Going to London Eye on Friday with borrowed SLR

[Sheks]

Hi,

Taking my 4 year old daughter up the London Eye on Friday morning.

Never really used an SLR before, I currently use an Olympus SP-550UZ - which I like but am becoming increasing frustrated with for 2 primary reasons - shutter lag and poor high ISO performance. As a result I have been thinking about an SLR sometime next year.

My dad has offered his old Canon 10D (I say old because he now uses a 5D, he keeps the 10D as a "spare") for me to try / borrow. I believe this level of camera is someway off my budget, thinking more about a 400D next year (or any fourthcoming Canon replacement). However it gives me the opportunity to try an SLR in the mean time.

The 10D has a Canon 24-85mm lense currently fitted.

Anyway to get back to the point of my post, can any of you "experts" offer any advice or things I should consider before I go on Friday - or is it best to just snap away leaving the camera on auto.

We are booked to go on the London eye at 10:00am then after we are going to see the changing of the guard at Buck House afterwards. Really looking forward to it (as is my daughter).

I "try" to also take pictures of radio controlled planes and helicopters - at this time of year we fly indoors (in a large hall) - as a result the lighting is not great - hence high ISO performance is something I would value.

Thanks in advance.

Sheks

[RobDickinson]

1st 24mm isnt going to be awfully wide for scenic shots, roughly 36mm so dont expect any major panorama's etc, tho with the glass and glare its not the best shooting enviroment, you do get plenty of time tho.

Just IMo shoot on P or auto unless you know a little about photography, it'll work out - dunno much about the ol 10d tho.

Indoor model airplanes are going to be very hard to shoot whatever, a fast long lens with a camera with good low light AF is the best hope, 1dmkIII the best but pricey option, 400d is a lot cheaper has OK AF just couple it with a decent lens.

[T0MAT01]

The thick glass that surrounds the pods is pretty thick and so it can leave a greenish tinge to the shots, if you shoot in RAW then it is easier to eliminate this in post processing later. RAW also helps if you haven't got the exposure spot on in the first place.

HTH.

[mbscad]

Hi Sheks,
I have a 10d and it's still a very good piece of kit despite its age!
It has a resolution of 6mp but that is more than adequate for most reqirements.

The 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens is not image stabilised so you need to brace the camera really well and increase the iso setting if the light is not so good.
Make sure your battery is fully charged and you have plenty of space on the memory card.
The only snag that I can see using full auto for your shoot will be if the camera needs to deploy the flash. You will need to be careful of reflections from the glass which may ruin your shot (if that's a problem then use auto, press shutter half way and take a reading of shutter speed and use this value to dial in to Manual mode or Tv (Time value) mode and increase the iso to 400 or 800).
You need to look at your photos in the screen display as you go along to check on blur and exposure and make adjustments if things aren't right.
Check that you know how to zoom into a displayed picture and pan around it.
Also if you use the info button whilst a picture is displayed you can check the exposure graph.
I would also recommend that you set the AF point (the square that is used to focus with) to the centre point which will make your pictures more predictable.
Above all enjoy yourself taking pictures, if you check at regular intervals as you go along, then you won't get any surprises (like getting home and saying oh no...we've all done it).

Hope this helps,
Mbscad

[m488dkw]

Just reviewed some of my pics taken from inside one of the pods during the summer, and the major annoyance is internal reflections from the plexi-glass.

Maybe a polarising filter would have assisted, although it is possible to take shots without these reflections.

[Sheks]

Many thanks for the excellent advice guys.

Sheks