DSLR Guide: Canon 5D Mark 2 (II) My personal guide to some of the important function of the Mark 2.

Im looking at the camera on the full manual setting. F-stop Control Dial: allows you to set the F-stop (the size of the aperture) this controls how much light comes into the camera. A sharp picture needs as much light as possible, so, in low light areas, it's best to choose a low f-stop number (f/1.8), opening the aperture to its biggest size. Changing the size of the aperture also alters the lens' depth of field (DOF). Lenses that are capable of very wide apertures (f/1.2 or f/1.8) are best for creating an extremely shallow depth of field, the closer you are to your subject, the more this effect is accentuated (see DOF). The opposite is true if you want deep DOF. When shooting a landscape use high f-stops in the range of f/16 or f/22, which will help keep objects in both the foreground and background in focus. Things to remember: With a high F-stop (F/22) the image quality decreases but more is in focus (think of it as less of the lens attention is being given to a specific target, its focus is shared, therefore reduced) A lower F/number (Large aperture hole) will give a shallower DOF, less foreground and background in focus. F/1.4 Large aperture = Small DOF A higher F/number (Small aperture hole) will give a deeper DOF, more foreground and background in focus. F/22 Small aperture = Large DOF

Shutter Speed The shutter speed Dial controls how long the camera shutter is open. When you slow down the shutter speed (1/30) it lets in more light, the danger is that your subject (or your hand) will move while the shutter is open, causing a blurred image. To combat this you can raise the ISO and this increased sensitivity which will allow you to keep a fast shutter speed but the sharpness of the image can suffer at faster shutter speeds. The lower the shutter speed the higher the detail and richer colours as the camera has more time to capture the information. Rough guide: 200mm lens = Shutter speed of 1/200 (or faster). If you have a tripod you can go lower as this will help with any camera shake. A fast shutter speed (1/2000) can capture a moving object, freezing it. A slow shutter speed (1/30) can create blur, capturing motion.

ISO ISO is film sensitivity: 100 least sensitive - 6400 most sensitive (more grain, less sharp) ISO button: Pressing this allows us to set our ISO. We use the wheel dial on the top to scroll through the settings. ISO (International Standards Organization): The image sensors sensitivity to light. The ISO speed controls the sensitivity of the sensor that absorbs the light. The higher the ISO speed (2000), the more sensitive the sensor is to light. The lowest ISO speed (100) is the least sensitive film, best used out doors or where ever there is lots of light. SO for outdoor shots in daylight, low-sensitivity ISO 100 is all you need because of the ample light, and with this setting you will get the sharpest image quality. The ISO setting becomes more of an issue in low-light conditions; if we increase the ISO we get more grain in the image (less sharp). One option is to slow down the shutter speed which will let in more light, but then the danger is that quick movements from your subject, while the shutter is open, will cause a blurred image. If you raise the ISO speed, the increased sensitivity allows you to keep a fast shutter speed but the sharpness of the image can suffer. ISO Speed L, 100 200 (most detail) 400 - 800 1600 6400 , H1, H2 Shooting Situation Sunny outdoors Overcast skies, evening Dark indoors or night

With ISO speeds its best to avoid: 125, 250, 500, 1000 because each of these creates noise. Key ISOs to use are 160, 320, 640, 1250, 2500. Depth of Field

Depth of field is how much of a subject is in acceptable focus. DOF - Depth of field depends on three things: Distance Focal Length Aperture (F-stop) Depth of Field Camera Camera Lens Focus point

Light from the subject reflects back from the focus point, through the lens back to the camera.

Imagine the cross over point of the object of interest When we move closer to the focal point, the light reflecting back to the camera, through the lens, becomes wider, shrinking the room in the DOF When we move further away from the focal point, the light reflecting back becomes shallow and we have a wider DOF Distance If we move the camera further away from the subject (our point of focus) we get a bigger DOF. As the camera moves further away the reflected light becomes increasingly shallow, which we can imagine squashes the depth of filed, increasing it.

So whats happening here is that as we move the camera further away from the subject the light reflecting back to the camera is squashed, this in turn extends the depth of field and to get a shallow DOF we move closer. This principal also extends to the Focal Length of the lens. If we have a small focal length, 50mm, the distance between the lens and camera is smaller which will give us a larger DOF . So if we increase the focal length, 200mm, we get a Smaller DOF. 50mm DOF 200mm DOF

Aperture (F-stop) This controls the Iris, the size of the hole that lets light enter the camera. When the size of the iris is small (f/16) less light can pass through the iris to the camera and this extends the depth of field. f/16

f/2.8

Subject

Focal Length

Aperture (F-stop)

Depth of Field

Far

Short

Small (large/higher number)

Close

Long

Large (small/lower number)

Shallow DOF: Large aperture (lower the number - f2.8 to f3.5) and long focal length (90mm+). Deep DOF: Small aperture (say f11 to f16) and short focal length (50mm-) Lower the F-stop (1.8) the smaller the DOF Higher the F-stop (22) the wider the DOF.

Note on lens Filters: UV filter: also good for protecting your lens. Neutral Density Filters: for bright sunny day where you might get over exposed shots. Can also be used to extend exposure time. Polarizing Filters: help get rid of reflections on glass or water etc. Reduce glare.

Note on White balance: For simplicity use presets use warmer setting if you want richer colours. In summary: The ISO speed controls how much light each exposure captures. The shutter speed controls how long the hole is open. Aperture controls the size of the hole. By adjusting these settings to different light conditions, we can get the clearest and sharpest shots.

DOF Examples (same focal length). Settings: F-stop F/22 Shutter Speed 1/30sec ISO 1250 Focal Length 50mm In this example we have a large depth of filed, the focus is on the upper window of the house, as we can see, the window frame through which I am shooting is almost in focus as well. Settings: F-stop F/1.8 Shutter Speed 1/320sec ISO 100 Focal Length 50mm In this example we have a very small depth of filed, the only thing in focus is the upper window of the house, everything else is blurry.

Useful Icon explanation chart: