Problems taking pictures of my guns, PHOTOG's please help!

I have a Nikon N60 with a 70-300mm lens. Here are the two problems I am having

1) Even with a flash mounted on top, the camera won't take the pictures because it thinks it's too dark. Why doesn't the camera recognize the flash and know that there will be enough light?

2) I try to do those really cool zoom in pictures but my camera won't focus at that close up, I try to do auto and manual focus, but I run into problems both ways.

I believe my light problems are partly due to my F-Stop, but I am a beginner and still don't understand the relationship between F-Stop.

Can anybody point me in the right direction? Tyler

http://www.bedford.net/design/img_matters/

Lots to read, lots to learn.

The smaller the Fstop the more light is allowed though, the larger the Fstop the less light gets through.

For close up work I have done one of two things.

Decreased Depth of Field I've zoomed in as much as I can and have set the Fstop to a very small number. Find decent lighting and take the shot.

http://www.pbase.com/image/28993550.jpg
Camera Model Name
Canon PowerShot G5
Shooting Date/Time
2/25/2004 7:14:07 AM
Shooting Mode
Portrait
Photo Effect Mode
Off
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/6
Av( Aperture Value )
3.0
Metering Mode
Evaluative
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
Auto
Lens
7.2 - 28.8 mm
Focal Length
28.8 mm
Digital Zoom
None
Image Size
1024x768
Image Quality
Superfine
Flash
Off
White Balance
Custom1
AF Mode
Continuous AF
AF Range Mode
Macro
File Size
369KB
File Number
117-1701
Drive Mode
Self-Timer Operation

For close up work with an increased Depth of field. I've increased the FStop and increased the time the apeture is open for. This allows more time for the shot to be exposed. Too short the film is black. To long and you have too much light in the shot.

This was done at with the below settings.

http://www.pbase.com/image/28993693.jpg
hooting Date/Time
4/30/2004 5:08:14 AM
Shooting Mode
Manual
Photo Effect Mode
Off
Tv( Shutter Speed )
2.5
Av( Aperture Value )
8.0
Metering Mode
Evaluative
ISO Speed
100
Lens
7.2 - 28.8 mm
Focal Length
15.8 mm
Digital Zoom
None
Image Size
1600x1200
Image Quality
Superfine
Flash
Off
White Balance
Auto
AF Mode
Manual Focus
File Size
1389KB
File Number
132-3201
Drive Mode
Single-frame shooting

I dont know much about lenses but is that macro lens your using? Hope this helps yah!

45R-

No, it's a 70-300mm zoom lens. It's almost like a multipurpose lens, i'm thinking I might new a decent macro or fish eye for my normal everyday type stuff. Tyler

hey check the post above again. I added more info :)

I'll try it out again when I get home tonight. I think my big problem is lighting. Also, my lens STARTS out at 70mm zoom, so that might be a problem as well. Thanks for the help, Tyler

many lenses state the min focal distance on the body

my 55-200 is 4 feet
my 18-55 is .9 feet

the flash is prolly not one seen by the cameras logic

i prefer to light the subject with lamps and shoot sans camera flash

luckily with guns,
they don't seem to mind 20 minutes of lighting prep

HARRY - I didn't even know about that focal length thing. I will look at my lens as soon as I get home. I'm assuming that my focal length for a 70-300 will be at least 5 feet. Thanks, Tyler

Here's a couple of help sites.

http://www.photo.net/learn/
http://www.nikonians.com/