goldengod

I’m really happy with all the submissions I got for my photography tips contest and I wanted to show them off a little bit. I also try and give myself a bit of a break when writing for goldengod on the weekends. It gives me more time to go out and take photos.

Without further ado, I give you six great tips for six different digital SLR cameras, all from my kickass readers! Find your camera in the list and give that tip a try next time you’re out and about!

Josh M kicked things off with tips for the Nikon D80:

Set BOTH Upper and Lower limits on Auto ISO: Auto ISO is a huge help and is actually quite accurate on the D80. However, if you just turn it on and fail to set the limits, you can get some really noisy images.

Steve had advice on how to lock your exposure for the Nikon D50:

In the menus, change the AE-L/AF-L button to AE-L. This lets you use that button to lock the meter exposure. It’s handy if you have a backlit subject and don’t want to change from matrix metering to spot metering. The default is both AE-L and AF-L which locks in both exposure and focus.

My friend Aaron from Single Serving Photo posted the most tips, including this useful tidbit for the Canon 5D:

For you lucky 5D shooters out there, your mind probably reeled when you saw the multi-directional control stick they added alongside the classic Canon scroll wheel on the back. You can use the control stick to pan around an image when you’re zoomed in, but you can also set a Custom Function that lets you choose autofocus points with it. Once you get used to it, it really speeds up AF point selection.

I was expecting to see Canon and Nikon only, but Brian Reischl surprised me with a few gems for the Pentax K10D:

Use that rear e-dial. In the advanced setup menus you can specify what the rear wheel does in all the priority modes (Av, Tv, Sv, TAv). Usually it will set one of the other three exposure settings, letting you get not-quite-manual functionality from any of the modes.

Longtime reader Brian Larter of Aperture Studios notes that the Canon 30D can do the same trick that Aaron mentioned above:

On the Canon 30D the most forgotten control is by far one of the most useful. Just above the great and amazing wheel of control is a tiny joystick… The main thing I have begun to use it for has been controlling the focus points in my viewfinder… The joystick allows you to select point number 7 while on point number four with one click, unlike the wheel where it would easily be 3 clicks away.

and finally, our winner Renée Clory came forth with tips about her new Nikon D40x:

Remember that the D40x does not have built in body focus motor - make sure that the lenses you are getting for the camera are AF-S lenses.

Once again, thank you to everyone who participated! I haven’t figured out what or when yet, but I’m definitely going to be running more contests in the future. Subscribe to my RSS Feed and don’t miss out!