Taking pics of piston/cylinder- tips?

[lmalterna]

OK I must suck at operating a camera. I have a decent camera- Cannon G10 and set the macro but still cannot get it to focus close and not enough light in cylinder for decent photo..... I have tried tipping up to catch strong overhead lights but camera blocks it out, tried removing plug and shinning bright LED flashlight down hole...no help, cannot get flashlight and camera in line at the same time through the exhaust port.

The 365XT exhaust is angled down so I can barely see through it anyhow.

I have a couple of saws to sell and want to show all I can but I am at a loss when I see all the great clear pics on here?

Bill

 

[Tzed250]

Does the G10 have manual exposure control? I know it is a super advanced camera for its type. If you have manual ISO control bump the ISO so that it will pick up the shadows better. If you can set Av and Tv yourself you need probably f/5.6 and then enough SS to handhold.

 

[StihlyinEly]

I'm a photographer by trade. Biggest mistake I see on here is people holding the camera too close for the autofocus to pick up the subject, so the subject is OOF and the background is in focus. This often is true even with a macro setting. It's much better to step back a bit and zoom the lens in so the subject is larger in the frame. That way it'll be sharp

 

[hkusp9]

I'm a photographer by trade. Biggest mistake I see on here is people holding the camera too close for the autofocus to pick up the subject, so the subject is OOF and the background is in focus. This often is true even with a macro setting. It's much better to step back a bit and zoom the lens in so the subject is larger in the frame. That way it'll be sharp

good advice, thanks for that.

Honestly i think im the biggest offender in this regards and although that suggestion is obvious and straight forward, i would have never thought of that.

 

[lmalterna]

I do that and did it today- trying to get a good close shot of a Black Window. I did xoom lense all the way out and then move until focus became spotty but subject was still not big/close enough. I really need to spend time learing this camera in manual settings.

When I studied phtotography in school, we used a Pentax K1000...... I think that was about as advanced as my brain can handle.

Maybe I will pic up a bore light used on rifles to try to light up cylinder, uses a fiber cable to get light in tight areas.


I am just shocked at the pics I see taken on here with a cell phone and mine look like crud...

Bill

 

[jimhoff]

Mine pics are still crappy due to the effort, but, even the iPhone has spot metering and AE/focus hold--just touch the part you want to see best on the screen and quickly move the phone forward or backward until the piece is focused the way you want.

 

[LegDeLimber]

Assuming that that the lighting is worked out,
if you are in auto focus, maybe don't have a manual setting..
if you have something at the same distance as the item you need focus on
point the camera at the first object, half press the shutter and hold,
now repoint at object you want in pic and finish the shutter press.
but you've got to have the lighting fairly matched as the shutter half press
generally also sets the exposure (in auto/"easy" mode)
so that's why the lighting needs to be close to the same.
Color difference will have an effect also.

I've shot spider webs this way on an older camera with no manual focus settings.

Sometimes you can set up 2~3 led flashlights in a "crossfire/Mexican standoff" cluster and get the light in a hole.
But you may have to cut off other lighting (while shooting) as the leds may confuse the color correction , Leds tend to look blue when mixed with other lighting.
The flash may not blend with them sometimes.

 

[lmalterna]

 

[LegDeLimber]

Looks like you caught the focus.
Now show us some aluminum carnage!

 

[brokenbudget]

i found using a more expensive camera was a pain. too many settings and adjustments to deal with. went out and bought a little cheapo samsung 14,2 m.p. just for this and when out on the trails. it has most of the auto features a person like me needs:msp_rolleyes: i want to just 'point and shoot'. not take a half hour setting up to take one pic. if i need to close, it does the job pretty well. i can't complain, it's a good little camera.

the bottom pic at the limit of this cam, but still clear enough to get a good pic.