Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Whole Stop F/stop & Shutter Speed Copyright 2003 Kenji Tachibana

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Lens Opening: Aperture & F/stop Light enters the camera through the opening in the lens called the aperture. The specific amount of light entering the lens is controlled by specific f/stops. F/2.8 lets in the most amount of light. And f/8 lets in the least amount of light.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Extreme Limits: You can’t let in more light through the lens aperture than the ‘wide open’ f/2.8. You can’t let in less light through the lens aperture than the ‘fully stopped down’ f/8. DSLR lenses have different wide open and fully stopped down settings (F3.5 wide and f/22 down)

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Whole Stops: Whole stop difference means that the amount of light entering the lens either doubles or halves. It doubles when going from f/4 to f/2.8. It halves when going from f/4 to f5.6. DoublesHalves DoublesHalves More lightLess Light

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop & Increments F/stop: Increments Whole stops are usually sub-divided into 1/3 stop increments as shown below. 2.8 I I 4 I I 5.6 I I I I 4 I I 5.6 I I

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Camera Lens Notation F raction Notations: Human eye is /2.81/41/5.61/81/111/16 1÷2.81÷41÷5.61÷81÷111÷16 1:2.81:41:5.61:81:111:16

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Practical Considerations: F/2.8 is not available on DSLR ‘Kit’ lens. DSLR kit lens starts at f/3.5. The practical f/stop range on a compact digital is f/2.8 to f/ Avoid using apertures smaller than f/6.3 if you want maximum optical sharpness. Aperture range from f/7.1 to f/8 suffer from lower resolution because of light diffraction.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Aperture Limitation: It’s not physically possible to let in more light than wide- open. Nor to let in less light than fully stopped-down. If your aperture is wide open and you need more light to reach the sensor, shutter speed must become slower. The ISO option not available to compact digital users.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Shutter Speeds: Facts To physically let in more light then f/2.8 or less light than f/8, change the shutter speed. Use a slower speed to let in more light. Use a faster speed to let in less light. More light Less Light 4 sec - 2 sec - 1 sec - ¼ - 1/8 - 1/15 - 1/30 - 1/60 - 1/ / / / / sec - 2 sec - 1 sec - ¼ - 1/8 - 1/15 - 1/30 - 1/60 - 1/ / / / /2000

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Shutter Speeds: Greater range The shutter speed has a much greater whole-stop range compared to the aperture. I’m only showing 14 stops but their can be more on both the slower and faster ends. 4 sec2 sec1 sec½¼1/81/151/301/601/1251/2501/5001/1000 1/2000 Speed below 1/15 are not recommended for handheld shots. The marginal speeds are colorized in yellow. Safer speeds are colorized in green. Speeds higher than 1/500 are safe speeds for handheld shooting and action shots.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Shutter Speed: Increments Shutter speeds also have 1/3-stop increments. The 1/3 stop speeds are both colorized and enlarged. 1/30 1/401/50 1/60 1/801/100 1/125 1/1601/200 1/250 Start paying attention to the aperture and shutter speed settings. Digitals cameras designed to be tools instead of toys display the vital data on the LCD monitor. If you don’t see the information, toggle through the Display options or press half-way-down on the shutter button to activate the screen data feedback.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Camera LCD Display: Hands-on demo The Display (LCD) button is used to cycle through display options. It may be called LCD or something else on your camera. Here are some of the possible display options: 1.Clear LCD screen showing only the image. 2.Image plus all the camera settings. 3.Image plus some of the camera settings. 4.Image plus the exposure graph, histogram. 5.Image plus the composition grid. 6.Other camera manufacturer specific options?

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Depth of Field (dof): Hands-on demo Except for the hairline plane-of-focus, nothing else can be truly in focus. The usual sense-of-sharpness has to do with the illusion-of-sharpness provided by the dof. The rule-of-thumb goes: -Wide-open for ‘shallow’ dof -Stopped-down for ‘deep’ dof. Do the Squint & Thumb Exercise’.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Scene Modes: Computer help Most digitals have a setting called Scene Modes. It contains the so-called perfect settings for shooting variety of things like: o Scenery o Portrait o Party o Baby o Pet o Candle Light o Fireworks o Sunset o Night Sky o Snow o Stage Shows o Snow o Sports o Panning o Aerial o Often less or more

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Scene Modes: Questionable usefulness Scene modes are designed by engineers based on ‘perfect’ numbers under ideal conditions. When the light levels dims, the perfect numbers based solutions can become meaningless. If the correct exposure is 1/30 sec at f/2.8 for the lighting condition, but your need to shoot an action shot. A much faster shutter speed (1/250 sec or faster) is required for shooting action. Setting the Scene Mode on Sport will not change the setting. That’s because F/2.8 is already wide open which limits the shutter speed to 1/30. Remember, correct exposure is mostly about physics.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Whole Stop Scene Modes: Actual use In dim light conditions, the digital camera is designed to fire-off the built-in flash. Usually the modest light from the flash only covers subjects up to 8’ from the camera. In the Pacific Northwest, dim light is more the rule than the perfect light required by the digital camera. So you may find yourself fighting the natural tendency of the camera. Always make sure that the flash is off. The light from the flash tends to wash-out the beauty of the existing natural light.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I x End