Completely NEW to photography and this forum!

[papito]

Hi everyone!

This is my 1st post here on the forums. Hope its the begining of a posting frenzy and my new found hobby becomes a passion in life for me.

Well my story is this...

I had a few things laying about I wanted to sell on eBay and so I took it upon myself to buy a digital camera. Well I went down to my local computer store and the guy recommended me some obscure branded £50 silvery thing. "Takes a good snap and its dirt cheap too!". Erm I got sold a turkey.

This darn thing couldnt even focus properly. Anyway I took it back and had a word or 3 with my good friend Google. Anyway I decided upon a Canon EOS 350d or a Digital rebel XT as is known in USA.

Wow! I love it. Erm well I love the autofocus at least. Ok dont laugh I'm getting there....Things I get and dont get are as follows, please help me out if you can?

ISO -- keep it low and I dont get the grainy pics?

WB -- changes the pic from a warmer yellower colour to a cool bluer. I tend to just keep this one on automatic unless taking pics under tungsten indoors.

Appature/Shutter speed - I still dont get the F stops and the rest of it, anyone have a quickie explaination? Sorry

Also I shall be going Greece shortly and need recommendations on a reasonably priced lens and a macro lens. Also if possible the best place to buy them. Sorry its question overload but im a newbie and im hence allowed!

 

[Don Simon]

Hi, welcome to TPF! Hopefully someone with the same camera will be able to explain things properly, but in the meantime...

ISO -- yes, lower ISO equals less grain. On the other hand, lower ISO also means you may need a slower shutter speed, wider aperture or flash to get the image.

WB -- I'm sure the camera allows for a greater range of WB settings than just yellowish and blueish, however yes that is the sort of thing it's intended for. (Just wish I could find the WB button on my 35mm cameras ).

Aperture/Shutter Speeds -- Quickie explanation? Er, no sorry. Here goes my attempt at a relatively less long explanation though. Smaller F number = wider aperture. Wider aperture = more light reaching sensor, so less time required for correct exposure, so in short wider aperture allows for faster shutter speed. One advantage of this is that with a shutter speed of say 1/60th of a second you can probably take the shot handheld without flash, whereas a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second would require a tripod. A larger aperture itself has the advantage that it has less depth of field than a smaller aperture so you can have selective focus, i.e. the subject in focus but the background blurry - which can be used for portraits etc. Conversely, a smaller aperture allows for more depth of field which is better if for example you're taking landscape photos. Meanwhile a slower shutter speed is likely to cause blur when photographing moving subjects, but that too may be the desired effect - as long as the camera itself stays still and only the subject moves. This all ties in with the ISO level - a lower ISO will give you nicer images but will require either a wider aperture or a longer exposure (a slower shutter speed). A higher ISO at the cost of extra grain and loss of detail will let you use a smaller aperture or a shorter exposure (faster shutter speed).

See how it all ties together? If not, sorry it's probably my fault for trying to explain this at 4am It's actually way more complicated than all that, but hopefully that's explained some of the practical implications. The key is to learn how the aperture size, shutter speed and ISO level interract, and to remember that neither a smaller or faster aperture is 'better' overall, and similarly a faster shutter speed is not inherently better than a slower one or vice versa. It all depends on what kind of shot you're after.

Lens -- what lens do you have at the moment? That will help us recommend another one, however this one I'm going to leave to people who unlike me know what they're talking about .

 

[papito]

Hi, welcome to TPF! Hopefully someone with the same camera will be able to explain things properly, but in the meantime...

ISO -- yes, lower ISO equals less grain. On the other hand, lower ISO also means you may need a slower shutter speed, wider aperture or flash to get the image.

WB -- I'm sure the camera allows for a greater range of WB settings than just yellowish and blueish, however yes that is the sort of thing it's intended for. (Just wish I could find the WB button on my 35mm cameras ).

Aperture/Shutter Speeds -- Quickie explanation? Er, no sorry. Here goes my attempt at a relatively less long explanation though. Smaller F number = wider aperture. Wider aperture = more light reaching sensor, so less time required for correct exposure, so in short wider aperture allows for faster shutter speed. One advantage of this is that with a shutter speed of say 1/60th of a second you can probably take the shot handheld without flash, whereas a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second would require a tripod. A larger aperture itself has the advantage that it has less depth of field than a smaller aperture so you can have selective focus, i.e. the subject in focus but the background blurry - which can be used for portraits etc. Conversely, a smaller aperture allows for more depth of field which is better if for example you're taking landscape photos. Meanwhile a slower shutter speed is likely to cause blur when photographing moving subjects, but that too may be the desired effect - as long as the camera itself stays still and only the subject moves.
It's actually way more complicated than that, but hopefully that's explained some of the practical implications.

Lens -- what lens do you have at the moment? That will help us recommend another one, however this one I'm going to leave to people who unlike me know what they're talking about .

Thank you so much for your quick and concise reply. I got you on the shutter and aperture stuff too.

At the moment I have the standard EFS 18-55 mm lens that came with my camera. What I want to do is the following:

Take landscape snaps during my vist to Greece.

Take close up shots of various things I sell from time to time on eBay from one of those table top tents.

So for the Greece trip I should use a smaller aperture (Large F number) so I get the best depth of field. Should I encounter moving water and want to add motion I should reduce shutter speed (I have a tripod).

For closeups to sell on eBay and various semi-macro shots I should use a larger aperture (smaller F number) so I get a selective focus shot. I.e. the background is nicely blurred up and the subject is sharp.

Now my only question is. What lens? Priority would be to my selling over the trip but would like recommendations thanks! :hail: