some n00b questions

[nitefly]

Hi all.. I am kinda getting to grips with my D50 after getting it yesterday I've took some good shots of my dog and my mate and I'm slowly getting better..

However I have just come accross something that is puzzling me. I have just tried taking a photo of some water running from the tap, with a shutter speed of 1/1000 - using shutter priority mode.

My control panel is telling me that the aperture is "Lo" :thumbdown: I take a photo, and the result is just black.. This is a n00b question I know, but I would appreciate any help!

Also, sometimes my camera refuses to take a photo, and the lens moves (the focusing thing which I dont know the name of) and then it won't let me take a photo..
Sorry for being a pain but once I get these questions out of the way there will be no stopping me!!!:thumbup:

Many thanks,

Nath

 

[Arch]

I think what your eperiencing is, your trying to use a fast shutter speed in low light.... if so, you have to lower the f number (to let in more light), otherwise it will come out black. For low light its best to slow the shutter down, but then you'll need to set your camera down or use a tripod, to avoid blur and camera shake.
The other issue sounds like your trying to take a pic too close to an object... lenses have a min focus distance, if you exceed that...you'll just hear the zoom trying to lock, but you won't be able to shoot.

Hope this helps

 

[nitefly]

I think what your eperiencing is, your trying to use a fast shutter speed in low light.... if so, you have to lower the f number (to let in more light), otherwise it will come out black. For low light its best to slow the shutter down, but then you'll need to set your camera down or use a tripod, to avoid blur and camera shake.
The other issue sounds like your trying to take a pic too close to an object... lenses have a min focus distance, if you exceed that...you'll just hear the zoom trying to lock, but you won't be able to shoot.

Hope this helps

Thankyou so much! That's answered pretty much everything! :thumbup:

Oh and by the way, you know the "the focusing thing which I dont know the name of", what is that actually called and am I allowed to manually move it or not?

Thanks so much!

 

[Arch]

No problem.... the best thing to do now you've got a new camera, is just to take loads of shots of the same thing but in a different setting. that way you can compare the different effects a chage has on the object. Its a bit boring i know, but when i first got my D50 i found it was an easy way to familiarise myself with were everything is.

Additional thought for above prob....... also bump up your iso setting in low light..... it makes your sensor more sensitive to light which means you may not have to slow the shutter down as much.

 

[nitefly]

No problem.... the best thing to do now you've got a new camera, is just to take loads of shots of the same thing but in a different setting. that way you can compare the different effects a chage has on the object. Its a bit boring i know, but when i first got my D50 i found it was an easy way to familiarise myself with were everything is.

Additional thought for above prob....... also bump up your iso setting in low light..... it makes your sensor more sensitive to light which means you may not have to slow the shutter down as much.

Thanks pal, you've been a big help!

Whilst I'm here, do you know why the aperture is set as "Lo" when I'm using shutter priority mode?

 

[Arch]

Thanks pal, you've been a big help!

Whilst I'm here, do you know why the aperture is set as "Lo" when I'm using shutter priority mode?

I think it will just automaticly say that if theres not enough light for the speed you have it set on. Its a way of warning you to adjust something to compensate for the speed, usually lowering the speed and increasing iso will help balence it.

 

[Digital Matt]

You should learn a bit about basic exposure, and all of this will make sense.

This website, http://www.photo.net/learn/ , is a good place to start.

 

[DLL_4ever]

I know you've pretty much already got your answer... but i just want to say something else... Even when using a high aperature (low F-number) your results are still going to turn out overly dark... I highly recommend you using flash when taking this kind of a photo! That's what i did, and came up with this:

Good luck!

 

[mrsid99]

Interesting pic and it looks as though you were using first curtain on the flash.
Maybe you could have used an even faster shutter speed.

 

[DLL_4ever]

/\ I tried but i wasn't able to... the fastest shutter speed i could use was 1/160 sec. I'm guessing its the flash itself thats giving me these limitations?

 

[joyride]

and that thing moving is your auto focus. It wont shoot when it cant find a good focus. It will move out then back in right? To manually shoot, you can flip the switch on the body near the lens from AF to M. It is located right under the lens release button. Also, some lenses will have a switch that says AF or M. The kit lens has it. After you change it to M mode, you are free to focus yourself

 

[mrsid99]

and that thing moving is your auto focus.

Don't think so, my guess is first curtain flash, i.e the flash fires when the shutter first opens but because the shutter is open after the flash it continues to record the moving image albeit at a much lower light level.
Sort of looks like a ghost in front.
Second curtain flash (just before the shutter closes) gives the opposite effect of the ghost image trailing.

 

[mrsid99]

Here's a couple of examples of first and second curtain flash:

 

[nitefly]

Thanks for all the help everyone, but I think it's my "focus ring" ?? Joyride got it right though.