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Camera Operation Overview

Finally, we're going to talk about the camera operation, which is kind of the overall functioning of the camera we've gone through. Well, I'm not sure how many, but probably a couple 100 different features where are obviously not using all of those on a regular basis. What do we do on a regular basis when using this camera? So first off my basic camera checklist things that you want to make sure of before you go out on any shoot Number one is you want to have a charge and installed battery. You probably want to have a fresh memory card, which means reformatting the memory card. Make sure that your image quality is set to where you want. It may be raw, maybe Jay Peak. If you've been playing around with the camera, you've been doing something funny from the day before. Go through your menu system and just do a quick check to see if anything seems to be out of place. And finally, if you are doing a big trip or you're gonna be shooting something really important, like a wedding or a big jo...

b, make sure that you should attest photo and that your sensor is clean and dust free. If there's any sort of dust on the sensor, you're gonna want to take care of that ahead of time before you get on location to shoot those photos. So from there, here are the main key settings in what you're gonna be changing on your camera on a regular basis. Most of them deal with exposure, the exposure modes, shutter speeds, apertures and exposure compensation on the back of the camera. The isso and white balance button is gonna be used frequently, as is probably the focus area and the drive button. And then the super control panel will allow us access into the focus mode and the media ring system, which are things that a lot of people use. And so I think of these as the 10 most frequently change settings on most people's cameras. So how would we adjust our cameras for a variety of different situations? So let's look at our key settings and let's look at how we would set our camera up for a variety of different types of options, starting with a super simple option. So if you wanted to set your camera up so that say, everybody in the family could just pick the camera up and shoot photos Well, rather than I auto, I would put the camera in the program mode so that you can jump in if you want to and set some of the more advanced settings. The program mode means that you will have shutter speeds and apertures taking care of for you. You could set auto eso to take care of any other further exposure needs. Make sure the exposure compensation That's that round I'll upon the top of the camera. Top corner of the camera is set at zero. Unless you're specifically needing it someplace else for metering, I would leave it in the E S P. This is the multi segment metering system and will leave the white balance in auto, which is where we will leave it for most of the time. Unless we see colors that we aren't aren't liking that isn't quite right. For instance, if here in the living room shooting and we're getting tungsten orange lights than we would want to change it to the incandescent setting for focus. As long as you're not shooting action, you're gonna want to be in the single auto focus mode and for focusing area. If you want to leave it super simple, you could just leave it in the 81 point focusing area, which is the entire frame area and what it does there is, it looks for whatever is closest to the camera. So you do need to be careful about things that are in the foreground that you are focusing on. And then for the drive mode. Generally, I'm just gonna leave it in the single shot mode so that I get one shot at a time. So this would be an easy way to have the camera set so that just about anybody could pick it up and get decent photos. Next up, let's do a landscape mode. And so here we know what's our subject is. It's not moving around. We want lots of depth of field and perhaps, just maybe, we're using a tripod. So in this case, it's nice to be in the manual mode, so we can be very specific about are setting adjustments. We want to get a very clean image, which means we want the lowest I e isso possible. We want lots of depth of field. So we want a small aperture. 8 11 16 22 depends on the situation, and the shutter speed is not gonna matter. But with a low I S O setting and a small aperture setting, we're probably going to need a longer shutter speed. And so we'll often end up 30 seats. They're 1/30 of a second, maybe longer. Depends on the lighting. Next up, we're not gonna do exposure compensation because we are in a manual mode. And so you don't you only use that in the semi automatic exposure modes. I'm gonna be fine with the E S P, me, Tareen and auto white balance. Unless I see something funny, I'll then change it. My subject is not moving, so I'm gonna choose single auto focus, and I want to be very specific about where I focused. So I'm probably gonna choose a single point and I'll probably moving around the frame until I figure out exactly where I want it focused on. And I want to be very careful about any sort of movements, especially if I'm on a tripod. And so I might use that anti shock mode where it uses Thesis Island first shutter so that there is very little vibration when the camera fires. Or I might use the two seconds self timer. That way, I'm not touching the camera to initiate the shutter release, and those would be good options for setting the camera up for a landscape style photograph. Let's do a portrait photograph. And so in this case, we know we have a subject that might be moving around a little bit. And so, in this case, if I have the opportunity to control the situation a little bit for a few minutes a time, I'll prefer to be in manual exposure so that I get consistent results through several different photos. In this case, I probably want shallow depth of field. So if I if I have a lens that goes down to 1.4, I'll do it. If I don't, I might be a two or 28 or whatever the case may be. In this case, I will probably want a shutter speed 125th of a second or faster, so that it will stop my movement holding the camera or my subjects movement moving around a little bit. My preference is will be to have the lowest isso possible, like 200. And I will bump it up if necessary. And a quick note in case you're wondering. Well, isn't 100 lower than 200? Yes, it is. But that isn't the native sensitivity of the sensor and the sensor has less dynamic range when you shoot it at I s a 100 so you don't want to go down to unless you absolutely have to get down there for some other shutter speed or aperture reason. And so the default is to start at 200 go up. But there is kind of that emergency backdoor of using I s A 100 if you have to sew exposure compensation not necessary because it's manual GSP metering is good. Auto white balance is fine in most situations, unless you see a problem, our subjects are not moving around so we can go with single autofocus. We want to be very specific about where we're focusing, so we're probably going to choose a single or a small focusing point so we can focus on our subjects I and as faras the drive system probably shooting a single shot at a time is going to be fine. And so that's how I would set this camera up for portrait photography for action photography. There's a number of important changes. Number one, we're gonna have faster shutter speeds and number two, we're going to need to have a focusing system that follows that subjects movements forward and backward. I once again prefer to be in manual exposure so that I get consistent exposures from shot to shot. And in this case, what's important is that I'm gonna need a faster shutter speed probably 5/100 of a second or faster. And this is where those lenses that are 2.8 and aperture or faster are really gonna come in handy. Those were really gonna pay off there as much as I would like the lowest I s o possible with those faster shutter speeds, I'm probably going to need a higher isso 400 up. If you're shooting indoors, probably 1600 up. E S P metering is gonna be fine and auto white balance should be fine. One of the most important settings is are focusing change and continuous autofocus ing or potentially the continuous autofocus ing with the tracking option, you'll need to do a little bit of testing to see if it works for you. Focusing area. It would be nice to have a small point, but it's hard to keep it on a subject that's randomly moving around. And so this is where that group of nine points is gonna be a really good choice, because you'll be able to keep that over your subject a little bit more easily. And then as far as the drive mode, you're probably gonna want to get a series of photos all at one time. And so this is where the high speed sequential drive would be a good choice, which is where you can get up to 10 frames per second. Finally, let's leave you with basic photography, and this is where you don't know what your next shot could be. It could be this. It could be that who knows what it could be, and you want to be able to quickly adjust for the situation. This is where I like to have a little automation to speed the process along, and so I like aperture priority, and I can adjust to the relatively few number of apertures very, very quickly, and I'll usually leave it somewhere towards the middle. In this case, let's call it at 5.6. I want to leave my eye eso at 200 then I'll be keeping an eye on my shutter speeds. If they're not fast enough, I will bump up the I s. So if I go into a low light, situations will probably bump up the I s OAS. Well, in that situation, I'll make sure that my exposure compensation is said it. Zero. Unless I'm specifically trying to lighten or darken the photos. I'm good with the E S P metering and I'm good with the auto white balance so we can keep that set. And for focusing. I'm generally not photographing sports and action and so forth. And so I'm gonna leave it on single autofocus, and I prefer to be very precise about where I'm focusing. What exactly am I focusing on? So I'm gonna choose the single box, and I might move it around left right up and down with this camera, you have a wide variety of places that you can move it on And so that's, I think, going to give you the most director directional control over where you are focusing. And then finally, on the drive mode, I'll probably leave it in the anti shock mode. It's Thesis Islet first shutter, which is a little bit quieter than the single shot. You can still shoot something moving with it without getting the Jell O or the panning, or that effect, where it kind of bends the lines with subjects that are moving. And so there's really no negative effect to using that anti shock mode. But it does reduce the vibrations a little bit and does make it a little bit more quiet. And so I think that's a good system for travel photography or just any in order, any sort of basic photography where you don't know where your next photo is going to be. So if you've made it this far in the class, congratulations, you are now on Olympus Pen F. Expert. Congratulations. Enjoy your camera. A few final thoughts for you. This was just one of many different fast start classes I have. If you have other cameras or you do you have friends who have cameras that want to know how to use them? I have a class in pretty much all the popular cameras that are out today, and so you can check out creative life for any one of these different classes if you're interested in learning photography. In general, I have a short class called the Photography Starter Kit, which is a little three hour class that will get you going in the world of photography. And if you want to learn how to choose the right camera, even have a free class. This one is free, folks, is how to choose your first DSLR, which is lots of advice. I used to work in a camera store and I obviously working with all these cameras. I get to know a lot of different cameras very well, so I have, ah, lot of good tips and hints for anyone out there looking to buy a new camera. For somebody who's really getting into this, there is the fundamentals of photography, which is a five day class that we have done here. It creativelive that goes through all the nooks and crannies of photography, and so if you want kind of the full kit and caboodle. That's a great class for you. I do have a couple of other specific classes, one on nature and landscape photography and then another on travel photography. So if you want to learn about something a little bit more specific, got that one and then I do have a couple of lens classes. These are dedicated either to Canon or Nikon lenses, but it's, ah lot of information for people who use lenses of any different brand, and so those are some very technical classes in that case.