sTUPID QUESTION

When that aperture is listed on the lens.... what does that mean?

If I understand what you mean ... it's the len's maximum aperture (e.g. f/4), aka is an indication of how bright (fast) a lens is.
If it doesn't sound comprehensible to you, I think you should read a good book about photography, because this is very important in taking photos.

Correct

REMEMBER...there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers (but bidimagics answer isn't)

welcome to POTN

Just to expand on what bidimagic has said, either the maximum aperture is shown, and on expensive lenses the aperture has the ability to remain constant throughout its zoom range, (as explained above) OR the maximum aperture range is shown; as in f/3.5 - f/5.6 as aperture is also governed by the zoom setting (if it's a zoom lens, of course) so at one end of the zoom range the aperture (in my example) would be f/3.5, and if you were to zoom the lens to its other extreme, the f stop would be f/5.6

There are so many variables that it would really be best to have a read of a good book.

ok I dont understand the difference between f stop and apeture.

The f-stop or f-value, is the same as the aperture (the aperture is also the literal "hole" on the rear of the lens). f#= focal length/diameter of lens.

An f stop is one step of aperture change. It either doubles or halves the amount of light transmitted through the lens. f2.0 to f2.8 is one step down and reduces the amount of light through the lens by 1/2.

A stop, on the other hand, is a doubling of halving of exposure. Increasing ISO from 100 - 200 is one stop of additional exposure. Changing shutter speed from 1/60th to 1/125th is one stop less exposure.

Mark

ok I think I understand. I did this in high school but its been 10 years.

FOUND THIS THOUGH!!!

http://www.canon.co.jp​/Imaging/enjoydslr/ind​ex.html


Its great!!

This may help:

http://www.uscoles.com​/fstop.htm

The smaller the number the more light the lens will let in, the more light it lets in the faster it is.

However photographers that do not understand aperture and only use the smallest number on their lens because it is faster are greatly mistaken that this will produce the best images. If you have f2.8, ISO set to 200 on AV mode outside or in a well let home the picture will be taken at 1/2000 to 1/4000 of a second which is way too fast and could make your image not as appealing as if it was taken at f8 in AV mode which would probably make it about 1/250 to 1/560th of a second which lets in more light, makes the image better because it is a lot "slower" then the f2.8 setting.

I would highly recommend Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure". It will explain aperture, f-stop & ISO in all the detail thats necessary as well as provide a lot of invaluable information to help you hone your skills.

sugarzebra wrote in post #2020248
I would highly recommend Bryan Peterson's book "Understanding Exposure". It will explain aperture, f-stop & ISO in all the detail thats necessary as well as provide a lot of invaluable information to help you hone your skills.

I have this book coming in the mail. Does it also explain depth of field?

Yes, it does an excellent job at explaining depth of field. The premise behind the book is that in order to expose a photo properly a certain amount of light is needed. There are 3 elements that can adjust the amount of light- ISO settting, aperature setting and shutter speed.

Your camera can take a properly exposed picture with several combinations of these settings however, there is usually one "creatively correct exposure". That special combination of a certain field of depth, and sharp stopped motion or blur that will give you the results you are hoping to achieve.

You might also want to order the video http://www.ppsop.com/s​ite/store.html. It covers the same material as the book but I found it was very enjoyable watching it after having read the book anyway.

Also highly recommended is his book on learning to see creatively. Totally non-technical but gets you really excited about photography for the purposes of making interesting images. It's all too easy to get caught up in the f-this, app-that, lens and camera discussions and forget what really brought us to photography in the first place- the desire to take great looking pictures.

RichNY wrote in post #2023607
Yes, it does an excellent job at explaining depth of field. The premise behind the book is that in order to expose a photo properly a certain amount of light is needed. There are 3 elements that can adjust the amount of light- ISO settting, aperature setting and shutter speed.

Your camera can take a properly exposed picture with several combinations of these settings however, there is usually one "creatively correct exposure". That special combination of a certain field of depth, and sharp stopped motion or blur that will give you the results you are hoping to achieve.

You might also want to order the video http://www.ppsop.com/s​ite/store.html. It covers the same material as the book but I found it was very enjoyable watching it after having read the book anyway.

Also highly recommended is his book on learning to see creatively. Totally non-technical but gets you really excited about photography for the purposes of making interesting images. It's all too easy to get caught up in the f-this, app-that, lens and camera discussions and forget what really brought us to photography in the first place- the desire to take great looking pictures.

I believe I have that book on the way too. Glad I am getting these books, should help me a LOT.

Tonight I took a lot of photos, but the exposure meter was not always in the middle, usually it was at the far left. Is this okay? The room had some of the worst lighting I've ever seen in a room, so the flash and everything kind of created uneven lighting in my photos, but they look okay considering I was shooting quick.