STICKY:  Canon DSLRs and Lenses 101

Great information Bill!

You listed the standard aperture values, I would like to see the standard shutter speed values listed too. (I saved you a little trouble if you agree)

1/8000s - 1/4000s - 1/2000s - 1/1000s - 1/500s - 1/250s - 1/125s - 1/60s - 1/30s - 1/15s - 1/8s - 1/4s - 1/2s - 1s - B (for bulb) — the shutter remains open as long as the release lever is pressed.

PrOxY wrote in post #2756006
You asked in an earlier post about further 101 lessons? I can tell you that one area is SERIOUSLY lacking in information and that is the basics of interior (low Light) shooting. Almost every text on Amazon either has horrid reviews, or pre-dates the digital era.

Anything on this subject would be most useful (how about a collaborative effort from the experts here)?

In any event....MOST helpful

Interior low-light shooting is a difficult one ... only because in discussing low-light, you start discussing money. I am a big proponent of "save the wallet" around here ... as I see way too many people try to fix poor technique with IS, faster glass, newer cameras, and more flashes ... unfortunately, low-light indoor photography can be difficult without some money.

Its past mid-night here, and I've got to be up in less than 5 hours for work, but if I have some time tomorrow I'll post something up on the subject. Pretty good timing too since I just shot a party at a Manhattan bar a few hours ago (can you say, "no light").

Bill

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2756214
Don't know how we missed this excellent thread!
Next time feel free to use "report post" or PM a mod to get a sticky ..

As soon as Bill says the first post is "done" I will also copy that post to the EOS/EF LEns faq thread.

Bill, if you could do one more edit..
The images in the thread are hosted on your PBase site,.
If you could attach them so they are hosted here, then they will not be at risk to turn into red x's at any point.

How do I upload them to this server? PM me in the info pls.

Bill

Bill Ng wrote in post #2758719
Interior low-light shooting is a difficult one ... only because in discussing low-light, you start discussing money. I am a big proponent of "save the wallet" around here ... as I see way too many people try to fix poor technique with IS, faster glass, newer cameras, and more flashes ... unfortunately, low-light indoor photography can be difficult without some money.

Its past mid-night here, and I've got to be up in less than 5 hours for work, but if I have some time tomorrow I'll post something up on the subject. Pretty good timing too since I just shot a party at a Manhattan bar a few hours ago (can you say, "no light").

Bill

Interior lighting is more consistant than thought...taking a few shots of varied sources (candles, fires, incandescent/ flourescent bulbs, table/overhead etc) and noting the TYPE of light source (notes on paper help a lot here) and the results should give you a valuable cheat sheet to memorize so YOU and not the camera will control the exposure...

kitacanon wrote in post #2760163
Interior lighting is more consistant than thought...taking a few shots of varied sources (candles, fires, incandescent/ flourescent bulbs, table/overhead etc) and noting the TYPE of light source (notes on paper help a lot here) and the results should give you a valuable cheat sheet to memorize so YOU and not the camera will control the exposure...

Indoor lighting is the definition of consistancy, the problem is that there is so little of it, you are almost forced to use flash ... and without proper technique in this regard, results will be poor.

Bill

THANK YOU for taking the time to post this very informative and detailed information!!! It's one thing to absorb bits and pieces from both the POTN site and the owner's manual, but it's SO MUCH BETTER to read everything in succession, with examples to boot! Being a complete newbie to DSLR photography, I greatly appreciate the fact that you've taken your time to help me (and those like me) out.

Give yourself a HUGE pat on the back and thanks again!!!

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the great information, Bill. I am just getting into digital photography. I have owned a Power Shot S2IS for over a year now and am beginning to itch for a dSLR. Possibly the XTi or 30D. This compilation of information in one spot really helps me understand what I need to be learning. Once again, THANK YOU!

jjay1974 wrote in post #2871803
Thanks for the great information, Bill. I am just getting into digital photography. I have owned a Power Shot S2IS for over a year now and am beginning to itch for a dSLR. Possibly the XTi or 30D. This compilation of information in one spot really helps me understand what I need to be learning. Once again, THANK YOU!

Good luck, the XTi and 30D are great cameras. I'm partial to the XTi myself, but take a look at what features you need, and purchase accordingly. Enjoy.

Bill

I didn't start gettign a headache until I started reading all the correct this and that thing. Brilliant post and it helped me ( the question answered was not intentionally answered by the thread but side effect was answering many questions I had) As far as the details in 2 weeks I've learned more than I have in a Looong time. Love more posts like this!!

Damn, AWESOME write up right there. Great work!

jacobsen1 wrote in post #2901011
Damn, AWESOME write up right there. Great work!

Thanks .... hope it helped.

Bill

Good write-up
If everybody who wrote an article worried about other people's comments nothing would ever get written - there would be no books or magazine articles - so if you have something to say - 'Publish and be Damned'. Remember, there is always someone out there who knows a bit more than you and will let you (and everybody else) know it - that is a fact of life - but you put your pen to paper - he didn't.
Once again - good write-up

My wife is a very new beginner with a new Rebel XT and she loves portraits (of course) and especially baby Grandchildren. She wants the back ground blurred just as your example is but with her 50mm 1.8f lens (new) she is not getting the same results. She has tried many aperature settings and has tried shooting from three feet to ten feet away from the subject. She shoots in auto or P mode setting the ISO to either 100 or 200 to compare. How close were you in the shots you have posted? Do you have any suggestions for her? She does get the blur when using her 55-200 lens in outdoor shoots. Any help is greatly appreciated since it would get me off the hook for learning all of this.

JPeoples wrote in post #3033820
My wife is a very new beginner with a new Rebel XT and she loves portraits (of course) and especially baby Grandchildren. She wants the back ground blurred just as your example is but with her 50mm 1.8f lens (new) she is not getting the same results. She has tried many aperature settings and has tried shooting from three feet to ten feet away from the subject. She shoots in auto or P mode setting the ISO to either 100 or 200 to compare. How close were you in the shots you have posted? Do you have any suggestions for her? She does get the blur when using her 55-200 lens in outdoor shoots. Any help is greatly appreciated since it would get me off the hook for learning all of this.

For your wife:

To get the most shallow depth of field possible, do two things. First, put the camera in Av mode (Aperture priority mode, allows you to control the aperture and the camera will set shutter speed to match). Second, turn the dial to bring the aperture value down to 1.8. This sets the lens wide open (largest maximum aperture). Third, get as close as possible.

As far as how close I was to my subject in those photos ... what you see is what you get. Those photos are not cropped. I was either at, or very close to, the minimum focusing distance of that lens which is 1.5 feet.

However, even at 3 feet, the depth of field should be sufficiently shallow to throw the background out of focus assuming the background is not less than a foot or two behind the subject.

First off, in Auto mode, you cannot control the aperture. The camera does that on it's own and in my limited experience with camera auto modes, they tend to default to slow apertures typically around f/4 to f/8. In P mode, you also don't directly control the aperture .... instead, you semi-control it and shutter at the same time ... but not really. Go into Av mode, that's going to be your key.

Can you post an unedited photo online for us to see? If left unedited, the EXIF data should still be intact and we can tell you exactly what aperture value the camera used for any shot in question.

Bill