Well, the EX550 was fine with batteries, I did worry about it at the time (pocketfuls of spares!)......but I only need one set at Sheffield and even then the battery indicator never lit.

It's not so much the eating the batteries as the recharge time increases dramatically. Anyway found it today. Phoned a local Canon Professional Photography dealer and was told it was discontinued. Phoned my buddies at waltersphotovideo.co.uk and they're ordering one from Canon and I'll get it next week. (They're not really my buddies but it's where I got my camera etc from. Good service, prompt delivery, well packed and competitive pricing. I'd recommend them)

Ever tried taking pictures of fireworks

Yes. With tripod and remote release!

Out of the hotel window in yer underpants

its only now (guessing ian j got a good camera) that I see the quality is much better. But still for the price its not a bad camera and plus i couldn't part with the money andy ian J do for a camera

How much you spend depends on a)what you want it for and how much you're going to use it. There are some fantastic digital cameras out there now in the lower price bracket. I've not tried the Finepix cameras myself (I'm totally sold on Canon), but I've heard good things about them.

Out of the hotel window in yer underpants 

No, in a park in the rain with my jacket over the camera to protect it and me getting soaked in a t-shirt.

However, I learned like you that handheld for fireworks ain't no good:

its only now (guessing ian j got a good camera) that I see the quality is much better. But still for the price its not a bad camera and plus i couldn't part with the money andy ian J do for a camera

Hi,

Andy's basically got the newer version by a couple of years of what I had (I sold it)......but it's not to say you can't get reasonable pics with cheap crap.............the pic below was taken with a Canon IxusV point & shoot.

Ian.

Another picture taken on a simple camera (to go with the simple owner). Canon Ixus300 - as other people have said the trick is to focus on a point where the rider will end up and try to anticipate the shot.

This was taken at the final round of the British championship last year at Back Cowm. Some incredible riding from Jarvis and Lampkin.

Well, I just bought Theo a Cannon A70. It's pretty cheap and we will see how it does.

Here are my tips:

1. Always use a flash, no matter how bright the sunlight is.

2. Use a strong flash. Don't worry if it costs more than your camera.

3. The camera should be able to shoot flash photos at 1/250th or faster.

4. Get close.

5. Prefocus.

6. Set the exposure manually.

7. Anticipate the action.

8. Get the rider's face, unless you're shooting a shot from behind.

9. Shoot lots of frames and don't be shy about dumping the bad ones.

10. If the shot is not in focus, throw it out no matter how good the action is.

Here's a typical shot of mine. Minolta Dimage 7i. Minolta 5600 HS (D) flash. f/8. 1/500th.

Well, I just bought Theo a Cannon A70. It's pretty cheap and we will see how it does.

Send me pic's of the Fairlane.

I can send you pictures of the PARTS of the Fairlane. The lastest issue or the Fairlaner has some great origanal promotion pictures of 62, 63, 64 Fairlanes and Meteors.

well the report of the Jack Thompson trial in today's TMX has a photo by me (name spelt wrong again) using my camera so have look and see how it came out

rabie :snowman:

I've been using a Sony F707 for a couple of years. One of the problems most

beginning photographers have is when they're told to use fill flash even

outdoors and not realizing many cameras will automatically set the shutter

speed to 1/60 of a second. Too slow for many shots. On the Sony it is possible

to use fill flash in "shutter priority" mode. This forces the camera to use

the shutter speed set by the photographer. This works exceptionally well on the

Sony because it uses an iris (leaf) shutter which opens from the center so even

if the shutter is not fully open for the full flash duration the effect on the

the image is a difference in the light contributed by the flash vs ambient.

Unlike my old Minolta film cameras where a partially open (focal plane) shutter

caused a dark area of the image. I've been able to shoot at 1/500 with fill

flash.

I have, on the New England Trials Association web site, some sample images from

the yearly photo disk I do for the club. I hope Andy's not mad if I put the link

here but I don't want to suck up his server space either. My favorite image is

the guy on the vintage Yamaha. Unfortunately I didn't shoot the photo. I loaned

the camera to a buddy who shot it. Damn that's the best trials photo my camera's

ever taken. The other photographer is someone I loaned the camera to on a couple

of days I had to work the event and she shot entirely different, in a way I

never would have imagined. Real eye opener about how different people see.

Dan

www.newenglandtrials.org

Really Andy it's not commercial, honest!

P.S. Oh yeah, all the stuff that MalibuDon said. Especially the stuff about

get close. If he is who I think he is. He's THE MAN! with a camera.

P.P.S. Remember to have an escape route if the rider loses it in your direction.

A high ledge with no way out is a bad place to confront a trials bike.

Edited December 13, 200322 yr by Dan Williams

I hope Andy's not mad if I put the link

here but I don't want to suck up his server space either.

Hell no! You sound like you know what you're talking about and I'm still very much a learner. Any advice is very welcome. (Apart from that, I don't mind links to other sites on here unless it's blatant spamming)

Phoned a local Canon Professional Photography dealer and was told it was discontinued. Phoned my buddies at waltersphotovideo.co.uk and they're ordering one from Canon and I'll get it next week. (They're not really my buddies but it's where I got my camera etc from. Good service, prompt delivery, well packed and competitive pricing. I'd recommend them)

Got home tonight and card through the door saying Citylink had attempted to deliver a parcel. Only thing it can be is the battery pack. The boys at Walters come good again. I really do recommend talking to them if you're in the market for anything photographic related and in the UK.