Camera Basics

Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 17, 1999

TOMMY WILLIAMS / L’Observateur / July 17, 1999

As you learn and become more comfortable with using your 35mm camera, you will at some point venture out and try to operate it manually. This will requireyou to have some understanding of the different camera mechanisms that are essential for proper operation of your camera in manual mode, mainly the lens aperture, camera shutter and the meter system.

Before I go any further, a short definition of exposure may help you understand how the metering system operates. In simple terms, exposure refers to thespecific settings of both lens aperture opening and camera shutter speed in relation to how much light will reach the film. If both are properly set, theamount of light or exposure should produce photos with great color and detail in both shadow and highlight areas of the prints.

First, the aperture is located in the lens and operates similarly to the iris of your eye. The diameter opening of the aperture will determine both the amountsof light that will reach the film and your depth of field (how much will be in focus).

The camera’s shutter, on the other hand, also controls the amount of light reaching the film due to the duration or amount of time it remains open, similar to a door opening and closing. The shutter speed also will determine the amountof camera blur or motion that will appear in the photo. As the shutter speedincreases, the subject motion decreases; and as the shutter speed decreases, the subject motion increases.

Lastly, your camera will be equipped with some type of photo cell or metering system which helps you to determine the proper aperture and shutter speed combinations to produce adequate film exposure. A camera’s metering system,regardless of its type, reads the reflective light. Reflective light is the amountof light reflected off or from the subject toward the camera. White walls, sky,beach sand and snow are all different types of scenes that can cause improper or underexposed negatives due to the large amounts of light they reflect. Darkbackgrounds, on the other hand, such as night scenes and dark walls, can cause over-exposure to your negatives.

To make a long story short, by using the camera’s meter you can determine what combination of both the shutter and aperture settings will work in together to produce proper film exposure. This is the basics on exposure and themechanisms that control it; later articles to follow will cover more detail in how to adjust and correct for different scenic backgrounds.

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