Fixed-Lens Digicamera: Manual and Av modes

mgreis · Sep 5, 2005

Hello all. I'm a first timer in this forum, which by the way is a wonderful resource for photography enthusiasts!

Here's my question: I own a Canon Pro1 digital camera, with fixed zoom lens 28-200mm. Aperture values range from f2.4 to f8, and Shutter speeds from 30s (I'm not sure about this one) to 1/4000s.

What happens is, whenever I read about tips on how to set apertures and shutter speeds for different types of lighting I get kinda confused since there's no info whatsoever as to the "conversion" of my apertures (apertures of a fixed-zoom lenses) to SLR apertures (f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32 and so on).

There's this f/16 sunny rule, for instance, which I cannot be a user of since the maximum aperture for my camera is f/8. Do you guys can help me out with that? Is there a "conversion rule" so one can adapt his apertures to SLR's???

Well, that's the very first question!!! ;-)))

My second is: when it comes to shooting in Manual or Av/Tv, is there a golden rule for setting values? I mean, if I'm shooting in bright sun light and don't wanna rely on my camera's photometer, which aperture should I pick for starters? And if I'm shooting indoors, could there be a guiding aperture??? To sum it up: which are the guiding aperture values for different situations, that means, a wild guess?

Thank you all!!!!!

Cheers.

/Matheus
[email protected]

thebeginning · Sep 5, 2005

that camera has a wide array of shutter speeds, so it should be able to handle whatever aperture you throw at it. There isnt really a 'special aperture' that you can always count on to be good for every lighting situation, as it depends greatly on the amount of light available. f8 is exceedingly popular for many types of work, but if you are shooting in a dark room at a party, f8 certainly wont help you. My little digicam also only goes to f8, which sometimes gets frusterating, but you just have to work your way around it. If you want a deep depth of field, set it to f8. If you want a shallow depth of field, go with f2.4. If you are going to try and shoot a scene without the camera choosing the aperture (Av mode for instance), just choose your aperture depending on the sort of depth of field you want. if you are shooting landscapes, it's almost always best to shoot with a very deep depth of field, so go with the smallest aperture your camera can go (f8 ). I might get flamed for this, but i think many of those 'sunny 16' and such rules were first put into play when good light meters were rare, and you just had to guess. You dont really need to go by those guidelines, and in fact, i dont find them helpful at all. So my suggestion: if you are shooting in bright sunlight, it doesnt really matter what aperture you use (although if it's VERY bright, you might have to shoot at something smaller than f2.4). If you are shooting inside a room with lower light levels, shoot in the f2.4 - f4 region. Otherwise, the aperture doesnt really matter unless you want a specific type of Depth of field.

oh, and welcome to TPF! :mrgreen: