Birdermom wrote:.

I have tried the search to see what advice may be here but doesn'tseem to work at this time....just received my FZ50 and attempting totake some pictures. I have been using the camera in the A, automode, trying to get a "feel" for the camera..

Try using the "A for aperture" mode, with the aperture at f/5.6.

I am getting very fewthat are clear, sharp....don't think I am blaming the camera...justneed some help to know what I may be doing....do I need to changesome of the factory settings....coming from a simple P&S....justbeginning to "play" with the FZ50.....thanks in advance.

You are probably using a lot of zoom if you like to shoot birds. This makes camera shake a problem. Make sure your OIS is on, and hold your camera very steady. Also, your autofocus should be set to Spot in the menu. When you half-press the shutter to get focus, make sure the spot is on your subject. Press your shutter down firmly and smoothly to take the shot..

One final suggestion: If you are shooting in less than bright sunlight, your camera may be choosing a long exposure time, which makes any camera movement appear as blur. If your shutter speeds are longer than 1/120 with the OIS on, you may need a tripod..

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Took some more...using flash, etc....it appears that some have "small white dots where the color is not there"....any ideas what this is?..

So we can see the problem, too:.

Find a hosting site. You can use TinyPic.com if you want something quick..

Upload your photo. Once uploaded, right-click on the photo and select Properties..

Copy the URL, ending in .jpg, and paste it into your message..

Use the Preview button to make sure you have it right, then click the Post button..

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Remember this is all new to me....please forgive my lack of education using computer with photography....I tried to use the site you suggested. I have been unable to upload my saved pictures. It reports uploading but never completes the upload. It may have something to do with my server, live in very rural area, still have dial up....slow....slow....any suggestions with other ways to post pictures....will really help if all can see the pictures...thanks so much..

Birdermom, glad to see you found and bought the FZ50. I believe you will love it, once you've played around with the settings. Since I'm one of the people who suggested it for you, I'd better chime in, huh?.

Try this until you become a little more familiar with the camera:.

Mode: P (camera sets the focus & exposure)Metering Mode: Center weightedFocus: AF (on left side of lens barrel)AF Mode: [+]H (1-area-focusing, high speed, center weighted).

Picture Adjustment Settings:-Contrast: Low-Sharpness: High-Saturation: Low (True-to-life, natural colour)-Noise Reduction: Low (the pictures have higher resolution).

ISO: 100 on a bright day; Auto for a mix of sun & cloud; [I]ISO if you expect subject movementW. Balance: Auto, unless conditions dictate otherwiseQuality: Fine (lower compression, best JPEG picture)Image Stabilizer: Mode 2 (seems better, less battery drain)Continuous AF: Off (also saves battery power)Colour Effect: Off.

Flash: Forced Off (unless you're using it, of course, at which point you'll have to adjust that setting). Flash setting returns to Forced Off when flash is closed..

Now, one thing I discovered very early when I started playing around in the Manual Focus mode; the camera can focus more accurately and faster than I can. I now shoot just about everything with the focus set to Manual but I cheat.

Zoom in or out to frame your picture. With the camera's AF setting preset to Center H (as above) and the focus switch on the lens barrel locked into Manual, aim the center of the frame at what you want most in focus, push in the Focus button (also on the barrel) and let the camera do the focusing for you. It will set and lock focus very quickly and precisely, you can watch it happen and know that the most important part of your picture will be sharp..

With focus set, reframe your shot if need be, depress the shutter button halfway to allow the camera to set the exposure, then shoot..

Or you can do the one-touch focus thing, reframe and just fire away if you're in a hurry. Truth be known, I always do the latter, being sure to hold the camera steady as the picture freezes momentarily..

Probably sounds like more work than shooting in the AF mode, pointing at what you want sharpest, depressing and holding the shutter button halfway as you move to reframe your picture, then firing, but I'm an old guy with an itchy trigger finger, so that's what works best for me. I get beautiful, clean photos, so if it ain't broke, etc..

Finally, do you get the white spots in all of your pictures? I had to really look to tell the difference between spots and possible natural spots on the vegetation. Just a guess but your pic looks like it was shot in either Auto or P with a lot of the default settings, on a dull day or in the shade..

Kindest regards, mike marshall..

Thanks so much....made a copy of your reply...will try your advice. I am taking pictures, trying things, reading instructions, just "playing" and coming back to the computer, seeing what is working, etc. So far I love the camera, just have to work on the photographer behind the camera. Also, I think it is downloading to the computer in huge files...do I need to change the size of the print? I noticed that when I emailed some to my daughter, the program resized, picture much better....remember you have a beginner on the camera and computer....this may take some time...lol..

Birdermom, one thing I like about the FZ50 manual: it goes into a bit of detail on how each setting affects the camera and your pictures. As one basically coming from an SLR film camera, I found myself going back to it often..

As you've already seen, the posters in the Panasonic forum here at dpreview are more than willing to offer help and advice. Many of them have gone through similar problems with the same camera, so it's probably one of the best venues for any questions. Don't feel you have to wait until you see someone ask a question about something that you're wondering about, start a new thread and you'll get some answers pretty quick..

Kindest regards, mike marshall..

Hi- I don't actually see any white dots that don't appear to be part of the scenery!.

To post your pictures, be sure that any junk beyond the .jpg part of the URL is edited out, as well as any junk before the http, thusly:.

Http://i12.tinypic.com/4y8q0l4.jpg (ignore the hyphens) Without the hyphens, this is what DPR forums will show for your URL:.

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Actually I find right hand side of the photo overexposed and missing color information on some spots.Correction of -2/3EV would help with this but left side will get underexposed..

As long there is no clipping on both light and dark sides you can postprocess to get it pleasant for the eye.I would strongly suggest low setting for contrast too..

And at last, do not forget the RAW mode - there could still be lot of color information available from the sensor lost in jpeg conversion..

This great camera will teach you a lot as did the FZ30 for me ..

Just want to thank all for the help...I am looking forward to "playing" with my FZ50 and learning more and more....this site is extremely helpful when replys are so willing to help those of us who are just beginning...for example...I was wondering how I could get my pictures to look like the others posted..now with the reply posted, I hopefully can next time. I can print replies and have them for future reference, review, work with the camera..again thanks for the help...I will be back..