New Digital Camera

[dixieangler]

The Pentax Optio W10 camera arrived today! Just trying to get used to using it so be kind for the results as I have not gotten used to the image quality settings yet . It is not real hard to operate with the manual and in-camera (on-screen) menu. I had to load the driver software on my PC to transfer the photos. I got a 256 MB SD card that is suppose to hold about 100 photos.

With the flash (#10 Flashback Black Marabou Damsel Nymph)


Without the flash (#10 Flashback MDN)


(the #4 White Minnow Crease Fly's iridescent body looks better without the flash shown here as the iridescence can still be seen)


No flash (#8 Predator version)

[Gringo]

Nice flies and pics, but obviously then some form of lighting is required besides the flash. Do most people use a light box of some sort or is there a better way for just an easy snap of a fly?

[dixieangler]

The room lights are on whether my flash is on or not to give you an idea.

[SheTies]

The view finder of my Olympus is the same as the screen on the back of the camera. it's not a window like most cameras, it shows exactly what the lense sees.... no chopping off the side or top etc... of your pictures. You can also turn on or off all of the various setting displays in the viewfinder the same way you can with the main screen.

[Gringo]

I actally looked up your little camera, but not water or drop proof....

[DickM]

dixieangler........
I have four suggestions for you. First and foremost. Use a tripod. Second, set the camera to timed delay or self timer. This will eliminate fuzziness from you shaking the camera during photo shoots. Third, you can shoot without flash if you set the camera up to shoot in incandescent mode and use a standard light bulb just above the camera. Your fly tying light will do and your color will be much more accurate. And fourth, learn to use the manual focusing mode. Your auto focus is not adjusting to the situation. Sometimes it helps to back the camera away from the object and then use a slight zoom. It helps the camera focus better.

[dixieangler]

Thanks for the tips, Dick. Those were quick snaps and I know I could have done better but just didn't take the time. Like I said, I'm just trying to get used to it and haven't read or learned all the functions yet either.

[Gemrod]

More dumboness from Jimbo. My impulse buy of the Panasonic 5mp 6x optical I now regret. Haven't used it yet, guess I can return it. Dang, another 3.5 hour one way to the valley.

My son caught his trout of a liftime on a fly rod yesterday. He told me to get his digital camera and just click as fast as I can. He said it was working, he could hear each pic click. I couldn't see the image screen because of sun, it was all dark. He had a viewfinder so I took pics. Couple of probs here. I told him we better check the camera to make sure he got a pic before he releases it. Well he released it. Then in a moment of shade I saw on his screen "this card cannot be used". He had ZERO pics of his well over 10 pound rainbow. I wouldn't have been able to see that either on my camera....but at least he had a viewfinder. Now I can really relate to if that had been me on the water and no viewfinder. I would not have been able to orient and take any good pictures at all. Too bad, on his birthday he catches a monster and has no pics. He has used the card a lot alrady and had confidence it was taking. He said he had to reset the camera and the now works again....but no pictures.

Just FYI....wish I had a viewfinder on my camera.

Gemrod

[dixieangler]

I saw on his screen "this card cannot be used". He has used the card a lot alrady and had confidence it was taking. He said he had to reset the camera and the now works again.

Sounds like the SD card had the "write protect" tab in the on position rather than in the off position. There is a little tab on the side of the SD card similar to the black sliding tab on a 1.44MB or 3.5inch PC diskette. He probably had to reset (turn the write protect off) the card tab. Or maybe the card was full and needed to be emptied (picture files deleted)? I don't know anything about a reset function for the SD card on the camera itself (but it might have one or a write protect function so I'll have to read up). If the card had been working, I would think that a lot of clicks aimed at the target should have gotten at least one good photo even shooting on a completely washed out and blind LCD. The lack of a viewfinder on the new "LCD only" digital cameras is a definate problem in the camera design. Sorry to hear that . What a shame .

[Gringo]

Thanks Gemrod, food for thought. Bad luck on the fish, I had a similar experience in NZ, it sucks.