BetterPhoto Q&A
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Purisimo C. Bacomo		how to compute shutter speed for an aperture frankly I am an amateur in photography. My son has a Nikon70 which he just keeps in his drawer, though sometimes, I use it,matter complicates me adjusting shutter speed to correspond the aperture. I know it is automatic, but I profer in manual mode. I hope you can give me a chart for the relation of aperture and shutter speed. Thanks so much and more power To love this question, log in above 0 July 21, 2006

Sharon Day		You don't really even need a chart. All you have to do is set the camera on M and set whatever shutter speed or aperture you want and the display inside the viewfinder will indicate if the exposure is off then adjust one or the other accordingly. The thing to look for is a bar along the bottom of the viewfinder. If the exposure is too dark there will be notches to the right or towards a minus symbol. If it's too light they'll be to the left towards a plus symbol. If you are unfamiliar with the D70 then the shutter speed is adjusted by the control knob on the back near the shutter release button. To change the aperture use the control knob on the front of the camera located near the shutter release button. Hope this helps. To love this comment, log in above 0 July 20, 2006

robert G. Fately		Purisimo, just think of the shutter speed and aperture as the two ways the camera controls the amount of light that hits the imaging chip. When the shutter speed is faster, you need to make the aperture wider or bigger to allow more light in for a shorter time. Proper exposure is the result of 4 things: 1) how much light is "out there" 2) how sensitive the chip is 3) how wide the aperture is, and 4) how quickly the shutter opens and closes. You can't control #1. You can set #2 - that's the ISO. A higher number means the chip is more sensitive to light. 200 is twice as sensitive as 100, 400 twice as much as 200, etc. The penalty paid ofr higher sensitivity is "noise" - this is sort of like grain. #3 is the f-number. The loser the number, the wider the opening. Wider lets more light through the lens, and has less depth of field (that is, a shallower range of what's in-focus) #4 you probably get - 1/1000th second lets in half the light of 1/500th second. Too slow a shutter speed can lead to motion blur - if you open the shutter for 1/2 second and don't have the camera on a tripod, for example, you can see that your own bodily movements will cause s streaky image. THe D70 has a light meter in it - since it knows the ISO setting and reads the light in the room, it can calculate a proper f-shot/shutter speed combination. This is what it does in full automatic mode (and you can change those settings by turning the command dial). In A (aperture preferred) mode, you can set the f-stop and the camera figures out what shutter speed will make a proper exposure. In S (shutter preferred) mode, you set a shutter speed and the camera will do its best to select an appropriate aperture. Beware though that in a dark scene, the camera is limited to the maximum aperture of the lens - you can't expect to get 1/1000th second inside a dark theater. In M (manual) mode, you set both f-stop and shutter, and the meter reading in the viewfinder will show you if you are under- or over-exposing. SInce it's digital, there's no incremental cost to you going out and experimenting - go get out there! To love this comment, log in above 0 July 21, 2006

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