56 DIGITAL CAMERA^ MARCH 2020 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
CAMERA COLLEGEdisplay or dip into the main menu. You’ll
need to keep an eye on the exposure scale
in the viewfinder or the rear screen as you
make adjustments: the indicator needs to
move towards the ‘-’ end of the scale to
make the next shot you take darker, and
towards ‘+’ to make it lighter. Get into the
habit of resetting the compensation to the
middle (zero) once you’ve finished taking
pictures, as it’s easy to forget you’ve
dialled some in and end up with subsequent
shots being incorrectly exposed. Some
cameras automatically reset exposure
compensation when you turn them off.
Switching to Manual exposure mode
isn’t as daunting as it might sound. Yes, you
may have to set all three exposure controls- aperture, shutter speed and ISO – but the
camera doesn’t completely abandon you:
the exposure scale will show you the
effect that your settings are having on
the exposure, and you can also check
the histogram to make sure that you’re
not unintentionally overexposing or
underexposing a shot. The key advantage
with Manual mode is that the camera won’t
change the exposure settings, so as long
as the lighting remains consistent, you’ll
get consistent exposure, regardless of
how you compose your picture.
Manually focusing a lens also gives you
consistent results, which is useful when
you’re shooting a sequence of shots that
you’ll stitch together to build a panoramic
image, merge into an HDR (High Dynamic
Range) shot or use to createSwitching to Manual
exposure mode isn’t
as daunting as it might
sound, as the camera
doesn’t completely
abandon youManual
focusing
When should you override
the autofocus system?Autofocus is fast and,
in plenty of instances,
accurate. But there are times
when you need to give your
camera a helping hand. In low
light or when there’s very little
contrast between the subject and
the background, the autofocus
may repeatedly ‘hunt’ backwards
and forwards. You might also find
the camera focusing on the wrong
part of the scene – it tends to pick
out the nearest object, which may
not be the most important detail.
If you’re shooting a portrait, for
example, there’s a risk that the
camera will focus on the person’s
nose rather than their eye –
although the ‘eye detection’
autofocus available on some
cameras can help here.
Manual focusing using a
standard optical viewfinder is not
easy, although you can place an
AF point over the subject you
want to be sharp and the camera
will let you know when it’s in
focus, usually by making the
AF point glow or flashing up an
indicator. In reality, it’s easierto work with Live View or an
electronic viewfinder, as you
can zoom into details to
check they are sharp.
Lenses vary in the speed at
which they can be focused. Some
need the focus ring to be rotated
a long way to pull the focus from
infinity to the closest point, which
is slow but offers more precision.
Others need just a short turn to
focus through the range, allowing
you to react quickly.Focus
switch
The majority
of lenses need
to be set to MF
or M before you can
manually focus them, but
professional lenses usually allow you to
manually focus while the lens is in AF mode –
or in, the case of this Nikon lens, M/A or A/M.
If you’re using a mobile app to control your
camera over Wi-Fi, leaving the lens in ‘AF’
will allow you to focus the lens remotely,
using the controls on the app.Some lenses are manual-focus
only – such as the Lensbaby
composer used for this shot.