Going to the zoo
Posted on 22nd June 2015
You have a new camera and a good sized zoom lens. Now what? So many people assume that with the right camera gear everything else is going to come easy. Well I hate to dissappoint you,but it dosen't.
Firstly here are all those menu choices on the camera to choose from. Secondly, which mode to shoot in, Aperature priority, Speed, or P for professional (I don't think so).
So you are going on a trip to a great location and the camera is packed to accompany you. At the destination is not the time to learn what all those buttons do.
Thats why I suggest going to a zoo or wildlife refuge to practice using the camera. The wildlife is constrained to an enclosure and you can experiment, assuming you read the manual and have a basic understanding of what buttons do what. Of course you can take the manual with you in case you forget and have time to look it up. Lets face it the animals are not going anywhere. Different animals require different exposures. For example a black bear compared to a polar bear, and all shades in between. I have read of people using stuffed toys to experiment with and thats okay but there is no substitute for the real thing. Cameras are calibrated for 18% grey which is green grass for example. Do you really believe that all cameras from all manufactures are perfectly set to this figure. Dream on, there are always tolelances, plus and minus off this figure. Its good to know how your camera performs under different lighting conditions and situations and for you to be totally familiar with its operation. This only comes with practice. So get out and use the equipment until its second nature before that all expensive trip and you will not be dissappointed afterwards.
