Beginner Canon 400D settings help

SarahMarie

SarahMarie

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Sarah
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Okay...this may be the dumbest question of all time but here goes.

I've been using my Canon 400D in auto mode for a while but I know its capable of more so wanted to see what I could do. I've tried it on the manual setting but I'm not entirely sure I know what I'm doing. This is what I am doing...

1) Choosing the ISO (which to be honest is a complete guess and based on how light I think it is)
2) I focus on what I want to take a photo of and that seems to adjust the aperture (I think) either way, the F number thing changes when I change the focal length of the lens (is that even a correct terminology?)
3) I change the exposure compensation thing that I can see in the viewfinder. I use the wheel thing that is near the shutter release button and I change the marker until it reaches the centre '0'. This in turn seems to adjust the speed of the shutter. Sometimes its a bit slow though :(

I don't think I'm doing it right so please can someone tell me where to start when moving from auto to manual settings? I know there is the aperture priority settings and also shutter priority but I can't seem to get my head around these different settings. Really keen to try something better than auto though and hopefully improve. Is there a useful idiot proof guide somewhere? :tumbleweed:
 
OK Lets have a go at helping.
First the f number changing when you zoom the lens-that is what the lens does-it is f3.5 at the shortest and f5.6 ( for the 18/55) and f6.3 ( for the 18/200) at the longest.
Most lenses do this unless you want to spend lots of money and buy ones that don't ( the Canon 18-55 f2.8 and most but not all of the "L" zooms) are typical of constant aperture lenses but they are expensive.
You have got the hang of the camera in auto so now try in aperture priority, set the ISO to about 400 and leave it there for a bit.
Do a bit of reading up on the effects of changing aperture on the finished photo and then play- take the same shot at different apertures and see the effect on shutter speed and more significantly depth of field ( which is controlled by aperture).
If you are taking pictures of things moving quickly ( dogs /Kids Etc) then you will need shutter priority so you can stop motion, unless you want blurred photo's)
When you have got the hang of that then try the same but changing ISO and this time watch the exposure change and more significantly the "noise" will increase-the picture will look increasingly grainy when you zoom in
Now I am going to get shot down in flames-at this stage keep off manual until you are confident you know what the both you and the camera are doing.
In the vast majority of cases the camera is cleverer than you are.
Don't forget digital is cheap you can take loads of photos for the cost of a memory card.
Keep a record of what you have done and you will soon make progress

Best of luck and happy shooting
 
The best way to learn is in bite sized chunks.
The worst thing to do is try to take control of everything at once and then get rubbish photo's - you'll just give up.
Firstly - P mode will look after your exposure, so all you have to do is choose the ISO, then think about pictures.
The most important thing is to make sure you're focussing on your subject - you're trying to record a subject to share it, only you know what that means - your camera can only guess. So learn about focussing techniques, depth of field and composition - make some interesting pictures.

Once you've got the hang of that, you'll realise that the auto modes on your camera sometimes get the exposure wrong, so you can learn how to correct that.
 
Using full auto on your camera will get you good photos some, or even sometimes, all of the time.

However, there will be times when the camera in full auto will be (a) 'confused' by the scene and not give you a well exposed shot, or (b) give you a well exposed shot but it is not the one you want(eg you want a shot to isolate the subject from the background but the camera has chosen a setting that gives you a photo where everything is in focus)

Have a look online for 'aperture, shutter speed and ISO' and you'll learn how they affect the final image and how they relate to each other. This one for example, - http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm but there are lots more.

As said above just take lots of photos and if they do not turn out they way you want try to work out why. If you want any help just post the shots up here and people will advise.

Dave
 
troutfisher said:
OK Lets have a go at helping.
First the f number changing when you zoom the lens-that is what the lens does-it is f3.5 at the shortest and f5.6 ( for the 18/55) and f6.3 ( for the 18/200) at the longest.
Most lenses do this unless you want to spend lots of money and buy ones that don't ( the Canon 18-55 f2.8 and most but not all of the "L" zooms) are typical of constant aperture lenses but they are expensive.
You have got the hang of the camera in auto so now try in aperture priority, set the ISO to about 400 and leave it there for a bit.
Do a bit of reading up on the effects of changing aperture on the finished photo and then play- take the same shot at different apertures and see the effect on shutter speed and more significantly depth of field ( which is controlled by aperture).
If you are taking pictures of things moving quickly ( dogs /Kids Etc) then you will need shutter priority so you can stop motion, unless you want blurred photo's)
When you have got the hang of that then try the same but changing ISO and this time watch the exposure change and more significantly the "noise" will increase-the picture will look increasingly grainy when you zoom in
Now I am going to get shot down in flames-at this stage keep off manual until you are confident you know what the both you and the camera are doing.
In the vast majority of cases the camera is cleverer than you are.
Don't forget digital is cheap you can take loads of photos for the cost of a memory card.
Keep a record of what you have done and you will soon make progress

Best of luck and happy shooting
Click to expand...

Brilliant! Thanks Troutfisher :) You've helped loads! So basically, I've gone from auto to manual and skipped a few bits in between lol. I completely get what you are saying and I am more than happy to leave the manual settings alone for now and use the aperture and shutter priority settings instead. You've just pointed me in a direction I knew nothing about but one I'm willing to try.
 
SarahMarie said:
Brilliant! Thanks Troutfisher :) You've helped loads! So basically, I've gone from auto to manual and skipped a few bits in between lol. I completely get what you are saying and I am more than happy to leave the manual settings alone for now and use the aperture and shutter priority settings instead. You've just pointed me in a direction I knew nothing about but one I'm willing to try.
Click to expand...
Don't think in terms of full manual being an aim!

All of the modes are relevant and good for different things.

Read the manual, it's more useful than you might think.
 
Phil V said:
Don't think in terms of full manual being an aim!

All of the modes are relevant and good for different things.

Read the manual, it's more useful than you might think.
Click to expand...

Thanks Phil. I've just been researching the aperture priority and also the shutter priority modes using the manual and I *think* I get it...

1) Choose ISO
2) Decide which is more important for what I want to achieve, either DoF (aperture priority) or motion (shutter priority)
3) Set either the aperture or the shutter speed depending on what I want to capture

Hope that is right? Plus like you said earlier on in the thread, there is always the P mode where I just set the ISO and the camera does the rest. Perhaps I should experiment with all three settings and see which I get the best results with?

Thanks for your help
 
Phil V said:
Don't think in terms of full manual being an aim!
Click to expand...
This can't be emphasised enough.

Many people who use cameras (I hesitate to call them 'photographers') think that using manual mode is somehow better than using aperture priority, shutter priority, or a fully automatic mode. But then they choose their settings so as to get the 'right' exposure according to the camera's meter, and they don't understand that they haven't actually done any better than they would have an a semi-automatic or fully automatic mode.

There's a place for manual mode, but it isn't where most beginners think it is.
 
StewartR said:
This can't be emphasised enough.

Many people who use cameras (I hesitate to call them 'photographers') think that using manual mode is somehow better than using aperture priority, shutter priority, or a fully automatic mode. But then they choose their settings so as to get the 'right' exposure according to the camera's meter, and they don't understand that they haven't actually done any better than they would have an a semi-automatic or fully automatic mode.

There's a place for manual mode, but it isn't where most beginners think it is.
Click to expand...
You're absolutely right Stewart. I thought manual was pretty much the aim in order to 'make me better at taking photographs' until I got help on here yesterday. Now I understand the importance of aperture priority and shutter priority modes and I'll be using them a whole lot more.
 
It's just a camera, use what ever settings you need to to get the shot you want, whether that be full auto, semi auto or full manual (this includes manual iso).
 
Aperture and shutter priority are the first step away from full auto and they are a big step as in understanding them, you are then
able to plan a shot properly
 
steve_lyt said:
My simple rules are

Keep isolated as low as possible
Keep expose as short as possible
And the f-stop as near f8 as possible
Click to expand...

"f8 and be there" used to be something people said... but these days most people with DSLR's have APS-C DSLR's so maybe "f8 and be there" should be "f5.6 and be there" and if you're using a MFT camera maybe it should be "f4 and be there."

Just sayin :D
 
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Being a complete beginner myself (camera was this years xmas present Nikon D3300), I was confused as hell.But the advice on here is spot on. Bite sized learning and not trying to swallow the full manual in one go!!
I'm mainly concentrating on AP mode to play with DOF. Also at the moment using auto ISO as it's one less thing to think about.
Most of all though is just have fun!
 
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