Shore Leave 2006

One thing I have noticed is that the more you have to zoom in for an image, the grainier the image tends to be and if the convention hall is poorly lit, be prepared to do a lot of photo editing in order to get a decent looking picture.

Oh and spend the money on the faster memory cards if you can afford them because they really do make a difference.

Nice job. I'm looking to sample different cameras (pictures) as I do want to upgrade my camera, and wanted to see what the SLRs types did as well. Some are coming down in price and I do hanker for the days of SLRs... especially since do manual zoom (right?)

**ShimmeringStar** · 16 October 2006, 05:37 PM

Originally posted by prion View Post

Nice job. I'm looking to sample different cameras (pictures) as I do want to upgrade my camera, and wanted to see what the SLRs types did as well. Some are coming down in price and I do hanker for the days of SLRs... especially since do manual zoom (right?)

Prices come down and if you can shop the sales, do it. (And with the holidays coming soon, there's bound to be some deals out there.)

I had a Nikon N2000 film SLR (manual and auto controls) for 15 years, but finally succumbed to my digital camera envy this year. (But still wanted something with auto and manual controls...) When I bought my Canon Digital Rebel XT (SLR) (8 megapixels) in late May/early June they had the Father's Day sales going on and there was also a $100 rebate.

Shore Leave was my first time using it. Pics I took from SL: http://pics.livejournal.com/shimmeringstar1/

Here's some non-con pix I took with it: http://forum.gateworld.net/showpost....ostcount=13255

And I have to echo ForeverSG1 - get to know your camera, get a good flash and a tripod/monopod. (Even though there is a built-in flash on the Rebel, a good flash is definitely on my Christmas list this year...

)

**xfkirsten** · 16 October 2006, 07:58 PM

I use a Canon Digital Rebel XT, and generally shoot the panels with a 70-300mm lens.

Wholeheartedly agree - know your camera! It's amazing what you can do with any camera if you really have taken the time to learn how to use it well. Second, know your photography basics! Knowing this information and being able to put it into practice will give you a lot more flexibility in any sort of photography. There is a great page here that explains ISO, shutter speed, and aperture in easy-to-follow terms - I highly reccommend reading that one carefully if anyone here doesn't understand how those settings work and interact.

-Others have said it, and I'll agree - get a monopod or tripod. They can be a pain to carry around sometimes, but they do provide a lot of stability. Even the steadiest hand will have trouble holding a camera steady enough to get a clear shot in low-light conditions. That being said, I have successfully photographed cons without one (I have yet to bring one to a con because I didn't want to have to carry it around), but it takes a lot of knowledge of your camera, and being relatively close to the stage (and thus not having to use the zoom as much).

-Flash only has limited use, and I'd suggest not using it unless you're a) pretty close to the stage, or b) on manual settings. Flashes have a limited range. If you're too far away for them to be effective and you have your camera on automatic settings, your photos of the stage will come out dark. What happes is that the camera's automatic settings will correct for the use of flash and raise your shutter speed or make the aperture smaller accordingly. This will cause your photo to become darker. Your camera "expects" the flash to compensate for that, but if you're too far away for the flash to actually reach, your intended subject will come out very dark. I see a lot of convention photos that suffer from this problem! Again, this is where knowing your camera and how to use it well comes in handy. Whatever camera you're using, practice with it in a low light setting. Learn how far your flash is effective, and turn it on or off accordingly.

-Use ISO to your advantage! If you're looking at new cameras, pay attention to the ISOs that the camera can handle. The higher the ISO, the brighter the photos. The drawback is that higher ISOs also cause the resulting photos to have more "grain" to them. A photo shot at 200 will have a LOT less grain than a photo shot at 1600, but it will also be darker. When you're shopping for a camera, look at sample shots taken at different ISOs. Some cameras handle high ISO much better than others. For instance, the grain at 400 on my old Canon PowerShot A70 is FAR worse than the grain at 1600 on my Rebel XT, even though the ISO on the PowerShot is far lower. This is another area where research during hte buying process pays off.

-Manual settings are your friend! Learn how to properly use the manual settings (particularly ISO, shutter speed, and aperture) on your camera. The best way to learn this is through practice. The link I pointed to above does a great job of explaining the basics, the rest is up to you! I reccommend using manual for convention panel photos, because it gives you far more control. I've found that if you use automatic settings, under some lighting conditions the camera may choose settings that come out a bit too dark or light. Manual will allow you to decide what you think is right. In addition, learn how to adjust the settings quickly so that you can do so during the course of the panel if need be.

-Zoom is a two-edged sword. Before I suggest anything, I'll put my warning here: the more you zoom in, the shakier the shot will be, and generally, the narrower your aperture will be. This means that you will have to hold the camera a lot more steady to get the photo, and you will have to have a longer shutter speed (or higher ISO) to get the same level of brightness as a shot zoomed all the way out - a double whammy against shot clarity! Again, this is where the tripod or monopod really comes in handy. Your best bet is to try and get as close to the stage as possible, and thus reduce the need for zoom. Obviously, this isn't always possible. In that case, you'll have to look realistically about what your camera can do when it's zoomed in. If you're far enough away, flash will probably not do you any good, so in addition to the drawbacks of zooming in, you won't have that extra light. This is a case where you'll probably have to bump the ISO up as high as it will go. All that being said, if you're in the back, 3x is still going to look pretty ho-hum (my first digital camera was 3x, and from halfway back at ComicCon 2004 and zoomed in completely, the photos were pretty poor) - I'd reccommend getting at least 5x or 6x if you want to be able to get shots from the back of a larger crowd.

-A sort of corollary to the zoom is the resolution. You can balance out the lack of a strong zoom if you have a high-resolution camera - that way you may not be able to zoom in to make the subject fill the frame, but you can crop down to it! This is also helpful if you're having trouble getting a bright enough photo.

-I also second the reccommendation to take LOTS of photos. I'd guess that for every photo I post, I delete at least one that I didn't care for. A big memory card is a must! I use a 1 GB card on my 8 mp camera (shooting it on the full size, super fine JPEG compression) and I even find that I'm often crunched for space.

I'll stop there for this post (yeah, I know, I talk a lot!) but I'm certainly happy to help out with specific questions. Here's some of the photos I've gotten with my Digital Rebel XT at ComicCon. All the panel photos were taken with my Sigma 70-300mm lens, most of the time zoomed in to ~250-300mm (plus the 1.6x crop factor on Canon cameras), and at ISO 1600 - you can check the exif data on each photo if you want to know exactly what settings.

ComicCon 2005 (taken from around the 10th row)
ComicCon 2006 (taken from around the 15th row, and a bit lower lighting than 2005)

**surfinmuffin** · 17 October 2006, 01:51 PM

I am one of these people who really has no idea how to get the best out of my camera and I think my photos probably show that but anyways. For what its worth I have a Kodak Easyshare Z650 with 6.1 MP, 10 times optical zoom and 5 times digital zoom.

I have a picture or two to show you an example of my poor cameramanship...lol. Its the unedited version no red eye removal there...
PEGASUS 2 CON- SIX ROWS BACK

This next one is Front row at the Bognor L3 Atlantis convention but the light was absolutely terrible and first row was quite a way back from the stage so it could have quite easily been much further back.
L3 ATLANTIS BOGNOR CON- Front Row

**prion** · 27 October 2006, 08:43 AM

Finally found the thread again. One thing I've noticed time and again on all shots is that conventions just don't seem to like to light up their guests!

They need to stick on huge spotlights so everybody can get great shots

**tsaxlady** · 27 October 2006, 09:16 AM

Originally posted by prion View Post

Finally found the thread again. One thing I've noticed time and again on all shots is that conventions just don't seem to like to light up their guests!

They need to stick on huge spotlights so everybody can get great shots

You are not going to see this happen very often because it is hard to see on stage when the lights are to bright. What really helps is when they do bring in spots that have more white light to them and less yellow. The convention center in Burbank has really bad lights in the hall that have a lot of yellow to them and unless you take the time to do a white balance on your camera before things get started they do cause lots of problems with the color of the pictures.

**prion** · 27 October 2006, 05:27 PM

Originally posted by tsaxlady View Post

You are not going to see this happen very often because it is hard to see on stage when the lights are to bright. What really helps is when they do bring in spots that have more white light to them and less yellow. The convention center in Burbank has really bad lights in the hall that have a lot of yellow to them and unless you take the time to do a white balance on your camera before things get started they do cause lots of problems with the color of the pictures.

and taht's what photoshop is for.... correcting all these imbalances, I suppose. I swear all con shots I have from ye film days have that yellow cast to them.

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Cameras at cons: Advice and questions

Cameras at cons: Advice and questions

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