Olympus Stylus Tough 6020

[pcray1231]

The only problem is taking pictures in places like brookie streams where you're in the middle of the woods and lighting isn't always the best.

Difficult conditions separate the good cameras from the cheap cameras. Low light is such a difficult condition.

But there are always trade-offs. Price, size, shape. If we really wanted the best waterproof camera money can buy, we'd all have expensive SLR's in a diving housing. Problem is, it'd be too much to lug around everywhere, and would sit at home on the desk, where it'd definitely not take very good pictures.

For instance, look down a few threads at the Canon D-10. That's my waterproof that I use for fishing, and I posted some pics. I think it takes great pictures. It's quick, responsive, intuitive. But to get that, there are sacrifices. In exchange for fast, effective focusing, I got a really wide camera that has an egg shape and it doesn't fit into any pockets very easily. It's also probably close to double the price. For what? To save 5 seconds here and there, and maybe get a better picture 10% of the time?

 

[streamerguy]

Ok I'll have to try changing the brightness next time. I did look at the pictures you took and they came out really good! I might have to look into that camera in the future, and I don't really think the shape will bother me that much since I use a chest/waist pack that has a lot of room that I could put it in, and my past 2 cameras were Canons and I liked them a lot. The price probably will eventually lower too.

 

[Ramcatt]

stay away from messing with the "brightness" setting

use the macro and super macro setting

learn to use a steady hand
and find the limits of your camera

i've shot some killer images with a range of the Olympus SW/tough cameras over the past 7yrs or so (ive had the 720, 1030, and the 8000)
but its a Shock/water auto point and shoot... even less controls than a normal P&S
so now i pretty much always have my DSLR in a pelican case on the water instead

 

[pcray1231]

I actually have 2 cameras, a the semi-little waterproof P&S (Canon D10) which functions as my fishing camera, and a big "almost SLR" but still technically a P&S (Canon SX20) which functions for more serious photography sessions.

While the bigger camera definitely has more functionality, with a ridiculous zoom, and ability to compensate for tough conditions, I actually think the little one takes sharper pictures in more normal situations.

As far as exposure, I haven't messed with it on the little guy but I change it OFTEN on the big one. Part of that is that there's a +- button and a wheel so you don't have to mess with menus to get it done. But darkening it has definitely helped in situations where part of the field is bright, such as taking landscapes with sky involved. If I don't touch it, if I include more sky, the land darkens too much, and if I include less sky, what sky is there washes out. If I turn the exposure down I seem to be able to balance it better.

For example, had I not lowered the exposure this sky would have washed out....

 

[troutbert]

pcray1231 wrote:


Squat and hold the fish near the ground so that the ground isn't so far from the fish, you give the camera no choice what to focus on.

If all else fails, tell the camera it's right, it should focus on the ground. Find a nice, wet piece of moss to lay the fish on. Or I sometimes use shallow water, which aids in quick release, and semi-in water pics are attractive.

That's it right there. Don't try to photograph the fish suspended in the air. The camera is focusing on the background. And it is doing its light adjustment for the dark background, so the fish is way over-exposed.

Get the fish right down next to the background, i.e. moss, rocks, grass, etc.

 

[stevehalupka]

listen to ramcatt... also, set everything back to default. shoot in biggest frame available. Use rocks to steady camera when possible.. it takes great pics, I have the 6000.

i stay away from underwater macro and go with the wide setting. shoot further back than you think.

all of these were taken into iauto to surprise... just held steady

 

[gfen]

ObFocus: Most modern cameras will have various focus points which it'll randomly select. This is a pain in the ***. Turn this feature off, and let it focus with only a center focal point. Life will be easier. Press halfway to focus, then hold the button in that position and swing the camera to take in your composition.

ObExposure: There's focal length, the numbers measured in millimeters, but this has nothing to do with how much light gets in. That's determined by how wide the aperature opens, measured by the "f-stop" nomenclature. The smaller this number, the better. This is academic, and you can forget it.

However, you do have to determine the best mix of light to get to the "film" to record your image. If every lumen counts, wider lets in more than longer lengths. More importantly is finding the mix at which your camera works nicely at low light, with flash, ISO and fanciness like digital shake reduction and digital zoom just skimming quality off the top.

Experimentation can help, but maximize your chances. Turn off digital zoom and shake reduction.

Think about how a light meter works, which is to take the zones you've told it to (often full frame: the entire picture, centerweighted: just the general middle, or spot: the absolute center point). If it determines it needs flash, it'll judge based on what the light meter comes back with and bump it up, as required. Think about the meter mode, and what it sees. Remember, you filled the frame with a dark trout, it'll pump out moar flash and wash it out, but you present it with a crappie hung out in a sunny scene with lots of light, there'll be no flash.

The "brightness adjustment" is exposure compensation, measured in EVs (Exposure Values). This isn't something you need to worry about, especially on the fly, but for knowledge's sake, what it does is force the camera to expose with incorrect metering.

A meter looks at a scene and says, "18% Kodak Grey." Always. You show it a white paper that takes up the whole scene, and you'll get an 18% grey paper. You show it black paper, and you'll get...18% grey! What if you know you don't want 18% grey, but you're taking pictures of something wholly white? You move up a few EVs and suddenly 18% grey is over exposed to...white.

 

[streamerguy]

Thanks for all the help guys.

stevehalupka, have you had experience with the 6020? Is there a big difference between the cameras? All of your pictures came out great! And like I said most of mine come out real grainy(out of water pics) and just bad quality. I never used iauto before, but just today I took a few random pics in the house with iauto and they came out a little better. Also I love that one of the brown!

 

[stevehalupka]

from what I hear there is no real difference... i think you have more mp but not much. They should take the same... where did you purchase from?

 

[streamerguy]

I got it at Best Buy last winter. I would go there and talk to them about it but when I got it they didn't know much at all. Should I be using iauto?

 

[stevehalupka]

I do man... it usually picks the appropriate setting, but not always.. you can just simply dunk that bad boy on iauto and it sets to underwater

 

[streamerguy]

I went outside in my backyard and took a bunch of random pics using iauto. Some of them came out really good, some came out grainy, and some came out blurry. Overall most of them were acceptable. The only thing I didn't like about that setting is you can't change the focus setting, it just focused on any random thing and not whats in the middle of the screen.

 

[stevehalupka]

yea.. you will become better the more you use it. Learn to focus on your target, then pull away for 2/3's rule. I use the camera like a range finder. Lock on what I'm shooting then adjust.

imo, if you really want to get into shooting, get an entry level slr and do some reading each night. You will be amazed at how much more you can do with one. Great, short tutorials on canon's website to get the ball rolling.