Another use for continuous shooting

Continuous shooting at 10 fps guaranteed a sharp image.

The thistle looked like a picture but it was waving sporadically in the light breeze. Trying to time the shot to the lull in the wind was near impossible. The shutter lag kept messing up my timing. So, I set my Fuji HS10 to continuous and soon had an image. Don't just think sports action when considering the value of the continuous shooting feature.

Fuji FinePix HS10 Meets Bruce Cockburn

Tonight was a big test of my Fuji FinePix HS10; I took it to a concert.

Remember, I'm a retired newspaper shooter. I once used top of the line Canon EOS cameras. I often shot concerts with an f/1.8 200mm prime lens. I was never concerned about the light; With an f/1.8 there is always enough light. And with such a massive, large f/stop, I could use any shutter speed necessary to stop the action on stage. As for the ISO setting, I always went lightly, no big boosts here; I wanted to minimize noise.

Tonight I had none of that. I had a lens which when zoomed got progressively slower. I'd be lucky to shoot at f/5.6, I thought.

So, I gambled with the shutter speed; I picked 1/320 second. I gambled with the ISO; I set it to 6400. And, I truly threw the dice with the f/stop; I used Auto!

And I won my bets! Or at least I think I did. What's your opinion? Feel free to comment. (This was written quickly last night on returning from the concert. Read on to get the in-depth scoop.)

Everything I've read about the Fuji HS10 made worry about trying to capture a singer on stage with this camera. I read that the lens was incredibly slow when zoomed, the pictures were soft and smudged looking when shot at anything faster than ISO800 and the camera was impossible to use without a tripod when zoomed all the way to 720mm.

Now, one rule of photography is not to decide you cannot get a picture before pushing the shutter button. Photography is not about equipment; Photography is about photographers. Clearly there are limitations imposed by equipment. But more often the limitations are imposed by the shooter. You can't do much about the equipment problems but you control the photographer --- you.

Before leaving for the concert, I brushed up on my knowledge of the camera. The HS10 is one complex piece of equipment for a fellow who places the Canon SD10 in the Parthenon of point-and-shoot. I confess, I still have not truly mastered this hi-tech tool.

Getting to the concert early, I sat down close to the stage and began preparing the camera for the concert. First I set it to Sports Action figuring this would force the camera to make decision based on stopping action. I shot a few quick pictures of the audience and immediately learned that this would not work. The shutter speed chosen by the camera was simply too slow.

I set the camera to shutter priority. If you don't understand shutter priority read the entry posted on Digital Photography School. I set the shutter to 1/500th thinking that was a good starting point and I shot some more pictures. I assumed that the stage lighting would remain fairly constant. Not enough light.

I then started playing with the ISO setting. Remember all major full settings make changes of one full stop (to be technical step not stop but let's not be silly). So, change the ISO from 100 to 200 and it is similar to opening the lens another f/stop.

I moved the ISO from 100 to 6400: A change of 5 stops! And I shot some quick preliminary pix. They looked good exposure wise but they suffered from camera movement. I'd have to brace the HS10 somehow, I thought.

Lastly, I increased the dynamic range of the camera one increment. I'll confess I don't know exactly what this does but it sounds good. I had read the extreme setting resulted in increased noise and I didn't want that and the factory setting, I read, allowed highlights to burn out. I picked the in-between setting.

Immediately before the concert I walked to the front of the stage, squatted down and staked out my position --- not quite in front of the mic. I didn't want every picture marred by a mic blocking my view of Cockburn. The really fine thing about my "seat" was the wooden barrier. I could shoot under it while pushing the top of the camera firmly against the wood. This steadied the camera.

After Cockburn appeared I realized that I didn't need to shoot at 1/500th second. I moved the shutter speed setting down to 1/320th. The camera was picking f/stops in the f/5.0 range --- sometimes a little faster and sometimes a little slower. This looked good to me.

I pushed the high speed continuous shooting button and I was ready to rock.

My look at the Fuji FinePix HS10

Since posting my personal thoughts on the Fuji FinePix HS10 I have been directed by readers to a number of Internet sites carrying full reviews of this Fuji superzoom.

Many of these had serious reservations about the camera. Pictures of playing cards taken under poor lighting were shown to be grainy. Action shots, poorly composed and rather uninteresting, were shown to be poor. (I don't take pictures of playing cards in the dark. Not my thing. So, I really wasn't all that interested.)

One reads these reviews, looks at the pictures, and it is clear that these folk are shooting for fun. I am and I like the HS10. Straight from the box, set to the no-brainer Auto setting, I got some great pictures. Were they too noisy? Too soft? Oh, please . . .

Full post: Rockin' On: Photography.

The first thing that is important in any photograph is the photograph. A camera is nothing more than a tool for taking and making pictures. The HS10 is not only a good tool straight out of the box, it has features that allow it to grow with the photographer. Using the HS10 can be a challenge but that is not a bad thing if rising to the challenge delivers great images while making you a better shooter.

The HS10 is not for everyone. A newspaper photographer would be driven wild by its infuriatingly long shutter lag. And I can see some parents be ticked off when they miss a shot of their child because the camera is busy writing the last picture to disc and is not ready for more action. To these people I say, break down, spend the money, buy a DSLR. There really is no other answer.

But if you're like me and what you want is a serendipitous camera, one that you can have with you almost all the time --- I don't recommend taking the HS10 into the shower --- then this Fuji offering is worth considering.

Enlarge the image below. It was a chance moment. Driving along the Pacific Coastal Highway, I chanced to see some kite-surfers. I stopped and fired off some quick pictures. It was fun to do and it was even more fun to see the fine moments I captured.

For a more detailed look at the ultra-fast continuous shooting capabilities of the HS10 please check out my post discussing the Best Frame Capture mode.

Click on this image and examine the slightly cropped file. I'm impressed.

Fuji HS10 Unretouched Image

This is an untouched, downloaded straight-from-the-camera, image. This Fuji HS10 image of a hare is not even cropped. I took this at the Hacienda at Fort Hunter Liggett in California while on holidays. The image is not perfect but it suffers from nothing that cannot be corrected in almost any image enhancement program: Photoshop, ACDSee, etc.

One reads a lot about the noise problems, etc., of the Fuji HS10. Double-click this image and take a close look at the quality. It is a perfectly fine image file in my book.

Cheers,
Rockinon.