1-2-3 SHOOT!

On my journey to learn more about how to take photos, I came across a technique called the Sunny 16 rule . The rule is this: If it's a nice sunny day outside, you set your aperture to f16. Then, you set your shutter speed to whatever your ISO is. So if you have a film camera and use ISO 100 film, set your shutter speed to 1/100 (or 1/125 if that's what your camera has.) Or, if you have a digital camera, you can adjust both: ISO 200 + 1/200 shutter speed. According to the experts, this will usually allow you to get a good exposure. You can adjust accordingly for different lighting conditions. Try following these guidelines: Bright sunlight : f16 Cloudy: f11 Overcast: f8 Heavily overcast/stormy sky: f5.6 Dusk: f4 At the beach or on snow: f22 (to compensate for reflected light) I don't know how accurate this is, because I just learned about it myself. You can use a digital camera to practice with, and see how things turn out. This morning I took a p...

This is a Leica M2. I got it from my dad, who bought it around 1962 or '63. Let's take a quick look at it. First of all, it's a hefty camera. It's metal and glass. It's heavy. It seems strong enough to hammer nails with. I get that same feeling as when I hold my old Lumix DMC-FZ30. It just feels like a good camera. Oddly, the Leica almost seems heavier since it's in such a small package. On the top right is the film advance lever, which is really satisfying to cock, and when you push the shutter release, there's a gentle little click. There's a shutter speed setting, and a film counter. On the left, we can see the rewind knob, which sits flush with the top when not in use, and can be pulled up and twisted to rewind the film. In the middle is a cold shoe. On the front there is a self-timer (the long lever on the left) which runs just about 11 seconds. Above that is a small lever that needs to be pushed when you rewind the film. Just ...

The Lumix DMC-FZ30 was released around 2005. I got it as a hand-me-down from a family member. At the time I wasn't really excited about it. To be honest, I really wanted a video camera so I could become the next big YouTube star. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) that didn't happen. I have really come to like this camera, though. I'm not about to start listing pages of technical stats. If you want to read a very in-depth review of this camera, DP Review has a great one. In fact, they have great reviews for almost any digital camera. Check out their review here if you want to know more. For now, I'll just go over my personal feelings about this camera. WHAT I LIKE: -The FZ30 has many of the buttons and controls of an actual DSLR. Aperture and exposure can be controlled with dedicated dials on the front and back. It's hefty, and feels really good to hold and shoot with. -It has a built-in digital viewfinder. This is good because you don't need to use the ...