New and confused.

Tonij

Senior Member
Hello. I have a new Nikon D5100. I have been trying to use the aperature feature without success. I seem to only be able to change my fstop to 5. My focus is set at Af-s. Can help me with this?
 

fotojack

Senior Member
Your AF-S is for anything Static, or not moving. If you have AF-A, set it there. The camera will set it automatically. AS for what you're experiencing..........are you trying to take pictures inside or out? Seems to me you're trying for an inside shot.
 

fotojack

Senior Member
Yes I am trying an inside shot. It makes a difference it I'm trying to take a shot inside or out?

Oh yeah! Big time! Your sensor needs all the light that can reach it to form an image. Shooting inside, for the most part, requires the use of flash. Use the onboard built in flash (you'll hate it) and you'll see a difference. Set your camera to Aperture Mode on the dial, set to AF-A in your camera menu, pop up the flash, and look in your viewfinder. See what the f/stop is? :) Personally, if you're going to be taking a lot of shots indoors, get yourself a good off camera flash, such as the Nikon SD-700. You will be AMAZED at the difference!

By the way....don't be afraid to experiment with your settings. Try things to see how they work for you. Have fun with it. :)
 

LensWork

Senior Member
Your lens is an f/3.5-5.6, that is at 18mm the maximum aperture is f/3.5 and at 55mm the maximum aperture is f/5.6. If the zoom setting is somewhere in-between 18 - 55, then the maximum aperture will be between f/3.5 - f/5.6. I suspect that at somewhere around 40mm, the maximum aperture would be f/5.0. Try making sure the zoom is set at 18mm then in "A" mode adjust the aperture and it should go to f/3.5. Now zoom the lens out to 55mm and you will see the aperture change from f/3.5 to 4.0 to 4.5 to 5.0 to 5.6 as you arrive at 55mm.
 

Tonij

Senior Member
Yes. I moved my len to 18 and was able to get to f/3.5. Now I can practice on getting the shot I am tryng to get. The blurry background. Thank you so much. But, I may be back. I'm sure I will.
 

Eye-level

Banned
As you aquire more knowledge you will discover that you are able to machine gun about ten snaps at 1/15 and even slower and at least one or two will be in focus...without the flash! ;)

You want blurry backgrounds be sure to put lots of distance between the subject and the background open her wide and blast...even at 5.6!

You need a relatively fast prime to do what you want to do most effectively...

And learn how to shoot in M mode...hahaha
 
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