Creative Zone Info

[p_rodgers]

Hi,
I would like to know when shooting in P TV AV & M mode what is indicated in view Finder Info.
I find in certain conditions either displays flash when I have composed shot and a busy readout is observed and the camera does not take shot.
Do I Increase ISO ?
Do I Change Aperture setting or Speed ?
Should all display item be steady ?

Please explain to novice trying to get the best out of camera.

regards

Phil

[FlyingPete]

The two pieces of data in the view finder you should be concerned about are the first number from the left, which is the shutter speed and the second from the left which is your aperture value.

If either the Shutter speed value or the aperture value is flashing then you are outside of the operation parameters available, so need to adjust something to compensate.

Assuming you are shooting in bright conditions, not dark:

If the shutter value is flashing high (4000 on a 300D, 8000 on a 20D), then you need to close down the aperture value, i.e choose a larger number, or decrease the ISO speed, if you are shooting at ISO1600 with an aperture value of 1.8 on sunny day, a 1/8000 shutter speed will over expose, hence the warning.

Alternatively if the aperture value is flashing high e.g. 22 (dependant on the lens), you need in increase your shutter speed, or lower your ISO speed.

If you see these warnings in low light (usually on an aperture warning), you need to slow the shutter of increase ISO, but beware camera shake if you lower the shutter speed too much.

[kb244]

In case you are not familiar with the actual meanings for each Creative Zone.

P ( Program AE ): Its basically same thing as full auto mode. The Shutter and Aperture is still figured out for you, but you have the ability to set ISO speed, white balance, AutoExposure correction, and the ability to shoot in Raw Mode.

Tv (Shutter Priority): you set the Shutter speed, the camera figures the aperture.

Av (Aperture Priority): You set the Aperture Value, the camera figures out the shutter.

M (Manual) : You set both the apeture and shutter, you wont have Auto Exposure capabilities as theres no automatic.

In all the modes in your view finder, first # is shutter, second Aperture, your Exposure chart.

The exposure chart will show an arrow underneath it, to the right its overexposed, to the left its underexposed, in the middle its properly exposed.

In Shutter Priority, if the maximum aperture value flashes (lowest #) , it means the image will be underexposed and cant get it exposed unless you decrease the shutter speed(or increase the ISO). If the mininum aperture blinks (max value), means the shot is overexposed for even the tightest aperture and the shutterspeed needs to go up(or decrease the ISO). In the viewfinder, shutter speeds are indicated from 4 to 4000, 125 = 1/125 , where as anything close to a second like 0"5 is half a second, and 15" is 15 seconds.

Similar situation above with Aperture Priority. Just reverse the situation a little.

Also if yer using the viewfinder, you can just click the button on the front of the camera for depth of field preview, as when you are looking thru the viewfinder, you are always viewing the shot with wide open aperture, the DOF preview button stops down the aperture so you can see what the shot will look like with aperture stoped down to the setting selected.

In manual mode, the wheel will change the shutterspeed much like how you do in Tv or Av, to change the aperture you gota pust the AV button by the LCD then turn the wheel.

One useful thing is , that while you are looking thru the viewfinder, if you half click the shutter button, especially in manual mode, you can adjust the shutter and aperture while looking thru the viewfinder, and watch the arrow under the exposure level , move from the left to right or vice versa to show you what the exposure is as you change it.

ideally you want to get exposure correct without having to adjust iso speed, but in some situations such as low light this is impossible without a tripod, and may need to set that. Unfortunatly with the ISO speed, you pretty much have to take your eye away from the viewfinder to set or check the iso, as theres no ISO indicator in the viewfinder.

Also when you are shooting, you may notice the exposure level bar shrink while shooting, then grow when you stop, thats basically your frame counter, when depleted the camera's internal buffer is full, then it has to write to a card before you can shoot some more. A useful tip about the buffer, like the 10D the 300D has a secondary buffer, while this is maybe pointless now with alot of the Ultra II cards being so cheap now days. Its very useful if you have a slow compactflash card, and shoot mainly jpegs. When the buffer is full, just keep the shutter half-depreessed, the current frames in Buffer 1 will be converted over to jpeg ( or processed raw ), into buffer 2, from there you can keep shooting again, with the rebel you can do about 4 buffer full of shots in Large Jpeg, before it forces you to write buffer 2 to the card. Useful if you need little time between bursts, course if you are working with a slow card yer gona be waiting a lil while for it to clear that second buffer into the card. If you have a Ultra II card, dont bother, seems to take the same ammount of time to write to the CF , as it does to write from buffer 1 to Buffer 2.

[p_rodgers]

FlyingPete & kb244,

Thanks for your reply that info has certainly helped alot.
Just took some indentical shoots in various modes.
Can see differences in finnished shots
Once again your info is appreciated

phil

[tkopics]

What incredibly detailed and helpful answers.

[queenbee288]

Yeah Karl, I was really impressed by the time and effort you took to explain that so thoroughly.

[Wavy C]

In manual mode, the wheel will change the shutterspeed much like how you do in Tv or Av, to change the aperture you gota pust the AV button by the LCD then turn the wheel.



Will have to try this out. On the 20d I thought I had to put the on/off switch to the second position and turn the large wheel on the back to change the aperture settings.

btw, does anyone know what the number beside the focus confirmation circle is for (in the viewfinder)? Mine normally sits at 9.

[HJMinard]

btw, does anyone know what the number beside the focus confirmation circle is for (in the viewfinder)? Mine normally sits at 9.

Max burst

[forrest64]

In case you are not familiar with the actual meanings for each Creative Zone.

P ( Program AE ): Its basically same thing as full auto mode. The Shutter and Aperture is still figured out for you, but you have the ability to set ISO speed, white balance, AutoExposure correction, and the ability to shoot in Raw Mode.

......



P mode has one more feature. That is one can also change the default exposure by spinning the index finger wheel on camera. For example if the camera finds the "best" exposure to be F 5.6 at 1/125 of a second and one wants more depth of field or a higher shutter speed, one can spin the index finger wheel and exchange one for the other. This has the advantage of maintaining proper exposure while fine-tuning for your particular needs. And since I almost always shoot portrait or landscape photos I almost never have to use Tv or Av mode since I can get the same thing in P mode. Admittedly if one were shooting action shots then Av or Tv mode would offer the advantage of already having the speed or depth of field selected before each shot and would allow the photography quicker setup.

Mark

[Wavy C]

Max burst

What is Max Burst? The number of shots you can take in a row before filling up the camera's memory buffer?

[FlyingPete]

What is Max Burst? The number of shots you can take in a row before filling up the camera's memory buffer?

A poor guy whos personality got stuck in side a computer, oh sorry that was Max Headroom :rolleyes:

Yes it is the number of frames left in the buffer, on cameras with a buffer capable of greater than 9, it will stay there until you go below 9.

[Wavy C]

Tnx for that nice explanation :)

I can’t help but think this indicator is probably not terribly useful to most people (even if they are firing off a lot of shots in quick succession, it will probably only show a different reading for no more than a few seconds).

I expect that a viewfinder indication showing the current ISO setting would be much more useful for most people. So easy to forget to reset it if you have been using high ISO for low light conditions.

[Jon]

Tnx for that nice explanation :)

I can’t help but think this indicator is probably not terribly useful to most people (even if they are firing off a lot of shots in quick succession, it will probably only show a different reading for no more than a few seconds).

I expect that a viewfinder indication showing the current ISO setting would be much more useful for most people. So easy to forget to reset it if you have been using high ISO for low light conditions.

Maybe so, but putting the burst rate there means they can use the same basic LCD viewfinder display for the digitals as for the film cameras. On film, it's shots remaining in the roll.

[FlyingPete]

Tnx for that nice explanation :)

I can’t help but think this indicator is probably not terribly useful to most people (even if they are firing off a lot of shots in quick succession, it will probably only show a different reading for no more than a few seconds).

I expect that a viewfinder indication showing the current ISO setting would be much more useful for most people. So easy to forget to reset it if you have been using high ISO for low light conditions.

Hmmm, I know for one, once I am shooting rapid fire I am too busy on the compisition to worry about a frame buffer count! ISO would be better or even better still, a custom function that let you choose either.

[Andy_T]

ISO would be better or even better still, a custom function that let you choose either.

Yes ... but they want to sell their 1 series, right?
There *has* to be some kind of difference....

Best regards,
Andy