Camera Labs

Hello, I'm a newbie! I have also just bought a Cybershot Dsc-W310 and I'm looking for advice on the best way to use it. I am not a photographer - just a mum who wants some clear photos of her children. I am working my way round the camera but I just want to know when to use what? i.e When is Easymode the best option? When do I use Intelligent Auto Adjustment? Face Detection is set to Auto will this just kick in depending on whether I'm in Easymode ofrIntelligent Auto Adjustment? I just need to know what to set the camera at if we're at the beach or playing in the snow or in a dimly lit restaurant or a brightly lit room - I hope you know what I mean and can help me???Many Thanks.

Here’s a review…
http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Cyber-shot_DSC_W310/

Just use the “scene modes” and enjoy.

Sorry to be dim but what are the scene modes?

Welcome to the Camera Labs forum! Good to have another Sony user on board!

First, quite important question: have you read the manual? Though I know many people don't even consider going through the often rather thick and sometimes uninteresting pages of instructions, it really does help you understand which mode to use under which circumstances.
WestCoast's advice is good though, to use scene modes. Here's a bit of information about them: link.

- Bjorn -

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Leica M9-P (my article on Camera Labs) | Leica D-Lux 5 | 50mm Summilux

On your camera, if you press 'menu' and right at the top you'll see where you can select program mode, Intelligent Auto, or 'Scn'. That's scene mode! Enter Scn, and you'll have a selection of modes with obvious names and little icons which will help figure out which is which, and when to use them: Twilight, Twilight portrait, Backlight, Backlight portrait, Landscape, Portrait and Macro. In Intelligent Auto mode, the camera will basically pick one of these modes on its own, based on the focus point, composition, color, light, distance, etc that you are shooting - so it should work pretty well if you want as simple a mode as possible. Enter Scene modes if you want to pick one of those scene modes specifically because that's the type of shot you are taking.

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Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

Thanks a million! Very helpful! The manual that came with the camera is big alright and the English section has 26 pages that only cover the basics about the battery and how to turn the camera on and switch to movie mode. The "Cyber Shot handbook" is on a CD which I did have a look at and I was able to work my way around the camera but it didn't explain the Intelligent Auto Mode quite as well as the link you have supplied me with. So thanks again for all of your replies. Just one more question - what is Easymode and when would you use it. Many thanks.

Hi again, the software (PMB) supplied with the camera has pulled ALL my photos and put them into years etc which is great but if I delete a photo from it's original place i.e Kodak Finepix or My Pictures (harderive) it is also deleted from PMB - the problem is I have tons of duplicated photos on my laptop as this is my 3rd camera to download from. Any advice? Thanks.

As far as I know, PMB doesn't actually make a new copy of your photos - the photo remains in the same folder it was, and only one copy exists. PMB just 'tags' the images and stores a thumbnail in that folder to guide the software to the location of the photo so it can be shortcutted and viewed. So when you delete any photo in PMB, it's the only copy and is being deleted from the original folder. If you delete right from the original folder, then PMB should update and remove the thumbnail of that photo too.

Maybe someone else can confirm this - to be honest, I don't use the PMB much. I always preferred to simply load my photos manually through the Windows utility, and never used any of the 'organizing' programs like Aperture, Picassa, or PMB.

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Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg