How to switch camera to manual?

[Taylor & Huff]

Everybody has been saying that it is better to use the manual setting and change the white balance and apereture (whatever that is) yourself but I can't figure out how to change the setting to manual. My camera is a Sony Cybershot DSC-F707. It also says November 2001 on it (it isn't very new). I know how to change it between S, A, M (I'm taking it this is the manual setting), and SCN. Once I change it to manual mode what do I do from there? I am very confused. If you need anymore info on the camera or anything, just ask. Please Help!

[Diane Margetts]

Tayor--very few photographers shoot in total manual mode--you really have to uderstand and be able to control and balance all of your settings. I would be surprised if anyone on this forum does that expect for very unique situations. I think what you are getting is the recommendation to shoot in either aperture (A on your camera) or shutter (S on your camera). When you select one of these modes, you control either the depth of field (in A mode) or shutter speed (in S mode). In eith case, your camera selects all the other appropriate settings. It woud be helpful to youto go back to the basics. Please see my Blog--I have several lessons posted there. The first thing you need to do is get a good understanding of the "exposure triange" -- aoerture, shutter speed and ISO. You need to get a good understanding of what each of these elements are andhow they affect each other. Here is a link to a good article that explains the exposure triangle. http://www.digital-photography-school.com/learning-exposure-in-digi...
I'm sorry if this sounding technical. We would all be happy to coach you on the basics but first you need to plow through a couple of good lessons. After that you will probably have specific questions that we can help with. The most important thing is to get out there and take photos and have fun doing it!!!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Taylor...the "S" setting is for Shutter Speed. The "A" is for Aperture and the "M" is for Manual. Depending on the camera the letters might be different. Nikon uses the above lettering. Canon is TV (shutter), AV (aperture) and some say AP (aperture priority) and SP (shutter priority). My Nikon has a "P" which is still AUTO but allows me to program some of the settings if I chose to. When you have your camera on "Auto" or Automatic (or maybe a green "A:"), the camera is doing all the work for you. It is measuring where you are focusing and decides the best shutter speed, aperture, white balance and ISO to use for the perfect picture. Everyone starts with this setting until they really understand the other settings. It doesn't come easily. Most people are very happy to shoot only in AUTOMATIC and never try the other settings. Then there are those of us who are fascinated with results and have made it a hobby or passion. I only now after 10 years have just started shooting in the other settings. I have a bunch of books that I have read and I also do a lot of Googling for good tutorials...and...take group classes which I have found through Googling. Also, the SCN setting is for Scene. If you dial it you have choices like indoors, outdoors, sunset, snow, party, kids & animals, etc. Again, if you set your camera to one of these settings it will chose the best settings for the photo. If you were to use the "A" then you would pick an aperture setting. You would need to have the knowledge on what each f-stop (aperture) does. Aperture is used to blur the background (f 3.5) or to bring the foreground and background into focus (f 16). Depending on the camera and lens the numbers may go higher or lower. The lower number which blurs has the biggest opening in the lens. The higher number which brings everything into focus has the smallest opening. Look for diagrams that show how this works. Almost every photography book has them. I still have the hardest time thinking what does what. Shutter Speed works with the aperture setting. If you chose to shoot in "A" then the camera will automatically pick the Shutter Speed. Same goes for shooting in "S" only then you chose the Shutter Speed and the camera chooses the Aperture.

Okay, think about this for a while and I will send another post regarding Shutter Speed and then Manual and other stuff. It isn't easy to understand so hang in there and don't get frustrated. We have quite a few people in the group who still don't get it and I am just now starting to...you are going to be way ahead of us in no time!!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Hi again...Diane has good points and be sure to go to her Blog and the link she gave you to see the exposure triangle she is talking about. She is right. You need to get a good understanding of basic photography and shooting before getting into all the fine details. Though your curiosity and questions are good and it is nice to see how interested you are. It can't hurt for us to continue giving you explanations that might help satisfy your curiosity. You can print all this stuff that we are saying out and start a note book. That way, in the future you can look back and maybe something we have said will "click".

Shutter Speed freezes or blurs motion. You will see this in photos where there is a water fall. It will look blurry or frozen. They use the SS to get the different looks. For hand holding (without a tripod) you can only go as low as 100 down to 80. When you shoot in Manual then you need to have a good knowledge of how shutter speeds and apertures work together, along with all the other settings. You also control how much light comes in through the lens based on the SS and Aperture. Lots of confusing stuff to learn.

Something to remember, we all have cameras ranging from $200.00 up to $3,000.00 so when we are talking about various settings, they may only be specific to a particular made and model of camera. The more expensive and the more technical the cameras...they are much more complicated in my opinion. Point and shoots are really good now and you can get awesome photos using them. Lots of the models do have the ability to change the aperture/shutter speed.

For now you probably want to work on zooming in on the subject, good focus and lighting and using good composition. Remember to always have the sun behind you and don't shoot towards it!