Screen Protector

Caitlyn598

I bought a screen protector for my camera but it didn't stay on well at all. What would you recommend? I have an event tomorrow so if I'm turning the camera on and off in between snapping shots would that drain the battery more than leaving it on? Also what basic setting could I leave it on for tomorrow's event outdoors from 2-5? It's a festival.

bruto

The screen on the D3200 is very tough, so I would not worry much about a screen protector.

Generally speaking, turning off and back on will save your battery. There's not much booting up load, but the meter, AF, electronic shutter release, etc. are on all the time when it's on. This is one reason why, for example, there are time limits built in on the remote release.

Settings will depend on the event and what you're comfortable with, but if it's outdoors I'd make sure that the flash is not activated randomly and that you take it out of multi-area focus unless you're shooting wide and distant scenes. If there are a lot of people, multi area may not focus on the ones you choose.

If you're basically shooting for documentation using the kit lens, and want relatively little fuss, I'd suggest aperture priority; something around f/8, and an ISO of something around 400. Put the ISO at 100 if you're sticking with auto ISO and it will be raised as needed if the shutter speed goes low. This will give you fairly forgiving depth of field and maximum sharpness, with the camera's meter setting shutter speed. The flash will be disabled unless you open it manually, when it will automatically serve for fill in difficult light. I'd put the AF on "A" mode and dynamic area and stick to the center focus point, which is quicker and surer than the others. Make sure occasionally to check that the focus point (little red dot in finder) is still centered, as it's very easy to bump it off handling the camera. Hit the [OK] button to recenter it.

Caitlyn598

Thank you so much!