a couple starter question.

[deucesevenz]

I am not very sure if this is the right sector to post this but i am having a little technical difficulties. I just bought a d40 and this is my first DSLR camera. I just have some questions i want to clear up if you you guys do not mind.

1) Aperture is base on the lens not the body?
2) Doing some research on exposure i notice you could take pictures at 100 or 3200. However those numbers are not on there and the option HI 1 is also left available as a choice. Could someone help understand this alittle better?


Thanks.

[Dirt_Bike_Ryda]

yes. aperture is the opening in the lens. bigger then whole (smaller the number) the greater the amount of light you let onto your sensor.

Those numbers are the ISO. HI 1 means 6400. you should also have HI 0.3 and HI 0.7

Keep this number as low as you can, but don't be afraid to up it when the need arises.

[wulf]

The D40 has the following ISO settings: 200, 400, 800, 1600 and HI 1 (which I think is equivalent to 3200).

Wulf

[kencaleno]

Why not read your manual?

[Cojaro]

Aperture is part of the lens that you use, not the camera. The f/# is directly related to the aperture size using this formula:

f/#=f/D

where f is the focal length and D is the diameter of the aperture. If you have a standard 18-55 kit lens, you'll see the numbers "1:3.5-5.6" on it. That just tells you the largest aperture possible on the lens for focal lengths 18mm and 55mm, respectively. So at 55mm, the largest aperture would be about 9.8mm and at 18mm, 5.1mm. The larger the aperture, the more light that enters the lens and as a result you can use a faster shutter speed.

Maybe I said more than was needed :P

[garnetgirl]

Here is the link to a D40 guide that might be helpful:

Nikon D40 User's Guide

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by kencaleno

Why not read your manual?

Admittedly, this should have been the first step, but Nikon's manuals are english-as-translated-from-japanese-by-a-german and are therefore pretty useless for stuff more advanced than "this knob does this"

[wulf]

More important than "read your manual" is "after reading and practising, read your manual AGAIN". When you come back to it with some experience, you will find it makes more sense.

Wulf

[DCBarner]

+1 Wulf

I just keep mine in my bag. It comes out a lot.

[deucesevenz]

Haha trust me i read it, almost the entire thing but there are somethings that i was not able to answer myself. Thanks everyone for the response. so...ISO 200 is my lowest and i am not able to go any lower right?