Setting Questions

[coastie keith]

Hey all,

I am going to Moorea next month for my honeymoon and want to take some nice pictures. I was wondering what settings I should try.

I have a Nikon D40 with a AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II lens.
Thanks for any advice.

Keith

[Killermondodude]

If you really wanna do settings id suggest a digital camera light meter

Prices range from that aint cheap
To i best be gettin paid damn good


http://www.adorama.com/SKL358T.html?...eter&item_no=9

http://www.adorama.com/GSS.html?sear...ter&item_no=12

[The Turk]

^he doesn't need a light meter. That thing is more for studio use.
coastie; just use your cameras metering system to find the correct exposure and you will be fine.

[The #1 Dad]

if you're not too experienced you can always go fail safe and use one of the pretty modes like children, mountains, or beach, etc... whichever one closest suites the situation.

will you learn anything? no. but i guess in an experience crunch it will work.

[coastie keith]

Thanks for the replies. I am hoping to get some good daytime shots from the bungalow and some night time ones as well. I will post them when I get back.

[The Turk]

Originally Posted by keninseattle

Wow, so many variables. Outdoors? Indoors? Sunny? Cloudy? If it's sunny outside you can always use the "Sunny 16 rule".

* On a sunny day with ISO at 200 and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250.

* On a sunny day with ISO at 400 and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500.

.

I am little confused. can you explain why he would wanna use iso 400 on a sunny day?

[ciao998]

Originally Posted by The Turk

I am little confused. can you explain why he would wanna use iso 400 on a sunny day?

I'm curious as well.

I personally only use ISO if it is needed to capture extra light and the shutter and aperture are failing me. Since ISO degrades the image..........

Thought maybe I was missing something??

[Killermondodude]

Originally Posted by The Turk

^he doesn't need a light meter. That thing is more for studio use.
coastie; just use your cameras metering system to find the correct exposure and you will be fine.

if you wanna manually set up a shot i think an accurate light meter is more than valuable

[The Turk]

Originally Posted by Killermondodude

if you wanna manually set up a shot i think an accurate light meter is more than valuable

agreed. in that case you should suggest him flashes, lenses, stands, tripod, couple umbrellas etc...

[Killermondodude]

Differing light sources
shadow exposure

I mean aint landscape photography studio on a grand scale?

"I very frequently use my handheld light meter - usually in incident mode - when doing outdoor work. I find it much simpler when in a high pressure rapid-fire photo situation (such as a wedding, auto racing, etc.) to leave the camera in manual mode and analyse the lighting with what I view as a much more versatile and easy-to-use meter such as the Sekonic L-358 that I carry today.

My metering technique is not "tricked" by things such as varying subject brightness in virtually the same lighting as often as the camera's meter (or any reflected light meter, for that matter) seems to be."

Skip Douglas

From Photographic
Using Handheld Meters In The Digital Age; Expanding Your Exposure Options

[The Turk]

Originally Posted by keninseattle

* On a sunny day with ISO at 400 and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500.

Originally Posted by keninseattle

I never said anything about him using ISO 400 on a sunny day

are we talking about film cameras here? if you wanna change the iso on a film camera you have to change the whole film. since you can shoot on a low light or on a sunny day and still get good results using iso400 film, people uses iso 400 film a lot. but i haven't heard or read from any pro film camera user that they would use iso 400 film unless they really have to.
but i think we are talking about digital cameras here. with push of a button you can change the iso.

[saycheese]

Originally Posted by The Turk

but i haven't heard or read from any pro film camera user that they would use iso 400 film unless they really have to.

For the longest time, one of the most common films used by PJs was Kodak TriX, which was usually shot and processed at 400.
From wikipedia.......
"Tri-x was once one of the most popular films used by photojournalists and many amateurs, it was manufactured by Eastman Kodak in the US, Kodak Canada and Kodak Ltd in the United Kingdom, Kodak data-sheets used to recommend different processing times depending on where the film was manufactured. It declined in the 70's and 80's due to the falling price and increasing popularity of colour film. Since the advent of digital photography it has all but fallen out of use in newspaper journalism, though it remains popular in documentary journalism."

[Inflex]

There's not really a good answer to what settings you should try...

Use aperture or shutter priority if you're not familiar with the camera. In most situations, that's all you'll need. Check the manual how your camera's built in exposure meter relate to each mode to get the appropriate exposure. Along with using the appropriate ISO setting, you can make quick adjustments to get the right exposure with those shooting modes.

I would say the sunny 16 rule is a good introduction to the mechanics of light, aperture, ISO, and shutter speed, but not necessarily a good way to take a pic with the right exposure or a good photo. To really understand it, you need to do some research into the aspects I just listed and see how they all interact. Unless you're familiar with that, your camera, your environment, and your subject, fiddling with manual settings will be very cumbersome and probably result in losing the opportunity or getting bad shots. I'm not saying never use manual (after all, how else would you practice), but except for shots you have time to carefully set up and experiment, the other quicker shooting modes will likely suit you better.

As for other camera settings, shoot in RAW.

In the end, it's not about what settings to try with a SLR. It just wasn't made for that. It starts with the shot YOU want or at least think you can get--not related to any setting--and then you align all the settings to get that shot.

[ciao998]

You don't need a freakin photography light meter - photography light meter

I don't see a lot of use for a light meter with a dslr. But thats just my opinion and preference.

for the kind of shooting I do it would rarely if ever get used. Composing my shots consists of popping the lens cover taking a picture adjust the setting and firing away.

[jezterr]

Originally Posted by ciao998

You don't need a freakin photography light meter - photography light meter

I don't see a lot of use for a light meter with a dslr. But thats just my opinion and preference.

for the kind of shooting I do it would rarely if ever get used. Composing my shots consists of popping the lens cover taking a picture adjust the setting and firing away.

+1.

on top of that, i wouldn't suggest a new person to dslr's to use a light meter, if they don't yet know how to use the meter that's already in-camera.

as for the settings questions, it's all trial and error, and no one can tell you what the right settings are for any given situation, because there are no right settings. the settings you use is dependent on what kind of image you want to produce, not the situation.

you can be shooting day or night, and still use the same exact settings, or be in one situation and be shooting wide open or fully closed, or 50 iso or 3200 - it's all up to YOU depending on what YOU want to come out. therefore YOU have to learn what settings to use in what situation. i can understand asking for guidance or what changing a certain setting, whether it be aperture, shutter speed or iso, does to an image, but simply asking a broad question such as "what settings should i use" is like asking "how should i live my life?" however the hell you want. you just have to figure it out on your own.

this is why it always bugs the shit out of me when someone asks "what settings did you use?" who fucking cares what settings i used? putting your camera to the exact same settings won't get you the same image, and even if it does, it doesn't make you any better than a cookie cutter. figure it out on your own.