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Choosing aperture Anonymous
After several months of research, I picked up a Nikon D80 and two lenses (18-135mm and 55-200mm VR Nikkor) recently.

Ive done a considerable amount of reading[1], and am curious about how others are deciding upon aperture values when doing basic 'walking around' shooting. By this I mean generally tripod-less and wanting to capture whatever is going on around you at the time. For example, I went walking through Boston last weekend taking photos and quickly found myself paying more attention to which aperture I should use for shots than what was going on around me.

I have a clear understanding of aperture and its relationship to shutter speed, light, and ISO. What I found slightly overwhelming were the myriad aperture values to choose from and when to chose *just* the right one. Using aperture priority, I played around with several shots before moving to shutter priority and letting the camera pick the aperture value once I was metered properly.

My question is: is there a rule of thumb for 'basic shots' Ive overlooked, or do I need to get in the habit of metering with my eyes first to reduce camera-adjustment time when shots present themselves?[2]

I dont want to replicate a P&S, rather Id like to gain a more rapid understanding of what to choose and when.

[1] Including Peterson's 'Understanding Exposure'.
[2] Obviously this response is 'it depends'; its the various experiences of the board Im in search of, though.

Images are here:
http://sienar.org/v/album_002/?g2_page=4
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>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>135093

I think it varies per person, actually. I have an N80 and prefer to keep my camera on cloudy white balanace at all times, because it gives everything a nice red tint. I also like to photograph things at f24-f36 with a shutter speed of 80 during bright sunlight, with my ISO at 100. I like everything dark, and bright and so on - it's just the style I shoot. If it's cloudy, i find keeping it around f8 for model photography and ISO 200 works.

But it's more of a matter of going out first, fiddling with your exposures at the place, then going from there.
>> Anonymous
>>135093

Sunny 16 rule? :)
>> Anonymous
Personally I leave mine as wide open as possible all the time, unless there's a particular reason why I shouldn't (which almost never happens).
>> Anonymous
>>135093
"I have a clear understanding of aperture and its relationship to shutter speed, light, and ISO."

You didn't mention depth of field, but maybe you just forgot to type it in.
>> Anonymous
Well the thing is, sometimes I want to keep it wide open to isolate a subject but sometimes I need more DOF to get more in focus.

Do I just learn from experience how much I need to open/close my aperture or guesstimate it by reviewing pictures?
>> Anonymous
>>135114

Oops you posted before I did.

Yeah, I know a bit about how DOF works. And I know about that website where you can calculate it but yeah.
>> elf_man !!DdAnyoDMfCe
>>135115
Experience makes a big difference. But if you're using a telephoto, it can be easier to get a blurred background than with wide angle, although the closer you're focusing to the subject, the narrower the dof.
Generally, f8 is sort of "average", anything over ~f16 will be a really wide dof but may start to lose sharpness due to diffraction. Anything else is sort of specific to the lens.
>> Anonymous
>>135115Do I just learn from experience...

Yes. Unlike most beginners, you've studied up on photographic theory and have an understanding about what different settings do and how to use them. That's absolutely great, but the one thing that a lot of people forget is that you also need practice to put it all together. There's a lot to think about when taking a photo with a manual camera, and at first it can be kind of overwhelming. It's easy to get caught up in the technical details and miss what's going on around you, it happens to everyone. After taking many, many photos and looking at the results you will develop both an intuitive understanding of the settings and become so familiar with your camera that you can operate it blindly. When this happens, you won't have to think about the technical details anymore, you just think about how you want the photo to look and your hands make it happen. It takes time though, lots of time.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>135115

that's exactly what I did/do. Why else would the little screen on the back of your cam be there? I use it to test my exposures, then use instinct and experience from the rest. There's no harm in photographing a tree, or a building, as soon as you get to a site to try and nail down what type of exposure, ISO and shutter speed you should be using.
>> Anonymous
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On older lenses or better quality lenses, there's a distance window thing.

Does that help you judge DOF? How do you read it?
>> Anonymous
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>>135187
Yes, it does help you judge depth of field.

Note the markings below the distance window. The first one of importance is the bold vertical line in the center. This indicates the distance at which the lens is focused. Next notice the two lines on either side that both say 11. These indicate the depth of field at f/11. That means that whatever distances are between those two lines will be in focus at f/11. For example, if you wanted to focus at the hyperfocal distance for f/11, you would rotate the focus ring until the infinity symbol lines up with the 11 on the left side. The number that lines up with with 11 on the other side is the closest part of the scene that will be in focus.

The same applies to the 16, it's just for f/16. Notice that the range between the two 16s is larger than between the two 11s. This is because there is greater depth of field at f/16 than at f/11. The nicer the DOF scale, the more specific f-stop values it will provide on the scale. Older lenses often listed the full range of which the lens was capable.

And while discussing markings, we might as well cover the little dot to the left of the big vertical line. That's an infrared focusing mark. Infrared light focuses at a slightly different point behind the lens, so some compensation is necessary. You just focus like normal, then before you take the picture you rotate the focusing ring until the current distance lines up with that little dot.

The lens in my pic, a Leitz 50mm f/2 Summicron, shows a very nice DOF scale but lacks an infrared focusing mark.
>> Anonymous
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>>135280

Thanks, that's a great explanation. I saved it in a text file.

How does it work for a lens like this one? There are no aperture markings on the window.
>> fence !!POey2hdozCZ
>>135293

it doesn't. nowadays, most cheap amateur lenses lack a dof scale. some even lack a focus scale (like my cheapass 80-200 4-5.8).

you can use the software from www.dofmaster.com to print out your own little rotating dof scale that you can carry in your camera bag or glue to a camera cap.
>> Anonymous
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>>135295most cheap amateur lenses

Hmm, I've looked at some of the Canon L lenses and the zooms have the focal length marked. The primes have proper aperture markings.

So what's the window for in lenses with no aperture markings? Just so you know how far the subject is and calculate DOF yourself?
>> Anonymous
>>135302So what's the window for in lenses with no aperture markings? Just so you know how far the subject is and calculate DOF yourself?

Yeah, and for looks. People think it looks more "pro." They have no idea what it's actually for, but by god they'll pay more for it. Plus camera companies don't give a shit about quality anymore-hence the lack of DOF marks on those windows.
>> Anonymous
>>135304
Actually with the inner focusing USM it allows for no external moving parts when auto focusing
>> Anonymous
Choosing aperture with f5.6 zooms is a bit pointless. Since you can have only huge or enormous dof, it doesn't matter that much ;-)

If you have a f1.8 or f2 prime, then things will be different.
>> Anonymous
>>135327
True, but without DOF markings it's basically useless. Unless you happen to carry, and want to use, a calculator or DOF tables.

>>135359
That's not really true at all. You can get pretty shallow depth of field with say a 150mm lens at f/5.6 focused a ten feet.

For example, on an APS-C sensor digital camera:

150mm f/5.6 focused at 10ft = 0.28ft total DOF

50mm f/1.8 focused at 10ft = 0.81ft total DOF

So you actually have less DOF with a 150mm lens at f/5.6 than a 50mm at f/1.8 when you're the same distance from the subject.
>> Anonymous
Looks like Richmond at Monument & Boulevard
>> Anonymous
I walk around with my camera at F8 ISO 200 during daylight hours.

I recently began playing with the auto ISO option on mine, and I like it a lot for when I'm following something through multiple kinds of lighting rapidly.