47 votes

Why exactly do action photographers need high fps burst cameras?

Because there is a lot happening in a short timeframe (movement phases of a fast animal or athlete), and you want to photograph it all and/or the exact timing of the relevant event cannot be ...
rackandboneman's user avatar
40 votes

Why does my camera hesitate when shooting?

What you are describing is shutter lag. When you press the shutter release, the camera must focus before exposing the image. There are many ways of avoiding this. The easiest is to half-press the ...
MikeW's user avatar
  • 33.3k
39 votes
Accepted

Why exactly do action photographers need high fps burst cameras?

Strictly speaking, one does not need high FPS burst modes for sports or wildlife, but rather they are useful tools that open up more options. I've shot sports in the last few years with a Canon 7D, ...
TheLuckless's user avatar
  • 2,315
32 votes
Accepted

Why doesn't the picture become darker the more you zoom in?

The answer to this question revolves around explaining how zoom lenses function because you are correct in your observation: As you zoom to higher and higher magnifications the image dims unless ...
Alan Marcus's user avatar
  • 38.7k
22 votes

Is camera lens focus an exact point or a range?

There's only one distance that is in sharpest focus. Everything in front of or behind that distance is blurry. The further we move away from the focus distance, the blurrier things get. The questions ...
Michael C's user avatar
  • 175k
18 votes
Accepted

How to choose a good smartphone if the top priority of the user is photography?

If you're on a tight budget and want to get the best "bang for the buck" you need to select the phone that has a camera with strengths in the areas you need them the most while letting go of other ...
Michael C's user avatar
  • 175k
18 votes
Accepted

Since the speed of light is so high, why does shutter speed even matter?

why does shutter speed modify picture sharpness/detail? Why do pictures get darker with faster shutter speeds, and brighter with slower shutter speeds? These things happen because the light sensor in ...
Caleb's user avatar
  • 31.7k
17 votes
Accepted

How do SLR lenses connect to the body?

if I use the auto-focus, does it adjust the lens focus, or is there a secondary lens in the body that gets adjusted? No, there's no secondary lens. The lens attached to the camera contains a motor ...
Caleb's user avatar
  • 31.7k
17 votes

Why exactly do action photographers need high fps burst cameras?

In addition to all the correct answers about how fast action occurs, I'd like to point out two fundamental biological reasons for why you need burst: 100ms. This is the fastest we can react to a ...
Cort Ammon's user avatar
15 votes

How can a lens with a single focal length focus on more than one plane?

First, focal length is a property of a lens (by lens I mean a piece of plastic or glass that's inside your camera's photographic lens system). If you just have a single lens (think magnifying glass) ...
naktinis's user avatar
  • 251
14 votes

Why do moving objects in photos appear blurry?

First, I'll talk about what cameras do normally, then about how motion affects this operation. In order for an image to be sharp and in focus, all light coming from a single point on the object being ...
Mark H's user avatar
  • 301
13 votes

Why are the color spaces we have access to incomplete?

First Question If all colors are combinations of red, green and blue, and my monitor's pixels use all three, why is its color space limited to so small a portion of the actual complete color space? ...
2012rcampion's user avatar
12 votes

Does Manual iso = low noise?

TL;DR: In low light conditions, selecting manual or auto ISO is a decision about risks: having lower or higher noise vs. the probability of blurred pictures vs. time. ISO, aperture, exposure time - ...
user24582's user avatar
  • 716
10 votes
Accepted

Why are the color spaces we have access to incomplete?

why is its color space limited to so small a portion of the actual complete color space? Because the "red", "green" and "blue" which your monitor uses are pale, probably not noticeable but still pale....
Euri Pinhollow's user avatar
10 votes
Accepted

Are scene modes on compact camera much useful?

Scene modes are particularly important on small cameras. In fact high end DSLRs do not have any scene modes because they give complete control over the camera. Scene modes basically abstract the ...
Itai's user avatar
  • 103k
10 votes

Does Manual iso = low noise?

No, there is no difference between Auto ISO choosing ISO 800 versus manually selecting ISO 800. The end result is the same: the photo is taken with an ISO value of 800. Consider this scenario: You ...
maples's user avatar
  • 364
9 votes

Why does my camera hesitate when shooting?

It takes a little time between the moment you decide to press the shutter button and the picture is actually taken. Part of this is due to your "reaction time" and part of it is due to the camera's "...
Michael C's user avatar
  • 175k
8 votes
Accepted

What is a low pass filter, and does a camera need to have one?

A low-pass (or anti-aliasing) filter adds a little bit of blur to the image, which is helpful in avoiding moiré patterns. Moiré patterns are caused when two similar patterns interfere with each other, ...
Caleb's user avatar
  • 31.7k
8 votes

How can a lens with a single focal length focus on more than one plane?

Then, simple physics tells us that it should be able to focus only on one plane (at a fixed distance) in front of it. But in fact you can focus on objects near as well as far... What am I missing here?...
Caleb's user avatar
  • 31.7k
8 votes

How do SLR lenses connect to the body?

As Caleb pointed out, all focus and aperture-related functions (as well as optical zoom when relevant) happen inside the lens, not in the body (in terms of lens components moving at least, not talking ...
jcaron's user avatar
  • 317
8 votes

Why doesn't the focal length in EXIF change when I manually focus my DSLR?

No. Focal length is characteristic of the lens. e.g. a 50mm non zoom lens will always show 50mm in the metadata / EXIF. For a zoom, like an 80-210mm the metadata / EXIF will show 80mm at the wide ...
KeiferJ's user avatar
  • 538
8 votes
Accepted

What does "12MP + 12MP Camera" mean in the specs of a mobile phone?

A quick search indicates that that "12MP + 12MP" means exactly that: two 12MP cameras. One is a "standard" camera, for the other several possibilities exist (depending on maker): monochrome, wide ...
remco's user avatar
  • 3,161
8 votes

First time - Night Club Photography - what gear do I need?

You're asking for a "quick tip" or two on how to shoot one of the most challenging assignments a photographer can draw. Photography is the recording of light. The less light there is to record, the ...
Michael C's user avatar
  • 175k
8 votes

Why doesn't the picture become darker the more you zoom in?

Why doesn't the picture become darker the more you zoom in? If the entrance pupil size remains constant, it does. But very few zoom lenses, even those with variable maximum apertures, maintain the ...
Michael C's user avatar
  • 175k
7 votes

Why doesn't the picture become darker the more you zoom in?

The f/stop system of numbering is specially invented to ensure that different lenses at the same f/stop number will see the same exposure. This includes your wide angle and telephoto lenses. F/stop ...
WayneF's user avatar
  • 12.9k
7 votes

Why would a camera change colors on the image when producing JPEGs?

Visible color of an object looks like something objective — if it looks yellow then it looks yellow, why change it in the first place? I just don't see how this color alteration is useful. This is ...
mattdm's user avatar
  • 143k
7 votes

Is camera lens focus an exact point or a range?

Imagine a wall some distance from your camera ­— a flat wall with no depth, and you're facing it straight on. Lens focus is like that: everything in that exact plane is in focus. (This is a ...
mattdm's user avatar
  • 143k
6 votes

Olympus OM-10 35mm - Film not gone all the way back into the cartridge

The cartridge is fine. Remember, when you get the cartridge, the leader is already exposed, so the film canister is designed to allow the film to come out without exposing the roll to light. You may ...
cmason's user avatar
  • 14.7k
6 votes

Can I optically zoom in but still capture the content seen when zoomed out?

No. Zooming in works by moving the optics of the lens so that the focal length is longer, resulting in a reduced field of view and greater magnification actually projected on to the sensor. This isn't ...
mattdm's user avatar
  • 143k

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