Over the course of 2 lessons we looked at the options on two different cameras. These cameras we're the Sony Z5, the other was the DSLR (Digital single lens reflex) camera the Canon Eos 550D. They were both set up on tripods in the room while Adam briefly showed us different features of the cameras. The different features were aperture/iris, shutter speed and gain. Adam let everyone have a go at doing each of the different things on the cameras.
Aperture/Iris
The aperture/Iris is how much light is let into the camera. The aperture and iris is a mechanical opening inside the camera that allows the user to control the amount of light that passes into it. When the opening is large, a lot of light can pass through making the image bright. When the opening is small, less light passes though making the image dark. Aperture values range from values like 1.8 to 32. 1.8 is a large hole to allow more light through, 32 is a small hole this lets less light in.
Shutter Speed
This controls how long the light is let in for. If the chip is exposed to light for a longer period of time, the picture will be lighter. Shutter speed ranges from 25-50 to 10000. 25 referring to 25th of a second - being a long time, and 10000 is a shorter period of time, which is good for capturing fast moving things. (eg sports) The side effect of a long exposure time results in an image that is less clear because of more stuff has taken place during that time. A short exposure time results in clearer images because there is less time for stuff to happened during the time of the exposure.
Gain/Film Speed
Gain in a video camera, Film speed for a still camera. The gain makes the camera to increase it's sensitivity and results in a brighter image. The film speed in a still camera does exactly the same but is measured in IOS, a relic from the analogue age. The downside of increasing the gain is that the picture becomes noisy.
Lights
The next lesson after we looked at setting we looked at lighting set ups. We looked at a three point lighting set up. There were 2 light in front of the person and 1 behind as a back light. On the lights we experimented with the barn doors and we put different filters over them.
