36
votes
Why do camera manufacturers stick with the same awkward control layout imposed by film cameras?
You could replace the full set of controls with some much more intuitive and integrated click-wheel or touch-screen controls.
Most DSLR's use wheels and buttons to set the most-used parameters (...
- 31.7k
28
votes
What is this strange circular design between shutter and EV compensation button on the Nikon D3300?
On page 1 of theNikon D3300 reference manual the [+/-] button pictured to the lower left in the image included in the question is listed as the:
When shooting in manual exposure mode with Nikon ...
- 175k
23
votes
Accepted
Photo contrast in early morning
A frequent problem is that your White Balance is set to "Auto". When it is so, the camera adjusts the colors so that the picture looks neutral, and this washes out any natural dominant color....
- 20.6k
19
votes
Why do camera manufacturers stick with the same awkward control layout imposed by film cameras?
I highly recommend you read Neal Stephenson's essay In the Beginning Was the Command Line. It's a decade and a half old now, and about computers rather than cameras, but a lot of it is very relevant. ...
- 143k
11
votes
Why is the Depth of Field Preview button necessary?
Why is the Depth of Field Preview button necessary?
With the lens wide open, as it normally is before you take the shot, you can't tell how much depth of field you'll get in the photograph. When you ...
- 31.7k
11
votes
Accepted
What does the "[r #]" value in Nikon viewfinders and displays mean?
It's the number of shots remaining (hence the "r") that you can take and store on your card.
When you half-press the shutter button, the number changes to the number of shots remaining in your memory ...
- 32.3k
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 ...
- 103k
9
votes
Photo contrast in early morning
I think the camera did OK with the exposure, it just badly guessed the white balance.
It will try to make the centre of an exposure an even 50% grey, which can sometimes in high contrast lighting push ...
- 23.1k
8
votes
What does the "[r #]" value in Nikon viewfinders and displays mean?
Could someone please tell me what it does, or at least what it's called, so I can look it up?
Scottbb's answer is correct and you should accept it, but I wanted to follow up with a little more ...
- 31.7k
6
votes
Are scene modes on compact camera much useful?
Scene modes as they are typically referred to are very useful in basic compact cameras. They allow the user to hint to the camera what type of image settings to use. For example a common scene mode ...
- 46.5k
6
votes
Photo contrast in early morning
What should I change in the camera settings to achieve a photograph with more contrast?
The basic problem is not the camera settings. It's that three-fourths of the image you told the camera to ...
- 175k
5
votes
Why is the Depth of Field Preview button necessary?
why a lens's aperture only shuts to its specified stop when the shutter release is pressed, instead of staying static at that stop constantly
That's because a closed aperture would reduce the amount ...
- 8,504
5
votes
Accepted
Strategy for quickly turing off exposure bracketing on Pentax cameras
There's a third option (although a little bit of a hack), most Pentaxes (including the K-50) allow you to specify which options are retained when the camera is turned off (under "Memory" in the ...
- 2,337
4
votes
Why would I use manual camera controls instead of the automatic modes?
One thing that hasn't been pointed out here is the difference between 'incident light' (the light falling on the subject) and 'reflected light' (the light bouncing off the subject). Your camera can ...
4
votes
Do I use the camera or lens switch to change between auto and manual focus?
D7000 Manual (p99) clearly states that having the lens on "M" while having the body on "AF" can cause damage to the camera. It does not say in what order the switches should be set so the safest ...
- 41
4
votes
How do I control exposure in aperture priority mode?
Aperture Priority is an Automatic mode. In all Auto Modes the camera will automatically set what it thinks is the correct exposure. Changing the Aperture, Shutter or ISO or will not change the ...
- 12.2k
4
votes
Is there a battery grip for the D3200 with a command dial on it?
It's highly doubtful such a grip exists.
Nikon did not design the D3200 to accommodate a grip.
Nikon doesn't offer a grip for the D3200 and other D3xx0 series cameras.
There are no additional ...
- 175k
4
votes
Why doesn't the f-stop on my D7100 change when I hold +/- and change the dial in manual mode?
I'm guessing you moved to the Nikon D7100 from a lower tier model Nikon camera that only has one control wheel. With such a camera you must hold down the +/- button while moving the only control wheel ...
- 175k
4
votes
Accepted
How to enable exposure bracketing on the Pentax K-50 while also selecting the focus point
Just press/long-press the Ok button:
When in menu mode, simply press to switch to focus point selection
When in focus point selection, long-press to switch back to menu mode
When in focus point ...
- 609
4
votes
Accepted
What Nikon DSLR has this colorful user interface on the rear LCD?
What is that camera?
The camera you've pictured appears to be a Nikon D750.
How many cameras these days have it especially Nikon D5300?
Well, pretty much all digital SLR cameras have full color ...
- 175k
4
votes
Photo contrast in early morning
The other answer mentioned white balance, but I think it is also possible that you were simply overexposing.
When there is relatively little light in the scene (like around sunrise or sunset), the ...
- 527
4
votes
Photo contrast in early morning
I would expect a backlit scene like that to have a very high dynamic range.
It appears to me that your camera has some type of HDR function enabled (D-lighting, Auto Lighting Optimizer, etc). When ...
- 14.7k
3
votes
Accepted
How can I enable back button focus and disable focusing with shutter button on a Nikon D5500?
According to page 267 of the D5500 Reference Manual, using custom setting f2 to set the AE-L/AF-L button to AF-ON prevents the shutter release button from focusing.
- 175k
3
votes
Accepted
Why can't I set the aperture on my Nikon D7200?
The D7200 has two control dials. Which one are you using to try and change the aperture setting? The one on the back of the camera controls shutter speed. The one just in front of the shutter button ...
- 175k
3
votes
interval time on an intervalometer
You might need more than a two-second margin -- on some camera settings, internal noise reduction takes as long as the photo, so it might be 25 or more seconds between shots.
Turn off preview, not so ...
- 2,626
3
votes
Accepted
How do I control exposure in aperture priority mode?
Short answer: Assuming you're shooting in aperture priority mode, fiddling with the shutter speed or ISO actually won't change much.
The exposure is automatically calculated by the camera for you and ...
- 181
3
votes
Why does the mode dial on my Canon camera set the wrong mode? (Av is P, M is C2, etc.)
Magic Lantern isn't installed on your camera it is run from the SD card and is an add-on over your existing firmware. The first thing I would do is bypass Magic Lantern by pressing and holding SET at ...
- 46.5k
3
votes
Is there a way to press once to start and a second time to end bulb mode on a Canon Rebel T3?
The canon 760D has bulb function that you have to hold down, so if I want to do a long exposure I have a wired remote, Shoot RS- 60E3 Wired Remote £3.59, that will lock open the shutter until you ...
3
votes
Are scene modes on compact camera much useful?
I suspect the "seller"¹ told you what they did to entice you to buy the camera. What the seller told you isn't exactly true and correct.
¹ Which, as it turns out, is not a seller of this camera at ...
- 175k
3
votes
Why do camera bodies and some lenses both have autofocus / manual switches?
Some cameras can use lenses that don't have a built-in autofocus motor like the Nikkor AF series of lenses. Those cameras have an internal motor with an AF-coupling. So you have a switch on the camera,...
- 565
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible