The mode dial can be the most daunting dial on a camera when starting out but rest assured it's not as scary as it seems. I break it down in the video and blog post below.
When you move from a compact or point and shoot camera to a DSLR or mirrorless camera you are greeted by this circular dial with a load of symbols on. What does all this mean?
Let’s take you through it.
You might be keen to lean about exposure, focus, depth of field (DOF) etc. but we need to learn the layout of the camera and that comes with learning about the Mode Dial and what each mode is for.
We will get in to the different modes in more detail in upcoming posts but for now we will get to know the names and what each mode allows you to control.
The Craft
Getting Started In Photography - Camera Controls & Layout - A Primer
Once we have picked up our new camera we need to get to know it and find our way around it. Consider this a primer to help you.
The images in this post are of my camera (Canon 5D Mark II) so your cameras will differ. That said the basic layouts of DSLR’s and other cameras are quite similar. A few things to mention is that not all cameras have the top plate LCD like shown in these images, you will typically find this on prosumer (whatever that is) and professional bodies. The lower end cameras tend not to have them on.
Getting Started In Photography- Camera Setup Tips
You can change a few settings on your camera to help make life a little easier. Theses settings will be under different names on different brands so I will try to make this as generic as possible.
I cover these point in the video below as well. You can read or just watch the video. :)
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