2006 Ferrari F430 (no b4's and new camera)

[01bluecls]

This was completed yesterday (Saturday May 12th). This was not the car that was originally scheduled a week ago from the owner. The other car was what I REALLY wanted to get a hold of and was telling everyone about to look for. The other car is getting some work done and I wont be able to detail it until about 2 weeks from now I won’t say what car it is until I have completed the detail on it! Sorry to keep you guys in suspense!

Anyhow, I just got my parents camera hand me down which is a nicer (few years old) Nikon Coolpix 8700 8.0 mega pixel camera. This camera has basically all the DSLR functions and tons more adjustability then the Canon Powershot SD630 I have been using. Unfortunately because I decided to use the new-to-me camera a take it off auto mode, Im still learning how to use it properly.

The car is a 2006 Ferrari F430 F1. This is the 4th F430 I have done in the last 6 months. It had marring from wiping/washing, a lot of contamination due to the trees that surrounds his house, and very slight holograms from when it was new. I didn’t bother with before pics since the car wasn’t in bad condition overall that would show on camera. I took some halogen shots but the came out waaaay overexposed for some reason.

Process:
Wash and clay
Tried Menz 106FF and polish pad which helped but only eliminated 70% of the marring I was seeing.
Menz IP/FPII 50/50 with orange cut @ 1500 rpms (tried the combo with white pad it didn’t get rid of the random marring all over the car completely.)
Menz 106FF with blue finesse pad @ 1500rpms –> 1000 rpms
LSP = Zymol Ital
Tires dressed with Z16
Interior was quick vacuum and leather surfaces cleaned and treated with leatherique pristine clean.

Again, sorry no before shots and forgot to snap interior shots as well. No sun shots since the day was cloudy with the sun peaking out for only a few moments at a time. Hence the different lighting in some of the outside pics.

[01bluecls]

These last three was snapped quickly with my now “old” Canon SD630 under manual settings.









Im hoping to get used to the new camera manual settings and will probably play around with it for long time so the next detail I do will have better pictures. It just has so many darn features and adjustments it gets confusing. This will be a great way to learn "DSLR" ways to take photos before I go out and drop coin on a actual DLSR like the Nikon D80 I want.

[01bluecls]

Anyone know what F-Stop is generall a good one for taking pics like the ones above? I had the ISO at 50 which now I think I will bump up to 100. Autowhite balance, matrix metering and I believe the F-Stop I was using at the time was around 4.5-5.0. Im being told I should have set it around 2.8, anyone else have suggestions. Also, the camera was controlling the shutter speed automatically. It also has auto image adjusting and noise reduction which I think I will turn off for now.

The canon shots were taken on manual, ISO 80, auto white balance, center weighted metering. I have no control on the shutter speed or F-stop.

[skitelluride531]

Nice work!


As for the camera...


You should always set the camera to the lowest ISO you can for your light setting. The lower the ISO, the longer your exposure needs to be. However, the higher the ISO, the more noise you will see in the picture.


As for the Aperture (F/stop) the lower the number, the larger the opening on the lenses. Thus, if the opening is larger, more light is coming into the lense so you can use a shorter shutterspeed. However, as your F/stop value becomes smaller, your depth of field (the amount of the picture that is in focus) becomes smaller too.


Personally, when I am shooting pictures of cars I detail, I use the lowest F/stop value (about 4.3 I think) and use ISO 100.

[Pats300zx]

Simply beautiful. Nothing beats a red Ferrari...

[bluej511]

well 01cls you've helped me with my rotary questions so now its my turn lol btw car looks fantastic.

Im no newb to photography but, when your doing halogen shots try to shoot at the lowest fstop and make sure ur focus is where it needs to be. This will put the attention on the focused area and not the whole picture. Now most newer cameras even older ones are very good with noise, i shot my wash/wax pics at ISO400.

Now shooting the whole car outside id probably do ISO200 with an aperture of f/8 (seems to be the sharpest on most lenses now a days). or you can always get a tripod and just shoot ISO50 f/8 and couple sec shutter speed lol

[01bluecls]

Originally Posted by skitelluride531

Nice work!


As for the camera...


You should always set the camera to the lowest ISO you can for your light setting. The lower the ISO, the longer your exposure needs to be. However, the higher the ISO, the more noise you will see in the picture.


As for the Aperture (F/stop) the lower the number, the larger the opening on the lenses. Thus, if the opening is larger, more light is coming into the lense so you can use a shorter shutterspeed. However, as your F/stop value becomes smaller, your depth of field (the amount of the picture that is in focus) becomes smaller too.


Personally, when I am shooting pictures of cars I detail, I use the lowest F/stop value (about 4.3 I think) and use ISO 100.

Thanks, today Im just playing around with it. I have a couple of books I got last year on the basics on photography to read. I have two final exams in the next two days and wont have much time to play with the camera. I think I will set the Aperture and shutter on auto for now since Im still a noob. My parents just got the Nikon D200 with a very nice 18-200mm VR Lens!! Im so jealous, but like myself my dad is also learning the ropes on how to use the manual mode.

[bluej511]

the 18-200 is absolutely incredible (im a canon guy personally though) and if you guys thought detailing was an expensive hobby (for some of us) try photography lol

Good lord i spend 600$ on one of my lenses last yr lol

[Cooter]

Drool................................... Awesome work!!!!

[01bluecls]

Originally Posted by bluej511

well 01cls you've helped me with my rotary questions so now its my turn lol btw car looks fantastic.

Im no newb to photography but, when your doing halogen shots try to shoot at the lowest fstop and make sure ur focus is where it needs to be. This will put the attention on the focused area and not the whole picture. Now most newer cameras even older ones are very good with noise, i shot my wash/wax pics at ISO400.

Now shooting the whole car outside id probably do ISO200 with an aperture of f/8 (seems to be the sharpest on most lenses now a days). or you can always get a tripod and just shoot ISO50 f/8 and couple sec shutter speed lol

SO on hologens set the F-Stop at 2.8 with priority and let the camera auto adjust shutter speed? Should I use the Matrix metering, or go with maybe spot metering?

I read some reviews on this camers online since it is a few years old, and it was mentioned the the camera above 200 had noticible noise, so I will probably keep it ISO at 50 or 100.

Your last suggestion, iso50, f/8 and couple sec shutter speed, wouldnt that be way too much light exposure for outside shots?? I have a tripod and try to use it for all my shots unless there is PLENTY of sunlight.

For instance the car in the pics with trees in the background, If I mainly wanted to focus on the car and the background a little blury I would want to have the lowest f/stop wouldnt I? Say around 2.8. If I wanted to focus on the trees and blur the car I would set the f/stop to the highest around 8.0? Im so confused, lol, guess the book "Photography for Dummies" is there for a reason!

[bluej511]

@f/8 the background will still be blurred because tahts the background not foreground.

2.8 is actually very shallow believe it or not.

for halogens yes use 2.8 since the camera wont pick that up to well, if your using a tripod id use f8 for halogens but handheld id do 2.8 to give u a nice fast shutter speed handheld, if u had a tripod though its gonna look so much sharper @ f8

[DieselMDX]

Lucky Lucky Lucky!!!!