Whether Nikon, Canon, Sony or Olympus; the main DSLR settings are similar. Automatic settings sometimes don't work well. If time permits, manual settings are more reliable. This means fewer wasted photos, more and better "keepers."
The settings that will most affect the image quality of a photo are:
- Camera ISO sensitivity.
- High ISO noise reduction level.
- Color balance.
- Shutter speed.
- Lens aperture.
Other settings, such as sharpening, color saturation and contrast; are less critical and can be adjusted later with a photo editor on a PC. The default DSLR settings are good enough.
Digital Camera ISO Settings
This is the simplest and most powerful setting to change.
In many situations, the lack of light is the limiting factor that determines image quality. Increasing the ISO allows faster shutter speeds to be used, reducing camera-shake and object motion-blur. Consumer zooms with their f3.5-5.6 lenses are especially in need of higher ISOs.
The higher the ISO, the higher the "noise" (looks like static or snow). For cropped sensor DSLRs, ISO 400 is a good compromise, general-purpose default ISO to set. Noise is minimal and shutter speeds 4 times faster can be used, compared to ISO 100.
If the shutter speed drops below 1/30 or 1/60 seconds (1/125 to 1/500 for telephoto sports photos), the ISO should be increased to 800 or 1600 (up to 3200 for full frame DSLRs). There will be more noise, but that's better than motion-blur.
Most digital SLRs have a High ISO Noise Reduction setting. Pushing it to the highest level hides the most noise, but blurs details more. This is usually a good compromise as noise is more noticeable, distracting and objectionable.
Low-light and Indoor Camera Settings
This calls for high ISO (see above) and wide-open, maximum aperture (smallest f-number). Either aperture-priority or manual exposure can be used. ISO is increased until a reasonable shutter speed is obtained.
Manual exposure is useful indoors and at night because:
- Tricky, uneven lighting (small bright spots) can throw off auto-exposure.
- The exposure doesn't change much over time (unlike sunlight, which can have varying cloud cover).
Color white balance should be set manually (fluorescent, incandescent) because auto color balance is often unreliable. Some DSLRs allow plus/minus fine adjustment of fluorescent/incandescent balance. Setting color temperature and using manual-preset (the camera instruction manual will have details) are good alternatives.
Bright Light Camera Settings
For outdoor, sunlit photos, ISO 100 is used to create low-noise images. Aperture is set to about f5.6 or f8 (for good depth of field) and the shutter speed varied to match the exposure (automatically using aperture-priority mode, or manually using manual mode).
Camera Settings for Portraits
The classic portrait style is to throw the background out of focus (shallow depth of field), to concentrate attention on to the person. This is achieved with a combination of:
- Large aperture.
- Long focal length.
Good lenses to use are 50mm or 85mm f1.8 or f1.4 primes. The lenses are used wide open, but may have to be stopped down in bright sunlight (ISO 100, 1/4000 seconds and f1.4 results in over-exposure) unless a neutral-density filter is used.
Consumer f4-5.6 55-200mm or 75-300mm zooms can also be used. Though lacking in aperture, using these zooms at maximum focal length will also create shallow depth of field. The photographer needs to move back 30 to 50 feet.
Wedding Photography Camera Settings
Wedding photography is a combination of portrait and indoor low-light photography. Photographers should follow the portrait and indoor settings outlined above.
Camera Settings for Sports
When photographing sporting events, High shutter speeds are needed:
- To freeze the motion of fast-moving objects (panning the camera to follow the object, helps).
- To reduce camera-shake, magnified by the long focal lengths used.
Standard advice for full frame cameras is to use a shutter speed at least as fast as the focal length. A 200mm lens requires 1/200 seconds or faster. However:
- On cropped sensor DSLRs, the focal length needs to be multiplied by 1.5.
- Image stabilization lenses will allow lower shutter speeds to be used, perhaps 4 to 8 times (2 to 3 stops) lower. Some experimentation is required.
Even though it is the shutter speed that is important, it is still easier to use aperture-priority mode (or manual mode) with the aperture wide-open. The ISO is increased until the desired shutter speed is reached.
Manual Exposure Shutter and Aperture Camera Settings
From the examples above, it can be seen that there is no single best setting for manual exposure. It depends on the situation. Manual exposure is used:
- With tricky, uneven lighting.
- When the brightness doesn't change much.
The Best Camera Settings
The more light, the better. Using large-aperture prime lenses, boosting ISO, or using flash gives the photographer more room to maneuver.
As light is often limited, setting the largest possible aperture is a good default technique to use. The exception is in bright sunlight.
Yuen Kit Mun - Kit Mun is a self-confessed information junkie, reading an average of a book a week over the past two decades. His growing Internet ...
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