eric_meyer

This might seem too obvious to mention, but unless you just want to rely on the camera's AF confirmation, you'll

need a good bright viewfinder so you can actually _see_ to focus -- something commonly skimped on in these days

of AF. The availability of a focusing screen with MF aids could matter too.

Any possible analogy here to "learning film" years ago breaks down pretty quickly for me once you flesh out the details. The G10 is like a dozen different cameras in one, many of which don't come with instruction manuals, with (considering all the combinations) hundreds of different kinds of film in it at once, far more than you'd really ever care about, on top of which you can't even always tell which one is being used. Does that sound like a learning opportunity? I'd call it chaos.

But I am having fun. I'm pleasantly surprised by how handy the G10 is for shooting macro -- the small format really pays off in DOF.

Hmm...

"the options available in all the camera modes begins at page 300 of the user manual." -- Which functions are available or not to the user in each mode has nothing to do with my question, what the camera itself is doing in those modes.

"Perhaps you enjoyed judging your exposure by the density of the image on the ground glass ..." -- No, I preferred the meter needle!

So, just to recap:

(1) Canon doesn't document what the SCN modes (or even P!) are doing, either in the manual or on their website. The only way to decide whether they're useful shortcuts would be to test them a lot and examine the exposure data for each shot -- but even that won't tell you what's being done with other settings like color adjustments(?), and I'm not convinced it's worth the time anyway. This sort of information should simply be in the manual -- graphs for P-mode strategies etc certainly used to be.

(2) I can see how a half-press of the shutter to set the focus point might matter to Evaluative metering, but for CW or Spot the camera just seems to be metering constantly and I suspect you should be able to just press "*". I'll have to explore that further (all tests so far were in Eval).

(3) I'm still curious about the constant diaphragm action.

"The camera is adjusting the aperture because the camera is metering." -- Well, most cameras since about 1965 can just do the math, and meter at full aperture. Why can't the G10?

Thanks everyone for such prompt replies, but I really don't see how advice to keep it simple or ease into it answers any of my questions. Perhaps I should have said something like "after three decades using film cameras" to suggest that I'm not completely clueless, but I tried to keep it brief. I'm just not used to a camera that does so many things on its own, and I want to know more about them.

I do already apprecate how digital encourages you to just try anything. And thanks for suggesting DPR if this forum doesn't work, because these aren't questions I can easily find clear answers to myself.

I've finally decided to start learning something about digital with a Canon G10, which seems very handy and

somewhat familiar to a classic-camera user. But given all this complexity (and the rudimentary manual!), I'm

going to have some questions, starting with these:

(1) I'm not inclined to use the various "Scene" shooting modes because it's unclear just what the camera is

doing in each of them -- "Night scene" vs "Night snapshot", etc. Exposure programs, white balance, or is it

color enhancement... is there any way to find out? Some of them could be useful shortcuts.

(2) Must I really (as it claims) half-press the shutter before using "*" for AE lock or program shift? The

camera seems to be metering continuously, so can't I just press "*" anytime? At first glance that does seem to

work (it makes the wheel work for shift, etc) but I'm not confident of the actual exposure delivered.

(3) Even after turning off continuous AF, the G10 seems to have a sort of permanent DOF preview too that

can't be shut off. Except in M or Av mode, if the LCD is on the aperture is constantly (and audibly) being

reset... why? Is this typical for P&S? Wouldn't it be simpler (and easier on the battery) just to darken or

lighten the LCD, as the effect of ISO or shutter speed is simulated, and close the aperture only for shooting?

DOF preview could be an option, if it seemed useful at all(?) on a camera that offers so little variation in it.