Photography Pro Tips

With the increase in sophistication of digital cameras, there also comes an increase in the amount of terms that people use to describe how they work and the functions there are. These terms can be a little bit confusing especially for people who are unfamiliar with digital cameras. In this article we will look at just some of the terms that are used to describe digital cameras.

- LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). Most digital cameras have a screen at the back of them and it is called an LCD screen. You can use this screen to see the view you are about to take a picture of. And any pictures that you have already taken can be seen through this screen. There are also other functions like menu selections available on the LCD screen.

- Memory Stick. This is where your images are stored until you remove them from the camera. Some people use the memory stick for storing data but it is unwise to do this for too long as memory sticks can become corrupt.

- Burst Mode. There are a lot of digital cameras which have a burst mode function on them and this enables the user to take a number of photos in a short space of time such as ten per second. So if you wanted to take a photo of a car racing by then this is very useful.

- Autofocus is a function on the camera that manages to automatically bring a picture into focus. Beginners will particularly find this function very useful.

- You can control the camera’s aperture with the F-stop function. The higher the f-stop the more light is allowed into the lens.

- GB refers to gigabyte and this is a measurement of memory. A memory stick will often have at least 1 GB of memory which means you can store thousands of photos.

- JPEG is the most common file type that photos are stores as.

SD Cards are items found in a lot of things in today’s day and age. 2GB Micro SD cards are a good example. Yet another that you can find widely available is the R4i.

The 24mm f1.4 was only released earlier this year, along with the 35mm f1.8, and is a completely new lens for Nikon. Really, it only has one word to describe it, spectacular. There have been various attempts at making fast wide angle lenses in the past, very few of which have been any good. One exception to this is the Nikon 28mm f1.4, the predecessor to this lens, whose semi wide angle and huge aperture made it perfect for gigs or live music photography. The light gathering properties of this lens are no less impressive. Incredibly, it has been proven that with the combination of this lens and super high ISO settings it is possible to take handheld shots in moonlight!
As the focal length of this lens is quite short, it shows ‘hand shake’ much less than the 50mm equivalent, meaning you can either shoot faster shutter speeds or stop down and still get the same results. A 50mm equivalent would also have a DOF that is four times shallower, making the 24mm much easier to use and focus correctly. A new focusing system has now been developed by Nikon which is almost entirely internal, meaning nothing moves externally to interfere with your grip, hood etc, and there are fewer holes for dust and dirt to enter in through. At nearly £2,000, the 24mm f1.4 is far from cheap, but this pro spec lens produces images that are better than anything on the market currently. It produces bright, contrasty and edge to edge sharp images at any aperture. This top end lens is designed for FX, but will work fine on DX. However, if you shoot DX, then a much better alternative would be the 35mm f1.8, at a fraction of the cost.
Verdict - an absolute stunner. If you can afford it and have an FX camera, this will do everything, and do it well, very well. Highly recommended, especially for very light sensitive work like live music or architectural photography.