Nikon D60 a few questions!! frustrated :/

[Leah79]

Hello,
I purchased my first camera that has more bells and whistles than what I'm use too, but I have managed to learn quite a bit on my own. But when I go to the advanced settings S Mode or A mode, I am really trying to figure out how to get a moving subject to freeze, so I thought I would try S mode and put my shutter speed as high as I could and allow it to adjust the aperture, right??? Well they all come out completely black! If I have ALOT of light you can barely see the object. So I try A mode and adust the aperture, I'm thinking from what the manual says that I'm adjusting it correctly, if I have low light I open it all the way and allow the camera to adjust the shutter speed, still comes out black. So I decided to try the Sport setting, does not freeze the subject at all! The only setting that seems to do well is Auto, but I really don't like using flash and prefer natural lighting, so I want to use more advanced settings. Anyone have any suggestions??? I'm beginning to get very frustrated!!!:x

 

[Gomes]

lens cap

 

[prodigy2k7]

lens cap

How did she look TTL to compose? If she can see in the viewfinder obviously the lens cap is on...

Leah79, did u check to see if the lens cap is off?

If I have ALOT of light you can barely see the object.

 

[lockwood81]

If you are cranking the shutter speed all the way up...like 1/4,000 or so, then it would really have to be bright outside...I mean the sun full on mid afternoon or the picture will be black or dark, the aperture can only get so big to adjust. There is a limit. Try backing it down to 1/500 or 1/250 to stop action, still will need a lot of light. It all depends on the amount of available light. What are your conditions?

 

[ANDS!]

If she had the lens cap on it would have registered as an incredible low exposure, and I doubt she would have dialed in LESS of a shutter speed. Cmon people.

Your aperture can only open so wide. If you choose a shutter speed that goes beyond a proper exposure, the camera wont tell you - it will just let you go. You HAVE to pay attention to all the data you are given. If you have bars to the left or to the right of your Exposure Dial (this is the info seen in the viewfinder), then you haven't got a proper exposure.

 

[krayon]

The D40 and D60 will tell you if you have the settings way out of whack. If you set the Shutter too fast, then it will pop up a message on the LCD stating that the subject will be too dark.

When looking through the View Finder you will notice a bar on the bottom with a + and -. This is your Exposure Meter. You want to keep it as close to center as possible for the best Exposure.

 

[Lu_myself]

What kind of lense are you shooting with ? im guessing its the stock 18 - 55mm. The widest Aperture that badboy can get is 3.5 f stops, at 3.5f and 1/200 or 1/250 shutter speed and an ISO at probably 200 (The highest up from that on the D60 is 400) This means of course you would have to shoot in full Manual mode.