 Anita Ott |
How to get use the Konica Minolta 7D I purchased my Minolta Maxxuum 7D in Dec of 2004. I love the camera, but I just don't think that I am getting the best photos possible. I had the Minolta film camera and loved it. That is the reason I went with the Minolta Digital because I already had a few lenes. Does any one have this camera that can help me take better pictures?
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Irene Troy |
Hi Anita – I got the 7D back in late March and I have come to love it! I also own the Minolta Maxxum 9 – a great film camera. When I switched to the 7D I was surprised by the learning curve. Stupidly I believed that because I had been using Minoltas for several years –albeit not seriously – that switching to digital would not be difficult and that there would be no real difference between shooting with film capture and shooting with digital capture. WRONG! There is much more to successfully using a digital SLR than simply inserting a digital card instead of loading film. What I have found true with the 7D: the TTL meter can be really off when shooting in the following situations: low light; macro and high contrast subjects. You will have to learn how to trust your eye rather than the meter and to understand what proper exposure really means. As I have grown more comfortable with the idiosyncrasies of the 7D (FYI: every camera, by every manufacturer has idiosyncrasies) my images have improved. I do a lot of macro flower work and I have learned to set exposure compensation by as much as +2 in some conditions. The image sometimes looks really washed out on the LCD, but once I view it on the computer it is often properly exposed. Also, play around with the white balance control – you will notice a difference when you start taking time to study the light before setting WB. The nice thing about digital is that you can make lots of images at different exposures and only keep the ones that reflect what you want to reflect. If you attempt to shoot a higher shutter speeds, and you are having problems with write speed, make sure that you download the latest software from the KM site. The update will really speed up the write speed, thus increasing your chances of making sharp images at higher speeds. I really like this camera for its sturdiness; the ease of control and the high grade optics. I was slow to come to digital and had a lot of skepticism about the medium, but I am now a real fan and the 7D is a great digital SLR, IMHO. Why don’t you load some of your images so that we can help you figure out what is happening and perhaps offer some more specific advice?
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Andy |
With film camera, you took a roll of film and drop it off to the lab. The lab uses whatever profile of the macine to make sure your photos are bright and look good. Using digital camera, you have to do all these yourself. You may set up some parameters in your camera to do some post processing after you took the image (saturation, contrast, sharpness, etc.). But my experience is that you still need to do some post processing in your computer to make the photo really stand out. Also the digital camera has more to offer than the film camera. Once you are familiar with it, you should be able to take good photos just like your film camera. I also heard that you should adjust the camera's LCD so the brightness is as close to your computer monitor as possible (or learn how to read the histogram). Usually the manufacturer's default setting is too bright. Hope this helps.
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Irene Troy |
Hi Anita - I just took a look at your gallery - was it there before and I missed it or what? Brain dead today - thats me! Anyway, I am not sure what your problems with the 7D are. Your images seem pretty good to me. Sure, some of your images are not as sharp as they could be and the exposure is just a tad off on a couple, but nothing serious and by and large I think you have some really nice images. What specific issues are you having with the 7D? There are some real digital experts here who might be able to really help if they knew the specifics. Irene
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Anita Ott |
No specific real problem. I just don't feel that I am getting the quality photos that I did with film. Andy above had some suggestions and as you stated in your earlier response I could make some adjustments in lighting. I bought a book at lunch that is just on the 7D and hopefully it will help. I can't remember the name of it, but it is suppose to explain the camera in user friendly instructions (unlike the manual that came with it) Irene, thanks for the kind words of my photos. Some of the problem with them, is how I save them. I love my PhotoShop, but some times don't get them saved just right. You guys are great, and thanks so much for all of your help. I will keep you posted. Have a great 4th and thanks again.
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Irene Troy |
Hi Anita- One other thing that I wish I had understood when I first started shooting digital: think of digital capture the same way you think of slide film. Slide film is not as forgiving as print film - it simply lacks the latitude to accurately record contrasts in light and color. Digital capture -at least as I understand it and PLEASE keep in mind I am not an expert - is similar to slide film in its inability to handle extreme contrast. This means that in order to capture, say, the striking colors of a sunrise you have to be very careful where you take your meter readings to set your exposure. Once I learned this about digital my results began to improve. I used to shoot mostly Velvia and/or Kodak Ultra -both films punch up color. When I went to digital I was somewhat disappointed with the results until I understood more about how it works and started to make compensation when I composed my images. Someone else with much more knowledge than I can probably explain this much better, but I hope that this at least points you in the right direction. Happy 4th!
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Helena Ruffin |
Hi Anita and all who contributed. I, too, had the very same issues with my Canon 20D. I've asked around as well, it is a matter of becoming re-adjusted and re-learning exposure basics. A pro suggested when composing to use auto as a baseline, then shift to manual. Hope I'm not changing the thread here but I think it's relevant: I have a question for post processing .jpgs in Photoshop. If I start manipulating in photoshop, say, unsharp mask, enhancements, color correction. Then upon saving should I keep the same file size? Or is there a reduced size that's standard for uploading to the web, or emailing. http://ruffprints.smugmug.com
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Michelle Ross |
I have the Maxxum 7D and I really love it however, like most of you I have come to realize there are things that my eye has to just realize .. . My LCD makes things seem properly exposed and when I get home it is much brighter on my computer screen then it is in my LCD so that is my biggest struggle . . . I have adjusted the brightness of my LCD and it's as bright as it will go and still is a bit darker than what my computer shows. I think the hardest thing for me is that I feel like I have to make more adjustments because I CAN and with film I thought I got great photos with my Maxxum 5 maybe because I knew my "editing" choices were limited.
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