intending on taking pics of cars at trackdays/pod etc kinda thing.

whats best shutter speed? higher im guessing, but is it higher number slower the speed im totally lost, and the book isnt helping me at all :bang:

and appeture aswell *headache*

If you want a fast blured affect which some times looks pretty neat, set it to 1/500th or 1/250th of a second. If its crisp sharp pics your after try 1/1000th or 1/2000th of a second! So the higher the number the fast the shutter speed, and crisper the pic. Appeture is how much light the lense is letting in negative numbers will result in darker pictures, use this if the pic looks too washed, bright or not much detail. Possitive numbers will result in lighter pictures, so use this if the backgroud is brighter than the object your taking the pic of, because the camera will automaticaly close the lense down and then the object will be dark which you dont want!
Hope this helps

yeah understand the shutter speed now, now i know what numbers i need ill be ok... thanks jami

apperture on mycamera doesnt have - or + numbers

Well if ur using non digi camera then use iso400 film.
If u have a SLR Non digi and find film above iso400 hard to get hold of or too grainy u can use Iso400 film and tell the camera to use 600 or more iso settins.i have done this many times with very good results even on black and white film.

its a digital cam

charlieboy said:

apperture on mycamera doesnt have - or + numbers

Click to expand...

Erm your camera will definatly have this function, when its on, press any button which has an arrow on it or any button which lets you go up and down in a setting and see what happens.

When im taking photos of cars moving (like at brooklands on the hillrun thing (see my gallery)) I just use a 200 speed film. You get away with alot with a 200 speed as you can adjust the camera to allow that extra stop a 400 speed film would allow. The film speed rules with bluring generaly only apply to compact cameras with only automatic settings as the majority of them have a fixed apeture or shutter so cannot adjust enought which is where the film speed is crucial. A 200 speed film will also give you much nicer colours than a 400. With ha 400 you might also find that on a sunny day it is too bright to use.

As for apeture. The higher the number, the less light getting into the camera. To know what your doing, you really need a light meter when using a camera on manual. With digital its not so important as you have the screen which will show you how your shot is going to appear, but again, the screen on the back of the camera isnt he most acurate thing to go by as its backlit and will always appear lighter than the real picture. Most film SLRs have a built in meter that you can see through the view finder. Older cameras are in the form of a matchstick kinda thing that goes up and down and will be the correct exposure when its centre. newer SLRs will usualy have a digital display in the camera with the meter on it.

Higher number, less light. Smaller number, more light. you need to get an even balance between the apeture and the speed to get the exposure right which will depend on what you are taking photos of.

fast moving cars, you need a higher shutter speed eg, 500/1000/2000 etc depending how fast they are going. the hill run pics at brooklands were at 500/sec. the cars were probably goingaround 30-40mph as they past me. Anything faster and you will probably need a 1000th/sec speed. although taking photos from a distance and you will get away with a slower speed etc.

Obviously, higer speed will need more light to get the exposure right as the shutter isnt open as long. So a aperture number is the only way to get more light in (apart from a faster film but for picture qualty, the slower film the better). so you set the apeture to a lower numer which opens the lens up more meaning more light in!

I could go on all day tbh but I wont I havent bothered to mention the depth of field which changes when you adjust the apeture its all to do with focusing which you didnt ask about so I wont go off topic lol

thanks chris, im after as mucho help as possible.

got a few shows coming up (4 or 5) but the cars will be static at most. or moving at santa-pod

then theres trax in september (?)