I don't understand my lens... Help!

rheinhessen

rheinhessen

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Yes
I have the standard 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens that comes with majority of cameras..

I'm confused.

The biggest aperture I can set it f5 (however when in one of the auto modes it'll go to f4.5. The largest aperture I can manually set is f32.

I thought in the '18-55mm f3.5-5.6' it would mean the smallest was f5.6 and the largest was f3.5.

I presume I'm obviously incorrect in this logic??? Can anyone offer an explanation?
 
f/3.5-f/5.6 is basically the maximum apertures at the shortest focal length and the longest.

so f/3.5 is the maximum at 18mm, then the maximum aperture will get smaller as you zoom out, so at 55mm you'll get a max of f/5.6.

If you have a f/2.8 24-70 for example, it's f/2.8 throughout the whole range, which is why they're a lot more expensive.
 
Ok, thanks.. methinks some experimentation while in auto mode is called for...

Thanks Dave :]
 
Dave covered it there, if you set you lens to zoomed all the way out (18mm), put your camera in apeture priority and set it to the largest apeture (f/3.6) and then slowly zoom in to 55mm, you'll see the apeture changing as you go to the largest it can do for the given focal length.
 
For your information the OED has no such word as lens.

singular is lens, plural lenses.

:)
 
PsiFox said:
For your information the OED has no such word as lens.

singular is lens, plural lenses.

:)
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Ooo, spelling and grammar police seem to be out in force... :lol:

Secondly, a new word following a full stop is started with a capital letter... ;]
 
rheinhessen said:
Ooo, spelling and grammar police seem to be out in force... :lol:
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It seems to be a bug-bear of this forum :lol:


Have you read your camera's manual? it will have loads of basic info and even some more advanced stuff that will teach you a lot, and it's all for free!
 
Nawty said:
It seems to be a bug-bear of this forum :lol:


Have you read your camera's manual? it will have loads of basic info and even some more advanced stuff that will teach you a lot, and it's all for free!
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I must admit, I haven't read it all - yet. I do fully intend on doing so though..

I've actually emailed a few local photographers as to the possibility of a little training, just to get me going. I tend to learn better by theory and practical.

Whilst I can read and then attempt to put it into practice, I just feel the actual in-put and help from someone else present, whom understands all of this, would be of huge benefit to me..

I'll grasp it, I mean I understand the actual rules - I just don't understand the camera and it's settings. I think I'm doing one thing, but the camera does something else altogether :shrug: :lol:
 
rheinhessen said:
Ooo, spelling and grammar police seem to be out in force... :lol:

Secondly, a new word following a full stop is started with a capital letter... ;]
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Well my excuse is the 4 different types of painkillers I'm currently taking, plus anti inflammatories.

Makes typing go all la la

Wasn't really spelling police just educashun in action:)

:):lol:
 
rheinhessen said:
I have the standard 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens that comes with majority of cameras..

I'm confused.

The biggest aperture I can set it f5 (however when in one of the auto modes it'll go to f4.5. The largest aperture I can manually set is f32.
Click to expand...

I would avoid anything over f16 as a phenomenon known as Diffraction actually softens the image - I would say stick to f5.6 - f11 for best results.
 
PsiFox said:
Well my excuse is the 4 different types of painkillers I'm currently taking, plus anti inflammatories.

Makes typing go all la la

Wasn't really spelling police just educashun in action:)

:):lol:
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You spelt Edjucation rong!:lol:
 
You might take the p155 but in all fairness how can you expect to know what you're doing with a LENS if you don't even know how to spell what it is??

so many people on here spell it wrong and i just think they're plonkers
 
bomberman said:
You might take the p155 but in all fairness how can you expect to know what you're doing with a LENS if you don't even know how to spell what it is??

so many people on here spell it wrong and i just think they're plonkers
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I think your reasoning is flawed.

I don't what all the components of my car engine are called - yet I can still drive the car.

Based on this, I think you're a plonker :lol:
 
bomberman said:
You might take the p155 but in all fairness how can you expect to know what you're doing with a LENS if you don't even know how to spell what it is??

so many people on here spell it wrong and i just think they're plonkers
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Poor spelling doesn't equate to bad photography - just to poor education!
 
well it's a good job i don't care! Try going onto a car repair forum and calling it an "engen"...

This is a photography forum, after all ;)
 
For the record, I haven't had a shoddy education and I'm educated to university level.

Is it such a big deal that I spelled it 'lens'?

Seriously, get a grip :lol:
 
It will increase your frame rate ;)

Settle down now kids lol
 
Jesus H, the OP just asked for some advice not a lesson in English grammar, i really do wish some people on here would get a life, if you can't answer a question without criticising the OP just don't post at all and go and crawl back into your hole


rheinhessen said:
I've actually emailed a few local photographers as to the possibility of a little training, just to get me going. I tend to learn better by theory and practical.
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Ok back on topic, Rheinhessen before you go down this route, have you considered joining one of the many photography days out the forum members have in various areas, take a look in the "meeting place section" and see if there's any near to you, there's some very knowledgeable members who go on these meets, and there always willing to give advice and point you in the right direction, and it's all free of charge :) just something you might want to consider ;)
 
TG. said:
Ok back on topic, Rheinhessen before you go down this route, have you considered joining one of the many photography days out the forum members have in various areas, take a look in the "meeting place section" and see if there's any near to you, there's some very knowledgeable members who go on these meets, and there always willing to give advice and point you in the right direction, and it's all free of charge :) just something you might want to consider ;)
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Hiya - thanks for the above suggestion..

I was actually invited along to a meet in April, however, I am horrendously, heavily pregnant and really not in a very sociable mood or in any physical condition to be wandering around for hours - particularly with a bunch of strangers :lol:

I will DEFINITELY go to some once the baby arrives however..

The photographers that I've spoken to - two very nice ladies - are happy to show me a few basics, free of charge, which is super generous of them..
 
TG. said:
Ok back on topic, Rheinhessen before you go down this route, have you considered joining one of the many photography days out the forum members have in various areas, take a look in the "meeting place section" and see if there's any near to you, there's some very knowledgeable members who go on these meets, and there always willing to give advice and point you in the right direction, and it's all free of charge :) just something you might want to consider ;)
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Good advice that is! :thumbs: Meets are great for learning, and if you keep your eyes on the meeting place section, you shouldn't wait too long till there's something going on near you....
 
An excellent read is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Petersen (amazon have it fairly cheap)

this explains all about aperture, shutter speed and ISO and the relationship between the three exposure variables.

As noted above at 18mm the largest aperture you can acvhieve is f3.5. As you zoom to 55mm this will step down through the available apertures to f5.6.

Variable aperture lenses are generally cheaper - although there are a couple of L zooms with variable apertures.


The smallest aperture is unaffected by the focal length and will be f32. It's very rare you want to step down to that - unless you need to have a longer shutter speed - you may note your images being slightly softer at apertures smaller than f16 but sharpening in post processing will help.

Put the camera into Av mode and start at 18mm and see what the full range of apertures you have (should be f3.5 - f32) is and then zoom slightly and do it again and continue to 55mm - there you should have f5.6 - f32.

Hope that helps - understanding Exposure really helped me - you can borrow it from the library too :)
 
This is aimed at the pedantic members of the forum who decided to pick up on some minor spelling issues - WTf?!

If you haven't got any advice/help for the OP don't bother posting. I know it was probably in jest, but why would you waste your time? Seems so futile.

Back on topic, when I first started out I got the 'DSLR for dummies' book. Easy to read and extremely helpful for a newbie of photography.
 
bomberman said:
You might take the p155 but in all fairness how can you expect to know what you're doing with a LENS if you don't even know how to spell what it is??

so many people on here spell it wrong and i just think they're plonkers
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and they might think you are a complete ****** :shrug:

OP - this explains the numbers on your lens
 
Now I know how to spell lens, mine seem a lot sharper thank you. I my even learn how to spell lens and perhaps all of my lens will improve.
 
English language

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl. Kit 1
 
Hmmm..
The additional E annoys the hell out me too, but was there any need for all this again? Some people just prefer to use it. I think it a bit 'pseud', but that's just my opinion. I've found that I can ignore it more or less and still enjoy reading posts...
 
I found the best way to learn about the camera is to put it in manual mode. Then when you b****r the shot up, you know it's because you didn't put the setting right, and not that the camera had a mind of its own.
 
work through the manual, then work through it again. keep doing it until everything is 2nd nature to you.
Then, you will be ready for some training.

Do you really want to mess about on a training session trying to work out how to change settings and what effect it has.

Get the basics nailed and the rest will follow.

Like everything in life.

Good luck

(Lol @ lens) !!! :)
 
wrx_dazza said:
work through the manual, then work through it again. keep doing it until everything is 2nd nature to you.
Then, you will be ready for some training.

Do you really want to mess about on a training session trying to work out how to change settings and what effect it has.

Get the basics nailed and the rest will follow.

Like everything in life.

Good luck

(Lol @ lens) !!! :)
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Well some people just don't get on with manuals very well - if OP thinks some face to face "show and tell" would be helpful then it's not messing around is it?

OP - congratulations on the baby and (I assume) the new camera. Your original question has been answered but I just wanted to tell you something that I didn't get for a while. When people refer to "fast glass / lens" they mean that the lens has the option of a lower f number which gives a wider aperture. This lets more light in and allows you to use a faster shutter speed. So a lens that has a largest aperture of f/1.4 or f/1.8 will be "faster" than one with a largest aperture of f/3.5

Oh and for the record - I don't think there is anything wrong with psifox letting you know that it is spelt lens - but I also don't think you are a plonker for not knowing ;)
 
Please keep askin any questions you want . Dont worry about spellin i dunna. To many people with jump onto a thread like this and most have not even answered your original question..

Good luck on your photographic journey...

MD
 
Oh and for the record - I don't think there is anything wrong with psifox letting you know that it is spelt lens - but I also don't think you are a plonker for not knowing
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Neither did I, and I certainly wasn't trying to open the can of worms that followed, oh well, some you win some....................:)
 
PsiFox said:
Neither did I, and I certainly wasn't trying to open the can of worms that followed, oh well, some you win some....................:)
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PsiFox - I wasn't actually offended in the first place!!

I was perfectly happy to learn the correct spelling, while at the same time pointing out you'd not started a new sentence with a capital letter in a bit of friendly retaliation :lol:
 
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