question...

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Permalink Reply by William J. Dabovich on January 24, 2012 at 5:31pm

One starting place you can try are these settings I use for weddings.

All of these settings are dependent on using a speedlight either in the hot shoe, on a bracket or off camera at a lateral length of no more than 2 feet from the camera. Speedlight is typically set at TTL and 10 feet from subject.  White balance set to Auto

Sunny (bright lighting): ISO 200, Shutter: 1/400 or 1/500, Use aperture to dial in the exposure.

Indoors/dinner/reception (medium lighting): ISO 800, Shutter 1/80 or 1/125, Use Aperture to dial in exposure.

Indoors/dancing (dark lighting/little to know ambient light): ISO 1000 to 1600, Shutter 1/50 or 1/60, again use Aperture to dial in exposure. 

Keep in mind this is just a starting point to get the right exposure and a quick reference. Also remember once you get the exposure, if you want to change the settings for various desired effects if you increase shutter speed (darken), you also must change a setting (brighten) to keep same/similar exposure (ie increase ISO or widen aperture).

Hope this helps. 

Permalink Reply by Johnnie Jackson on January 25, 2012 at 4:07pm

Thanks for the good info..

Permalink Reply by Fred on January 24, 2012 at 10:46pm

Mmm, very difficult to answer this question.

White Balance, well a lot of people are going to suggest "auto" but Nikons' auto can give you problems especially if you have the camera on jpeg, nefs are no problem - set the white balance to the situation, especially indoors. I normally set white balance to cloudy until I step indoors then it is either flash or incandescence but as I always have the camera on nef, I have no problems.

Aperture, speed and ISO will give you your correct exposure, alter one of these settings and you alter the exposure. There is no correct setting only bad exposure. Shutter speed depends on what lens you are using and what camera you are using. Basically you need a speed of 1. 5 the length of the lens, so if you are using a 50mm lens you need a shutter speed of 75. With that in mind set the camera to ISO 200 and A, what shutter speed do you have? Now alter the A to get a shutter speed of 75, now what is the A setting? has the number changed from f/2.8 to f/22?

ISO the lower the setting 200 will give you the least noise making the number higher, 800, will increase noise, go over 1000 and the noise gets worse but this can be beneficial if you want black and white.

A little exercise for you to carry out and look at the difference on screen. Place an object, please do not use a human as they will walk away, in front of you. Set the camera to ISO 200 and A to f./2.8 take a shot, now move the f/2.8 to the next number, keep repeating this until you get to f/22, now adjust ISO to 400 and carry out the same procedure down to f/2.8, then move the ISO to 800. By now you should be seeing a difference in the view finder. Carry this out until you get to your highest ISO number. Now place all those pictures on your computer and look at each one, what is acceptable and what is not, be very critical.

Have fun.

Permalink Reply by Johnnie Jackson on January 25, 2012 at 4:20pm

Thanks for the info Fred

Permalink Reply by Mike Noble on January 25, 2012 at 4:02am

Johnnie,

Think of the settings on your camera as a "tool set." There are no specific settings for different situations. You, as the photographer, analyze the situation, decide what result you want, and set the camera accordingly. In order to do so, you should have a firm grasp of the basics of photography. You have to understand how ISO, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, etc., work together to create what YOU want. It is also necessary for you to understand the way light works. This is the medium in which we work. Eventually this should all be second nature to you.

So if you are new to photography, I suggest you pick up a book that will take you through the basics. Only then will you be able to use your camera with confidence and obtain the results you want. The camera doesn't make pictures, you do.

Good luck with your learning!

Mike

Permalink Reply by Solomon Elohor Abe on January 25, 2012 at 6:09am

i would say that there is nor fix value, it varies base on the quantity and quality of light around @ the point of time you are taking the shot...

i would advice you keep trying and play around with them... u will get use to it and what is what about them...