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It's kind of a nice idea and a decent start. It doesn't seem to do depth of field very well (f8 should make the background pretty sharp at 43mm; f2.8 at 200mm s

It's kind of a nice idea and a decent start. It doesn't seem to do depth of field very well (f8 should make the background pretty sharp at 43mm; f2.8 at 200mm should have a completely blurred background). It would be nice if it showed non-Canon terminology (Canons say "Tv" while almost all other cameras say "S", for example), at least as an alternative. It should also visually indicate the value being automatically chosen in the different modes. No P (program) mode. This is actually the most useful shooting mode on many DSLRs, especially for novices. It lets you trade off aperture vs. shutter speed. __Advanced Nitpicking__ No auto ISO mode. (Great feature of Pentax cameras -- it's like M but the camera picks the ISO that will work.) No ISO-priority mode. It doesn't allow for things like camera shake and the child's motion (you might pick 1/60 of a second to capture the child sharply, while needing 1/250, say, for the pinwheel). It's not worth allowing ridiculously high (small) apertures (e.g. f29) -- if you're not going to do diffraction, so I'd stop at f22. It would be nice to have faster (bigger) apertures than f2.8 to really show the benefits. It shows autofocus points, but they don't do anything. It would be interesting to allow the user to pick a focus point and assume the metering is weighted on that position, but that's getting pretty advanced.

sukuriant 15y ago
Historically, it wasn't "S", it was "T".
zalew 15y ago
> No P (program) mode. This is actually the most useful shooting mode on many DSLRs, especially for novices. It lets you trade off aperture vs. shutter speed. oh boy. that's actually the mode that keep novices clueless about what's going on with the settings. > No auto ISO mode, No ISO-priority mode, etc. etc. well, ISO + TIME + APERTURE are ingredients of EXPOSURE, and that should be all you need to know to start shooting. you know this and you can grab the newest high-end dslr or your grandpa's 35mm oldie and know what you're doing. the rest is just geekery.
- mitjak 15y ago
  >well, ISO + TIME + APERTURE are ingredients of EXPOSURE, and that should be all you need to know to start shooting. you know this and you can grab the newest high-end dslr or your grandpa's 35mm oldie and know what you're doing. the rest is just geekery. Perhaps I misunderstood your point but that doesn't sound right. Iso does not control exposure: in case of film it is the sensitivity of a particular stock, and in case of sensors it's basically analog gain. Since to use a different ISO in a film camera you'd need to use a different roll or sheet of film, you can't vary ISO on a "grandpa's camera" very easily unlike with a digital camera.
  - zalew 15y ago
    You missed the point, which is that you learn how to use the 3 exposure controls: shutter speed, aperture, iso; and then it doesn't matter if you can change iso on the fly on digital or by changing a roll of film - you know how to take pictures and that's it. We're talking education. The worst a newbie can do is to focus on learning 'camera modes' instead of learning how photography works - that's why all those "P", auto-iso, etc would be pointless when you want to learn (and that's what this simulator is for).
- elithrar 15y ago
  > oh boy. that's actually the mode that keep novices clueless about what's going on with the settings. That's hardly the fault of the mode itself — it's just a large number of SLR-buying consumers probably didn't need the complexity (or heft) of an SLR, but have the misconception that an SLR will outperform a compact or bridge camera 100% of the time. And so they buy one. The issue there is that a lot of these people are coming from mid-range compacts a couple of years old, and see the SLR as the next logical step. A high-end compact (S95, LX5, XZ-1) or a good bridge/micro four-thirds camera (GF1/2, E-PL2, GH2) would be a far more practical solution, and nigh-indistiguishable until ISO1600 anyway. As a side-note, I went from shooting portraits w/ a 5D2 + primes to a GF1 + 20mm f1.7, since I no longer had the time to keep the portrait gig up as a consultant. My GF1 is no full-frame SLR, but it's very close to the entry-level SLR's and in a much smaller package (with better glass to boot).
- 15y ago
ajkessler 15y ago
Some good thoughts here, but I think you're missing the big picture. This appears to me to be a great tool to learn how exposure works. Using aperture or shutter priority sorta defeats the purpose of that. Nice job, whoever built this :)
joshu 15y ago
f2.8 at 200mm is a crazy expensive lens, fwiw. i should update lensdb.
- mtw 15y ago
  huh? it's only $800
  - joshu 15y ago
    A 200mm prime lens from Nikkor seems to only come in f/2, but the AF is like $5k. Which one are you talking about? The Canon?
    - chli 15y ago
      He's probably talking about the Canon 70-200 2.8 L non stabilized zoom lens. Which is behaving pretty much like a prime lens in all its range.
    - mtw 15y ago
      you can get the Canon 200mm f2.8L lens for $800. great value. It has autofocus (but no stabilizer though)
- tel 15y ago
  AF in major brand name, probably. I just got a 2.8 135 for $20 on eBay and with people probably having something short of a full frame sensor, that's a pretty cheap 2.8 with "200mm" framing. Not saying it's a comparable lens, just saying that the simulator isn't necessarily talking about a cost prohibitive situation.

sukuriant 15y ago

Historically, it wasn't "S", it was "T".

zalew 15y ago

> No P (program) mode. This is actually the most useful shooting mode on many DSLRs, especially for novices. It lets you trade off aperture vs. shutter speed. oh boy. that's actually the mode that keep novices clueless about what's going on with the settings. > No auto ISO mode, No ISO-priority mode, etc. etc. well, ISO + TIME + APERTURE are ingredients of EXPOSURE, and that should be all you need to know to start shooting. you know this and you can grab the newest high-end dslr or your grandpa's 35mm oldie and know what you're doing. the rest is just geekery.

mitjak 15y ago
>well, ISO + TIME + APERTURE are ingredients of EXPOSURE, and that should be all you need to know to start shooting. you know this and you can grab the newest high-end dslr or your grandpa's 35mm oldie and know what you're doing. the rest is just geekery. Perhaps I misunderstood your point but that doesn't sound right. Iso does not control exposure: in case of film it is the sensitivity of a particular stock, and in case of sensors it's basically analog gain. Since to use a different ISO in a film camera you'd need to use a different roll or sheet of film, you can't vary ISO on a "grandpa's camera" very easily unlike with a digital camera.
- zalew 15y ago
  You missed the point, which is that you learn how to use the 3 exposure controls: shutter speed, aperture, iso; and then it doesn't matter if you can change iso on the fly on digital or by changing a roll of film - you know how to take pictures and that's it. We're talking education. The worst a newbie can do is to focus on learning 'camera modes' instead of learning how photography works - that's why all those "P", auto-iso, etc would be pointless when you want to learn (and that's what this simulator is for).
elithrar 15y ago
> oh boy. that's actually the mode that keep novices clueless about what's going on with the settings. That's hardly the fault of the mode itself — it's just a large number of SLR-buying consumers probably didn't need the complexity (or heft) of an SLR, but have the misconception that an SLR will outperform a compact or bridge camera 100% of the time. And so they buy one. The issue there is that a lot of these people are coming from mid-range compacts a couple of years old, and see the SLR as the next logical step. A high-end compact (S95, LX5, XZ-1) or a good bridge/micro four-thirds camera (GF1/2, E-PL2, GH2) would be a far more practical solution, and nigh-indistiguishable until ISO1600 anyway. As a side-note, I went from shooting portraits w/ a 5D2 + primes to a GF1 + 20mm f1.7, since I no longer had the time to keep the portrait gig up as a consultant. My GF1 is no full-frame SLR, but it's very close to the entry-level SLR's and in a much smaller package (with better glass to boot).
15y ago

ajkessler 15y ago

Some good thoughts here, but I think you're missing the big picture. This appears to me to be a great tool to learn how exposure works. Using aperture or shutter priority sorta defeats the purpose of that. Nice job, whoever built this :)

joshu 15y ago

f2.8 at 200mm is a crazy expensive lens, fwiw. i should update lensdb.

mtw 15y ago
huh? it's only $800
- joshu 15y ago
  A 200mm prime lens from Nikkor seems to only come in f/2, but the AF is like $5k. Which one are you talking about? The Canon?
  - chli 15y ago
    He's probably talking about the Canon 70-200 2.8 L non stabilized zoom lens. Which is behaving pretty much like a prime lens in all its range.
  - mtw 15y ago
    you can get the Canon 200mm f2.8L lens for $800. great value. It has autofocus (but no stabilizer though)
tel 15y ago
AF in major brand name, probably. I just got a 2.8 135 for $20 on eBay and with people probably having something short of a full frame sensor, that's a pretty cheap 2.8 with "200mm" framing. Not saying it's a comparable lens, just saying that the simulator isn't necessarily talking about a cost prohibitive situation.