Hello from Maine,
I am a new photographer and purchased the FinePix S1 Pro, this was because of the low cost ($170 for body only) and my previous excellent experience with a FinePix "point and shoot" that took incredibly sharp pics (FinePix 1400z).
Now I have a new Kodak point and shoot sub compact (V803
b) for the role of pocket camera and the S1 for serious business.
But I get better pics, generally, with my $100 sub compact than my big camera!
When I shoot with the S1, indoors, I see a yellow cast caused by the light bulbs. But when I use my new pocket camera the yellow cast is not present, I speculate this is a feature of the new camera to remove that in it's own post processing.
Now I am trying to learn to use my S1 and reading a metric ton about this and about that and I realize one difference between the S1 and my pocket camera is "auto ISO". The S1 does not have "auto ISO" but my pocket camera does. Then I looked at other DSLR cameras, like the Nikon N40, and I see they have "auto ISO". Apparently the S1 is simply too old to have this feature.
So I have been reading and trying to understand what I should set my S1's ISO at but don't know... I find it confusing. Reading the S1's manual doesn't help much either, it seems to give a very brief explanation of things.
Can anyone recommend some material I should read to take full advantage of the S1? Or should I just sell the S1 body and buy an N40 instead?
Also, is there a firmware update for the S1? I couldn't find one.
Lastly, what do you guys set your ISO on?
Thanks,
Craig
p.s. I have all Nikon AF lenses (so my troubles aren't caused by cheap lenses)
UPDATE
Oh I found this old thread!!! When I first got my "pro camera" it was confusing and I had one bad lens - a Nikon 28-80 from Thailand. When using it indoors I had all kinds of trouble. And I didn't know how to set white balance. I am using all Japanese glass now. It's funny to read this post.
Now I've got it all figured out, the S1 is very simple to use. For indoor shooting I would stick to the 50mm f/1.8 lens. For white balance I would select it manually - the S1 is not so great at detecting white balance
As for ISO - the S1 doesn't have "auto ISO", I just leave it at 400, though it can go down to 320.
I have tried "auto ISO" on an Olympus dSLR - it was such a joke - it always set the ISO to "100" no matter what. Calling that "auto ISO" is ridiculous.
OK, all is well now
There is definately a learning curve when transitioning from P&S to dSLR, but I feel the S1 is as simple as it gets. Now a lot of settings are present, just enough "modes" too. What a great camera!
Cheers,
Craig