This was a great overview, though I wish you'd gotten a bit deeper into the physics of the linkage between aperture and depth of field, especially since most coverage of the topic stops right about where you did. It seems a lot of people are really unclear on things once it gets to that point, so coverage in your very direct style might be helpful, though I suppose that would also necessitate a much more extensive look at how lenses focus light as well. Whatever the case, thanks for the video!
Something I learned in my my first year of photography was surprising and still there is mixed agreement on the topic. When using a full body lens on a crop sensor camera 1) the field of view is multiplied by around 1.4 or 1.5 and 2) the aperture will change likewise, example a 2.8 aperture will be a 4.0 f stop on a crop sensor body. I use full frame bodies exclusively now but several years ago I had both full and crop sensor. I still can't get my head around that aperture concept, the opening size never changes but it must be its relationship to the crop sensor size. Thanks David.
Back ro basics is always great to recover the knowlege we same forget witth all the tech the newer cameras have plus it adds to our creative choice to our images instead of using all the bells and whistle that the camera has which can be handy Creative control is the key and knowlege of it opens the door Other well covered subject David Thanks
Another good reason for shooting around f8/9 or higher is macro work. You generally want your subject sharp and in focus. I've taken plenty of macro photos wide open as well as closed down to f11. It really depends on the subject and look I'm going for.
Great overview of the aperture! I recently moved from Nikon to Fuji. I shoot wildlife and sports. Fuji's only long tele is a 150-600 f5.6-8.0. I wish they offered a larger aperture option... but I have found that shooting at f8 in some instances I like some of my pictures better since more of the subjects (especially a baseball batter and catcher) are both in focus.
Good piece. I like the idea of a similar takeout on ISO, especially with the better sensors that are in most mirrorless cameras now. I'd also like to hear your tips about how you digitize your color (and BW) negatives using a macro lens. Lot of different ways to do this, it seems, but any info, especially about lighting the negative and what you use for a negative holder to get it perfectly flat, would be helpful. Thx
@@DavidBergmanPhoto Thanks, that helps. I have that lens and love its sharpness and close-use abilities. I'd welcome some further guidance on those other things needed for film scanning -- best light box for the money, but especially the best film holder. Getting the negative flat seems key, and maybe whether there's an optimum aperture for film copying. Maybe a future Ask DB video for all us nerdy former film users?
I am diggin' these Back to the Basics videos. At "Shoot from the pit" you emphasized the importance of having full control over your camera's exposure. But there is one setting you allow the camera to set . . . auto white balance. Shooting raw, you can adjust the white balance in post, but is there value in shooting with an exact color temperature? In a concert scenario, maybe the kelvin of the primary spotlights? Cheers!
One big advantage of shooting manual color temperature is being able to have a bunch of shots match, which will be important if you want to use them together, though it also can just simplify batch processing as well. In an automatic mode, the camera will often introduce shot-to-shot variations.
The only advantage is that you can see the color on your camera screen playback. But you know I rarely look at that screen, so no benefit for me there. There is no loss of quality setting it in post from the raw file, so I'd rather take the time to make the adjustment on a big screen after the show.
It's all appreciated, but let's get the terminology right. "Aperture" literally means "opening" and compares to the "pupil" in the human eye. The size (diameter) of that opening determines how much light can pass. While in the human eye the thing that facilitates the varying opening is called "iris", this is called the "diaphragm" in a lens. The "f/number" expresses, as David says, aperture as a fraction of f-focal length. In the "f/number" the "number" represents the diameter of the opening in the pupil (diaphragm). Because the amount of light coming through relates to the area of the opening, the numbers have a square-root-of-two relation. What can be very important to be aware of, is that the f/number gives a geometric relation between two dimensions and this abstracts away from how much light is actually coming through the glass of the lens. Especially in the movie industry, movie photographers prefer to replace the f/number by the T-stop that works "transmission" into the number. You can see this for the lenses tested by DxOMark and there you may see that one brand's 1.2L lens has a T-stop of T-1.5 at f/1.2 while another brand's 1.4G lens has a T-stop of T-1.5 at f/1.4. You may have the illusion to have bought an f/1.2 lens because it is very fast, but may be misled. As your camera measures light through that lens, you generally do not become aware of this. But the 1.2 lens surely has shallower depth of field (DoF), you now think. That's another mirage. DoF depends on f/number, focal length and distance, true, but that is not an absolute formula and there is another parameter that brings in the relativity: the Circle of Confusion (CoC). Most DoF calculators abstract that CoC away and their results are almost meaningless. Get the formula from the interwebs, put it in a spreadsheet and play with the CoC and you'll see dramatic differences. The CoC references the diameter of a circle in your depicted image where you become uncertain if you have sharpness or not. It is a mixed bag that ties together: (1) film/sensor resolution, (2) processing, (3) lens resolution, (4) image depiction size, and (5) viewing distance between onlooker and depicted image. We could add (6) depiction resolution to this, given that we often use monitors/displays to look at our images. My digital camera's firmware "knows" (1) and (3) and can work that into the DoF displayed on my lens's display, but it does not know (2) & (4) & (5) - and in that sense I need to apply grains of salt to what I read on my lens. Another thing that is "relative" with the aperture, is the actual number. In classical lens designs it is only valid when the lens is set at "infinity" distance. Focus such a lens closer by and the focal length gets longer, hence the f in "f/number" gets bigger, becoming f'. As the diameter of the aperture does not change, the "number" in "f/number" thus becomes "number' ". With a lens of 110mm at infinity and an aperture of 10mm diameter, the number in 110/number must be 11 because 110/11=10. Now imagine that the focal length becomes 120 because you focus closer by, but the physical aperture still is 10mm and this then means that 120/number'=10 - so the actual aperture is f/12. The varying focal length is relatively well known and the effect is called "focus breathing". While a cinematographer may find that annoying, they might find the associated "aperture breathing" more annoying. Cine lenses avoid focus breathing by compensating focusing (distance) changes with a zoom effect that keeps the image angle constant. Simply put, the cine lens tries to stay 110mm when you focus closer by and consequently the effective aperture - i.e. exposure - does not change. That "aperture breathing" may not be relevant in concert shoots from the pit where everything is farther away than, say, 10' (3 meters), but in other use cases it can be something to take into account. Also, the T-stop becomes relevant when we shoot with manual exposure with different lenses, when we assume we can copy the exposure setting from a photographer with another brand/model camera, when we base exposure on a handheld meter, etc. And, different brands of cameras - the ISO institute never defined "correct exposure" with the ISO unit and Canon, Nikon, and Sony have different opinions on what is "correct exposure". In the film past, we had the Eastman Kodak company setting the standard with its worldwide dominance of the photographic market.
A critical concept missed by this video (and camera manufacturers): lens performance has a bell-like curve against aperture. Shooting wide open is almost never going to produce optimal image quality: knowing how far to stop down each lens in order to maximise your results can fundamentally change how you shoot.
Excellent i love it, but i still want to know whats the difference in manual focusing and auto focusing i think its another episode u shld nail, beginners will love your channel, many photographers out there struggle to take sharp photos some use autofocus and some use manual focus. My question is which one is better auto or manual?
I know there have been a lot of questions but I have one more. At around 2:15-2:18 you said the aperture opens when you take a picture then closes back down to be ready for the next picture. Does the aperture really do that as well as the shutter/curtains moving? That seems like a lot of mechanical movement. Just wondering, if you get time. Thank you.
Still, I can't find the sweet spot for an old camera that doesn't do well with high iso. With an open or wide aperture, the image gets too soft. Slow shutter speed will result in a blurry image most of the time..
Thanks David! Would love a refresher on the ISO as well.
This was a great overview, though I wish you'd gotten a bit deeper into the physics of the linkage between aperture and depth of field, especially since most coverage of the topic stops right about where you did. It seems a lot of people are really unclear on things once it gets to that point, so coverage in your very direct style might be helpful, though I suppose that would also necessitate a much more extensive look at how lenses focus light as well. Whatever the case, thanks for the video!
It's a very deep rabbit hole. :) I've done a couple of videos that go a little deeper. Here's one: ua-cam.com/video/rNdR-k28vZ8/v-deo.html
Something I learned in my my first year of photography was surprising and still there is mixed agreement on the topic. When using a full body lens on a crop sensor camera 1) the field of view is multiplied by around 1.4 or 1.5 and 2) the aperture will change likewise, example a 2.8 aperture will be a 4.0 f stop on a crop sensor body. I use full frame bodies exclusively now but several years ago I had both full and crop sensor. I still can't get my head around that aperture concept, the opening size never changes but it must be its relationship to the crop sensor size. Thanks David.
I did a video about this exact issue ua-cam.com/video/rNdR-k28vZ8/v-deo.html
Back ro basics is always great to recover the knowlege we same forget witth all the tech the newer cameras have plus it adds to our creative choice to our images instead of using all the bells and whistle that the camera has which can be handy Creative control is the key and knowlege of it opens the door Other well covered subject David Thanks
Another good reason for shooting around f8/9 or higher is macro work. You generally want your subject sharp and in focus. I've taken plenty of macro photos wide open as well as closed down to f11. It really depends on the subject and look I'm going for.
True!
I taught a workshop recently and just realized how much people need to know this information. Great Job David.
Great overview of the aperture! I recently moved from Nikon to Fuji. I shoot wildlife and sports. Fuji's only long tele is a 150-600 f5.6-8.0. I wish they offered a larger aperture option... but I have found that shooting at f8 in some instances I like some of my pictures better since more of the subjects (especially a baseball batter and catcher) are both in focus.
An iso refresher court would be great David thanks
Love your informative videos, David. Thank you for your effort and straight forward teaching style.
This was great--would like to see the ISO refresher too.
Good piece. I like the idea of a similar takeout on ISO, especially with the better sensors that are in most mirrorless cameras now. I'd also like to hear your tips about how you digitize your color (and BW) negatives using a macro lens. Lot of different ways to do this, it seems, but any info, especially about lighting the negative and what you use for a negative holder to get it perfectly flat, would be helpful. Thx
I addressed it a bit here: ua-cam.com/video/lcxaQMDeRks/v-deo.html
@@DavidBergmanPhoto Thanks, that helps. I have that lens and love its sharpness and close-use abilities. I'd welcome some further guidance on those other things needed for film scanning -- best light box for the money, but especially the best film holder. Getting the negative flat seems key, and maybe whether there's an optimum aperture for film copying. Maybe a future Ask DB video for all us nerdy former film users?
Please tell us about digitizing the negatives. Excellent video today.
I am diggin' these Back to the Basics videos. At "Shoot from the pit" you emphasized the importance of having full control over your camera's exposure. But there is one setting you allow the camera to set . . . auto white balance. Shooting raw, you can adjust the white balance in post, but is there value in shooting with an exact color temperature? In a concert scenario, maybe the kelvin of the primary spotlights? Cheers!
One big advantage of shooting manual color temperature is being able to have a bunch of shots match, which will be important if you want to use them together, though it also can just simplify batch processing as well. In an automatic mode, the camera will often introduce shot-to-shot variations.
The only advantage is that you can see the color on your camera screen playback. But you know I rarely look at that screen, so no benefit for me there. There is no loss of quality setting it in post from the raw file, so I'd rather take the time to make the adjustment on a big screen after the show.
@@DavidBergmanPhoto Thanks for "Talking me down" . . . now back to my efforts to master the "Bergman brightness button." 👍
This was the perfect, condensed yet informative refresher I needed. Thanks!
What a great informative video, thanks David, it's classic💐
It's all appreciated, but let's get the terminology right. "Aperture" literally means "opening" and compares to the "pupil" in the human eye. The size (diameter) of that opening determines how much light can pass. While in the human eye the thing that facilitates the varying opening is called "iris", this is called the "diaphragm" in a lens. The "f/number" expresses, as David says, aperture as a fraction of f-focal length. In the "f/number" the "number" represents the diameter of the opening in the pupil (diaphragm). Because the amount of light coming through relates to the area of the opening, the numbers have a square-root-of-two relation.
What can be very important to be aware of, is that the f/number gives a geometric relation between two dimensions and this abstracts away from how much light is actually coming through the glass of the lens. Especially in the movie industry, movie photographers prefer to replace the f/number by the T-stop that works "transmission" into the number. You can see this for the lenses tested by DxOMark and there you may see that one brand's 1.2L lens has a T-stop of T-1.5 at f/1.2 while another brand's 1.4G lens has a T-stop of T-1.5 at f/1.4.
You may have the illusion to have bought an f/1.2 lens because it is very fast, but may be misled. As your camera measures light through that lens, you generally do not become aware of this.
But the 1.2 lens surely has shallower depth of field (DoF), you now think. That's another mirage. DoF depends on f/number, focal length and distance, true, but that is not an absolute formula and there is another parameter that brings in the relativity: the Circle of Confusion (CoC). Most DoF calculators abstract that CoC away and their results are almost meaningless. Get the formula from the interwebs, put it in a spreadsheet and play with the CoC and you'll see dramatic differences. The CoC references the diameter of a circle in your depicted image where you become uncertain if you have sharpness or not. It is a mixed bag that ties together: (1) film/sensor resolution, (2) processing, (3) lens resolution, (4) image depiction size, and (5) viewing distance between onlooker and depicted image. We could add (6) depiction resolution to this, given that we often use monitors/displays to look at our images. My digital camera's firmware "knows" (1) and (3) and can work that into the DoF displayed on my lens's display, but it does not know (2) & (4) & (5) - and in that sense I need to apply grains of salt to what I read on my lens.
Another thing that is "relative" with the aperture, is the actual number. In classical lens designs it is only valid when the lens is set at "infinity" distance. Focus such a lens closer by and the focal length gets longer, hence the f in "f/number" gets bigger, becoming f'. As the diameter of the aperture does not change, the "number" in "f/number" thus becomes "number' ". With a lens of 110mm at infinity and an aperture of 10mm diameter, the number in 110/number must be 11 because 110/11=10. Now imagine that the focal length becomes 120 because you focus closer by, but the physical aperture still is 10mm and this then means that 120/number'=10 - so the actual aperture is f/12. The varying focal length is relatively well known and the effect is called "focus breathing". While a cinematographer may find that annoying, they might find the associated "aperture breathing" more annoying. Cine lenses avoid focus breathing by compensating focusing (distance) changes with a zoom effect that keeps the image angle constant. Simply put, the cine lens tries to stay 110mm when you focus closer by and consequently the effective aperture - i.e. exposure - does not change.
That "aperture breathing" may not be relevant in concert shoots from the pit where everything is farther away than, say, 10' (3 meters), but in other use cases it can be something to take into account. Also, the T-stop becomes relevant when we shoot with manual exposure with different lenses, when we assume we can copy the exposure setting from a photographer with another brand/model camera, when we base exposure on a handheld meter, etc. And, different brands of cameras - the ISO institute never defined "correct exposure" with the ISO unit and Canon, Nikon, and Sony have different opinions on what is "correct exposure". In the film past, we had the Eastman Kodak company setting the standard with its worldwide dominance of the photographic market.
Outstanding, David. Keep them coming…
As a wildlife shooter I shoot in Tv with auto Av and ISO. For BIF manual is too slow to adjust (for me) and the camera is smarter than I am.
A critical concept missed by this video (and camera manufacturers): lens performance has a bell-like curve against aperture. Shooting wide open is almost never going to produce optimal image quality: knowing how far to stop down each lens in order to maximise your results can fundamentally change how you shoot.
Your Videos are outstanding Thank You for them.
As always, great video!
Excellent i love it, but i still want to know whats the difference in manual focusing and auto focusing i think its another episode u shld nail, beginners will love your channel, many photographers out there struggle to take sharp photos some use autofocus and some use manual focus. My question is which one is better auto or manual?
David around 14:00 you also mention shooting negatives. What setup are you using to digitize your negatives. I have a ton of film I need to digitize.
I might do this in a future video. :)
@@DavidBergmanPhoto "ASK DAVID BERGMAN" Ab Sesay Asks's how do you digitize your negatives? Excited for this one.
8:40 slow down your shutter speed to compensate for a larger aperture? I am confused
I misspoke. I sped it up!
I know there have been a lot of questions but I have one more. At around 2:15-2:18 you said the aperture opens when you take a picture then closes back down to be ready for the next picture. Does the aperture really do that as well as the shutter/curtains moving? That seems like a lot of mechanical movement. Just wondering, if you get time. Thank you.
Yes! It's quite amazing to think about everything that happens when you push the shutter button.
😊
8:43 you had to raise your shutter speed, not as you stated. Right?
Oops! Yes - you're right.
Hi david. I notice at 8:38 you said that f4 is 4 stop brighter than f16. And why you slowdown your shutter for 4 stop 😅
My mistake - sorry! Yes, I sped up my shutter speed.
@David Bergman no worries, you are one of my online mentor. Thanks bro
Still, I can't find the sweet spot for an old camera that doesn't do well with high iso. With an open or wide aperture, the image gets too soft. Slow shutter speed will result in a blurry image most of the time..
It's always a give-and-take.
what aspect ratio is used in the various art photo. Magazine, newspaper, website, social media, portraits, landscape, street photograph
Each one is different! I like to shoot 2x3 and then crop for each use if needed.
At about 8:45 you said slow down my shutter speed to let less light in. Didn’t you mean speed up the shutter speed?
Oops - yes! I misspoke....
@@DavidBergmanPhoto Thanks. So often I mishear, but I wanted to make sure.
What the f/ ???
Great gouge! Thanks