SLR Beginners Corner

[Don Hoey]

Although the title of Duncans thread is ' Manual exposure mode, juggling three balls ', in order to understand what your camera is doing in Modes other than manual, you really need to read this ....

http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...read.php?t=125

Even when using Program Mode, the aperture and shutter speed, that the program has selected will appear in the viewfinder display. If you have a basic understanding of how these numbers have been arrived at, then the displayed values will have some meaning as to their affect on the picture you are about to take.

Once you have an understanding of the link of these three things every other aspect of photography will appear easy. For that reason it is worth spending time on this.

PLEASE post any questions you may now have.

Don

[yelvertoft]

Following the success of my manual mode posting, I've spent quite a bit of time over the last few days putting together an article on Aperture Priority mode, only to now find that you've covered quite a lot of it here already. Ho hum, that'll teach me! It's here if anybody's interested.
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...read.php?t=414

Duncan.

[Ant]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

When it comes to the camera itself the only advice is to actually try and handle what you think you might buy first. Is it compfortable to hold - too large or a bit small. Look through the viewfinder - be happy with the view and the way information is displayed. Look at the body - how easy it is to press the control buttons and generally operate the controls.

Hi Don,

It should be taken into account that it is harder to press the buttons with gloves on. Best thing to do, take them off if changing any settings or viewing pictures.

ant

[robski]

I thought I would donate a couple of my duff shots to illustrate camera settings.

Lens 300mm
camera to subject distance approx 10 feet.
ISO 400
Aperture f8
Shutter speed 1/50 sec
Av mode - Aperture Priority
Tripod


The light was fair for a Late December afternoon (3pm ).

The camera was set to Av mode @ f8 to preserve the inch or so DOF which is very limited with a camera to subject distance of 10 feet using this focal lenght lens. The ISO 400 and F8 setting gave me a shutter speed of 1/50 sec. Ideally a higher shutter speed would of been desirable to freeze the action. I could of increased to ISO to get a higher shutter speed but I wanted to keep the noise level ( grain effect ) as low as possible. I knew with care I may get some good shots of these fast twitchy birds at this shutter speed.

If you look along the top of the fence you can see the range that is in focus. In the first shot you can see how quickly a Blue tit can move in 1/50 sec.

The bird was facing me when I fired the shutter. There is a short delay between pressing the shutter button and the shutter opening. The second shot is 1/5 sec later. A burst of 2 shots in Continuous shooting mode. As you can see this mode can be very handy for subjects that move quickly or flight shots.