The Beginners Questions Area

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Jim, I'm going to assume that the hypothetical "beginner" already takes pictures with his/her phone. I'm also going to assume that the reason for considering a dedicated photo/video camera is because this hypothetical beginner wants better quality or some other feature that the phone camera does not provide. Finally, I'm going to assume that for the most part the person has little or no knowledge of exposure theory. With that in mind, I think beginning at manual mode would be the quick road to frustration, disillusionment, and failure. I think the better advice would be to set the camera on P or even iAuto and shoot away. Today's cameras are really very good at producing super results.........all on their own. And they are even better as learning guides if one takes the time to review those good results to find out what settings the camera used and then, and only then, use these settings as a baseline for their first ventures into A, S, and M modes. Now is when we need to go after that exposure theory stuff.

In fact this is actually a good way for someone moving from one camera brand to another, or DSLR to mirrorless. Over the past few years I've had occasion to coach any number of my club members that have moved from Canon or Nikon DSLR to Olympus Mirrorless. Invariably the biggest hurdle is when the new owner comes in and can't figure out why his new mirrorless Olympus camera just isn't right, after all he/she set it up just like his Canon.........duh. Shoot it on P for just one day and find out where the sweet spot is and save months of headache in the process.

Yeah, you made that point earlier. My experience in turning off all the automation for beginners goes back to the film days, where we used Polaroids for feedback. Now you don't even need to push the shutter button to get feedback. If the people coming from Instamatics didn't get frustrated with film cameras in manual mode, why should the people coming from phone cameras get frustrated with a MILC with instant feedback in manual mode?

It may be apocryphal, but conventional wisdom has it that the last words on the flight recorders of crashed planes are: "Why is it doing that."

Maybe I'm not reading you correctly, Jim, but it seems that you are assuming this beginner already has a knowledge of shutter speeds, f stops, and ISO settings. I kind of think that may not be the case for a phone camera user's first shot at a dedicated camera. But, maybe I'm not giving the general phone camera user enough credit here.

And the best somewhere they could start would be with a basic understanding of what the camera settings do. The f-stop controls depth of field. The shutter speed controls how movement in the frame is rendered. Together, those settings along with the light in the scene, determine exposure. ISO is used to manage image lightness.

Now my beginning photographer friend, tell me what kind of photo you'd like to make and lets talk about how you might go about doing that.

See how easy that is. It takes less than 30 seconds to lay the foundation and, best of all, ignores the misguided "exposure triangle"...25 years leading beginners down the road of misinformation and bad habits.

beginner: im shooting a low light concert at f16 shutter 1/1000 how can i determine exposure if i cant see anything in the evf ? better still (pun) what if i have settings effect set to off 😁

If/when a real beginner will raise this question it will be answered.

Well, there has to be a time where the beginner [I'm also assuming someone coming from a phone] will have to acquire some of that knowledge. In its basic form that is about the amount of time and the size of the opening through which the sensor collects light, The rain drop analogy will do nicely, but I think there is nothing like a little experimentation with setting these two variables separately and in rather big steps and see how they change the image. Comparing to the same scene at full auto won't hurt, nor do obviously failed settings.

If the results from a modern phone camera are rubbish in some absolute sense at FB resolution, it's probably not the fault of the camera. As I suggested earlier, teaching the person to get good photographs with the phone they already have is a good place to start. When they "graduate" to something else, they will have already learned composition, how to set up a scene, focal length choice, etc.

If someone comes to me asking about changing cameras, I first ask what it is they want to do that they can't do with their present camera. If, as AA used to say, the problem is a foot behind the camera (or two feet in the came of a phone), I suggest ways to solve the problem with the person's present camera. I think that GAS is a poor reason to ditch your phone, and I would expect that, if the motivation for a new camera is GAS, then the result is likely to not please the former phone user.

There are many people making great images with cellphone cameras. There is a lot for the owner of a cellphone camera to learn about photography before they change their camera of choice. Almost all of that will carry over should they "upgrade" to a dedicated camera.

A smartphone is a great tool for practicing framing and trying out different POVs.

Easy. First, get off f/16. Nobody needs that much depth of field and diffraction at a concert. In low light, you gotta make f-stop your friend. Open to f/4, or f/2.8 and put another 5 or 6 stops of light on the sensor.

Next, get off 1/1000. It's a concert not game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Slow to 1/250 and put a couple more stops of light on the sensor.

I have no idea what "settings effect" is. That means you can ignore it.

I've just put 7-8 additional stops of light on the sensor. That low light situation isn't so "impossible" anymore. The EVF view is much better. Adjust ISO (image lightness) until the EVF view is pleasing to your eye.

In photography, it's important to adapt to the situation. You may arrive at the Billy Idol concert wanting to be at f/16, 1/1000. (which blockhead suggested those settings for this show?) But when you see the low light level (Billy doesn't like to show off the wrinkles) ya gotta alter the gameplan. Inflexibility is a cardinal sin in any creative endeavor.

Don't fight the conditions; work with them. Embrace a shallower depth of field or a wider angle of view. Embrace a slower shutter speed and the motion blur that may come with it. In fact, after shooting the first set at 1/250, I'd slow to 1/60 or 1/30 and have some real fun with motion blur...while putting another 2-3 stops of light on the sensor.

It's all about the light.

Finally, you're a beginning photographer and you're going to make mistakes. Most of the photos you come home with are gonna suck. Most of the photos I come home with, suck. But it's the handful of good to great shots that make a shoot. That's the target. If you come home with one great shot, that's a great day. Five is amazing. Ten or more is literally a miracle :)

Embrace the mistakes and the sucky photos. That's how we learn. It's proof we're pushing the creative envelope. And when it delivers, the results of that approach are fantastic.

Have fun at the concert.

And, in the hands of somebody like Dan Burkholder, a tool to make serious images.