How important are camera settings?

Rosiebud

Rosiebud

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Ellie
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I'm not talking about Aperture, S/S, ISO etc but your basic camera settings accessed via the menus.

There seems to be a confusing amount of variations - to me as a newbie anyway - and I've read and re-read the manual many times and actually have it as a pdf on my desktop to refer to at all times :)
 
Some are extremely important, others less so. Which settings in particular?
 
There is only the camera user who can dictate how their camera is set up.....tbh it depends very much on what you wish to shoot for example if the subject is going to be moving then continuous focus is probably a good setting to have operational however if shooting a building or landscape then it would prove unnecessary.
Another example is metering...if you were to shoot landscapes then matrix would probably be a good option, if on the other hand you shot candid portraits in the street then spot metering would work better simply to ensure the subject was exposed correctly ( particularly if he/she is backlit with a bright sky).
These are but two examples of many....there is no hard and fast rule but to experiment, read and learn what works best with what shot is the best advice i can offer.
 
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Not important when you start.. Most settings are there to improve your experience and make for better pictures due to more control... You can shoot without changing them.. just like you can shoot sport in sport mode (i did for yrs).. but going to other modes or other settings will enhance your experience, give you more control and ulitmatly give you better chance of getting the shot you want..


however if your just shooting a plant pot in your back garden then your probably good to go :)
 
Asha said:
then continuous focus is probably a good setting to have operational however if shooting a building or landscape then it would prove unnecessary.
Another example is metering...if you were to shoot landscapes then matrix would probably be a good option,.
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I presumed he was talking about other settings not general.. the ones deep down in the menus :)
 
It depends what you want from your photography. Do you want to take snaps or do you want to make pictures?

If you're happy taking snaps then leave your settings alone, if you want to make pictures then you have to take control of your camera and that means setting it up to do what you want it to. Photography is a broad subject and of course each facet has its own requirements. For instance a landscape photographer needs a setup that's different from a portrait photographer, your average news/sports photographer will need something else from their camera and so on. Having settings in menu's allows individuals to set up their camera to do more specific jobs. Then of course there are personal preferences - lots of people prefer 'back button focusing' to using a half shutter button press. Some folk only shoot in RAW or Jpeg or both.

Quoting Zack Arias "Know your gear"
 
Ste Manns said:
If you're happy taking snaps then leave your settings alone, if you want to make pictures then you have to take control of your camera and that means setting it up to do what you want it to. Photography is a broad subject and of course each facet has its own requirements. For instance a landscape photographer needs a setup that's different from a portrait photographer, your average news/sports photographer will need something else from their camera and so on. Having settings in menu's allows individuals to set up their camera to do more specific jobs. Then of course there are personal preferences - lots of people prefer 'back button focusing' to using a half shutter button press. Some folk only shoot in RAW or Jpeg or both.
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thats like wot I said.....ONLY A LOT BETTER! :)
 
I've had my 'playtime' with my camera taking 'snaps' although I've never yet shot in Auto, despite some people saying to do so in order to learn, I preferred to go in at the deep end and learn the so-called 'hard' way :shrug:

Now I want to get serious, as much as an amateur can get serious :)

I understand the basics, the metering, the various focus point settings etc but the settings hidden deep within sub-menus are all rather confusing.

Should I be concerned with flash sync speeds, bracketing etc etc with my limited knowledge?

I obviously want to get the best out of my camera, and the end results so sorry for the novice questions
 
still boils down to which settings in particular. Some may change the useability of the camera (i.e. fn button assignment) while others may make drastic changes to the image (i.e. image quality and size)

As Mr Hoppy said, would really need to know which settings are confusing and go from there with any help.
 
Rosiebud said:
I've had my 'playtime' with my camera taking 'snaps' although I've never yet shot in Auto, despite some people saying to do so in order to learn, I preferred to go in at the deep end and learn the so-called 'hard' way :shrug:

Now I want to get serious, as much as an amateur can get serious :)

I understand the basics, the metering, the various focus point settings etc but the settings hidden deep within sub-menus are all rather confusing.

Should I be concerned with flash sync speeds, bracketing etc etc with my limited knowledge?

I obviously want to get the best out of my camera, and the end results so sorry for the novice questions
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Yep thats what I thought you meant :) and for me your on the right track wiht your photogrpahy learning..


Tell us what your photogrpahing.. tell us what settings your thinking about? be specific
 
KIPAX said:
I presumed he was talking about other settings not general.. the ones deep down in the menus :)
Click to expand...

To be fair the OP was not specific so i simply offered a couple of examples that in hindsight are irrelevant to the OP however I'm sure we can agree that camera settings are very much dependent on what the photographer wishes to shoot and what result he/she wishes to achieve.

OP....don't worry about novice questions....if you don't understand something then there is only one way of finding out .....research / ask!

As mentioned, if you can be more detailed about what you wish to shoot and what settings you believe may or may not help then we will do our best to advise.
 
Ste Manns said:
Incidentaly I'm not saying there is anything wrong with leaving cameras on auto and just taking snaps! Not everyone wants to be an 'artist'
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Exactly, and even some that do could be happy letting the camera get on with the technicalities while they worry about light, composition and subject matter.
 
Rosiebud said:
I've had my 'playtime' with my camera taking 'snaps' although I've never yet shot in Auto, despite some people saying to do so in order to learn, I preferred to go in at the deep end and learn the so-called 'hard' way :shrug:

Now I want to get serious, as much as an amateur can get serious :)

I understand the basics, the metering, the various focus point settings etc but the settings hidden deep within sub-menus are all rather confusing.

Should I be concerned with flash sync speeds, bracketing etc etc with my limited knowledge?

I obviously want to get the best out of my camera, and the end results so sorry for the novice questions
Click to expand...
It might sound trite; but you'll know you need them when you need them.

When you feel that the camera controls could be easier to use, you'll look into custom fn's that'll make it more suited to you. When you start playing seriously with flash - you'll read up and understand what the various flash functions do.

It's a bit like software where different users with different needs will end up using different sets of menus and controls.

I have 2 specific kinds of photographic interest, which ends up with 4 specific* types of techniques - for these I set up my camera completely differently, although I'm (mostly) using the same cameras and the same lenses etc.

Weddings / lifestyle portraiture (mostly natural light1 with some OCF2)
Studio portraiture (either daylight1 studio or Flash3)
Motorsport (mostly Rallying4)
 
Rosiebud said:
I've had my 'playtime' with my camera taking 'snaps' although I've never yet shot in Auto, despite some people saying to do so in order to learn, I preferred to go in at the deep end and learn the so-called 'hard' way :shrug:

Now I want to get serious, as much as an amateur can get serious :)

I understand the basics, the metering, the various focus point settings etc but the settings hidden deep within sub-menus are all rather confusing.

Should I be concerned with flash sync speeds, bracketing etc etc with my limited knowledge?

I obviously want to get the best out of my camera, and the end results so sorry for the novice questions
Click to expand...

Well the simple answer is if you want to use flash then yes, if you don't yet (or ever) then why worry about it? Same with bracketing. It has it's uses of course (particularly in lanscape or say HDR) but I have never ever used any form of automatic bracketing. I bracket (if needed) manually, it is afterall just an automatic way to shoot more than one shot with slightly different settings for each shot. (ie exposure or white balance etc) I don't need that function so I never use it. If you want to do some HDR stuff then maybe it'd be an idea to learn that specific function. On it's own it's not particularly complicated.

Same thing with mirror lockup - another function often burried in the menu somewhere. I don't do any serious landscape I mostly shoot people so I don't need it. If you're a macro photographer you may or may not find it's a useful function (I dunno I don't do macro much, I guess if you shoot bugs it could be quite limiting but then if you shoot static macro subjects it could prove useful :shrug:)

As I said before and everyone else has said it all depends what you want from your photography and what you are trying to do. Decide that and learn the stuff that's relevant. If you're unsure whether it is relevant learn it anyway, it is afterall supposed to be fun! Take each thing seperately and learn about it before moving onto the next thing. Nothing on it's own is hard or complicated and you don't have to learn everything all at once.
 
Rosiebud said:
I'm not talking about Aperture, S/S, ISO etc but your basic camera settings accessed via the menus.

There seems to be a confusing amount of variations - to me as a newbie anyway - and I've read and re-read the manual many times and actually have it as a pdf on my desktop to refer to at all times :)
Click to expand...

If you are referring to "Picture Controls" on your Nikon

Neutral - better for people / portraits as it gives the most natural skin tone

Standard - for almost everything else

Vivid - for that Ken Rockwell eye bleeding depth to the colours.

If you are referring to the "White Balance"

Sunny - for most outdoor shots, I also use it for flash as it warms it up a bit

Cloudy - for really heavy overcast days, and sunsets if you want to really warm up the image.

Auto - best for mixed indoor lighting
 
Rosiebud said:
I'm not talking about Aperture, S/S, ISO etc but your basic camera settings accessed via the menus.

There seems to be a confusing amount of variations - to me as a newbie anyway - and I've read and re-read the manual many times and actually have it as a pdf on my desktop to refer to at all times :)
Click to expand...

It's something that you struggle to get your head around, then you gradually find the settings you like.. and after a while you've got everything the way you want it and you've forgotten what they are and where they are.

Everytime someone asks about deep menu settings I can almost hear the scurrying and turning of pages as dust is blown off manuals and field guides that few of us have read for years..

.. one of the reasons I prefer shooting raw is that I can ignore all of the picture setting menu options and deal with that at leisure in Lightroom ;)
 
Alastair said:
.. one of the reasons I prefer shooting raw is that I can ignore all of the picture setting menu options and deal with that at leisure in Lightroom ;)
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That's one of the handiest things I find with RAW as well. I have my regular settings, they automatically get applied using DPP, and then I can tweak as I see fit. One of the biggest benefits is changing the picture type from "shot settings" to flash or shade/cloudy as appropriate, which really lives up the picture.
 
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