How to get best out of my fuji f100fd

Hi,

I am an amateur photographer. But very inclined to get the best out of my camera. Could you please guide me on how best to use my camera.

Any suggestions, links would be appreciated.

Thanks

Well... that really does depend on what kind of images you're primarily taking... we can give you hundreds, if not thousands of different tips on various uses of a camera. It also depends on how much you already know about ISO, fstop, scene selections, flashes, memory cards, etc... But to start, I'll quote James DeRuvo, another support agent at this site who tells how to take crisp and sharp pictures:
TIPS TO FASTER CAMERA PERFORMANCE:

Prefocus. Hold down the shutter half way to get a prefocus of the image you're shooting. When it changes, prefocus again. This will speed up your camera's performance during picture taking since it won't have to autofocus before it shoots the shot.

Use faster SD cards. Yes, there are faster cards and it does make a difference in writing the image file to the card. This is especially key if you're taking multiple or burst images.

Fresher batteries. Use alkalines at least. But I recommend using high energy batteries designed for digital photography. Varta is a good brand. They are usually sold in camera shops, are long lasting (because they are sold in small quantities) put out alot of energy.

Shoot in "sports" modes when you're in situations that require action. Night or available light modes when in night time settings. These presets can help in speeding up your shots, rather than the camera taking a split second to evaluate the conditions of the lighting.

Go manual. If you are manually focusing, particularly in darker settings, you can constantly refocus the image as things happen. Also, the infrared does have a range and if your image is out of that range you can end up with the camera's "best guess" or infinity setting which may not help. You can also go manual on fstops and shutter speeds as well, getting more light faster when you choose.

Go with a shallow depth of field.

Pan with the action. You can create some pretty cool shots by panning with your shot, focusing on your subject. This will create the effect of your subject in sharp contrast to the blurry background.

Use a flash - even in day time. This will "freeze" the image and cause your subject to "pop" in the shot. However, flash is only designed for limited range and can dissipate outside of about 20-25 feet unless you're using a zoomable flash.

Stick with 100-400 ISO. Going higher will cause more noise/grain in your shots, particularly in darker settings.

If you have anything specific, or any other questions, feel free to ask.

Aditya D has a number of good points. I would add the following two comments:

1. He didn't mention what kind of Varta batteries to get but, in any event, get the rechargeable Nimh batteries as they have high energy and cycle fast for flash shots. Besides, buying non rechargeable batteries will have high costs if you take very many pictures.

2. Light does probably dissipate outside of 20-25 feet but most digital point and shoot cameras have a range that is woefully short of that distance and if they claim that distance or longer, it is because they are increasing the ISO settings to intolerable levels that will produce LOTS of noise. With most cameras stick with a maximum of 10-15 feet and don't get too close because many cameras don't dump the flash power quick enough and tend to blow out the picture by serious over exposures. Better to take a close up by zooming in from 8-10 feet away. This will reduce the over exposure problem in two ways. First, a reduction in light because of the distance. Secondly, the fact that zoom shots cause the lens to gather less light.

None of this is a criticism of Aditya's advice but intended to further mention some additional options.

Thanks guys....

I tried to gather some information and here it is..(with respect to my Fuji F100fd)

1) ISO : Controls the shutter speed. The higher the ISO the faster the shutter speed is. This helps in freezing a moving object or can even reduce camera shakes.

2) EV exposure: This adjust the aperture of the camera depending upon the ISO settings. Again this helps to control the exposure to light for a particular shot.

3) Dynamic Range: The contrast between bright and dark spots in a shot

4)White Balance: should be adjusted to match the background light.

Now there are things which I couldn't figure out. These are

1)Photometry: which comes with three options Multi, Spot and average

2)AF Mode: Which these three options Center, Multi and continuous.

3) There are options where you can choose what quality of image you desire from your shot. For eg: there are two options with 12 MP. One is 12M F 827 frames and the other is 12M N 1316 frames. Whats the difference between the 2.

And 4) Is it possible to take long time shots with F100fd?

Sorry if they are too specific to my F100fd. Not sure if all the questions make sense. Thanks Aditya D and fredbillie for your help. I really appreciate it

Enjoy
Anil

Looks like my questions are either very specific or they dont make sense.....Anyways thanks guys. I am still open to suggestions if you have any

Thanks
AJ

I like Anil's comments but he doesn't say HOW to adjust the white balance - and especially important, HOW to do that underwater, and whether this needs doing repeatedly [presumably]. I want to progress with this camera, but have not yet found how to get away from the blue underwater pictures of my initial foray underwater - and it's a great camera - above water shots/ movies all grand. Help please - much appreciated, I am sure this is very basic for the experienced.

1) Photometry - 3 choices have to do with the manner in which exposure is set. Spot measures the light level in the focal spot and ignores the rest of the picture. Multi uses multiple spots and average tries to hit the middle of the range.
2) AF mode - this stands for auto focus and allows spot focus, multi(average) focus and continuous refocusing as you move the camera (uses more power hence fewer pictures from a set of batteries)
3) Quality of image - determines the degree of compression of the data and therefore how precisely the image is reproduced when viewed later. The number after the 12M is how many images you can place on what's left on the memory card. The greater this number the less precise is the reproduction of the image because the compression of the data is greater to squeeze more images in the same card. 12M 827 will give you the best image provided 827 is enough images for your purposes.
4) Maximum duration of exposure is 8 seconds and it is automatically controlled by the AE(auto-exposure) system.