Need Camera Lingo Help

[2moredoors]

I have a Kodak Easyshare V530 5.0MP. Just wondering if I can get a little info on what these settings mean, and if there would be an advantage to me if I changed some of them... Thanks!

ISO Speed: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 (1.8MP)

Exposure Metering: Multi-Pattern, Center-Weight, Center Spot

AF control: Continuous, Single

Long Time Exposure: None, .5, .7, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 (sec)

I can also change the picture size: 5.0, 4.4, 4, 3.1, 1.8

[arisenfury]

Originally Posted by 2moredoors

I have a Kodak Easyshare V530 5.0MP. Just wondering if I can get a little info on what these settings mean, and if there would be an advantage to me if I changed some of them... Thanks!

ISO Speed: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 (1.8MP)

Exposure Metering: Multi-Pattern, Center-Weight, Center Spot

AF control: Continuous, Single

Long Time Exposure: None, .5, .7, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 (sec)

I can also change the picture size: 5.0, 4.4, 4, 3.1, 1.8

I don't know all the technical information on some of the stuff but I know what it does and can at least impart to you what it does which is all you really need to know...

ISO will determine how sensitive the image sensor in the camera is to light. If you set it to the lowest number it won't take in too much light, better for really bright days outside. The higher the number the more light it will take in which is better suited to indoor shooting with no light when you cannot use a flash or don't have a tripod. The only drawback with higher ISO settings is the picture loses quality, a significant amount when you go up to the 800 level. Unless you know you're outside and it's overly bright, or inside and overly dark, just keep it at auto for point and shooting. Also with your camera, on the 800 setting you're picture size will drop from 5 megapixels to 1.8.

Exposure Metering is when the camera reads the light coming in to judge how it should adjust to the exposure (light and darkness of the photo). In a SLR camera, specifically dSLR it just tells you if you're under or over exposed, it's up to you to change the settings accordingly. With a point and shoot camera it will change for you. The settings you can choose from determine how the camera reads the light. Multi-pattern will read many areas in the photo to determine the best settings. Center-weight will rely more on the center of the picture as to get your subject in the best light possible. Center focus is really only going to read the light coming in in the middle of the frame. Use the last to if you're subject is too-dark too-bright and everything else is coming in rather fine.

AF Control is the auto focus control. Single means it will focus in on the subject once and that's it. If they move out of the focus range then that's that. Continuous means it will continue reading the picture to adjust the focus if the subject is moving. Continuous would be better suited for taking pictures of sports, etc.

Long-time exposure means the camera will hold the shutter open for however long you select on that menu, in seconds. So .5 would keep it open for .5 seconds, and 8 will keep it open for 8 seconds. This is great for low-light shooting if you want to get a lot of detail. Flash photography only fills in light up close and keeps the shutter quick so you don't get any detail outside of the flash range. The only draw-back with long shutter times is that you'll need a tripod for basically anything slower than .3 seconds. Otherwise you won't be able to hold the camera still while the shutter is open causing blurry pictures.

Picture size is just that, you'll get more detail and size at 5mp. However your file size will be bigger filling your memory card faster. If you have the space just keep it at 5mp. If you know you'll be sending a particular picture over the internet, like on a forum or something and you wanna keep it smaller, you could set it at 1.8 or 3.1 to save yourself the trouble of taking the big size pictures and making them smaller to post on the internet.

Hope that helps, you can look up a lot of that stuff if you want to know exactly how it works. There are many websites out there that do just that.

[Cr8tive_leo]

^ Exactly what he said.

Best thing to do too is , setup a tripod, setup an object to shoot.
Shoot that same object with all the different settings and see what the results are.
Change your lighting, see what it all looks like, that way you will know what setting does what and how it looks with your particular camera.
I have a few Digital cameras, slrs and point and shoot, they all have similar settings, but the results are almost night and day.

Test the settings. :)

[Cr8tive_leo]

This was shot a few years ago... I think 3 or 4yrs ago...



With this...





With changing the shutter speed and iso and using a tripod.

So play with the settings, you'll be surprised at how good inexpensive cameras are.

[2moredoors]

THANKS!! Thats a HUGE help... I think I may be "camera fiddling" after work today. I'll see what I can come up with.

[Cr8tive_leo]

Here is the data off that image to give you an idea

[wing_gundam]

This tutorial is more for dSLR's but you should still find it relevant to practice those settings with & understand it.

http://www.ashotapart.com/tutorials.html#exposure

[kelmar]

Originally Posted by 2moredoors

I have a Kodak Easyshare V530 5.0MP. Just wondering if I can get a little info on what these settings mean, and if there would be an advantage to me if I changed some of them... Thanks!

Terms put simple
ISO Speed: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 (1.8MP)
How "grainy" the picture is; how the film (can't remember technical term) reacts to light. Think of looking at a computer screen with a high resolution (equal to 100 ISO) versus looking at a computer screen with a low resolution (800 ISO).

Exposure Metering: Multi-Pattern, Center-Weight, Center Spot
Controls the brightness of the picture. Exposure will control this. This can be compared to if a something is too bright and looks white (over exposed i.e. too much light). Or if a picture or screen is too dark (under exposed i.e. not enough light). The different settings control what you want to set the exposure to; that is, what you want the brightness to be set to so you can see the subject (without the subject being too dark or too light).

AF control: Continuous, Single
Auto Focus. Do you want the camera to continuously update what it's focusing on (be it right or wrong)? Or do you want it to focus on something then stop.... My preference is single... but that's just me.

Long Time Exposure: None, .5, .7, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 (sec)
I know this will sound funny... but this is how long the camera "blinks" for. Don't set it to any of these unless you have a tripod or something to set the camera on to keep it steady. Have you ever seen pictures at night where the cars on the road are just blurry streaks of light? That is done using long exposure. The picture posted above with the lightning is also long exposure.

I can also change the picture size: 5.0, 4.4, 4, 3.1, 1.8
That's up to you... if you are looking at doing any photoshop or printing large pictures then keep it at 5. The smaller the number is, the more you can hold on your memory car. FWIW, a picture taken with at 5megapixels is the same thing as printing a 35mm on an 8x11.

By no means does this cover everything. The link listed above is EXELLENT! I would recommend reading it.

If you need help with examples let us know!