Western Railroad Discussion > first snow of the year . .

. . up on the Palmer Divide here in Palmer Lake, CO. A couple of inches so far. We managed to miss the first two years first snow by being out of town but were here this time. Apparently still have some things to learn about this damn Nikon D3000 as first shot pushed shutter and nothing!*%#&!! Camera almost ended up in bottom of Palmer Lake. Had to race down to Monument to try again for this southbounder. This has happened a number of times under dark conditions. I guess I'll have to get the instructions out again. I miss the AUTO mode on my old standby.
** took another a little bit ago with some tweeks but still only fired once. Thanks alot for all the helpful hints in below posts. **
JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/11 13:05 by 3rdswitch.

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Fine looking Christmas card shot there, 3rd Switch. Hope the Nikon starts cooperating. My autofocus in the lens quit this past week. I'm scrounging around for some $$$ to fix it - needs to be sent off to California. Are you headed that way any time soon?!?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/11 11:13 by cozephyr.

If you are shooting in the manual mode, check the light meter in the viewfinder to make certain you are allowing enough light through using the shutter speed and/or aperture control.

With your Nikkon in program, go outside and take some shots. If these come out, put the camera in the aperture priority mode with the lens set down three stops, and take a shot. If this works, do it again in the shutter speed priority mode with the shutter speed set to 1/250th second.

Also try the manual mode, this time looking at the light meter in the viewfinder, making sure the indicator is on "0".

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

Or just trade it in on a new Canon! :>)
—Mac

Better yet, keep your glass and trade the D3000 in on the rumored D800 with 36mp.
Charlie
MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

Another idiosyncrasy of the digital cameras is if they calculate a significant problem with the exposure they don't record an image, sometimes you'll hear the AF lens winding back and forth, etc. A simple fix is to make a practice image once you get to the location, although that was how I found out the camera did not like the approaching headlight. The practice image was ok but the approaching train was choking the camera, then the going away shot was just fine. I think that was the last ime I used VR for a moving subject.

Snow seems to also provide grief to the camera, some of the many, many settings allow great snow photos, it's one of those practice and experiment things. Better to practice before the train arrives though. I did some snow photos last year with our famous 'even' lighting, worked pretty good without much messing around. I suspect it's the 'scene' modes that are an issue. I usually use Aperture priority on the DSLR.

MacBeau Wrote:
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> Or just trade it in on a new Canon! :>)
> —Mac


...and use a Mac. Even if it doesn't solve the problem you'll have a nice crowd of folks to keep you company.

It's the same start-up problems everybody has, no matter what the hardware is. Snow is always a problem for the same reasons. A little work with the settings and things usually work out. Just have to make sure the camera has those settings.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/11 10:58 by TCnR.

Snow is often a problem. Camera needs solid lines to focus and if focus point is in the snow or flakes are heavy it will become confused and not focus. Exposure should not count, if you are in correct mode, as it will fire even with too slow a shutter, I have found that out. In some auto modes it may not fire if low exposure but should always fire exposure wise if in P mode.


Bob

Would the blowing snow cause an issue with the AF, preventing an exposure? It looks like the focus is good.

You have a low contrast situation, and the camera is set up to not fire until
it is 'focused.' In these low contrast settings it is probably best to shoot
in manual focus mode. You may be able to move the area that the auto focus
uses to set the focus, such as a well-defined area, as mentioned above. One thing
about using manual focus: if your subject (the train) is at photographic
'infinity,' it will likely remain at photographic infinity throughout your
shooting. It's a bit complicated, but check out depth of field and the effects
of aperture on the depth of field.

HTH.

John.

Picture 2.
I have stood in that same spot and shot trains,BUT NOT in the snow!

Uncle Joe-way down in Florida

Film cameras had the markings on the lens barrel to indicate the depth of field, based on aperture, around the point of focus indicated on the focus ring, DSLR's don't have that and I do miss it. The D5000 (my choice of cameras at the moment) has a 'fn' button that can be assigned allowing a 'pre-focus' using a number of auto-focus indicators and then hold that setting until the subject (ie the train) moves into the composition.

Maybe that's a more clumsy explanation but it seems to be a working solution similar to the manual approach. But it requires a little set-up time and additional concentration during the chase.

It seems to help during those blowing snow moments, but those seem to always be a problem where experience with the camera and developing a favorite technique helps out. Snow conditions change greatly in different regions and different moments in a storm. But that's part of what makes this hobby more interesting than sitting at home watching a movie.

Thanks again for all the helpful hints, I can use all I can get. Do they make a "DLSR for dummies"?
JB

Great shots! I wish that was the weather in Kansas right now.

Lucus,
We don't need that kind of weather here in KS now. It will come to soon anyway. upkpfan

Yeah, no kidding. It's on the way! Really has me itching to go to Colorado though!

Pump