30D Display Grid

[philh]

I have been following the comments on the 30D with interest. I traded up from a 350D and have never looked back. I have no major gripes (but I am justing getting into photography so I'm still working out what I need).

I have searched the manual but can't find where the display grid settings are. I seem to have a lot of sloping horizons and would like to set a grid Can anyone hepl

Phil
(30D, 24-70 Sigma 2.8, 70-200 Sigma 2.8, 10-20 Sigma 4.5)

[DaveB]

No grid available that I'm aware of. The only option for that would be to install a 3rd-party focussing screen.

[philh]

Thanks Dave,

That is bad news..I work with a Nikon maniac, I will never hear the end of this.

cheers

Phil

[gstark]

That is bad news..I work with a Nikon maniac, I will never hear the end of this.

As well it should be, Phil.

Welcome.

A couple of points ... before you squeeze the shutter (note that very carefully - don't press it -squeeze it) take a moment to scan the whole viewfinder with your eye. Look again at your composition as a whole (rather than just the subject, which will be what you're tending to focus on) cheking for things that shouldn't be as they are - poles or trees spouting from people's heads, out of place branches, etc.

Use that time to compare obvious verticals and horizontals with the edges of your viewfinder's frame, and adjust your camera as required.

Correct technique helps here as well: review how you're holding the camera, for instance. Finally, there are some tools that may be of use in certain instances: if you're using the camera on a tripod or some other form of support, consider the use of a hotshoe mounted spirit level. That will surely tell you if the camera is level.

[DaveB]

While I admit that a selectable grid would be a nice touch, as Gary points out you can live without one. There ARE a few (virtual) horizontal and vertical lines within the viewfinder.
The focus points can be used. Eg: line up the horizon so it goes through a pair of points, then raise/lower the camera to your desired composition.
I also use a hot-shoe-mounted spirit level as often as possible when using a tripod (not really useful when shooting action from a tripod though: unless you're using a gimbal mount).

Of course even when you do end up with a tilt (which can happen even if you DO have a grid in the viewfinder!) correcting it is simpler for us digital shooters than when using film: just correct it in Photoshop or in your RAW converter! As long as you're not doing something like submitted JPEGs to a publication on short deadlines...

[jdear]

if your ever shooting tethered to a slaptop, there is software which has a grid overlay function... for your image feedback, other than that, you'll have to continualy remind yourself to watch the horizon until it becomes second nature...

CS will fix the rest of your shots

J

[spada]

Hi
Using CS to fix would cut your pic res down , in some cases after being fixed it became 6MP pic instead of 8 MP , I do not talk about pix peeper here, just say that it like crop and rotate picture.Correct me if I am wrong.

[philh]

Thanks everyone for your insights. I will focus on better technique and see how I go

cheers

Phil

[gstark]

Hi
Using CS to fix would cut your pic res down , in some cases after being fixed it became 6MP pic instead of 8 MP , I do not talk about pix peeper here, just say that it like crop and rotate picture.Correct me if I am wrong.

Strictly speaking, no, but I think I know what you're trying to say.

Let's see if I can explain this in terms my cat can understand.

Or perhaps that even I can understand.

Resolution is basically the number of photosites per whatever. Typically measured in Dots per Inch (dpi) and on the D70 we're talking 300. I suspect that the 350D and 30D will be at the same dort of density, and that provides a very fine level of resolution.

When you straighten an image in an image editing program, what you're doing is shifting the pixels along an axis. In so doing, you're moving the vertical and horizontal edges of the image - which, at the outset, are true vertical and horizontal references - so that they are no longer truly horizontal and/or vertical.

However, you're still trying to work with a rectangular image, and thus the image that you're seeking to produce as final output must now be taken from a rectangle that is sourced from within your (now) offset polygon, and by definition, this new rectangle, and thus your new (final) image, must have smaller linear dimensions than your original source image.

And thus your final image must also be of a lesser size in terms of pixel count. An image that might have been 8MP in its original form might now be 6.8 MP because of the reduction of the rectangle from which this image was derived.

So ... you have a smaller image, dimensionally, and in terms of pixel count, but you have done nothing that would change the density of the image resolution, so if it was originally shot as 8MP at 300dpi, it might now be 6.8MP but still at 300dpi.

It's a slightly smaller image, that's all.

[losfp]

You're just being picky now, Gary

The COMMON usage of the term resolution is the x/y dimensions expressed in pixels.. ie: The screen resolution is 1024 x 768.... It's not really CORRECT terminology, but both you and spada MEANT the same thing

I say things like "high res image" and "screen res" when I really mean a larger image, or a screen with a higher pixel count... s'just the common usage of the words.

I think the use of the word "resolution" to mean ppi, dpi or lpi has become a bit harder, with the vast variety of computer monitor screen sizes out there.

/offtopic

I definitely find the gridlines on my D70s to be very useful, but I find that I use the edges of the viewfinder just as often. You can get the horizons pretty well straight to begin with (just takes a little getting used to), and then perfect it in PS.