Digital Camera Terms and Functions How to use your camera!

Digital cameras come in a variety of sizes, shapes and styles Digital cameras come in a variety of sizes, shapes and styles. However most of them have similar basic functions including: Mode settings – for specific conditions (i.e. action, night, portrait, landscape, etc.) Av -aperture priority – you control f-stop or how wide the opening is and camera controls shutter speed to maintain mid range exposure Tv shutter priority –how fast the shutter opens or time value , you control speed so used for night or action Flash – to increase light exposure Self timer – delayed shutter release The main purpose of using aperture-priority mode is to control the depth of field. Aperture priority is useful in landscape photography, where a narrow aperture (identified by a high number, e.g. F16 or F22) is necessary if objects in foreground, middle distance, and background are all to be rendered crisply, while shutter speed is often immaterial. It also finds use in portrait photography, where a wide aperture (identified by a low number, e.g. F1.4 or F2.8) is desired to throw the background out of focus and make it less distracting.

Terminology to know when operating a digital camera: Megapixel Zoom ISO Aperture F-stop Depth of Field Shutter Speed Focal Length Lenses

Megapixel Megapixel refers to the maximum resolution at which a digital camera can take photos in millions of pixels. For example, a camera with 7.2 mega pixels can take photos that each contain a maximum of 7.2 million pixels. The greater the number of megapixels, the better quality, or resolution, your images will have.

1 MP 3MP 5MP Megapixel Comparison

Zoom Optical Zoom The physical lenses inside the camera are used to enlarge a scene. Digital Zoom Electronically enlarging the pixels in the center area of a photo. * This type of zoom often sacrifices the quality of your image.

Optical vs. Digital Zoom

ISO ISO stands for International Standards Organization. This organization sets standards for digital photography. ISO is a term in photography that refers to how sensitive a camera is to light. A lower ISO number (100 or under) is not very sensitive to light, and is best for shots in good lighting conditions. A higher ISO range means the camera will be suitable for photography in darker conditions.

Higher ISO settings are better for poor lighting conditions, however they also tend to produce “noisy” of fuzzy images.

Aperture and F-stop Aperture refers to the diameter the lens opens. The larger the lens opens, the more light is let in. Aperture diameter:     F-stop number: F-stop measures the aperture size. The smaller the F-stop number the larger the lens (aperture diameter) is open.

Aperture and F-stop in relation to Depth of Field Depth of Field refers to the portion of an image that remains in focus as the subject proceeds into space. Depth of Field is increased as the lens aperture becomes smaller.

Putting it all together… Aperture: F-stop: Depth of Field:

Shutter Speed Shutter speed refers to how fast, or slow, the shutter (aperture) opens and closes. 1 second  1/3rd second  1/30th second  1/200th second  1/800th second Fast shutter speeds are good for capturing action without blurring while slower shutter speeds are often used for artistic affect, purposely creating blurs.

Shutter Lag Shutter lag refers to the time between pressing the button (shutter release) to take a photograph and the time when the picture actually gets taken. * Shutter lag varies from camera to camera, and it is important to know how long it takes your shutter to release so you can plan for it when taking photographs.

Lenses Standard lens Telephoto lens Wide angle lens Macro lens Fisheye lens

Standard Lens A standard lens will let you create an image similar in perspective and scale to what the human eye sees. A standard lens doesn't change the size of an object or add distortion to the subject in an image.

Telephoto Lens A telephoto lens is good for magnifying distant objects. They make objects appear larger/closer to you than they really are.

Standard Lens vs. Telephoto Lens from the same vantage point

Wide Angle Lens Wide angle lenses are good for capturing a large scene. It can exaggerate depth in an image and they often cause you to move closer to your subjects which means you give emphasis to the front while still capturing the background.

Standard Telephoto Wide angle

* Macro lenses offer limited depth of field. Macro lenses are for close-up photography. You can get in close to photograph details of larger objects and you can also capture sharp, life-size images of small subjects such as flowers and insects. * Macro lenses offer limited depth of field.

Fisheye Lens A fisheye lens makes everything you take look like it's in a Goldfish bowl. A fisheye lens creates an extremely wide angled image which appears convex/circular. It's a useful tool for getting in close to something and still retaining the detail of the surroundings