Thread: Megapixels needed?

Originally Posted by urleebird

It's getting really deep. Here's the real answer...

Always Use The Other dial. ( AUTO ~ get it?)

haha, right... Thats the whole idea behind non SLR camera's... auto settings!

Originally Posted by Billy

F. stop's aren't exactly slower or faster... Varing F. stops are typically associated with more expensive camera's as they require multiple lenses.

In photography F stops are considered fast or slow. For example a lens with a large aperture, like 1.4 is referred to as fast.

F stops have nothing to do with the number of lenses, unless you mean lens elements. The cheapest instant cameras have had a single glass element, but beond that caera lenses have multiple elements. Traditionally, F stop is set with a controllable iris, which has nothing to do ith the number of lenses or elements in a lens. The iris may be in the lens, in which case you would have al least 2 elements. In old cameraas it was also place behinf the lens.

Originally Posted by Billy

Thats the whole idea behind non SLR camera's... auto settings!

I guess I don't understand this. Most SLRs can be operated on auto, and there are plenty of non-SLRs around, like Leicas, that give you all the control you could want. SLR just has to do with viewing through the shooting lens so that problems like parralax disappear.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

I guess I don't understand this. Most SLRs can be operated on auto, and there are plenty of non-SLRs around, like Leicas, that give you all the control you could want. SLR just has to do with viewing through the shooting lens so that problems like parralax disappear.

SLR stands for (Single Lens Reflex) which is just the view finder that is projected via mirros from the lens. Most of the newer cameras that most consumers purchase only use an LCD viewfinder. Even the top end $1500+ Digital camera's have auto settings. If your paying that much for a camera your probably not looking for auto settings.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

In photography F stops are considered fast or slow. For example a lens with a large aperture, like 1.4 is referred to as fast.

F stops have nothing to do with the number of lenses, unless you mean lens elements. The cheapest instant cameras have had a single glass element, but beond that caera lenses have multiple elements. Traditionally, F stop is set with a controllable iris, which has nothing to do ith the number of lenses or elements in a lens. The iris may be in the lens, in which case you would have al least 2 elements. In old cameraas it was also place behinf the lens.

Hmmm... you might make me lie here so dont hold me to fact here....

F stops are rated by the area of the lense not coverd by the appeture. I dont know the formula or the math. f/stop actually a ratio... but I never really learned much about all that. The important thing to know is... Higher (Smaller number) f stops mean bigger apeture, meaning more light... and Smaller (Larger Number) f stops mean smaller apetures and less light. Your F stop and shutter speed are used in conjuntion to get the proper exposures....

When I said multiple lense... I didn't mean multiple lense's installed in the same camera... changeable lenses for different settings... ie... wide angled lenses.

Originally Posted by Billy

F stops are rated by the area of the lense not coverd by the appeture. I dont know the formula or the math. f/stop actually a ratio... but I never really learned much about all that. The important thing to know is... Higher (Smaller number) f stops mean bigger apeture, meaning more light... and Smaller (Larger Number) f stops mean smaller apetures and less light. Your F stop and shutter speed are used in conjuntion to get the proper exposures....

Not so! It's the ratio between the diameter of the lens and focal length, therefore providing a measure of the amount of light admitted. It increases in multiples of the square root of 2: 1, 1.4, 2.0, 2.8 etc. The amount of light admitted is related to the area of the opening, and successive f-stops halve the light. That's the reason for the square root of 2. When I started in photography everything was manual and the light meter was separate, so you had to know all this stuff, as well as how to estimate exposure when you didn't have your meter.

When I said multiple lense... I didn't mean multiple lense's installed in the same camera... changeable lenses for different settings... ie... wide angled lenses.

Myobjection was to your suggestion that f-stops had anything to do with multiple lenses. Once you got past the basic "brownie" camera, every camera had an adjustable iris, even if the lens as fixed. Once they started internal metering with interchangeable lens cameras, the iris was placed in the lens, but the very first useable camera, well over 100 years ago, had an adjustable iris.

As I said, my memory of f/stops and the details might not have been exactly on que...

Im couldn't really give any insight to camera's made 100 years ago, but I wouldn't imagin they had the full F/stop range... Probably had to buy and entirely different camera to get more of a range.

Im not sure, but I think there might still be a misunderstanding with the multiple lenses... When using high end camera's its common to carry different lenses that have varing degree's of f/stops in order to capture photo's in a desired fashion in different environments and what not.

I didn't exactly intend to open a can of worms on F/stops... I was trying to point out that with most consumer camera's you aren't going to do a lot of work adjusting f/stops, but it is a fairly simple matter to adjust your shutter speed.... reading back, I noticed I said exposure time... which I can see being a bit vague or even misleading...

Im not really sure where this thread was going, but hopefully this clears up what I was trying to get across... =P debating F/stops wasn't my intention! lol

Originally Posted by Billy

Im couldn't really give any insight to camera's made 100 years ago, but I wouldn't imagin they had the full F/stop range... Probably had to buy and entirely different camera to get more of a range.

What they didn't have was fast lenses. So, you started with a rather small aperture and closed down from there. Closing down was no problem. An iris is a fairly simple mechanism.

I used to carry a bag with lots of interchangeable lenses, just to get different ranges. Now you really only need one zoom lens, unless you have special needs.

Canon G-6, 7.1 megapixel with macro lens. Auto setting. My studio is not too elaborate. A piece of brown shipping paper held down with a wrench and a ruler to keep it from blowing away. I use a piece of plastic that is normally used for those light boxes. Tilt to form tent and click away.

Originally Posted by urleebird

... My studio is not too elaborate.

Bill, I especially like the sturdy diffuser supports and the expansion joints in your table top. I'm thinking a little duct tape would add protection against wind gusts

* * * * * *
[Edit] I meant to add the following link to a decent article on building a light tent... it has lots of good ideas for those of us (such as Bill) that are resourceful and want better pics. See: [Digital Photography How-To: Building a Light Tent]