Wendfd wrote:.

I have been trying to learn more about the manual controls on myCanon Powershot SD850 IS ultra compact camera and also aboutphotographic techniques generally..

What I am find confusing is when I read about adjusting the aperture,I can't see how to do this on my camera. The specification gives thefollowing range for my camera F2.8 - F5.5 but how do you make theseadjustments?.

You can't as that model doesn't have manual controls. The aperture range you quote refers to the zoom range, i.e. wide open the aperture is f/2.8, while at the 4x zoom telephoto end it narrows to f/5.5..

The things you can change are metering and sensitivity (ISO)..

If you want to progress to manual shooting with aperture and shutter priority you'll have to upgrade I'm afraid..

Alex.

Http://akiralx.smugmug.com/..

...on compact digital cameras with small sensors, the aperture doesn't usually make much of a difference anyway. There's so much depth of field at all apertures that the end result looks very similar at all apertures. IOW you're not really losing out on much by not having that control. If you want to play creatively with aperture control, you need a larger sensor (i.e. digital SLR)..

/Petterihttp://www.prime-junta.net/http://www.flickr.com/photos/primejunta/..

You may find that - if you can switch to scene modes - some of them adjust the aperture. For example on my little P&S the "Landscape" mode automatically sets the aperture to f/74 or thereabouts. You'll need to either read the instruction manual, which might just tell you, or else experiment a bit by taking pictures with and without the modes set and then looking at the EXIF data..

Regards, David..

Thanks for your replies,.

I realise the camera I have is pretty limited but I am trying to get the most out of it and learn as much as I can. Maybe next time I will buy something a bit more advanced. I do love the small size of the Canon 850, you can take it with you everywhere, which is one of the most important things for me..

The 850 does have exposure compensation (?) and long shutter mode, which I am trying to play around with. The confusing thing is that tutorials give different names for things and I am not sure if I have that feature or not. And each control seem to blend into the next.Basically I want to know..

Does the Exposure compensation adjust the shutter speed...

Wendfd wrote:.

[snip].

Does the Exposure compensation adjust the shutter speed..

Either shutter speed or aperture, depending on the circumstances..

/Petterihttp://www.prime-junta.net/http://www.flickr.com/photos/primejunta/..

Wendfd wrote:.

Does the Exposure compensation adjust the shutter speed..

If you set a minus EV you are telling the camera that you want less light hitting the sensor or a less bright picture. A plus EV of course tells it to let in more light. In most situations your camera will adjust both aperture and shutter speed to satisfy your request. If the aperture is all the way open it can work only with the speed..

Some people regularly take their photos at EV -0.3 or -0.7 to make sure they dont blow highlights. I adjust my EV only in reference to the histogram..

Another use for EV is in very bright situations like a ski slope or beach. The camera is trying to make everything normal and will actually take such a picture with too little light. A plus EV will make it look like a beach again. The opposite is true of something like a large black dog with spot metering. The exposure system will try to adjust to make him gray. You need a negative EV for some dark subjects. Just remember it is the opposite of what you might think it would need...