Rexene wrote:
I'm renting a Nikon 28-300mm AF-S f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens for our Florida vacation. We will be visiting numerous theme parks, an airboat ride seeing alligators, various birds and wildlife, Medievel Times, where they will be such things as jousting, Any good suggestions for use and settings for the various things we will be doing? I'm fairly new to working in manual mode. Should I not take the chance and use auto?
I see you have a nikon. I have a nikon d300 and a 28-300mm lens and I shoot in manual virtually all the time. To use manual effectively: In manual mode, there is a meter visible (a line about an inch long marked off in small segments). The meter can be seen in the viewfinder and top display window. When looking thru the viewfinder, rotate the main command wheel ( by your rt. thumb) until the little segments are zeroed out (or one segment to the plus side if you want to expose to the right side of the histogram). You can adjust the command wheel to rotate in the direction you want thru the (f in menu) control selection, i.e.,wheel rotates ccw to move segments to the plus side (more intuitive). You can adjust the front wheel for aperture. When adjusting the rear wheel, make sure you concentrate on keeping the shutter speed up. You may have to adjust the aperture to keep the speed up.
I'm not sure i would use manual for jousting unless the light is pretty consistent.
I keep my AF activation off (A5 on my camera). That is, I use the AF-on button all the time. Up to you.
I find the 28-300 to be an excellent lens.