Maraea48 wrote:I do have a Sandisk file recovery program, However apparently If you format the disk in an Canon camera it will overwrite the files thus making it impossible to recover lost file.
Have a read of this -
http://www.reclaime.com/library/disk-format.aspxThere are two significantly different types of the format procedure. After using one of them, the data can still be recovered, but after applying the other - the data is unrecoverable.
Most cameras use the normal mode of format (quick format) after which you can restore your data. However, in Canon PowerShot digital camera series there are both the normal mode and the "low level format" mode. If you use "low level format" (complete format), all the data on the memory card will be deleted irreversibly and any data recovery software would then be useless. Nevertheless, Canon digital cameras use the normal format mode by default. If you formatted your memory card in the normal mode, the data recovery process doesn't differ from other cameras. If you used the "low level format" mode, you cannot recover anything because all your data is gone and there is nothing left on the memory card.
Again, depending on how long ago or how full you've had it since, I'd still be trying a recovery on that card.
Maraea48 wrote:When I have the time I will take a number of brackets at different F stops but during processing I always seem to end up with the F8 versions having the best dof.
Depth of field at any given f stop is less noticeable at wide angle and more noticeable at zoom. The more zoom, the more noticeable the DOF (or lack thereof) will be. If shooting a number of shots to compare f stops, do it at different zoom lengts, including the minimum and maximum that you would typically have with you, this will give you a better idea of what the equipment you carry is capable of and when you should use certain settings - what you are trying to achieve, and how to do it.
Maraea48 wrote:As for Histogram? I am a learner and have not jet learned to understand it and I know I still have a long way to go there is so much to learn!
It's easy to learn, the answers are out there...
I won't reinvent the wheel by repeating what's out there, go check these links out.
You will learn that a quick look at the histogram and you will tell whether you can afford to add half a stop, 1 stop etc, or whether you need to reduce exposure somewhat.
http://www.prophotoinsights.net/prod/79 ... histogramshttp://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutor ... rams.shtmlOf course, when increasing or reducing exposure, there are a number of ways to do it.
You can adjust your ISO.Doubling or halving the ISO is equivalent to adjusting the exposure by 1 stop. You will most likely be able to adjust the ISO values in halves or thirds, selectable through your camera menu.
ISO 200 is twice as light sensitive as ISO 100. ISO 400 is twice as light sensitive as ISO 200. ISO 800 is again twice as light sensitive as ISO 400, and so on. But the higher the ISO, the more "grainy" the image will appear. Grain = noise = speckles in a photo. You can reduce grain in photoshop, particularly if you use the noise reduction in Photoshop CS5 in the raw editer.
You can increase or decrease your F stop.The standard stops being 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22.
You can also go half stops or even third stops between these values, depending on the capabilities of your camera.
You can of course adjust the exposure time, doubling or halving it will adjust the exposure by 1 stop.
Filters - If you had the camera set on manual settings and you wanted to reduce your exposure, you could use neutral density filters. They come with set values, for example 3X will decrease an exposure by 3 stops.
Flash - if you needed more light for a given exposure, flash may assist. Flash will only assist subject matter within range of the flash unit, typically of (guessing) up to about 10 metres depending on the flash unit. Flash can also create unnatural shadows, that can destroy the feel of an exposure. And using flash in conjunction with other light sources, such as indoor incandescent bulbs, you can get mixed white balance and the result can be hard to correct in photoshop (selective layering, playing with the hue setting might do it). Hardly relevant for landscape photography though.
Sunlight - wait for a cloud, or wait for the cloud to move on. Wait for sunset, or get up just before sunrise to get the right light for a given scene that requires the light you are looking for.
When you are doing your bracketing, compare the histogram and over and under expose by half a stop, 1 stop, 1.5 stops, 2 stops, 2.5 stops, as far as your camera will go. And compare the histogram on each shot, so you can learn by looking at a histogram how much you need to adjust the exposure by to achieve a more balanced exposure according to the histogram.
You could just bracket and decide later, but I find that getting it right when behind the camera will save me a lot of time in front of the computer. More fun, too.
There's also the RGB menu in the camera that shows you which bits of an exposure are over-exposed to full saturation, by flashing them white in the playback preview. This will allow you to work out which bit on a histogram is the bit that is at the far right end, and then you can decide how much you might need to under-expose an image (if at all) to recover some data in the flashing area. For example, it might just be a rogue cloud in the sky, that you can clone out in photoshop, so you might prefer to leave that part of the photo over-exposed for the sake of achieving a well balanced exposure for the rest of the image.
The purpose being achieving the most perfectly exposed image possible when taking it, allowing you with a better finished product after final editing. Who knows, get better with these things in camera, and you might just cut your need for editing down considerably if you only shoot JPG.
Maraea48 wrote:As for RAW you probably Illustrated my point, after a lot of processing the raw picture would probably look better than the Jpeg but is it worth the efford?
Basil.
Depends on whether you are happy with your results, and what you are doing with them. An earlier post by me points out my feeling on shooting raw.