As a geek, I really feel the need to understand this stuff before I go out and buy a camera. I'm having trouble picking it up, and I'm getting frustrated.
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Tom Scola - Jun 25, 2008 10:31:41 am PDT #6743 of 25501
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
javachik - Jun 25, 2008 10:33:22 am PDT #6744 of 25501
Our wings are not tired.
Tom, I heartily recommend Ken Rockwell's website on camera stuff. He breaks it down.
tommyrot - Jun 25, 2008 10:35:25 am PDT #6745 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
As a geek, I really feel the need to understand this stuff before I go out and buy a camera. I'm having trouble picking it up, and I'm getting frustrated.
Maybe it's no longer possible for the typical geek to understand all things geeky, or even all things geeky that the typical geek might buy. Maybe there are no more renaissance geeks....
NoiseDesign - Jun 25, 2008 10:36:30 am PDT #6746 of 25501
Our wings are not tired
Tom, I've got some good information on photography floating around I just need to dig it all up. What level are you starting from? Do you already understand things like the relationship between aperture settings and depth of field and just need more technical things like how do figure out image sensor size relates to actual focal length on DSLRs.
Sean K - Jun 25, 2008 10:36:55 am PDT #6747 of 25501
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
Maybe it's no longer possible for the typical geek to understand all things geeky, or even all things geeky that the typical geek might buy. Maybe there are no more renaissance geeks....
BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tom Scola - Jun 25, 2008 10:39:53 am PDT #6748 of 25501
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Do you already understand things like the relationship between aperture settings and depth of field
just need more technical things like how do figure out image sensor size relates to actual focal length on DSLRs.
The thing is, I think I understand the former, and then I try to go and figure out the latter, and discover that I really didn't understand the former in the first place.
DCJensen - Jun 25, 2008 10:40:15 am PDT #6749 of 25501
All is well that ends in pizza.
Rockwell''s site was one of the top ten hits when I googled "digital sensor size" (without the quotes).
It was the best keyword search for a LOT of technical data that I need to research as well, as I'm deciding on my first purchase of a digital camera for Ws and me.
The camera I had this weekend at the F2F was borrowed, as I had to replace my entire exhaust system and didn't want to squeeze in a new camera, too.
megan walker - Jun 25, 2008 10:53:11 am PDT #6750 of 25501
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
The thing is, I think I understand the former, and then I try to go and figure out the latter, and discover that I really didn't understand the former in the first place.
Aperture is the amount of light reaching (in my case) the film. More light = less depth of field. Or, increasing the f-stop (e.g., from f/4 to f/16) gives you greater depth of field.
For most people's needs, you want to close down aperture as much as possible to increase depth of field. Because usually you want as much of your frame in focus as possible.
Film speed plays a big factor here too, because a lower film speed lets you close down aperture much more, which is what I don't get about how digital cameras work.
Gudanov - Jun 25, 2008 10:58:48 am PDT #6751 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping
Digital cameras can adjust the sensor's sensitivity to light so it is a pretty good analogue to film speed. You generally have an ISO setting you can set the camera to. There is a trade off between sensitivity and noise.
NoiseDesign - Jun 25, 2008 11:01:31 am PDT #6752 of 25501
Our wings are not tired
Basically the more sensitive you make the sensor to light the more digital noise you'll get in the picture. It's similar to the way you see more grain in higher speed films. Anything film speed above 800 really tends to show the grain especially when you blow up the image. Digital behaves in a very similar way.