Nikon D5100 Experience Manual

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Nikon D5100 Experience42A full stop difference means the amount of light that reaches the sensor is either doubled orhalved. For example, if your aperture is set to f/5.6, changing it to f/4 will double the amount oflight reaching the sensor, and changing it from f/5.6 to f/8 will halve the amount of light that hitsthe sensor. The area of the aperture opening was doubled or halved. Since the area of anaperture opening is nearly circular, doubling or halving that area involves an equation with Pi,thus resulting in the seemingly random steps from f/2.8 to f/4 to f/5.6, etc. With shutter speeds,changing from, say, 1/125 to 1/250 halves the amount of light, and 1/125 to 1/60 doubles theamount of light hitting the sensor. The time that the shutter was open was doubled or halved.With ISO settings, changing from, say, 400 to 800 doubles the sensitivity, and going from 400 to200 halves it.The reality is you don’t need to know all this math to take a successful photo. When you haveyour camera set on A or S, it figures much of this stuff out for you. You will inevitably learnmore about it through experience and as you follow up on why your camera did a certainsomething or why an image looks as it does when you used certain settings. But you don’t needto know how a watch works to tell time, and you don’t need to immerse yourself in exposurevalues to start out with a digital SLR. So while some of this other stuff might be complicated, Iwill try to avoid stops and EV so as not to make it even worse.Manual Exposure Mode (M)Many people seem to believe that the epitome of camera skill is demonstrated by the use ofManual Exposure Mode (M). Old-school photographers might scoff at those who need to rely onfancy exposure metering systems and nostalgically brag about how they can approach a scene,read the light, and set their exposure manually. But the truth is, digital SLR photography justisn’t done like that. There is no need to turn yourself into a human light meter and spend yearshoning your ability to detect subtle changes in lighting levels. There is no need to consult thecamera’s Exposure Indicator and set both shutter speed and aperture for every shot when thecamera can automatically adjust one of those settings for you. Aperture-Priority Auto Mode andShutter-Priority Auto Mode are perfectly acceptable and common ways to use your camera andits intelligent built-in exposure metering system that Nikon spent years developing.But there are times you may wish to use Manual Exposure Mode. For example, if you are takingseveral photos to stitch together into a panorama, you want them all to be taken with the sameexposure so that the lighting is consistent across the entire scene. Or if you are working in astudio setting and the lighting will remain consistent, you can set the exposure once and then notworry about it. Or in any other situation where the lighting or your desired exposure will remainconsistent such as an indoor performance or sunny day portrait session where the lighting doesnot change.