Settings for plastic aircraft model show

rickg

I need advice on a plastic aircraft model show camera setting. This is my first time going.
I understand how to use my Nikon D3200 with prime 35mm f/1.8g lens thanks to this site.
I want take good photos, but I don't want to set the setting each time for each picture.
I think there will be bright lighting.
Would the setting be better in A mode than P program?
What setting would you set this at?
Thank you,
Rick

rickg

I also have the cheat sheets.

bruto

It's hard to generalize, in part because it's not certain what effects you are going to want. You can probably get by pretty well with the assumption that the models involved resemble "food and products" and use the same techniques here. However, at fairly close range your depth of field will be quite limited, and you may find that if you want all of a model in focus you will need to stop the lens down more than you would for food (where soft edges can be appealing).

If you're in a hurry with varied lighting and don't want to keep adjusting settings, I'd put it in A mode, setting the aperture as needed to get the depth of field you need. Try to keep the ISO at 400 or less for maximum clarity, and let the camera decide the shutter speed.

If you're in A mode with Auto ISO turned off, and have the front option button set to vary ISO, you can work pretty quickly. Glance at the display and if the shutter speed is within your comfort zone, click. If it's gone too low, just raise the ISO manually until it comes up where you want. Lower it as much as you can get away with. It's almost as easy as using auto ISO but keeps you more in control.

One other thing you might have difficulty with in models is glare. You'll have to experiment a bit with angles and placements to make sure that you don't get a lot of reflected glare from the subject. What you can do about this may be limited. A polarizing filter can help sometimes, but not always.

rickg

Thank you.
Rick