kodak easyshare z612

[kassie]

hi there, i am a complete newbie to photography, and someday i hope to become a studio photographer, but for now im just tryin to learn enough to really play with and find my style. i just got a kodak easyshare z612, and i am appalled at the lack of info in my manual. i get all of thirty pages including the index! i am going to go thru the glossery of terms for deffinitions, but really i understand better when people can give me examples and tell me exactly what things are going to do in relation to how a pic looks... the following are what i am having trouble with...
aperture
aperture priority
exposure compensation
flash compensation
ISO speed
shutter speed
i also have nothing to tell me what the symbols on the display are for... i have one that looks like f2.8 and one that is a square with a plus in the top left corner and a minus in the bottom left seperated by a diagonal line, and the same square only with a flash symbol... then of course the ISO control..
i am so new to this i have no idea what these things are or how they will affect my pictures... i am open to any advice... i just hope someone can help me... im dying to play with my camera and sort of know what im doing at the same time!!

kassie

[Photo-John]

Welcome to the site, kassie. Sorry I didn't see your post sooner. I hate to think of someone with a new camera and not able to understand all of its capabilities.

Have you checked the CDs to see if they contain a more complete manual? That's pretty common now. Often it's in PDF form and you can save it to your computer. Makes it kinda hard to carry around with you, though. I suppose the manufacturer saves money by not having to make a hard copy.

For help with photography language, use the Photo Glossary in the Learn section here. It should have a description for pretty much any photo term you don't understand. If not, let me know and I'll help out.

To better understand some of those terms, and photography in general, take a look at our basic exposure primer. It explains the basic principles of photography. Understanding exposure is the key to taking control of your camera and making pictures instead of just pushing the button and hoping.

Photography Exposure Guide >>

Hope that helps give you some direction. And I apologize again that you didn't get a reply any sooner.

[kassie]

oh my goodness that helped a lot, i do have one more question tho, for now anyhow, what is the number for that has a little minus sign in front of it... i think it can also change to a postive value as well... right next to it is a small box that has a plus in one corner and a minus in the other and it is divided in half by a diagonal line.... i also have one of those boxes with a flash symbol with it.... do u know what they are for?

[Photo-John]

That's no problem at all, kassie. That's exposure compensation and flash exposure compensation. The first lightens and darkens your images and flash exposure compensation either strengthens or diminishes the power of the flash. These are you basic exposure controls if you don't want to worry about shutter speed and aperture yet. Plus means brighter, and minus means darker. It's that simple.

[kassie]

ok, so ive got the f stop figured out, and that is the apeture right? i cant figure out if i can change my shutter speed tho.. i think it is in my menu... if i make the shutter speed longer, when i press the button to take apic it is going to take longer before it makes the click sound to indicate teh picture has been taken right?

[Photo-John]

ok, so ive got the f stop figured out, and that is the apeture right? i cant figure out if i can change my shutter speed tho.. i think it is in my menu... if i make the shutter speed longer, when i press the button to take apic it is going to take longer before it makes the click sound to indicate teh picture has been taken right?

The click sound timing shouldn't change. Slowing down the shutter speed just changes the amount of time the shutter is open. The sound you hear is just an electronic copy of a real, mechanical shutter sound. You can probably turn it off in the menu.