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Thread ID: 34329	2003-06-10 02:34:00	OT Question for the photographer.	nomad (3693)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
151449	2003-06-10 02:34:00	hiya, I jus have a question of curiosity. Using an SLR camera what is the difference using full manual mode or controlling one of the shutter or aperture (half auto modes). I mean wif manual u get to control the aperture and shutter and thus the exposure... If I use the programmed modes of jus aperture OR shutter. Is this using the camera's metric system and it will balance my exposure?? if I use one of the availabel aperture setting it will auto choose a shutter for me. is this on the condition the exposure will be balanced? and similarly if i control the shutter a balanced aperture will be given to me... Nomad.	nomad (3693)
151450	2003-06-10 04:16:00	With manual .. you get to control both the aperture and shutter speed, thus overrides the camera auto setting, very useful for night scenes, fire works and at times when you want to have full control. With half auto .. ie. aperture priority / shutter priority you get to control either the aperture or shutter and the camera will do the rest . Aperture priority is useful when taking portraits, you can focus on the model and decides how much depth of field you need to make the model more stand out or not so stand out and the camera will choose the appropriate shutter speed for you. Shutter priority is useful when taking sports or action photos where you choose the shutter speed and the camera will decide the correct aperture for you. Eg. if you want to take a picture of a water fall with the water flowing . you would want to choose a lower shutter speed otherwise the water would look frozen on the picture. Keep in mind that aperture / shutter works closely with each other. Eg. suppose the correct exposure of a particular photo is f8 : 1/250 but you want to shorten the depth of field by choosing a larger aperture .. say f5.6 and if you are in aperture priority mode, you should noticed the shutter will change from 1/250 to 1/500. because you are letting more lights in the shutter needs to work faster to give the correct exposure. If you are in shutter priority, if you decided to choose 1/500, you should noticed the aperture will change to f5.6 and if you decided to choose 1/125 the aperture will change to f16. Cheers	SKT174 (1319)
151451	2003-06-10 04:29:00	Automatic mode is OK for most work (hence the success of the "snap it Harry" cheapie cameras) but manual mode lets you manipulate depth of field and other effects. Sometimes you want a wide aperture (low F stop)to get a sharp foreground but blur out the background, i.e. you don't want all the background detail to clutter the pix. Other times you want full depth of field but light may be low and auto opens up the lense and you lose background so you close down the aperture and slow down the shutter speed to compensate. If you want a fast shutter speed to stop action, you might use manual and manipulate the aperture to get the exposure right. You get a lot more creative options on manual but you need experience to use it and auto is usually OK for most normal photography. If using shutter priority on auto, the camera will set the aperture automatically for the right exposure, and if using aperture priority it will adjust the shutter speed instead. In any auto mode you can expect well exposed pictures but you need to be aware of that the camera has to do to get that exposure. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
151452	2003-06-10 10:44:00	Billy T, when you said it comes via experience regarding the settings on manual mode. Would it matter which brand model I play around with?? I mean if I am trained with one model and I switched to another will my settings I have learnt on the 1st camera be bit distorted when applying it onto the 2nd camera?? If so what does it depend on - the camera both model and/or brand, lense?? Say if I learn on a Canon then get a Nikon (film) how would the transition go re: the experience I have learnt on the Canon and how successful can they be applied to the Nikon. The other thing is what if I train on a Digi SLR and try to apply to film SLR? Nomad.	nomad (3693)
151453	2003-06-10 12:14:00	What it comes down to, is learning the principles behind what you are doing . If you only learn to adjust camera settings in a parrot-fashion without understanding what the effect is, or what you can adjust to try to attain a certain effect, then your "experience" will not transfer between cameras well . If on the other hand you learn and understand the effect of say, using a slower shutter speed with a smaller aperture, then your experience will pass between cameras fine . There is therefore a difference in training to use a camera and understanding the use of a camera . It usually comes about from reading, and applying the knowledge, and learning from the experience . From this aspect a digital camera has the advantage that you do not have to spend a fortune on film, and the results of any learning are available immediately .	godfather (25)
151454	2003-06-10 12:53:00	I know how the control the settings by themselves. I do use manual mode but have been hessitant experiencing around given the film costs... what would be ur suggestion of experiencing shutter, apertures at different lightening conditions?? and how much should i rely on the camera's metric balance system .. like when i choose a shutter how close can the aperture be away/far away from being balanced.	nomad (3693)
151455	2003-06-10 23:38:00	Godfather's advice is very good Nomad, and I would only endose or complement it by saying that variation of settings is a skill that develps with experience, i.e. for deliberate over or under exposure. Experimentation with exposure levels is best done with a digital SLR because you don't waste film, but experimentation with depth of field adjustments can be done without using any film as the results are there in the viewfinder. There is one area that the digital camera cannot effectively duplicate and that is the effects of reciprocity failure, which occurs when you deliberately under-expose film stock as this is an opto- chemical effect. The absence of film in a digital camera eliminates all other film limitations and processing issues such as varying processing techniques to produce images from under-exposed slow film stock. In all things photographic, exposure and image balance matters are subjective. Photography is as much art as science (contrary to my views in an earlier thread on networking) and the results should be judged with regard to the objectives of the photographer. Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
151456	2003-06-11 05:24:00	jus a clarification that i can use the viewfinder to preview. i used different f's figures - cannot see the changes. when I focused on one part like my hand the background gets blury. i am doing something wrong? its a 35-80mm lense f4-5.6 what should i be doing to prevewi the depth of view...	nomad (3693)
151457	2003-06-11 06:54:00	Hi Nomad. SKT, BT, and GF have explained the exposure theory very well, but it seems you are not quite grasping it yet. In some situations it is possible to get both foreground and background in focus by selecting a smaller aperture (i.e.higher f stop#), but to still have the correct exposure, you'll need to select a slower shutter speed. Bright light conditions are required to get this increased depth of field. To help you understand the effects of aperture, and shutter settings, maybe you could look for some books on photographic theory in shops or the library. Goodluck.	Bazza (407)
151458	2003-06-11 07:05:00	will do ... think not enof light.. i set the cam at one shutter speed and tried to preview it on the viewfinder. i used a F figure of 4 to a 22 and i could not see a difference in the viewfinder. those community course any good?	nomad (3693)
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