August 2007 Archives

A reader writes,

On recent vacation, I really did take many terrific shots, but a bummer being a group shot of four kids against some rocks at the beach. The colour and lighting are fine, but three kids are in crystal clear focus and the fourth, blurry.

There are a few things that could cause that problem.  Autofocus isn't magic, and can't read your mind, so it sometimes ends up focusing on something other than what you want.  Autofocus mechanisms look for a straight line, so, for example, if a person is standing in front of a fence, it's not unusual for the camera to autofocus on the fence rather than the person. Digital SLRs often have multiple autofocus modes, and it is critical that you understand the characteristics of the mode you're using.

Nancy’s going to be shooting a wedding inside a small church and wrote to ask what flash she should use for her Nikon D-80.

Nikon has several external flashes, but for most people I recommend the SB-600.  The SB-800 does provide a bit more range and some other features for people using multiple-flash setups, but most people don’t use those features and the additional range is not worth the higher price tag.

The main complaint I had about the Canon G7 is that it didn't support shooting RAW.  Apparently Canon was listening.  According to their recent announcement, they have reintroduced RAW mode in the G9.