Good idea, I know most of us have been busy lately but the HW section could use a refresh. Ill get one up today along with this months challenge. For those of you learning, enter the monthly challenges!! Its a great way to learn as well.

Having assignments that help people learn all modes of their camera would be good. The problem is, nikon vs canon vs pentax vs b84wm modes. Or even even simple techniques, DOF, etc..
I am actually happy there is a M mode assignment..

M mode + "n00bs" ftl
AV mode + "n00bs" ftw

Originally Posted by b84wm

M mode + "n00bs" ftl
AV mode + "n00bs" ftw

why? I learned everything on a fully Manual film camera... you learn much faster that way IMO.

Im only asking people to control Aperture and Shutter...

it's just IMO, i can't back it up with technical data, but being a n00b myself, i find the results in Av are greater than those in M

Originally Posted by b84wm

it's just IMO, i can't back it up with technical data, but being a n00b myself, i find the results in Av are greater than those in M

I can understand that. This is just one exercise, we can do AV and DOF in a couple weeks. I think its good to learn how to expose properly without relying on the camera tho, so I think its good to start a touch more complicated than AV or TV. Otherwise you may never leave them... Im guily of that, I shoot 95% in AV.

My M mode has a cheat button. Hit it and you get the program line in M mode. Adjust from there.

my only issue with M is you're throwing someone (shannonO who requested something basic) into driving, but giving them the keys to a 911 that's 6mt and a sketchy clutch.... M is a good way to learn when you have people right there on hand to show you how everything works. Over the internet is much different in person because you can't see if it's making sense or not... M is a good assignment, it's just not a good assignment for a beginner that's just learning her first DSLR.

For the record I learned to drive on stick.
And it had a boxer engine and a trick clutch, but it wasn't a 911.

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

my only issue with M is you're throwing someone (shannonO who requested something basic) into driving, but giving them the keys to a 911 that's 6mt and a sketchy clutch.... M is a good way to learn when you have people right there on hand to show you how everything works. Over the internet is much different in person because you can't see if it's making sense or not... M is a good assignment, it's just not a good assignment for a beginner that's just learning her first DSLR.

For the record I learned to drive on stick.
And it had a boxer engine and a trick clutch, but it wasn't a 911.

I agree with Ben. I am like ShannonO, and would appreciate this teach.

ok, we can change it to AV if everyone prefers.

why don't you just go through the modes, one by one?

for example, in P mode or the much maligned green box, you work on your framing and subject matter, because they're basically the only things you have to worry about. get interesting shots of interesting things. let the camera do the work and just have fun with looking at the world in a different way.

in Tv (shutter priority) you work on using different shutter speeds for different purposes. use a slow shutter on a fast moving subject and observe the results. use a fast shutter on a fast moving subject and observe the results. see how slow of a shuter you can handhold at various focal lengths while avoiding camera shake/movement. work on panning to intentionally create motion blur. work on the same motion blur but this time using a zoom movement instead of a pan.

in Av mode, pay attention to depth of field control. observe how the depth of focus changes with both aperture and distance to subject. try different things with placing the object of focus on something that wasn't the original focal point of the shot. since you'll be working with thin DOF, this would probably also be a good time to get to know your camera's autofocus idiosyncrasies... ie, AF point selection, low light level ability, when to switch to MF, etc. learn how the DOF preview button works, if your camera has one. if you have relatively fast lenses (ie <f2.8 or so), learn how the viewfinder misrepresents what is actually being "seen" by the sensor and how this can affect your shot.

finally move to M mode and use the techniques and knowledge you've picked up from working your way up. learn the finer points of exposure control such as accounting for tough lighting conditions: strong backlights, shiny highly reflective objects, dark highly absorptive subjects, lights in the frame, etc. learn how the light meter in the camera is only a "best guess," and how changing metering modes affects how you must account for the above-mentioned tough lighting conditions.

the thing is, we are all blessed with what the digital technology has given us: the ability to experiment on a grand scale and not go poor over developing and proofing (nevermind printing) our shots. you're not going to break anything by playing with the camera settings--just about the worst thing that happens is you take ~1/200,000th of the shutter life and a little bit of the rechargeable battery life.

ken

Originally Posted by ride5000

why don't you just go through the modes, one by one?

agreed.

in Av mode, pay attention to depth of field control.

since this assignment is now Av, lets add some basic "rules" to the assignment for ShannonO and anyone else who wants to play. Using Av, obviously you should experiment with apertures. With whatever subject you choose to shoot, I want 2 images (at least). One with shallow DOF using a wide aperture (small number, ie f/2.8 or f/4, the lower the better) and one with lots of DOF using a small aperture (large number, f/11~f/22). This should get you thinking about how apertures work, and what DOF does to an image. Some images work well with LOTS of DOF, some don't, so go play and see what you like and what works what doesn't.

FYI using the small number, that will let in more light making it easier to do regardless of the light available. You could even get that at night inside with a little bit of light and a higher ISO. Using the larger number for more DOF will require more light. Even with boosting your ISO, it's still going to be a long exposure w/o lots of light, so that shot will be better tried in the daylight...

the thing is, we are all blessed with what the digital technology has given us: the ability to experiment on a grand scale and not go poor over developing.

+1

Shoot shoot shoot, then shoot some more. It's "free" once the camera is in your hands.

What about TAv mode and Sv modes?

^ which I read about today for the first time.... TAv mode sounds killer....

Is TAv something new on the XSi? Or a mode on Pentax cameras?

How's it work?

Originally Posted by user errors

Is TAv something new on the XSi? Or a mode on Pentax cameras?

How's it work?

I think its a pentax only thing. Basically you set time and aperture and it varies the ISO for you. Sv is the other way around. You set the iso and it picks everything else. (How its different than just taking the camera out of auto iso I dont know) Frankly hyper program is the most useful. It acts like either Tv or Av depending on which dial you turned last. You set time, its Tv. You set aperture its Av. Pretty slick most of the time. Only real reason to go into Tv or Av with it is that you get iso on one of the wheel then without hitting pshift.

It's a pentax mode. It's where you set the shutter speed (T) and aperture (A) and it sets the ISO needed to take an image...

So you could set it to f/2.8 and 1/60th (the minimums assuming it's low light) and the camera would adjust from ISO100 outside to ISO1600 inside as needed. This would be ideal for me as I'm always resetting my ISO as low as I can have it around the house and using my lens wide open and checking the shutter speed....

Nikon's auto ISO works sort of like that, too, but I can use whatever mode I want. Usually, I set the camera in aperture priority mode, with auto ISO set to bump up ISO when the shutter speed gets down to 1/60th"... you can also set the cap on the Auto ISO so that it doesn't go all the way up to 1600 or 3200 or whatever.

Yeah the 40Ds auto ISO only switched between 400 and 800. What good is that? It's my biggest complaint about my camera at this point.

Originally Posted by slieb

Yeah the 40Ds auto ISO only switched between 400 and 800. What good is that? It's my biggest complaint about my camera at this point.

Sounds worthless

Yeah I took it off of Auto within a week of getting it. I just have to remember to keep an eye on what I'm doing. All part of re-learning technique. Of course back in the day I'd really want to shoot a whole roll before I changed ISO, so this is still much better.

"noob" homework would be great, i try to learn things manually...like switching to manual and trying to adjust settings but have no idea what im looking at sometimes. in all honesty i have no idea what SLR means, and can only assume the D in DSLR is digital... the modes in which y'all are talking about are German as well..P, Tv, Av, M ?

Originally Posted by Robert Vassallo

"noob" homework would be great, i try to learn things manually...like switching to manual and trying to adjust settings but have no idea what im looking at sometimes. in all honesty i have no idea what SLR means, and can only assume the D in DSLR is digital... the modes in which y'all are talking about are German as well..P, Tv, Av, M ?

D = digital, correct.
SLR = Single Lens Reflex (not quite sure how this differs from other systems. Hopefully someone else will chime in.)

The modes that you are asking about are the same as your P,S,A,M on your mode dial. Each manufacturer seems to think it's cool to make up their own term for the same thing. These modes allow more control, in one area of the exposure or all areas, than the pre-programmed "scene" or automatic "green" modes. Those are essentially point and shoot modes.

When shooting in full manual mode, your camera's meter becomes a very important tool. Learning how to use it makes Manual (M) mode much easier.

Robert, just to clarify:
P - pretty much an auto mode, lets you change more things than the "green box" like ISO, exposure compensation, bracketing (I believe), all these changes can also be made in the modes below.
Av - you set the apature (small number = shallow depth of field, faster shutter) and the camera sets the shutter speed.
Tv - you set the shutter and the camera sets the apature (need to watch out because a blinking apature # means the shutter is too fast)
M - fully manual. you set the apature and the shutter. difficult for snapshots, but sometimes you need to control it all (long exposures especially)

That is the metering, and they change the way the camera meters the shot. Take a look at your manual for descriptions.

I think this will help you (and explain it way better than I can)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metering_mode

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glos...etering_01.htm

And here's a discussion here about how people meter:

http://www.newschoolofphotography.co...ighlight=meter

thanks for those links Jay, I didn't know the differences myself.