Settings on a 450D

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jpwild

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I have a 450D and still receiving few items via post - awaiting memory cards now and bags. So will be out soon and doing some shooting. I am reading about aperture, shutter speeds and so on. I wont raelly grasp it till I actually do some shooting.

However, of course, there are various settings on the camera such as TV, AV an others in which the camera does some work too for the photographer. Is there any shame in using such functions and letting camera automate some of the work?

Is it a good idea to use those settings as a starting point, or should I use the 'M' function and apply the settings myself?
 
The metering system on modern cameras is awesome, so much so that in general the auto modes are superb, there are some instances when they fail (back lighting etc) but in general they are great to use to get immediate results from your camera. I tend to use Av and Tv almost exclusively, no shame in that at all.
Get to know how they work and what they do then move onto either exposure compensation or M (which effectively is the same thing).

Hope you enjoy the camera, I am sure you will.

Matt
 
I am also pretty new to this, i also chose the 450d. I never use the Auto mode, however i do use aperature and shutter priority to good effect.
I have also taken some decent pics in manual, but tend to go into the priority mode.
I have found that by experimenting i have got to know my camera,

enjoy
Steve
 
Hi and Welcome, Im still fairly new to photography and also have a 450D. I started off using auto and then got bored and started exploring my camera.

I have tried the other settings out but have recently decided that M or Manual was my favourite option and have enjoyed shooting in that mode as it gives me more options to play with.

Thats my opinion anyway, i think it depends on your preference for everyday shooting.

Have fun once all your kit arrives, hope to see some pics soon.
 
Hi there, there is no shame to using assisted settings at all. It's all about how much input you want to put in, or safeguarding a few pics, just in case (holidays or kids birthdays etc.)

slowly and surely, your curiousity, hopefully will get the better of you and the most fun can be had from experimenting.

i started out with motorsport photography and shutter priority helped me no end, when working out panning and getting some wheel/background blurr etc....

you wont break anything, so go and experiment. take a notebook with you as well. i know the image data (exif) is always available, but i like to writre a few things down too, just to help along the way - and also, for me if i write things down it seems to stay in my head a bit more!!! lol.

above all enjoy yourself and get some pics up on here !! :)
 
Noob here too with a 450D. What i have done is use the point and shoot mode (portrait, landscape and flash off mainly) and made a note of the settings. then i have changed mode, adjusted some of the settings and compared pictures. Low light is a favourite of mine and thats what im looking into at the moment.
 
As a 450D jockey who has gone through all this over the last 16 months, my advice to a beginner is to start off exploring the automatic modes, then progress to program and shutter priority. Don't jump in at the deep end.
 
Before I got my 450D I spent ages trying to understand Aperture, Shutter Speed etc and by the time I got the camera I was pretty confident I knew it all.

As soon as I picked up the camera I realised that, for me, the only way to truly learn this stuff is to take pictures and play...

Learn the basics, Av - aperture is a way to blur the background, Tv - Changes shutter speed to blur or sharpen the movement of the subject and then try different settings.

For a majority of the time I use Av mode and let the camera do the rest, just keeping an eye on the settings the camera uses to make sure it's not a million miles out. The only other thing I fiddle with regularly is the White Balance...

Don't be afraid to play, just go and photograph non important stuff in all weather conditions and you'll soon work out how and what settings work for you.
 
No shame at all,

I see it best to take pictures with the auto modes to see what quality is produced, at some point you will take an image with a part of it you are not happy with, and you may realise that the F stop needs to be higher for e.g.

this way you pick up what settings adjust what under certain circumstances.

Keep doing research and when you home bored just test all the setting under the M button, see what changes effect the image :-)

soon pick it up
 
There's no shame in using the auto modes - I still do and I've been taking photos for ages. The only auto mode I don't use is full; I am not comfortable with the camera making all the decisions in the picture taking process, other than where to point the camera.

I often use Av or Tv, depending on what I am shooting and what, if any, effect I am after. I switch to manual when I know I am trying to shoot a scene that is lit in such a way that the camera meter is going to struggle to get the exposure right. Recognising those situations was, for me, a big step in getting to grips with my camera.
 
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