School boy error!!

Gavlar82

Gavlar82

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Gavin
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Just thought i would ask, Has anyone ever made a silly mistake while out shooting?
Happened to me a few weeks ago. Was messing around at night taking some pictures of flaming candles and things, had my iso set to 800 and then 1000.

Next morning, a last minute decision to head off to the Leuchars airshow. gets there and immediately in awe of the noise and the array of jets, so start pinging off shots of fly by's and the red arrows display. after 380 shots of my allowed 417 I realise i'm still at iso 800 and noise has ruined my shots.

ALWAYS check your settings before each and every shot. I won't be making that error again! :thumbsdown:
 
Bad luck. I think the camera makers should have a setting in the menu for idiots like us so that when the camera's been off for X hours it would need confirmation of what settings to use. I saw my nephew for the first time the other week, took some nice shots, all looked fine on the screen. Went for a zoom in a little while later and it was completely pixelated. The camera was set to the smallest size possible.
 
ISO 800 on a D800 gives you excessive noise?

I've done similar with my D700 but realised when I couldn't get slow shutter speeds! When visiting my step grandfather's "family seat" a few years ago, I was the far side of the lake (with just the camera and a single lens plus a few spare rolls of film) when the battery died... There are far better shots than I would have got on the web - just looking at a few on Google Earth/Panormio showed me that. Nod's law states (among many things!) that if I head out with just one lens, I'll miss several fabulous shots because it's the wrong lens!
 
Gavlar82 said:
Just thought i would ask, Has anyone ever made a silly mistake while out shooting? Happened to me a few weeks ago. Was messing around at night taking some pictures of flaming candles and things, had my iso set to 800 and then 1000. Next morning, a last minute decision to head off to the Leuchars airshow. gets there and immediately in awe of the noise and the array of jets, so start pinging off shots of fly by's and the red arrows display. after 380 shots of my allowed 417 I realise i'm still at iso 800 and noise has ruined my shots. ALWAYS check your settings before each and every shot. I won't be making that error again! :thumbsdown:
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Surely ISO 800 on a D800 can't be that bad? If you weren't planning on making huge prints, I would think you'd be okay.

The bigger problem would have been the effect on shutter speeds, wouldn't it? I don't really shoot air shows, but I'm sure there are ideal speeds for catching a bit of movement with propellers and the like, right?
 
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ISO 800 is clean on the D800. Hardly a big mistake-a-ta-make-a. It would have bumped your shutter speed nice and high for catching planes in flight.
 
skysh4rk said:
Surely ISO 800 on a D800 can't be that bad? If you weren't planning on making huge prints, I would think you'd be okay.

The bigger problem would have been the effect on shutter speeds, wouldn't it? I don't really shoot air shows, but I'm sure there are ideal speeds for catching a bit of movement with propellers and the like, right?
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Don't need slow speeds with the Red Arrows!

ISO on the D800 is all but imperceptible on A3 prints.
 
I would think 800 asa would be fine on the D800,but have done myself more time than I can remember :bang:
 
Yeah, especially in daylight. You shouldn't notice any significant noise really, as it would show more in darker areas. I reckon under exposed a lot too if the images are noisey.

Similar mistake made by me recently. I had been shooting birds in the garden from the kitchen window - some were in shade, and also i was trying to capture them in flight, so I had the ISO up to 1000 for fast shutter speed. The cat came along and scared them off and I grabbed this shot of her. She was chasing a fly at this point, like an eeejit - it's over your head Scout! :D - ISO 1000 still.


Where's that pesky fly gone!? by Cagey75, on Flickr
 
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sorry for the confusion folks, was still shooting with my D300 at the airshow, only just received my D800 yesterday :(
 
fabs said:
I can't help think that, if noise has ruined your photos at ISO800 on a D800, the issue lies elsewhere. Sounds like you may have underexposed your shots. I often shoot at ISO800 on a Sony A700 (a 6 year old cop sensor camera) with little or no noise issues.

Do you have any examples?
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sorry forgot to mention i was using the D300, the new toy hadn't arrived then.
apologies for cofusion.
 
Gavlar82 said:
Just thought i would ask, Has anyone ever made a silly mistake while out shooting?
Happened to me a few weeks ago. Was messing around at night taking some pictures of flaming candles and things, had my iso set to 800 and then 1000.

Next morning, a last minute decision to head off to the Leuchars airshow. gets there and immediately in awe of the noise and the array of jets, so start pinging off shots of fly by's and the red arrows display. after 380 shots of my allowed 417 I realise i'm still at iso 800 and noise has ruined my shots.

ALWAYS check your settings before each and every shot. I won't be making that error again! :thumbsdown:
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do you not see the setting through the veiw finder when composing shots :shrug:

a schoolboy error indeed, but a lesson learned :D

Les :thumbs:
 
I traveled all the way to beauli ?spelling? Motor museum in the new Forrest , got my camera out to find I left the memory card in the card reader at home! This was a very long time ago though...... I recently done a family portrait session (paid) with my d300 in auto iso from the previous day and most of the shots were at iso 1600!! They came out on because it was a bright studio but you could see deterioration in the subjects eyes .
 
Once, I had shooted all the festivities of my town using a camera without a roll in it :bonk:... so, Gavin, it could been worse, don't worry and learn from your mistakes. :thumbs:
 
I went along to the local Bruce Festival (imagine Medieval festival) with kids in tow so only took my camera, 2 lenses and nothing else. Everyone in character (knights, squires, servants, King Robert, horses, crafts etc)
Lined up my first shot of a splendid looking knight; pressed the button.......only to realise id left the battery on Charge!
I was distraught! Called myself everything under the sun and missed so many good shots that day! :-(
Kids enjoyed theirselves though :-)
 
Mardybum said:
Well, this thread didn't go the way it was meant to did it !!?? Does it really matter what ISO, camera, etc.... Just answer the bluddy question asked !!!! :) No, I've never had an experience as you've described in your op. I need to actually get out with my camera before anything like that can happen to me............
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We'll answer in a way that actually bloody helps him. Not that it concerns you. Its not near as much of an error as made out. Even on the D300. And yes the model does matter. As its slightly worse in that case.
 
One of the modules on the course i'm doing was all about workflow and we were made to analyse ours in minute detail.
One of the things I always do is to reset my camera to my normal expected settings, so ISO 100, AV, 24-105 lens fitted and if I take out the memory cards or batteries I always put another straight in.
 
Derek.Laurence said:
I went along to the local Bruce Festival (imagine Medieval festival) with kids in tow so only took my camera, 2 lenses and nothing else. Everyone in character (knights, squires, servants, King Robert, horses, crafts etc)
Lined up my first shot of a splendid looking knight; pressed the button.......only to realise id left the battery on Charge!
I was distraught! Called myself everything under the sun and missed so many good shots that day! :-(
Kids enjoyed theirselves though :-)
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:lol::lol: Just reminded me of my step sisters wedding. Walking into the church, thought I'd take a shot and exactly the same thing. Was a bit annoyed I'd have to carry a useless camera around. Went into the church sat down, person next to me said 'nice camera' I explained the situation, they pulled out their gripped camera and gave me a battery. Result.
 
Cagey75 said:
We'll answer in a way that actually bloody helps him. Not that it concerns you. Its not near as much of an error as made out. Even on the D300. And yes the model does matter. As its slightly worse in that case.
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To be fair, he didn't even ask for help....... This was purely a thread to tell of your misfortunes/mistakes/schoolboy errors, not a request for help or for a debate on what camera can do what at this ISO or that ISO !! The thread starter realised his mistake (even if it was too late to do anything about it) and has already said he won't do it again in future.........
 
Mardybum said:
To be fair, he didn't even ask for help....... This was purely a thread to tell of your misfortunes/mistakes/schoolboy errors, not a request for help or for a debate on what camera can do what at this ISO or that ISO !! The thread starter realised his mistake (even if it was too late to do anything about it) and has already said he won't do it again in future.........
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It's just a discussion and people are just trying to find out if it was something else, other than ISO, that caused his pictures to be "ruined" which could potentially help the OP if the issues lay elsewhere. Just because someone doesn't specifically ask for help, doesn't make it wrong for people to try to offer it.

Perhaps, if you feel that something is wrong with the way a thread is running, it would be better to report it so that the moderators can deal with it rather than taking other members to task yourself.
 
Mardybum said:
To be fair, he didn't even ask for help....... This was purely a thread to tell of your misfortunes/mistakes/schoolboy errors, not a request for help or for a debate on what camera can do what at this ISO or that ISO !! The thread starter realised his mistake (even if it was too late to do anything about it) and has already said he won't do it again in future.........
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You're missing the point - if you don't learn from your mistakes, then you're a bit of a twit frankly ( ie change your workflow/ shoot differently etc etc).

In this case, I don't think that he has even worked out what his mistake is. Taking a properly exposed shot at ISO800 on a D300 shouldn't produce excessive noise at all which means that either the shots were consistently underexposed and rectified in PP or a deeper problem.

It's no use sweeping issues like this under the carpet and just posting what's requested because that isn't the way to help someone learn. It's the equivalent of dashing through the unanswered posts section posting the same C&P version of 'nice shot' without bothering to consider the content.
 
Mardybum said:
To be fair, he didn't even ask for help....... This was purely a thread to tell of your misfortunes/mistakes/schoolboy errors, not a request for help or for a debate on what camera can do what at this ISO or that ISO !! The thread starter realised his mistake (even if it was too late to do anything about it) and has already said he won't do it again in future.........
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Nobody was scolding him over it like :D Just reassuring him that it's not that big a mistake. I'd say most of us have done much worse. But telling people to "just answer the "bluddy" question" when it's a friendly discussion, is a little off, don't you think? And just because he didn't ask for advice, I think it's nice of people to offer it anyhow. I'm sure OP appreciates that.

Also, in my post I stated I made the same kind of mistake,but showed proof that it didn't ruin anything
 
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fabs said:
Even so, given the D300 and the Sony A700 share the same sensor, I'm surprised at the photos being ruined at ISO800
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I'm not. Shooting into the sky against a dull painted object means that the shadows normally need to be raised. On a sensor that doesn't have the best noise handling in the first place really would ruin the photo if the exposure wasn't perfect on the camera.
 
Yeah, setting are displayed in the viewfinder, was so over awed at the noise i just started pinging shots off.
Perhaps ruined was too strong a word. I like crisp images, not a fan of grain. so as asked previously - here is an example.




Noisy Jet by Gavin_D2009, on Flickr
 
I've made the same mistake today, ISO 640 for a couple of frames. It's a bit stupid, but the noiise did not bother me too much and I could reshoot partially :) Having ISO in the viewfinder would really have helped :D

Btw. try the green dot button reset on Nikons. You could make a habit of doing it every time you start a new session.
 
Touchwood I've not experienced any major stuff ups with actual photography because I check and double check the camera gear before going out - so much so that it's the other bits I forget! Like the time I turned up at a pal's house ready for a day out in the hills with the cameras only to realise that my walking boots were still sat in the middle of my lounge. And to add insult to injury the cats had made a grand job of mangling the laces by the time I got home! :)
 
Back to the OP's question - I don't know of any of my Pro buddies who haven't walked out of a church shooting at very high ISO and not carried on in full Sun for at least a few shots :D

And yes - usually more than once too :lol:

Have I done it though??? Course not :D

Aside from the time I shot the biggest groups on one camera still set to 3200 ISO, the other I'd already reset to 400 :lol:

You'll do it again - LOTS of times if there's a hint of excitement or you're rushing

Dave
 
DG Phototraining said:
Back to the OP's question - I don't know of any of my Pro buddies who haven't walked out of a church shooting at very high ISO and not carried on in full Sun for at least a few shots :D

And yes - usually more than once too :lol:

Have I done it though??? Course not :D

Aside from the time I shot the biggest groups on one camera still set to 3200 ISO, the other I'd already reset to 400 :lol:

You'll do it again - LOTS of times if there's a hint of excitement or you're rushing

Dave
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Never happened to me :whistling:

And I did once go out for a day with the camera and fresh batteries (including spares) and all the batteries showed as empty, and I was certain I'd charged them. Only later did I remember that the camera grip had a known problem and I could have removed it and I'd got more batteries than enough:shrug: (fortunately not a job, just a family day out)

On a job I was struggling to adjust the exp comp, threw the camera down in a huff and shot with the 2nd, only to realise after I'd picked the 2nd one up that I'd not switched the first one on all the way (Canon 20d - hockeystick)
 
DG Phototraining said:
Back to the OP's question - I don't know of any of my Pro buddies who haven't walked out of a church shooting at very high ISO and not carried on in full Sun for at least a few shots :D And yes - usually more than once too :lol: Have I done it though??? Course not :D Aside from the time I shot the biggest groups on one camera still set to 3200 ISO, the other I'd already reset to 400 :lol: You'll do it again - LOTS of times if there's a hint of excitement or you're rushing Dave
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Done exactly that. Shot highish ISO indoors in manual then moved outside in the sun carried on for a few shots and realised that all these shots were overblown after doing the dreaded " chimping"
The one I keep doing often is white balance after setting it indoors keep forgetting to switch... Lucky shooting in raw and Lightroom lets u quickly adjust.
 
I once got all my stuff ready to shoot landscape sunrise shots. Drove up to the Dales about 100 miles, getting all set up about to put camera on tripod and realised that because I'd changed camera bags I hadn't taken a quick release plate for the tripod!!
I now have one actually attached to the tripod at all times so it doesn't happen again.
 
I still consider myself to be a schoolboy with regards to photography and expect to make plenty of mistakes :D Having 'User' settings is a big help though for when I know I might be changing them dramatically.
 
PSILVERMAN said:
I once got all my stuff ready to shoot landscape sunrise shots. Drove up to the Dales about 100 miles, getting all set up about to put camera on tripod and realised that because I'd changed camera bags I hadn't taken a quick release plate for the tripod!!
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I did that too on a (day after Boxing Day) morning shoot when I drove to the coast to shoot a sunrise in -4 degrees :(

However - I simply unscrewed the tripod head and screwed the camera directly onto the legs, worked fine, just meant no 'Portrait' orientation shots :)

Still felt like a jerk though :lol:

Dave
 
Gavin, the shot you've posted is rather underexposed and bringing it back up will tend to increase the appearance of noise, however, I'm not sure that the high ISO setting will have caused the underexposure - IMO that's more likely to be down to the meter trying to expose for the sky rather than the plane. Try dialling in some overexposure to get the plane exposed correctly - shoot a few shots of anything against the sky to see how much underexposure you need (from the meter reading) to get the plane correctly exposed. Spot metering from the plane might help too but beware of metering from a spot that's too dark or too light. If the light's fairly constant, you could try shooting a face against the sky - if that's exposed right, a plane against the same background will be too.

As the posts above show, none of us are perfect - we all cuff up from time to time! The important thing is to learn from our mistakes in the (often vain!) hope that we don't repeat them (too often...) There's a military saying regarding the many Ps -PPPPPP - proper planning prevents p*** poor performance, so in an ideal world, set your equipment up how you expect it to be needed when you get to the shoot, whether it's a walk by the sea, an airshow or just the dog in the garden. Review the first few pics you take to check you're getting what you want and alter settings if necessary. Above all, remember that for most things, the Mk. 1 eyeball with the memory behind it is better than nothing (and often better than a photo).
 
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