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Features Featured Articles Choosing A Camera For...
Features Featured Articles Choosing A Camera For...
Choosing A Camera For...What inspires you? |
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Page 7 of 10 Students & Beginners: An inexpensive camera with full-manual capability is the ideal starting point By Zachary Singer 
LensIn the old days, 35mm shooters bought a 50mm lens with their SLRs and used it until they had mastered the basics. Today, high-quality zoom lenses have become very affordable, allowing students to experiment with a wider variety of focal ranges without the prohibitive expense of multiple prime lenses. Bigger ranges help new photographers quickly see how focal length affects composition. Faster maximum apertures will be more of an advantage than a big zoom range because beginners are likely to shoot most of their images handheld. The larger openings also provide shallower depth of field, an effect that’s more limited with moderate-speed lenses. Manual Exposure Mode In beginning photography classes, setting exposure manually is essentially a given—some schools actually may prohibit cameras without full manual control. Manual mode forces students to slow down and look at how their camera’s meter system works, how ƒ-stops and shutter speeds relate to each other, and what effects particular lens or shutter settings will have. Since students will be using manual controls frequently, easy access to the settings is critical. Look for a camera that has separate inputs for ƒ-stop and shutter speed and makes these controls readily accessible without having to dig through LCD-based menus. Minimal Shutter Lag While beginners will do fine without a flashy lens, they need a responsive camera. Developing good timing on the shutter release is an important skill for beginners, and it’s almost impossible with a slow-reacting camera. D-SLRs are quick, as are some of the latest advanced compacts. A shutter with minimal lag is essential for such student-staple techniques as panning, in which the camera is moved at the same rate as the subject to keep the subject sharp while rendering the background as a motion-blurred streak.   |
