making best use of nikon coolpix S2

[rkrao]

Hi

I am new to Pbase forum. I have bought a nikon coolpix S2

I am looking for any tips from people who have used this to get maximum benefits and best results

Thanks in advance
Ram

[vetnurse]

Hi Ram

Welcome to PBase!
I had a look at the specs for your camera and it's a nice start to enjoying point and shoot photography (I'm sure you will get hooked like the rest of us). As for tips, there are few things I will suggest that take into consideration the limitations of your camera - firstly it is really designed as a pocket/handy kind of camera, and although it has a really nice sensor and 5.1 effective megapixels its main job is to produce standard size prints only. You could enlarge your pictures but they just won't look particularly good.

Forget the 4 x digital zoom, any halfway decent software can do that for you, the important bit is the optical zoom - ie. what the lens can actually do to get you in close to a subject. Three is not huge, but it's adequate for people shots, general scenery, landscapes etc. but it is unlikely to give you any really impressive close-ups that you couldn't achieve by simply moving in closer with your camera. I also noted that the Coolpix S2 has a variety of modes to choose from but they are essentially all automatic, the only real manual control you have is white balance (all the focusing is automatic whether you use the AF assist or not).

The flash on your camera is mounted so close to the lens that although it will illuminate your subjects, your images (particularly any dark room/night/evening shots) will probably look a bit washed out/flat and possibly have some flares - you could practice with the flash to see which conditions produce the best results, and don't be afraid to try a flash during the day to help give some detail and reduce contrast on dark or poorly lit subjects.

So given what your gear does, the best results should come from you, in how you choose your subjects - whether they are people, places etc. What kind of lighting is involved to maximise the quality of the exposure (try backlighting, daytime - at different times and different types of cloud cover, see what kind of results you get from night/evening scenes etc).

I would suggest you take multiple shots of one scene or subject and only change your white balance so you can get a feel for what produces the best images. And also have a look at some tutorials (or just get a feel) for what makes a good composition (where your subjects are placed your frame - that type of thing).

Lasty, your camera has several choices for metering - I suggest you read the instructions on this because they can produce some very different results - depending how seriously you take your built in meter in the first place (there is a reason why professional photographers tend to still use hand held light meters)

I think that's all I can suggest at this stage (sorry, it's late and I'm probably drivelling on because I am tired).. I hope this helps you.. except... just keep on playing with your camera, become familiar with it's functions and most of all - enjoy it! Photography should be fun.

Cheers
Ruth
p.s. if any PBasers disagree with my comments please jump in and post - I am fairly new at photography myself and I won't take offence.