GoingManual.com It's time to take control!    Home    Tutorials    Photography Forum  Photography Tutorial Introduction Part I – Gear The Camera  -  Focus  -  Resolution  -  MegaPixels Vs Print Size  -  Sharpening Semi auto settings  -  Aperture Priority (Av)  -  Shutter priority (Tv) Zoom and Focal Length  -  A Note About Sensor Size Other Camera Features  -  Viewfinders  -  Lens Hood  -  LCD screen  -  White Balance Extra Equipment  -  Tripod  -  Cable Release  -  Filter systems  -  Polarizer and ND filter  -  External Flash  -  Studio Lighting  -  Reflectors Part II – Capturing The Scene Your First Manual Photo  -  It's All About Exposure  -  The Light Meter  -  Exposure Explained  -  Controlling Exposure Creative Effects  -  Aperture and Depth Of Field  -  DOF Preview  -  Shutter speed Putting it all Together  -  ISO  -  Ap. & Shutter Relationship  -  Stop for a minute  -  So What?  -  The Bulb Setting Metering the Scene  -  18% of Everything Metering modes  -  Matrix  -  Average  -  Center weighted  -  Spot or semi-spot Taking Meter Readings  -  Expose for your subject  -  Sunsets and sunrises  -  Reflecting sun  -  Night Exposures  -  Moon  -  Green Foliage  -  Bright or White Scenes  -  Dark or Black Scenes Understanding Your Histogram  -  Flash Metering Composition Lead in The Viewer Eye  -  Point of Focus  -  Fill the frame  -  The Rule of Thirds  -  Moving Subjects  -  Print and frame Sizes Different Styles Learn by doing  -  Giving and Getting Critique  -  Portraits  -  Groups  -  Children  -  Shooting Outdoors  -  Silhouettes  -  Macro  -  Products  -  Landscapes  -  Sports and Action  -  Panning  -  Rear Sync Flash  -  Abstract  -  Long Exposures  -  Black and White A few Other Useful Things  -  Blown Out Skies  -  Neutral Density Filters  -  Polarizing Filters  -  Electronic noise You're Half Way There! Part III The Digital darkroom  -  Computer hardware  -  Card Reader  -  Printers  -  Mouse Post Processing  -  The Ethics of Altering  -  Choosing Your Program  -  Tutorials   Photoshop Tutorials   Photoshop Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   The Gimp Tutorials   The Gimp Primer   Saving Your Image   Adding a Border   Using Levels   Using Curves   The S-Curve   Correcting White Balance   Improving Saturation   The Clone Tool   Correcting Lens Distortion   Blending Multiple Images   Black and White Conversion   Sepia Conversion   Reducing Noise   Cropping for Different Print Sizes   Sharpening   Working With RAW Files   << Semi-Auto Settings Other Camera Features >> Zoom and Focal Length If your point and shoot camera had optical zoom it was probably represented as 3x, 4x etc. Focal Length is used to describe the same thing, and is expressed in distances such as 28mm, 300mm etc. If you have a point and shoot, see if it says 'equivalent to 28-480mm' or something similar. Focal length is the distance from the film or sensor to the center of the lens. The optical center is the part of the lens actually focusing the light and not necessarily the glass on the front of the lens. Some lenses are adjustable so a lens such as a 70-300mm will move the optical center of the lens between the two distances that are usually written on the side or front of it. But what do the numbers mean? Simply put big numbers mean big zoom, small numbers mean wider angles of view. Just like your old point and shoot the higher the zoom the smaller the area in which to frame your scene. Tip: A 50mm lens will record a natural image with the least lens distortion caused by wide angles and no zoom. It most closely records what your eyes see. It's good practice to learn how much of a scene you can record with your different lenses. Remember how much you can see through the rectangle of the viewfinder with each one or different setting. When looking for shots you'll have a better idea of what you can capture without having to hold up the camera. Also consider that the camera will capture slightly more then you see through the viewfinder. Typically what you see through the viewfinder is about 95%. Even though this extra bit is visible on your PC monitor it's often lost when printing. If you have detail close to the edge, add a small border in post processing to get around this. A Note About Sensor Size Most SLR lenses are designed for 35mm film cameras or the equivalent 'full frame' sensor cameras. Most DSLR's have a sensor smaller than 35mm and only some of the most expense DSLR's have full frame sensors. A DSLR camera with a smaller sensor would have the same effect as cropping out the section on its full frame or film equivalent. Imagine drawing a slightly smaller box on a printed photo. That's the same effect the smaller sensor has on your lens, it will reduce the usable area of a lens. So a 28mm wide angle lens will frame a scene as if you had used a 44mm (longer focal length = smaller area to frame your scene). The factor of change is dependent on your camera sensor size and you can find out on the internet or in your camera's manual. Typically 1.6 is used to convert apparent focal length. Remember it doesn't really change the focal length of the lens, a 28mm will always be a 28mm and it wont increase the zoom either as some people will tell you! Tip: Nikon have a range of lenses that are only for their small sensor DSLR's. They allow the full value of the focal length to be used with out any cropping effect. Full frame sensors are more expensive and will likely stay that way. The price tag reductions we're used to with computers may not be reflected in the DLSR market. The cost of a chip is typically calculated per square mm for microchips. The cost savings in PC's come from producing smaller chips. As DSLR's are trying to increase size the cost is unlikely to come down very much. Let's hope the major manufacturers can find a way to prove me wrong, I won't mind at all. << Semi-Auto Settings Other Camera Features >>

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