A Hello and few Newbie Questions

jnash4 · 06-30-2010, 06:53 PM

First off, HELLO!!!!

I look forward to hopefully becoming a productive member of these forums. My brand new Red K-X is currently being shipped with a delivery slated for tomorrow, yea it may be a bit flashy, but I'm that kind of guy lol. I ordered from fumfie.com its a little scary of a place, but I have zero complaints with them so far.

Now onto my initial 2 questions, which will assuredly be the first of many. Firstly, i see that the max shutter speed is 1/6000th of a second. Will the camera only achieve this speed with a prime/super fast/specific type of lens? Will the kit lens (which is the only one i will have for a few months) be able to reach these speeds? Secondly, I see that the iso can be 'Expandable' up to 12800, again, is this with a specific type of lens? How does one go about expanding the iso? I realize that the noise at this iso can be ridiculous, but I wanna play! lol

thanks in advance, and happy shooting to all of you!!

Nash

JeffJS · 06-30-2010, 07:58 PM

Nash, Welcome to the forums..

Your shutter speed is dependant on your aperture and ISO. Therefore, if your metered shot calls for it, that is what the camera will use. Conversely, you can Tell the camera to use it and may have to boost your ISO to achieve it. The kit lens is at best an f3.5 lens so that will be the only limiting factor in your decision.

That said, unless you are shooting nearly direct sunlight on a cloudless day, you will rarely need to go to 1/6000. The K7 goes to 1/8000 and I think I've used it twice.

Other than the speed of the lens (widest f stop), the specific lens is irrelevant to the ISO and Shutter speed. I recommend while you are waiting, you do some googling on Exposure as it relates to ISO, Shutter speed, and aperture.

Ken T · 06-30-2010, 08:07 PM

It seems like you will have too too many questions to ask, and some of those require alot of typing to explain clearly for you to understand . I would like to recommend you to get the book Understading Exposure by Bryan Peterson . After you understand about exposure you will not have too many questions to ask about speed, aperture, and ISO .

subeeds · 06-30-2010, 08:19 PM

You can also download the K-X manual and get a head start. That's what I did. welcome to the forum. BTW, read the manual bit by bit instead of trying to digest it all at once. I realize I need to know something, out comes the book. Need something else-go to the book. It's easier for me to "get" the answer that way. When I first saw the manual for the K-X, I was overwhelmed .

**interested_observer** · 06-30-2010, 11:08 PM

Also, while you are reading the on line manual waiting for your flashy red KX to come, here is a camera simulator to play around with, that along with some of the web sites may help.

Aperture, shutter and ISO value | SLR Camera Simulator

A couple of things to look at...

aperture - take a look at the right hand side next to the aperture slide and you see a simulated aperture. take the slide with your mouse and move it back and forth. Note that as the opening get larger the f stop value gets smaller, and the picture goes from over exposed to under exposed. This controls the amount of light the lens lets through into the sensor

Shutter - this is the amount of time the shutter is opened letting the light in from the lens. Aperture coupled with the shutter are 2 of the main controls. Note that you can check the link aperture shutter [box]. what this does is as you modify one - ie aperture, the shutter value will automatically adjust so that the picture exposure remains the same.

ISO value - this controls the sensitivity of the sensor. So if you open the aperture all the way wide open and expose for a long time, and make the sensor very sensitive (high value) you get a way over exposed picture - unless its very dark out and then it looks maybe ok. Make the sensor less sensitive, and the quality of the image gets better.

So what you can do is play with all of these and start to get an idea of the inter relationship of how each of these affect the other two.

Also note - that when aperture is wide open (small f value) the background is some what blurred,and when the aperture is stopped down (smaller opening and larger f value) the background becomes much sharper.

so enjoy!!!

**Rondec** · 07-01-2010, 03:55 AM

Your shutter speed has to do with how good the light is where you are shooting. Shooting in the middle of the day, with bright sunlight, even at f5.6 with the kit lens, your shutter speed will be pretty fast. The goal is really not to get to the maximum shutter speed. To freeze action, you really only need to be at 1/250 second or so, so anything faster won't really change your photo too much. The ability to shoot faster shutter speeds is more useful if you are trying to shoot a wide aperture lens wide open in good light.

Ira · 07-01-2010, 04:36 AM

Nash, here's an itty bitty primer. All of this is independent of the lens on there, so forget about the lens for now:

ISO = Sensitivity of Sensor

Lower number means less sensitive and requires more light for proper exposure. 1600 ISO will allow to you take a picture inside without a flash; 100 won't.

F Stop = Aperture

The smaller the number, the more light enters the lens. F4 lets in more light than F5.6. Your F stop affects your Depth of Field--amount of blur in front of and behind the main subject/focus point. We use different F stops to get the blur we want--or to NOT get any blur. The higher the number, the greater the DOF. So if we were real close to a butterfly and wanted to get as much of him in focus as possible, we would use F16 instead Of F2.

Shutter Speed = How long the shutter remains open.

Nothing complicated here, but too slow a shutter speed (more time it remains open), more difficult it is to catch a subject in motion. It will blur.

ALL THREE ELEMENTS COME INTO PLAY FOR CORRECT EXPOSURE, AND ALL EXPOSURES BELOW WILL GIVE YOU SAME LIGHT EXPOSURE
(But remember that depth of fields will vary)

ISO 100...F8...125th of a second shutter speed
ISO 200...F11...125th of a second
ISO 200...F8...250th of a second

It's a little complicated as to F stops, because while 1/60th of a second lets in twice as much light as 1/125th of a second, for F stops, F5.6 lets in twice as much light as F8.

It's not pure math for that, but in time, you learn that each major number on your aperture ring is a full (F) stop.

Marc Sabatella · 07-01-2010, 12:53 PM

The larger question is, why are you concerned with the max shutter speed? It's an extremely rare situation where this comes up. If you're thinking an even faster shutter speed would help stop motion, I'd observe a couple of things:

- most motion doens't require *nearly* those kind of shutter speeds to stop
- when you encounter situatin where you really do need that kind of speed to stop motion, flash (which typically has extremely short duration) is usually a better way of doing that than relying on the shutter speed. That way you don't have to crank up ISO or shoot wider open than you want.

06-30-2010, 06:53 PM	#1
jnash4 New Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Ohio/Pennsylvania Posts: 1	A Hello and few Newbie Questions First off, HELLO!!!! I look forward to hopefully becoming a productive member of these forums. My brand new Red K-X is currently being shipped with a delivery slated for tomorrow, yea it may be a bit flashy, but I'm that kind of guy lol. I ordered from fumfie.com its a little scary of a place, but I have zero complaints with them so far. Now onto my initial 2 questions, which will assuredly be the first of many. Firstly, i see that the max shutter speed is 1/6000th of a second. Will the camera only achieve this speed with a prime/super fast/specific type of lens? Will the kit lens (which is the only one i will have for a few months) be able to reach these speeds? Secondly, I see that the iso can be 'Expandable' up to 12800, again, is this with a specific type of lens? How does one go about expanding the iso? I realize that the noise at this iso can be ridiculous, but I wanna play! lol thanks in advance, and happy shooting to all of you!! Nash

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06-30-2010, 07:58 PM	#2
JeffJS Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,484	Nash, Welcome to the forums.. Your shutter speed is dependant on your aperture and ISO. Therefore, if your metered shot calls for it, that is what the camera will use. Conversely, you can Tell the camera to use it and may have to boost your ISO to achieve it. The kit lens is at best an f3.5 lens so that will be the only limiting factor in your decision. That said, unless you are shooting nearly direct sunlight on a cloudless day, you will rarely need to go to 1/6000. The K7 goes to 1/8000 and I think I've used it twice. Other than the speed of the lens (widest f stop), the specific lens is irrelevant to the ISO and Shutter speed. I recommend while you are waiting, you do some googling on Exposure as it relates to ISO, Shutter speed, and aperture.

06-30-2010, 08:07 PM	#3
Ken T Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: California, USA Posts: 536	It seems like you will have too too many questions to ask, and some of those require alot of typing to explain clearly for you to understand . I would like to recommend you to get the book Understading Exposure by Bryan Peterson . After you understand about exposure you will not have too many questions to ask about speed, aperture, and ISO .

06-30-2010, 08:19 PM	#4
subeeds Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Camden County, Ga. Photos: Gallery Posts: 333	You can also download the K-X manual and get a head start. That's what I did. welcome to the forum. BTW, read the manual bit by bit instead of trying to digest it all at once. I realize I need to know something, out comes the book. Need something else-go to the book. It's easier for me to "get" the answer that way. When I first saw the manual for the K-X, I was overwhelmed .

06-30-2010, 11:08 PM	#5
interested_observer Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Tumbleweed, Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,707	Also, while you are reading the on line manual waiting for your flashy red KX to come, here is a camera simulator to play around with, that along with some of the web sites may help. Aperture, shutter and ISO value \| SLR Camera Simulator A couple of things to look at... aperture - take a look at the right hand side next to the aperture slide and you see a simulated aperture. take the slide with your mouse and move it back and forth. Note that as the opening get larger the f stop value gets smaller, and the picture goes from over exposed to under exposed. This controls the amount of light the lens lets through into the sensor Shutter - this is the amount of time the shutter is opened letting the light in from the lens. Aperture coupled with the shutter are 2 of the main controls. Note that you can check the link aperture shutter [box]. what this does is as you modify one - ie aperture, the shutter value will automatically adjust so that the picture exposure remains the same. ISO value - this controls the sensitivity of the sensor. So if you open the aperture all the way wide open and expose for a long time, and make the sensor very sensitive (high value) you get a way over exposed picture - unless its very dark out and then it looks maybe ok. Make the sensor less sensitive, and the quality of the image gets better. So what you can do is play with all of these and start to get an idea of the inter relationship of how each of these affect the other two. Also note - that when aperture is wide open (small f value) the background is some what blurred,and when the aperture is stopped down (smaller opening and larger f value) the background becomes much sharper. so enjoy!!!

07-01-2010, 03:55 AM	#6
Rondec Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Gladys, Virginia Photos: Gallery Posts: 27,653	Your shutter speed has to do with how good the light is where you are shooting. Shooting in the middle of the day, with bright sunlight, even at f5.6 with the kit lens, your shutter speed will be pretty fast. The goal is really not to get to the maximum shutter speed. To freeze action, you really only need to be at 1/250 second or so, so anything faster won't really change your photo too much. The ability to shoot faster shutter speeds is more useful if you are trying to shoot a wide aperture lens wide open in good light.

07-01-2010, 04:36 AM	#7
Ira Inactive Account Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Coral Springs, FL Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,216	Nash, here's an itty bitty primer. All of this is independent of the lens on there, so forget about the lens for now: ISO = Sensitivity of Sensor Lower number means less sensitive and requires more light for proper exposure. 1600 ISO will allow to you take a picture inside without a flash; 100 won't. F Stop = Aperture The smaller the number, the more light enters the lens. F4 lets in more light than F5.6. Your F stop affects your Depth of Field--amount of blur in front of and behind the main subject/focus point. We use different F stops to get the blur we want--or to NOT get any blur. The higher the number, the greater the DOF. So if we were real close to a butterfly and wanted to get as much of him in focus as possible, we would use F16 instead Of F2. Shutter Speed = How long the shutter remains open. Nothing complicated here, but too slow a shutter speed (more time it remains open), more difficult it is to catch a subject in motion. It will blur. ALL THREE ELEMENTS COME INTO PLAY FOR CORRECT EXPOSURE, AND ALL EXPOSURES BELOW WILL GIVE YOU SAME LIGHT EXPOSURE (But remember that depth of fields will vary) ISO 100...F8...125th of a second shutter speed ISO 200...F11...125th of a second ISO 200...F8...250th of a second It's a little complicated as to F stops, because while 1/60th of a second lets in twice as much light as 1/125th of a second, for F stops, F5.6 lets in twice as much light as F8. It's not pure math for that, but in time, you learn that each major number on your aperture ring is a full (F) stop.

07-01-2010, 12:53 PM	#8
Marc Sabatella Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Denver, CO Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,685	The larger question is, why are you concerned with the max shutter speed? It's an extremely rare situation where this comes up. If you're thinking an even faster shutter speed would help stop motion, I'd observe a couple of things: - most motion doens't require nearly those kind of shutter speeds to stop - when you encounter situatin where you really do need that kind of speed to stop motion, flash (which typically has extremely short duration) is usually a better way of doing that than relying on the shutter speed. That way you don't have to crank up ISO or shoot wider open than you want.