Up close & personal

[Jeevendra]

Hi guys & gals,

My first post on the critique section. I would like to know your opinion on this shot. I wanted to get a pic of this birdy very close. I achieved it... I think with a 72X zoom. But it is a bit grainy. Would like to know your comments to improve myself.

• Camera: Canon Powershot SX10 IS
• Color: sRGB
• Shutter: 1/125
• Aperture: F/5.7
• Focal Length: 100mm
• ISO: 400
• Bit depth: 24

[Steve_S]

Understanding how your camera works will help you get a better shot. (higher resolution)

The digital zoom on your camera is essentially cropping the photo "in camera". You could get the exact same shot, by using your highest optical zoom setting and then cropping it in a post processing program.

What happens when you over crop a photo, is you loose alot of resolution and the photo will become very grainy. You would be much better off to only zoom in to the highest optical zoom setting and then get closer to the subject. That way you won't have to crop the image and loose valuable resolution.

[litphotography_01]

hello jeevendra,

[TheCheesWizz]

Hi Jeevendra,
I agree with Steve, never use the digital zoom. The picture will be ruined with noise. Its always better to go with the wider framing. I used an SX10 for four years and with enough work you can get great close up shots with it. Its a great camera but you have to learn what situations its great for and how to use it. I'm surprised how clear the shot is with a 1/125 shutter speed, so nice one on that. How long have you had the camera for?

[Jeevendra]

Thank you all for looking & providing valuable feedback. Since I was away on a trip, it took me sometime to reply. Pardon me for that...

@ Steve: Thank you so much for your comments Steve. I'll keep the tips in mind in future.

@ TheCheesWizz: Thank you for the comments. I've been using this camera since last October. This was my one of the first attempts to get some pictures from the cam.

[andrewdt]

Agreed, but in fact I would switch it off in camera (digital zoom) so that it cannot creep from optical to digital as you keep zooming (I think your model does this).

Go into the menus and find it there, I remember it being very easy to find.

[mikoyan]

When I had a camera with digital zoom, I tried my damndest to not use that mode (I had an FZ7 by Panasonic) because I never liked the results. If I recall, the digital zoom is something that could be accomplished in post processing on the computer and in many ways it was better doing it that way.

Although your picture does look nice.

[crockny]

Well you certainly got a closeup! It's a little startling though, not in a good way for me I'm afraid ... I'd like to see the whole bird or more of a profile shot I guess ...