New image

[NorthWoods Bill]

Regarding Noise: Actually more in the 100 to 125' foot range. At 125', 70mm, F4 to DOF calculator shows 78' near limit, 304' far limit. When I zoom in on the pine needles of the tree in the original raw image they are not as clear as I would like them, they look just a tiny bit pixelated, maybe? I took that to be noise but now I am thinking it is lack of sharpness in the image. I have looked at a zoomed picture of a painted wall before and saw the dots caused by noise, I took what I was seeing on the tree to be the same but now I am thinking I was wrong. I will take some more shots this afternoon.

Regarding focus: Would I have been better off limiting the AF on the camera to one point so I have complete control over what it is focusing on?

I cant thank everyone enough for being tolerant of newbie questions and willing to take the time to help.

[ChadS]

Regarding focus: Would I have been better off limiting the AF on the camera to one point so I have complete control over what it is focusing on?

I cant thank everyone enough for being tolerant of newbie questions and willing to take the time to help.

AF is fine but you need to know what points are lighting up - and there are no guarantees that your camera is actually focusing on that spot anyways (the T2i lacks a feature called autofocus microadjustment so you're relying on the lens and camera playing nicely. My 70-200 f/4 IS plays nicely with my T2i my 85 f/1.2 does not).

No worries about being a newbie. All of us had to learn at some point. You have the advantage of the internet. My photography classes in high school were a bit before that time... The upside is that all the portrait shots of my female classmates have some really bad 80's hair that I love to put up on Facebook.

[NorthWoods Bill]

The upside is that all the portrait shots of my female classmates have some really bad 80's hair that I love to put up on Facebook.

Chad - Thanks. That is probably a great idea. Hopefully no snow this friday and I will get a chance to do exactly that.

I am also taking the first 2 hours of a 4 hour class tomorrow night. The class is put on by a local art guild. The synopsis says that the instructor can show ANYBODY how to take great shots - time will tell....

[HDNitehawk]

Bill, my camera is set at single point and single shot auto focus almost 90% of the time. I move it off of those settings if I see a need. Single point will be the most accurate for you.

The pine needles were not noise. You will first see noise in the darker parts of a picture, if it has noise. Perhaps someone can post a picture for you that would demonstrate this. I would post one but my pictures never have noise. (of course this is a lie, I am at work now and not sure I have a good one available here to show)

[clemmb]

they look just a tiny bit pixelated, maybe?

On your computer, if you zoom in more than 100% you will see the pixelation with any digital image. We call this the 100% crop. You want to strive for the lowest, or acceptable, noise at the 100% crop.