Old to Photography World but New to Digital World

[PhotoChief]

Hello:

My name is PhotoChief from my days as a U. S. Navy Photographer. I have over 54 years as a photographer....50-years as a film still photographer including 21 years as a U. S. Navy Photographer. I have been trying to switch to digital for the last 3+ years and am now getting serious about it by purchasing my first Canon digital camera. Now I am lost. I need some help with trying to figure out my Canon Ds1 Mark III. Everything is different from my NikonF3's and Pentax 6X7cm cameras I used for years. Where do I start? I know most photographic theory but not digital relationship theory. Help!

Thanks for inviting me on to your forum. I hope I am on the right one for my beginner/advanced questions.

PhotoChief

[Rocket_Scientist]

Well, I am not as experienced as you are in photography, and I do not use a dSLR, but it seems to me all the theory you know is just about the same for digital as for film. I believe most of the "theory" is theory of light and exposure, all of which remains true. The difference is that the result of the exposure is not captured as a chemical reaction on celluloid (is that right?), but is captured by a sensor that converts the "dots" of light into a digital description of pixels that can be copied ad infinitum. Any "theory" of artistic composure remains unchanged, as well, but displaying or printing the result now uses digital techniques, read: computers! I guess the biggest differences are cost (digital is much cheaper), and the camera features are not constrained by film transports and such. Maybe you knew all this... but what else do I have to do... I'm sure some real photographers will eventually chime in and correct my assessment.

[PhotoChief]

Dear Rocke_Scientist:

My problem is learning the digital terminology. I know for instance that f/stop and shutter speed are connected. Change f/stop changes the amount of light hitting the film or sensor. To maintain the same amount of lighting you must also change the shutter speed.

Okay, to carry this further. If I shoot aerial photography and want to have from the beginning a faster shutter speed because I of aircraft vibration, I must also change to a faster film (higher ASA). Now in the digital world I would change the ISO in the camera and don't have to change film anymore. But what happens to the automatic feature of the digital camera if you are on auto.

What determines what ISO (too high and you get noise) you should use. I wish to stay at around f/8 or f/11 because that is the critical aperture of most lenses. This could also appy when shooting an object in front of you moving left to right at a rapid speed. You can move the camera from right to left and stop the subject movement or you can use a high shutter speed. One lets the background go fuzzy and the other has both the background and subject in sharp focus (assuming we are talking about "Stop Motion" photography and not just focus on object and background).

I guess in summary in the old days of film I would have to change film to go to highest shutter speed for aerial photography. But not i have to concern myself with auto fucus, auto operation, f/stop, shutter speed and ISO. Which should be my first concern and what order of concern for the others?

Thanks Rocket-Scientist. Maybe this type of question is concern for other changing from film to digital?

PhotoChief

[Rocket_Scientist]

I don't want to pretend I am an expert, but here's what I know. First, I thought ISO is the new international term for the thing formerly known as ASA. I only use a P&S camera, but it does have manual setting capability. Many of these have an "auto" mode, which allows the camera to choose the shutter speed, the aperture, the flash usage (on some cameras), and the ISO. In the "program" mode, you set the ISO, and the camera chooses the rest. Then, just like film cameras, I can choose shutter priority, aperture priority, or full manual. In all of these, the camera does not change the ISO. The very best thing about digital photography (in my opinion) is that you can practice! Vary the settings and see how it comes out. Here's some I took at an air show, where I used aperture priority with the widest setting my camera had, and let it choose the appropriate shutter speed. Another thing that helps greatly, of course, is Image Stabilization (IS), a must for people like me. I guess with dSLRs, this is a feature of lenses, as well, but since I cannot change lenses, it is built in to the camera as a whole. Also, my little P&S will not go up to F/11 (sigh). I guess you also have to get use to auto-focus, but that was available for film, too. Some digital cameras (even mine) also offer manual focus, but I haven't been very effective at using it. But it seems like all you learned with fillm still applies, but you can now experiment without expending film.

[Frog]

I'm not real familiar with Canon but I'd think if you want to be able to choose your iso, shutter speed, and aperture at will, then you would shoot in manual mode. If you choose aperture mode you'll get varying shutter speeds and vice-versa but can still choose iso.
The IS lenses allow you to shoot 2 or 3 stops lower than you would normally be able to without a tripod.

[Grandpaw]

On Nikon it works like this
In FULL AUTO the camera does everything. Not recommended. Why would you spend a lot of money and make it work like a point & shoot?

A= apature priority you set F stop, camera sets the rest

S= sutter priority you set the shutter, camera sets the rest

You can also change the ISO any time

One thing that is a BIG DIFFERENCE between film and digital is that with digital you can change the ISO or ASA and make it different for each individual shot and not have to keep the same ASA till the roll ends like you do with film. Auto focus can be turned on or you can turn it off and focus manually in these modes, Jeff

[Glasstream15]

Chief, first off thanks for the 21 years. We owe ya.

Second, I have an XT, way below that 1DS but maybe I can shed some light.

Shooting film for aerial, you'd probably opt for something like Tri-X at say ASA 800. Then you would have selected f8 and hoped you got the shutter speed you needed. Sound about right? If the shutter speed was too low, "Okay, I'll push it to 1600, a little grain won't hurt". Right so far, or at least close.

Now. You get up in the plane. Slip a circular polarizer on your lens to get through haze and glare. Set the camera on Av, Apertuer Priority and set for f8. Tap the ISO button and set for 800, remembering that now we are in FULL color mode, someplace you can't get at this speed with film, and aim the camera. Does the display in the viewfinder give you the SS you want? No? Tap that ISO button and click to 1600. Yeah, I know all the BS about "NOISE"!! On that 1D MIII, it'll still be there. But it won't be that noticeable until you start with wall size prints. And how much grain was acceptable? Don't hesitate to go to ISO/ASA (still taking me awhile to switch to ISO) 3200. You will get usable pictures

Always remember that you are using full frame and 21 MPixels. That's a lot of backup for you right there and you are starting off, image quality, resolution and detail, with what you would have called Medium Format in the film days.

I know I shoot ISO 800 a lot with my XT. And I have the APS-C sensor, significantly smaller than the 1DSMIII. I get good, usable, cropped to 8X10 images. I think you will find that, even at 3200, that camera will blow you away.

Oh, and "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Practice, Practice, Practice!" Same with all the gadgets on that incredible piece of photographic equipment you got there.

And the real answer to the How do you get to question is, "Take I95 North about 1200 miles and then ask for directions."

[mwfanelli2]

Dear Rocke_Scientist:

My problem is learning the digital terminology. I know for instance that f/stop and shutter speed are connected. Change f/stop changes the amount of light hitting the film or sensor. To maintain the same amount of lighting you must also change the shutter speed.

Okay, to carry this further. If I shoot aerial photography and want to have from the beginning a faster shutter speed because I of aircraft vibration, I must also change to a faster film (higher ASA). Now in the digital world I would change the ISO in the camera and don't have to change film anymore. But what happens to the automatic feature of the digital camera if you are on auto.

What determines what ISO (too high and you get noise) you should use. I wish to stay at around f/8 or f/11 because that is the critical aperture of most lenses. This could also appy when shooting an object in front of you moving left to right at a rapid speed. You can move the camera from right to left and stop the subject movement or you can use a high shutter speed. One lets the background go fuzzy and the other has both the background and subject in sharp focus (assuming we are talking about "Stop Motion" photography and not just focus on object and background).

I guess in summary in the old days of film I would have to change film to go to highest shutter speed for aerial photography. But not i have to concern myself with auto fucus, auto operation, f/stop, shutter speed and ISO. Which should be my first concern and what order of concern for the others?

Thanks Rocket-Scientist. Maybe this type of question is concern for other changing from film to digital?

PhotoChief

It is really simple! First, just set the camera to manual mode just as you always did. Once the shutter and aperture is set, change the ISO until you get something that works with the combination you chose.

Another cool way, now on many cameras, is to set "auto-ISO" that adjusts the ISO automatically as required. I don't know if you camera has that.

With the ISO standards now set for digital, the same amount of light should enter the camera. So, if you chose f/8 at 1/250s with ISO 800 using film, the same combination should work on your digital camera. Should. Note that digital gives much better results at high ISO than film.

You also have a powerful tool, the histogram. You can tell immediately whether your combination works. Much better than film. As another person says, you just have to practice!

I also came from the film world, starting back in the 1970s. My cameras were the Pentax 67 (a wonderful camera!), Pentax LXs and MXs, and, in 2000, a Canon EOS-3 and film Rebel. In spite of those great tools, once I went to digital I have never gone back. At all, ever.

[lynx123123]

You know guys for me, the best brand of digicams would be the samsung.......the quality of your photo would depend on the power your battery has....

___________________
Marvin

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[Loupey]

Pardon me if this sounds blunt, but why not stick with what you know?

The camera (capture) side is nearly identical to what you've already been doing. Keep everything in manual mode (exposure and focus) and think of white balance as using color-correcting filters. Null out all camera preferences (sharpness, contrast, etc) so that you control everything. Dabble with the other automated features later once you become comfortable or feel the need to learn them. As for what ISO to choose, how did you determine what speed film to use? There is always some penalty for using higher ISO's similar to using higher speed film. The price for this penalty depends on you and your client.

The biggest challenge, IMO, is the post processing side. You will definitely need to be proficient and comfortable using some photo editing software. But that's equivalent to using a darkroom - less the mess and hassle.

Good luck. Experimentation is not nearly as expensive as it once was :thumbsup: