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Tabbykat
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Posts: 25
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 Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:32 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| I love photography, and I plan on going to college for it so I thought this year for Christmas I would get a Canon Rebel XTI. I played around with it in Circuit City, so I KNOW that's the camera I want. Now I know there is a lot more to photography, so until I start school I'll probably take night classes, etc. But my question is about the manual feature. This may sound like a very stupid question to people who know a lot about cameras but I've been bound and tied with a Kodak z740 thinking it was the best thing in the world (before I got serious about photography). What is the manual feature, what are the pros and cons to this feature, and any tutorial sites would be helpful. |
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sxmtest
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:52 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| The manual feature is just that. Manual. All your exposure controls are set by you manually. This allows you to expose a scene as you want, and not tied to a cameras programming. If you know how to manipulate an image, it can be a good thing. If you don't, well wait until you get a few of those college courses under your belt. |
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Sweet_Thang13
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:13 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| Manual exposure settings give you total control. If you can't find a tutorial, just read the camera manual. (not a pun) You can start by choosing to control either the shutter speed OR the aperture by way of Tv or Av to see what effects that has. (Nikon uses "S" and "A" for these settings.) Then, you will be able to decide where to put each setting according to your wishes.Here's a "for instance" that I just posted where I used manual setting to control the trail of lights from a car by opening the shutter for 4 seconds.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/2119933026/And another at 5 seconds.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/2059201102/Here's one where I dragged the shutter a bit to catch the wave made by the goose rather than absolutely freezing the action with a faster shutter speed.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1371384198/Here's one where I chose a speed to show just a bit of motion in the birdseed without letting it turn into streaks across the image. 1/500 or faster would have frozen it mid-air and 1/100 or slower would have made it look like stripes in motion.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1316716419/Here's an example where I opened the aperture almost all the way to make the background blurry.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/2109807770/Here's one where I did just the opposite to try to have pretty much the entire image in focus from the very near to the very far.http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1250011561/Once you learn about when to use a fast vs. a slow shutter speed or a large vs. a small lens opening, you will move on to learn how to use manual settings to balance things and get exactly what you want. |
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T
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Posts: 27
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:34 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| I think one of the best ways to initially learn about manual exposure is to pick up a used (doubt you're going to find a new one) film SLR, maybe on Ebay or Craigslist, etc. A Pentax K1000 or even a K500 (50 bucks or so) would be perfect for this. You wouldn't be distracted or confused by all the automatic features and digital readings, and it wouldn't be long before the whole exposure thing sinks in. Here's what it basically boils down to. You either turn the aperture ring or the shutter-speed dial (or both) until the needle in the view finder is centered. You'll learn a lot about exposure by just doing that. (With, and even without, film.) There's also a button that allows you to see (through the view finder) what is happening to your depth of field (range of focus) as you change f-stops by turning the aperture ring--another cool learning tool.Manual/artistic control is really very simple in it's basic function, and using an inexpensive manual SLR can be an amazing teaching tool. And lots of fun! In fact, everything Dr. Sam demonstrated above can be discovered this way.By the way, your question was a good one. It's the key, really, to becoming a good photographer.PS. It would be interesting to know how your school plans develop. (Honestly, that was no intended film-camera pun.) Send me an email sometime if you'd like.And ... I hope you do get that Canon Rebel XTI for Christmas. You'd love it! |
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swibisparleri
Joined: 11 Dec 2007
Posts: 6
Location: Iraq
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 10:54 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| In college a 35mm SLR is the first camera you will be using, so don't spend any big dollars on a DSLR yet.Get through the first year at least before buying a DSLR.You can find some good used Nikon or Canon 35mm's with a lens for under $200 on craigslist in a city near you. |
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Sweniaanada
Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 11
Location: Trinidad and Tobago
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:15 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| Manual control allows you to pick the shutter speed and aperture and focus.A fast shutter speed allows you to stop motion. A slow shutter speed will blur motion, and sometimes you want this! (For instance, if you're taking a picture of a race car going by, you use a slow shutter speed, say 1/30, and 'pan' the camera with the race car, and the car will be sharp in the picture but the background will be all streaked, giving the impression of speed! It looks cool!)A large aperture (lower f-stop) will give you a narrow depth of field, so you can blur out a background. A smaller aperture (higher f-stop) will give you more depth of field so you can get the subject and background both in focus. (BTW, a longer lens, like a telephoto, also has less depth of field. This used to be a big advantage for 35mm cameras over larger formats, you had more depth of field to work with. Today it is a great advantage for digital cameras, most of which have very short lenses.)Of course aperture and shutter speed interact. Once the exposure is set you can open up on aperture, you have to go one shutter speed faster.Some cameras have modes that are 'semi-automatic'--like you pick the aperture and it picks the shutter speed to match, or you pick the shutter speed and it picks the aperture.BTW the Canon Rebel is an excellent choice! You can do some very serious work with it! Good luck! |
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Sweniaanada
Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 11
Location: Trinidad and Tobago
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:35 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| Manual is the way to control the cameraauto people are slaves to the cameras creativity, manual you are the creator of depth, speed et ceterastart using it nowa |
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sytoolyom
Joined: 30 Oct 2007
Posts: 42
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:56 pm Post subject: Manual exposure controls? |
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| FOR MANUAL CAMERA, YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS AND WHAT ARE THE "F-STOP" AND "SHUTTER SPEED", AFTER YOU LEARN THAT, SEE THE RELATIONSHIP OF THEM TO OBTAIN THE BEST EXPOSURE AND PLAY WITH THEM UNTIL COMES AS SECOND NATURE. TO YOU. |
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