Apologies for Being Absent

It’s been pretty obvious that I’ve been neglecting my blog. I’m going to make an effort to update it more regularly. Just because my entries stopped, didn’t mean my interest in photography has waned. I’ve still been shooting and learned a couple new things along the way. I’d like to ask a favor of my readers, please make comments. I’d love to hear your feedback on what I’m writing.

Becoming Master of Your Domain: Camera Modes

One of the first things that new camera owners start to play with on their DSLR is the little Mode Dial on the top of the camera:

Nikon



Canon


Everyone is always tempted to just put it on Auto, and leave it, but here’s what these different Mode Dial symbols mean (I’m going to focus on Nikon and Canon):

Nikon	Canon
P	P	Program Mode: this is almost automatic, but allows you to change a couple settings like ISO and white balance. It is a way to override some of the decisions your camera’s auto sensor is making.
S	Tv	Shutter Priority: You chose the shutter speed, and the camera selects an appropriate aperture value. This is a semi-auto mode, but it is great for getting a specific effect. For example, it you want to get a crystal clear picture of a track runner, you need a fast shutter speed to stop the runner. Otherwise you will get a blur. In this mode, you set the shutter speed fast, and the camera picks the appropriate aperture to get enough light.
A	Av	Aperture Priority: You chose the aperture value, and the camera selects an appropriate shutter speed. This is a semi-auto mode, but it is great for getting a specific effect. For example, it you want to take a “selective focus” picture of a flower (flower in focus, background out of focus) you need a wide aperture (low f-number). This will put the flower in crisp focus, and have the background all out of focus. The camera then compensates with the correct shutter speed to let the right amount of light in.
M	M	Manual: Allows everything to be set by the user. I shoot most of the time in this mode.
Auto	Green Box (Auto)	Auto: “photography for dummies”. This setting uses the camera’s image sensor to decide all settings. It usually gets close, but I’ve found that I can usually do a better job controlling brightness, white balance, and shooting style using the Auto Mode
Icon	Icon	Scene Select: the second half of the camera mode dial has little pictures on it that are meant to specify a shooting scenario. They basically change some of the pre-set features for each scene type. I find them useless.

Anatomy of a DSLR

Now that you have your DSLR, lets look at the pieces that make it work. Below is a very crude diagram of a DSLR. I’ve called out each of the major components:





1. Lens Hood: this is used to flag light from the lens. I’ll cover what flagging means later, but we want to block extra light coming in from the sun or lamps from hitting our lens, and only have the light from the subject enter the lens.

2. UV filter: this is a little filter that covers the front of your lens. These are about $20 and protect you lens from scratches (it’s much cheaper to replace the UV filter than the whole lens).

3. Focus ring: enables you to manually focus the lens. When you are in auto-focus mode, you won’t need to use this at all. Depending on you lens/camera, it can also be located at #5.

4. Zoom: changes the zoom of the lens, brings objects closer or further away.

5. Focus ring: see #3

6. Prism: A mirror to reflect what is being seen by your lens up to you eye.

7. Diopter: a slider next to the viewfinder that allows you to adjust the focus. This is used for people who need corrective vision. (most people just leave it alone and look through the lens with their glasses)

8. Viewfinder: Look through the viewfinder to see what you have in frame.

9. Shutter: The shutter is what allows the light to hit your image sensor for a set length of time.

10. Image Sensor: the film of the digital camera. This captures the light, and converts it to the digital image.

11. LCD: The screen on the back of your camera that allows you to modify the camera settings and review your images after you captured them.

12. Mirror: is in the down position to allow the image to be reflected up to the viewfinder. When you press the shutter button to take a picture the mirror flips up and lets the light through the shutter onto the image sensor.

13. Aperture/F-Stops/Diaphragm: Aperture, is measured in f-stops. This is the hole in the lens that allows the light to pass through. It is made up of blades that form the diaphragm. The larger the f-number, the smaller the hole in the diaphragm is. I will cover how this works in detail later.

14. Lens elements: allows the lens to focus and gather the light onto a point source (in this case, the image sensor)

15. Objective Lens: This is the front lens.

Buying Guide - Pro level D-SLR’s

If you have a few thousand dollars to spend, and really want to look like you know what you are doing, I’d recommend you look into a pro level DSLR. To be totally honest, I don’t have the cash for these, so I’m probably not the best person to offer advice. What I can say are a few of the benefits:
• Higher Mexapixel – More sensors in the camera means higher resolution images
• Better in low light – These cameras look better at higher ISO’s
• Better Kit lenses – they pack these into the costs
• More buttons, and dials – the camera body is bigger so they fit in things like LCD displays, separate aperture and shutter speed controls, white balance buttons, etc.
• Video – some of the newer models (Canon 5D – Mark II and Nikon D90) are offering video capabilities.

Along with the higher price tag, these cameras are bigger and weigh more, so be prepared to carry a heavier load.

I’d strongly advise against spending this much money for your first camera. Personally, I got the cheapest camera I could to learn with. My plan is to continue using it till I’ve out grown its capabilities, then upgrade to something a little snazzier!!! But that’s just me.

Consumer Level D-SLR Cameras

So, the first question is: What is a D-SLR?
Answer: It stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. In plain English, it is a digital camera, where you look through the lens that you actually take the picture through. (most point and shoot cameras have a separate view finder) You look down though a mirror that points out the lens. When you press the button (shutter) to take a picture, the mirror lifts up and exposes the image sensor (film) and that captures the image. Here’s a great diagram of how a D-SLR works from “how stuff works” (just replace the film with digital image sensor):


D-SLR cameras are great for photographers who consider taking pictures an art and think of it more as a hobby. These cameras allow for tons of control in how light is captured by your camera or how to compose your picture. You can also change lenses so you can take pictures in unusual situations, like super close up (macro) or things very far away (zoom). They also make it very easy to change the aperture, shutter speed, and white balance.

Consumer level D-SLR have a couple limitations compared to their pro model counterparts. First, they usually have only one dial on the camera body to change both aperture and shutter speed. This is a bit of an inconvenience, but still better than going into menus to change, like in the consumer level cameras. Also, they only have one display to show what your camera settings are (battery life, images left, aperture, shutter speed, iso, etc). This screen also shows the preview of your image, so it is has to alternate between different views when you want to change settings.

The consumer level D-SLR’s are a great entry point for someone who wants to learn more about photography, but doesn’t want to plunk down several thousand dollars to get started. I bought a Nikon D40 for around $600:


D-SLR cameras come in two parts, the body and the lens. You can buy these items separately, however, they also sell them as ‘kits’, which is a body and lens combo. You can also find them with multiple lenses, an included memory card, extra battery, etc. The one I got came with 2 Nikon lenses; an 18-55mm and a 55-200mm. This allows me to have a bit more zoom when I swap lenses. Neither of these are “high quality” lenses, but they do the trick for just learning.

This is the kit that I bought off Amazon.

Another good set of cameras to look at is the Canon Rebel. I don’t know much about the Canon lineup, but I’ve heard good things.

Consumer Model Cameras with Advanced Settings

These cameras are generally larger and more expensive than the point and shoot cameras. The reason to use the advanced cameras over a point and shoot is they allow the photographer to change some key settings:
• Aperture
• Shutter Speed
• White balance

As you become more advanced with your photography, you will begin to use these settings to get the desired effects from lighting, focus, and color. The Consumer Models let you change these settings (although they are buried in the menus of the camera). A great example is the Canon PowerShot A720IS (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona720is/). It allows the user to shoot in Manual mode (set both aperture and shutter speed) to have more control over the images.

The difference between these cameras and their D-SLR counterparts are interchangeable lenses, and on-camera controls for adjusting aperture and shutter speed. If you are shooting a lot of pictures in changing light conditions, it is pretty annoying to have to keep navigating through menus to update these settings.

All in all, these are great for cost conscious photographers who want to learn photography, but don’t want to invest in an expensive D-SLR.

Changed the URL to blog.jordanldavis.com

To make things easier, I've changed the blog to a sub-domain. blog.jordanldavis.com.