AF, AE, and FE Lock

[Severed_Biscuit]

Hello Everyone,

To start off I am an absolute beginner to the world of photography and I just discovered this site. I just received my first camera as a Christmas gift (A Canon PowerShot A620). I have been reading the manual and have been fooling around with it for most of the day and from what I have seen this is one impressive camera (at least to me). I know that I want to shoot manual and have more control over the results so I am trying to figure out just about everything this camera can do.

Since my education in photography is minimal at best there are some functions that I read about in the manual that I am unsure of why and how you use them. I have read about the AF lock, the AE lock, and the FE lock in the manual but still don't understand the use and purposes. I just have a very basic understanding of the impacts of shutter speed, and aperture.

Any help about these functions would be appreciated. I think it is just my lack of knowledge and not the manual being vague that is the problem.

Thanks in advance and happy holidays guys...

[nwyman]

okay, I'll give this a try.
I'm fairly new myself, so this won't be technical.
The camera sensor sometimes has a problem figuring out exactly what it is you want it to focus on. When this happens, you'll get the subject framed in yellow, rather than green, which means it can't focus. If you point at something approximately the same distance as your desired subject, and depress the shutter halfway, you'll go into focus lock - then point the camera back at what it is you want to shoot and fully depress the button.
This usually happens when there is not a lot of contrast between your desired subject and the surrounding background.
Hope this helps, and is correct.

Nancy

[Severed_Biscuit]

Thanks Nancy, you are probably right it does make sense. It’s just that I’m new and the manual seemed to be pretty vague on these topics...

[nwyman]

practice is the key to it all - and it is rather overwhelming at first. Or even much beyond first. <g> Take it one day at a time.

Nancy

[Severed_Biscuit]

Yes I have to agree with you there... Aperture, shutter speeds, lens selections all seem confusing at the moment but I will get the hang of it. I am the kind of person who wants to know everything I can do with a gadget (and sometimes I’m not very patient :) ). I'm sure with time determining the right settings for a desired shot will become like second nature.