need to learn how to use my camera

[reeinaz]

Hi all,

I'm going on an Alaska cruise the end of June. I have a Caribbean cruise in March.

I want to learn how to use my camera for my Alaska cruise and I'm hoping I can use the Caribbean cruise as a learning opportunity.

The pics will just be for my memories and maybe social media. I don't plan on printing anything but will still shoot in RAW and JPEG.

My camera is a Fujifilm x30. I've had it since they were first introduced but I've barely used it. I know I need to "just use it" to get to know it, but what types of things could I take pics of on my Caribbean cruise, and in my city environment, that would give me the appropriate camera experiences for my Alaska trip.

I plan on just using advanced SR auto. I think I could get as advanced as choosing the scenes myself but setting aperture and shutters speeds, etc. are way beyond my skill level.

Oh, I know my camera is not weatherproof and will not use it in wet conditions.

I also have an iPhone 14 Pro, but I also don't know how to use that to take "good" pics. 

 

Thanks a bunch!

[TheOldBear]

In addition to this forum, you may want to head over to the forums at dpreview.com - there are forums for beginner's questions, Fujifilm cameras and 'landscape & travel'. Some of the discussions there get into excessive detail - like comparing ships based on the padding under their stateroom carpets - but I try to be helpful.

[pierces]

Old joke about the tourist asking the New Yorker how to get to Carnegie Hall has more insight than one would think at first glance. Of course, the answer was practice, practice, practice.

 

That's your answer. Take your camera out. Set it to whatever settings you decide to use and take pictures. Take a lot of pictures and compare them to pictures you see and like on the internet. Is a composition right? Should you zoom more? Less? There's no real textbook answer for that. If you like it, it's right. This isn't meant to be a generic "just shut up and practice" answer. I have spent over 50 years practicing and it seems to have paid off. (To be honest and a little encouraging, I got pretty good after about a year...)

 

Don't get discouraged. At least it's it's not $5.99 a roll and $7 to get it processed to find out you need more "practice". I did that for the first 25 years or so. 

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

Where's the link to my cruising gallery. Maybe browsing through them will give you some ideas. There's quite a bit of Caribbean and a whole lot of Alaska.

 

https://pptphoto.com/galleries/Travel/Cruising/index.html

 

Dave

Edited February 13 by pierces

[jnicktem]

In addition to the good advice already given, I would like to add that learning about the exposure triangle is a good step and helped me when I was starting. If you are taking photos in Auto, pay attention to the settings that your camera is using for those shots and see how the shutter speed, ISO, and aperture all work together in different scenes. 

 

Probably the biggest help I have had is just watching Youtube videos. Start with some basic ones regarding your camera model and how to use it. Then find some professional photographers that you like with channels that show how they capture their images. 

 

And lastly, of course I am going to say practice. It's just needed. Get comfortable with your camera. 

[mskaufman]

It looks like you live in Philly.  Take the camera out around town and take pictures using different settings. Take hundreds of pictures and see what you get.  Another option is to take a short trip to DC where there are a lot of photo ops.  Hopefully, this way, by the time you get on cruise number 1 you will take great pictures (without a lot of time investment).  Also, you can look for a local photo safari where you will get some lessons.

[Subyspecialist]

I’ve been a Fujifilm shooter for about 8 years and use my gear for both personal and professional work. The XT30 is a solid little camera, I had one a few years back as a travel cam. Auto SR is decent, but the camera can’t read your mind for what you want the exposure to look like, it will try to expose for a balanced image and often end up flat and boring. As a newer photographer you don’t have to jump right into Manual exposure, but the best thing I can suggest is start practicing with Aperture priority and learning to use your exposure compensation to expose for the subject in your image. Program your Auto ISO in your camera with a base minimum shutter speed IE 1/250 is pretty safe for general photography and whatever max iso you don’t want it going over. 3200 iso is fine 6400 is about the max that I like to go on my Fuji’s especially if you don’t have a good denoise program. By using Auto iso with a preprogrammed base shutter speed the camera can still do a lot of auto assist but you have more control using your aperture and exposure comp. Just get out and practice a bunch. Hope that is of help.

[Hezu]

1 hour ago, Subyspecialist said:

I’ve been a Fujifilm shooter for about 8 years and use my gear for both personal and professional work. The XT30 is a solid little camera, I had one a few years back as a travel cam.

Note that OP mentioned Fujifilm X30, not XT30. Since X30 is somewhat older compact camera with a smaller sensor, it probably behaves somewhat differently than XT30, which is a mirrorless ILC.

I don't have experience with either Fujifilm model, so I cannot give any advice  specific to these cameras, but I think give one universal advice: make a note on battery life based on your usage patterns and if battery tends to run out earlier than you would like, it is a good idea to invest in extra battery since it is very frustrating if there is a good opportunity to use camera and you can't do that if its battery has no power.

[reeinaz]

Thanks for the replies. I went back and looked at pics I took on a trip to Sweden. This wasn’t too long after I got my camera. I don’t know what mode I was shooting in. It wasn’t auto. The only thing that changed was the shutter speed according to the photo details. I don’t remember what I was focusing on. LoL I know one is a bit dark and the other a bit overexposed in the clouds. 

funny that this was years before my 1st cruise and I caught a Viking ship. 

[Subyspecialist]

5 hours ago, Hezu said:

Note that OP mentioned Fujifilm X30, not XT30. Since X30 is somewhat older compact camera with a smaller sensor, it probably behaves somewhat differently than XT30, which is a mirrorless ILC.

I don't have experience with either Fujifilm model, so I cannot give any advice  specific to these cameras, but I think give one universal advice: make a note on battery life based on your usage patterns and if battery tends to run out earlier than you would like, it is a good idea to invest in extra battery since it is very frustrating if there is a good opportunity to use camera and you can't do that if its battery has no power.

My mistake, I must have misread the model. X30 also offers programmable auto iso with minimum programmable shutter speed, and same exposure modes as XT30, so everything I stated still applies except you would want to lower your max iso expectations as it is a 2/3” sensor camera.

[Hezu]

5 hours ago, reeinaz said:

funny that this was years before my 1st cruise and I caught a Viking ship.

Note that is a Viking Line cruiseferry (I would say M/S Viking Cinderella based on the livery since most ships in Viking Line fleet have livery with more red) rather than Viking cruise ship. Despite the similarity of names, Viking Line and Viking (Cruises) are not related.

[Laszlo]

On 2/12/2024 at 3:16 PM, reeinaz said:

Hi all,

I'm going on an Alaska cruise the end of June. I have a Caribbean cruise in March.

I want to learn how to use my camera for my Alaska cruise and I'm hoping I can use the Caribbean cruise as a learning opportunity.

The pics will just be for my memories and maybe social media. I don't plan on printing anything but will still shoot in RAW and JPEG.

My camera is a Fujifilm x30. I've had it since they were first introduced but I've barely used it. I know I need to "just use it" to get to know it, but what types of things could I take pics of on my Caribbean cruise, and in my city environment, that would give me the appropriate camera experiences for my Alaska trip.

I plan on just using advanced SR auto. I think I could get as advanced as choosing the scenes myself but setting aperture and shutters speeds, etc. are way beyond my skill level.

Oh, I know my camera is not weatherproof and will not use it in wet conditions.

I also have an iPhone 14 Pro, but I also don't know how to use that to take "good" pics. 

 

Thanks a bunch!

Lots of good YT videos to watch

 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+use+Fujifilm+x30

[reeinaz]

On 2/14/2024 at 5:52 PM, Hezu said:

Note that is a Viking Line cruiseferry (I would say M/S Viking Cinderella based on the livery since most ships in Viking Line fleet have livery with more red) rather than Viking cruise ship. Despite the similarity of names, Viking Line and Viking (Cruises) are not related.

Thanks for the clarification. We stayed in a house that was on one of the islands off the coast and I was amazed at how many of them we saw. This was in 2016 I think.