Rick Sammon's Digital SLR Video Guide
- Thread starter InlineFour
- Start date
This really doesn't teach you anything about dSLR's, sorry. It's just showing you what equipment this guy takes with him. Not very useful for the beginner.
- Jan 2, 2006
- 10,455
- 35
- 91
Agreed. He doesn't even mention basic relationships like aperture, ISO, shutter speed, depth of field, etc. It's basically a gear loadout.
His pictures on his website aren't exactly jaw-dropping either
Ah, I posted this before I even got a chance to finish watching the entire video. He does have a lot of gadgets though.
bookmark deletedOriginally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Agreed. He doesn't even mention basic relationships like aperture, ISO, shutter speed, depth of field, etc. It's basically a gear loadout.
His pictures on his website aren't exactly jaw-dropping either
- Jan 2, 2006
- 10,455
- 35
- 91
Aperture
There are actually two predominant uses of aperture:
1. The physical hole that?s in the lens that lets light through. The diameter of the hole in millimeters can be calculated by dividing the len?s focal length by the aperture value. Ex. The actual physical diameter of the aperture of a 50mm f/1.8 lens is 50mm / 1.8 = 28mm, or 2.8cm. The diameter of the aperture of a 500mm f/4 lens is 500mm / 4 = 125mm, or 12.5cm!
2. The light gathering ability of the lens. This is the use predominant among photographers. A 400mm f/2.8 lens has the same light gathering ability as a 50mm f/2.8 lens, despite having a much bigger physical aperture size.
The larger the f-number, the smaller the size of the lens opening, or aperture. So from large hole to small hole, f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.2, ? f/16, f/32, etc.
Depth of Field (DOF)
The smaller the aperture (larger the f-number), the greater DEPTH of field (NOT field of view) the picture will have. Depth of field is the depth of the image that is in focus.
Ex. If you focus on something 4ft away, an aperture of f/8 will, say, having everything 3ft away to 20ft away in focus. An aperture of f/32, on the other hand, will have everything from 2ft away to infinity in focus. The smaller aperture, f/32, has greater depth of field than the larger aperture, f/8.
On the same note, if you focus on an object 4ft away, and have an aperture of f/1.4, your depth of field will only be a few centimeters! This is useful for isolating subjects, such as in portraiture where you want the face to be in focus but want everything else to be out of focus.
?Stopping Down? is basically ?making the aperture size smaller.? When you stop down a lens you make the aperture smaller, from say, f/3.5 to f/8.
NOTE that lens sharpness decreases as your aperture size decreases. Lenses generally have their maximum sharpness at f/8. Anything smaller (f/16, f/32) will result in a loss of image quality because of diffraction. This is the trade-off between depth of field and sharpness.
Shutter Speed
The time the shutter is open. The longer the shutter is open, the more light is let through. The shorter the shutter is left open, the less light is let through.
Uses:
Long (slow) shutter speeds are used to make that silky water flowing effect in waterfalls and rivers and streams, or the mirror effect in lakes and the misty effect in ocean surf along the coast. They are also used for star trails.
Short (fast) shutter speeds are used to freeze actions, like freezing a horse in midair as it jumps over something, or freezing a boxer?s punch as it connects his opponent.
Rules of Thumb:
Handholding: On average, to get an adequately sharp shot of something while handholding, reciprocate the focal length of your lens and you get the shutter speed that you SHOULD be able to handhold at and still get a pretty sharp picture. I say ?pretty? because chances are it still won?t be as sharp as using a tripod, but the sharpness should be acceptable.
Ex. If you have a 50mm lens, a 1/50s shutter speed should be fast enough for you to handhold and still get a steady, sharp-ish shot. If you have a 200mm lens, a 1/200s shutter speed will be needed. Of course this varies with people and their abilities. If you?re sniper-steady, you can get away with slower shutter speeds. If you?re jerky, you may need faster shutter speeds.
Timings:
Anything 1/4s and below will start to get you some nice water flowing effects. Decrease the shutter speed into the seconds for more smoothness.
Speeds of 1/400s and faster should be able to nicely freeze any action, with the exceptions of bullets, etc.
Speeds in the order of minutes to hours are used for star trails.
Technique:
For the most steady handholding, use the viewfinder on a camera because this gives you the most steady brace of the camera against your body.
Breathe slowly, and shoot at the end of your exhale.
A natural reaction of people after pressing the shutter is to immediately take their finger off the shutter button, like clicking a mouse button. This releasing will introduce added movement, and your shutter may not be fully closed again at this time. When going for a steady handheld shot, press the shutter button, and keep it pressed until the shutter has made its complete motion. Then let your finger off.
ISO
The film or sensor?s sensitivity to light. A higher ISO number means the sensor is more sensitive to light, and will gather more light as a result. A sensor set at ISO 400 will gather twice the amount of light as the sensor at ISO 200 in the same amount of time.
The higher the ISO, the more noise is introduced into the picture.
Putting It All Together
Night shot possibilities:
1. low ISO, long shutter speed, small aperture (ex. f/8)
Advantages: noise-free image and a large depth of field.
Disadvantages: Will probably have to use a tripod because of the long shutter speed. This is also not good for moving subjects because they will blur due to the long shutter speed.
2. low ISO, short shutter speed, large aperture (ex. f/1.8)
Advantages: noise-free image and the shutter speed will perhaps be fast enough to freeze the subject without blurring and allow for handholding.
Disadvantages: Depth of field is very short, and this can be good or bad depending on the situation. Ex. Bad if you?re taking a picture of a group of people standing at varying distances to the camera.
3. high ISO, short shutter speed, small aperture
Advantages: Shutter speed will perhaps be fast enough to freeze the subject without blurring and allow for handholding. Better depth of field.
Disadvantages: Noisier image.
4. high ISO, long shutter speed, large aperture
Advantages: none, other than being able to actually GET the shot.
Disadvantages: Noisier image, difficult to keep the subject un-blurred if it?s moving, difficult to handhold adequately, small depth of field.
This last case is a huge problem for people who shoot in places like concert halls or indoors where there?s not a lot of light. Basically it boils down to getting a workably fast shutter speed at the utter expense of a clean image and depth of field. All too often, maxing out the ISO and having the lens wide open is still not enough...
There are actually two predominant uses of aperture:
1. The physical hole that?s in the lens that lets light through. The diameter of the hole in millimeters can be calculated by dividing the len?s focal length by the aperture value. Ex. The actual physical diameter of the aperture of a 50mm f/1.8 lens is 50mm / 1.8 = 28mm, or 2.8cm. The diameter of the aperture of a 500mm f/4 lens is 500mm / 4 = 125mm, or 12.5cm!
2. The light gathering ability of the lens. This is the use predominant among photographers. A 400mm f/2.8 lens has the same light gathering ability as a 50mm f/2.8 lens, despite having a much bigger physical aperture size.
The larger the f-number, the smaller the size of the lens opening, or aperture. So from large hole to small hole, f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.2, ? f/16, f/32, etc.
Depth of Field (DOF)
The smaller the aperture (larger the f-number), the greater DEPTH of field (NOT field of view) the picture will have. Depth of field is the depth of the image that is in focus.
Ex. If you focus on something 4ft away, an aperture of f/8 will, say, having everything 3ft away to 20ft away in focus. An aperture of f/32, on the other hand, will have everything from 2ft away to infinity in focus. The smaller aperture, f/32, has greater depth of field than the larger aperture, f/8.
On the same note, if you focus on an object 4ft away, and have an aperture of f/1.4, your depth of field will only be a few centimeters! This is useful for isolating subjects, such as in portraiture where you want the face to be in focus but want everything else to be out of focus.
?Stopping Down? is basically ?making the aperture size smaller.? When you stop down a lens you make the aperture smaller, from say, f/3.5 to f/8.
NOTE that lens sharpness decreases as your aperture size decreases. Lenses generally have their maximum sharpness at f/8. Anything smaller (f/16, f/32) will result in a loss of image quality because of diffraction. This is the trade-off between depth of field and sharpness.
Shutter Speed
The time the shutter is open. The longer the shutter is open, the more light is let through. The shorter the shutter is left open, the less light is let through.
Uses:
Long (slow) shutter speeds are used to make that silky water flowing effect in waterfalls and rivers and streams, or the mirror effect in lakes and the misty effect in ocean surf along the coast. They are also used for star trails.
Short (fast) shutter speeds are used to freeze actions, like freezing a horse in midair as it jumps over something, or freezing a boxer?s punch as it connects his opponent.
Rules of Thumb:
Handholding: On average, to get an adequately sharp shot of something while handholding, reciprocate the focal length of your lens and you get the shutter speed that you SHOULD be able to handhold at and still get a pretty sharp picture. I say ?pretty? because chances are it still won?t be as sharp as using a tripod, but the sharpness should be acceptable.
Ex. If you have a 50mm lens, a 1/50s shutter speed should be fast enough for you to handhold and still get a steady, sharp-ish shot. If you have a 200mm lens, a 1/200s shutter speed will be needed. Of course this varies with people and their abilities. If you?re sniper-steady, you can get away with slower shutter speeds. If you?re jerky, you may need faster shutter speeds.
Timings:
Anything 1/4s and below will start to get you some nice water flowing effects. Decrease the shutter speed into the seconds for more smoothness.
Speeds of 1/400s and faster should be able to nicely freeze any action, with the exceptions of bullets, etc.
Speeds in the order of minutes to hours are used for star trails.
Technique:
For the most steady handholding, use the viewfinder on a camera because this gives you the most steady brace of the camera against your body.
Breathe slowly, and shoot at the end of your exhale.
A natural reaction of people after pressing the shutter is to immediately take their finger off the shutter button, like clicking a mouse button. This releasing will introduce added movement, and your shutter may not be fully closed again at this time. When going for a steady handheld shot, press the shutter button, and keep it pressed until the shutter has made its complete motion. Then let your finger off.
ISO
The film or sensor?s sensitivity to light. A higher ISO number means the sensor is more sensitive to light, and will gather more light as a result. A sensor set at ISO 400 will gather twice the amount of light as the sensor at ISO 200 in the same amount of time.
The higher the ISO, the more noise is introduced into the picture.
Putting It All Together
Night shot possibilities:
1. low ISO, long shutter speed, small aperture (ex. f/8)
Advantages: noise-free image and a large depth of field.
Disadvantages: Will probably have to use a tripod because of the long shutter speed. This is also not good for moving subjects because they will blur due to the long shutter speed.
2. low ISO, short shutter speed, large aperture (ex. f/1.8)
Advantages: noise-free image and the shutter speed will perhaps be fast enough to freeze the subject without blurring and allow for handholding.
Disadvantages: Depth of field is very short, and this can be good or bad depending on the situation. Ex. Bad if you?re taking a picture of a group of people standing at varying distances to the camera.
3. high ISO, short shutter speed, small aperture
Advantages: Shutter speed will perhaps be fast enough to freeze the subject without blurring and allow for handholding. Better depth of field.
Disadvantages: Noisier image.
4. high ISO, long shutter speed, large aperture
Advantages: none, other than being able to actually GET the shot.
Disadvantages: Noisier image, difficult to keep the subject un-blurred if it?s moving, difficult to handhold adequately, small depth of field.
This last case is a huge problem for people who shoot in places like concert halls or indoors where there?s not a lot of light. Basically it boils down to getting a workably fast shutter speed at the utter expense of a clean image and depth of field. All too often, maxing out the ISO and having the lens wide open is still not enough...
Well, all his equipment is worth over $10k.
I'd love to see his work. Does this guy have a website?
I'd love to see his work. Does this guy have a website?
virtuamike
Diamond Member
- Oct 13, 2000
- 7,845
- 13
- 81
virtuamike
Diamond Member
- Oct 13, 2000
- 7,845
- 13
- 81
Originally posted by: tfinch2
So he's using a $200 dollar lens on a $7000 dollar body?
I use a $65 lens on a $2000 body and I don't complain.
Originally posted by: virtuamike
Originally posted by: tfinch2
So he's using a $200 dollar lens on a $7000 dollar body?
I use a $65 lens on a $2000 body and I don't complain.
But you don't shoot Canon. For them that's a sin.
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