Iphone 6s camera vs other camera

[Cvdasfg]

I'm trying to take pictures for my build log i will be doing. Which should I use? my iphone 6s or Nikon D3100

 

 

The problem with the Nikon D3100 is that when i check on the screen they look really blurry.. Could this be that the screen just is low res? Suggestions? 

[babadoctor]

Nikon

its a camera ;-;

iphone is suppose to be a phone

 

max the res on that and it should be golden

[Nonco]

Your Nikon should be able to take MUCH better photos than your iPhone. As long as you know how to properly know how to use a DSLR

[Fate]

Are you focusing correctly with the D3100? 

[Cvdasfg]

Nikon

its a camera ;-;

iphone is suppose to be a phone

 

max the res on that and it should be golden

Im a noob with cameras.. How would i do that? Is it automatically like that?

[Samfisher]

The D3100 has a terribly low res screen, so that could be it.  Or your lens isn't focusing right.  Depends what the image looks like on the PC.

[Cvdasfg]

Your Nikon should be able to take MUCH better photos than your iPhone. As long as you know how to properly know how to use a DSLR

 

Which i dont

Are you focusing correctly with the D3100? 

Its on auto focus

[nickl]

My first instinct would be to use the D3100. When you take the pictures off of the camera or zoom in on them when you go into playback mode, are they still blurry?

I would say use whatever you're comfortable using, but I'm a bit of a noob so, take others into consideration.

[Fate]

Its on auto focus

But is it focusing correctly? You may be too close, or the light may be too low to be able to focus correctly.

You could upload an image you took so we'd be able to help you better.

[nickl]

 

But is it focusing correctly? You may be too close, or the light may be too low to be able to focus correctly.

You could upload an image you took so we'd be able to help you better.

Which i dont

Its on auto focus

Being too close would be a definite cause of blurry pictures if your lens can't focus close enough.

I would use the viewfinder to check focus, and if they are blurry then, then I would use MF (manual focus) and if you can't seem to get that working, I would see if your lens is bad (no clue how you would do that though lol)

 

Also, does your DSLR usually work well?

[Nonco]

Unless you do some research and some basic practice with the DSLR, id say just stick with the iPhone. DSLR's can be a bit tricky to use for an absolute beginner.

[Cvdasfg]

But is it focusing correctly? You may be too close, or the light may be too low to be able to focus correctly.

You could upload an image you took so we'd be able to help you better.

Examples http://imgur.com/gallery/2mjeN/new

 

 

 

 

Being too close would be a definite cause of blurry pictures if your lens can't focus close enough.

I would use the viewfinder to check focus, and if they are blurry then, then I would use MF (manual focus) and if you can't seem to get that working, I would see if your lens is bad (no clue how you would do that though lol)

 

Also, does your DSLR usually work well?

 

Just got it.. so TBH no idea how it "normally works"  How far away should i be from things? 

[zenodio]

Honestly, if you really have no idea of what you're doing with a DSLR and just leaves it in Auto mode all the time.

The iPhone would be the better choice for you.

[Fate]

Examples http://imgur.com/gallery/2mjeN/new

 

Just got it.. so TBH no idea how it "normally works"  How far away should i be from things? 

The first image looks like it has motion blur. If you don't really know how to use a DSLR, your best bet is to increase the light in the room so it automatically makes the shutter speed faster.

 

If you cannot do that, go into shutter priority mode, marked by an S, and take the current focal length (you probably have an 18-55 lens), multiply it by 1.5, and take the reciprocal of that. Your shutter speed should be >= that.

So if you were zoomed in to 55mm, you would do 55 * 1.5 = 82.5 or 1/82.5. You should set your shutter speed to 1/80 of a second.

If you were zoomed out to 18mm, you would do 18 * 1.5 = 27 or 1/27. You should set your shutter speed to 1/30 of a second.

[Cvdasfg]

The first image looks like it has motion blur. If you don't really know how to use a DSLR, your best bet is to increase the light in the room so it automatically makes the shutter speed faster.

 

If you cannot do that, go into shutter priority mode, marked by an S, and take the current focal length (you probably have an 18-55 lens), multiply it by 1.5, and take the reciprocal of that. Your shutter speed should be >= that.

So if you were zoomed in to 55mm, you would do 55 * 1.5 = 82.5 or 1/82.5. You should set your shutter speed to 1/80 of a second.

If you were zoomed out to 18mm, you would do 18 * 1.5 = 27 or 1/27. You should set your shutter speed to 1/30 of a second.

That fixed everything perfectly! Thanks! So I guess the best bet if I dont want to have to change the shutter speed each time i zoom in/out is to get better light? Is that why Auto mode isnt doing that?

[nickl]

The first image looks like it has motion blur. If you don't really know how to use a DSLR, your best bet is to increase the light in the room so it automatically makes the shutter speed faster.

 

If you cannot do that, go into shutter priority mode, marked by an S, and take the current focal length (you probably have an 18-55 lens), multiply it by 1.5, and take the reciprocal of that. Your shutter speed should be >= that.

So if you were zoomed in to 55mm, you would do 55 * 1.5 = 82.5 or 1/82.5. You should set your shutter speed to 1/80 of a second.

If you were zoomed out to 18mm, you would do 18 * 1.5 = 27 or 1/27. You should set your shutter speed to 1/30 of a second.

I agree, the first one looks like there is motion blur from either you not holding the camera steady enough, or there not being enough light in the room, but the others look good. 

 

To answer your question about how far you should be, if you have the 18-55mm lens that comes with it on Amazon, the spec page says that you can focus at a minimum of 0.9 feet from your subject (when the lens is zoomed out). So I would be a minimum of a foot (.3m) from your subject.

 

If you just got the camera, it should be working fine, and from those pics it looks just fine.

[Cvdasfg]

I agree, the first one looks like there is motion blur from either you not holding the camera steady enough, or there not being enough light in the room, but the others look good. 

 

To answer your question about how far you should be, if you have the 18-55mm lens that comes with it on Amazon, the spec page says that you can focus at a minimum of 0.9 feet from your subject (when the lens is zoomed out). So I would be a minimum of a foot (.3m) from your subject.

 

If you just got the camera, it should be working fine, and from those pics it looks just fine.

Ok thank you very much!

[nickl]

Ok thank you very much!

How much of a noob to photography are you? Do you understand aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, and the general way a DSLR works?

[Cvdasfg]

How much of a noob to photography are you? Do you understand aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, and the general way a DSLR works?

 I've built many computers as a professional for years, wanted to do a decent build log so bought my friends Nikon he didn't want anymore. Have got it yesterday soooo not really. this is my first DSLR or anything above a point and shoot type camera. 

[nickl]

 

 I've built many computers as a professional for years, wanted to do a decent build log so bought my friends Nikon he didn't want anymore. Have got it yesterday soooo not really. this is my first DSLR or anything above a point and shoot type camera. 

OK Then:

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is the duration that the sensor is being exposed to light. The longer the shutter speed, the more light, the brighter image. The shorter shutter speed, the less light, the dimmer the image. Of course, the amount of light hitting the sensor depends on the ambient light of the scene. For example, if you are shooting sports and you want to capture a single moment of action, you would want to use a faster shutter speed. If you are shooting in the dark, or shooting some stars, because of the low amounts of light as well as since your subject isn't moving much, you would want to use a longer shutter speed.

There are downsides to using either too short or too long shutter speeds. If it is too short, your image can often be too dark. If it is too long, it makes your shots more susceptible to the shaking of your hands, and the motion of your subject, which can lead to blurring as you saw in your image above, which is often why it is common to use a tripod when you are using longer shutter speeds.

The adjustment of the shutter speed can lead to some interesting effects, especially with water, as you can see here. In the shots with fast shutter speeds, the water seems to freeze, as you are capturing a shorter duration of time. With the longer shutter speeds, you can see the water seems to be much more smooth, as a longer period of time is being captured. But when one is using a fast shutter speed, one would get less light hitting the sensor, as light is hitting for less time, which would require compensation with adjusting the aperture, making a perfect transition to discussing aperture.  B)

Aperture

Aperture is the number usually measured in F-stops, which represents how open the aperture (the opening through which the light travels through the lens) is. This can change a number of things: Depth of Field (DOF), and the amount of light that passes through the lens, onto the sensor.

When you open the aperture (in this case by changing it by using either A or M modes), it lets more light through the lens, onto the sensor. This allows you to so a number of things. If you are in a dark place, you want to open the aperture more to let more light onto the sensor to get a brighter picture.

If you are shooting in brighter conditions, in which you want to use a faster shutter speed, you would want to adjust your aperture to make your picture bright enough.

One interesting effect of using a larger or smaller aperture, is that it changes the depth of field. DOF is the depth of the area that is in focus. As you open the aperture (lower f number) you will get a shallower DOF, leading to a narrower range of distances that are in focus. There are some great examples of the effects of the changing the aperture on the Wikipedia page here. When you close the aperture, the more is in focus. This deepening/shallowing of what is in focus can be used artistically to produce soft backgrounds and/or foregrounds, but can also be annoying as if you are using too large of an aperture, your whole subject may not be in focus, leading to your picture not being usable.

As you may realize, you will have to adjust the aperture and shutter speeds to compensate for each other for the different conditions you may be shooting in. For example, I took this picture a while ago with my cool little Panasonic DMC-LZ8 point and shoot here.

I used an f/3.3 aperture and a shutter speed of 1/200s. On this image you can see the blurring of the background (often called bokeh) and the relatively narrow range of distances that are in focus. I shot this on a sunny day,

A quick side note about f-numbers: the lower the number, the larger aperture, the higher the number, the smaller the aperture.

ISO

The idea of ISO comes from the days of film, in which film was made with different "speeds", basically meaning different sensitivities (more can be read here). Now that film is mostly obsolete, digital cameras use the same name for a similar idea. As a higher ISO number meant greater sensitivity to light, higher ISO numbers on a digital camera represent higher gain of the signal from the sensor. This makes the image either darker or brighter depending on how much the sensor signal is amplified. This is yet another thing to take into consideration when choosing ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.

For example if you have a very dark scene, you will want to increase the ISO, to make the image bright enough. But like many other things, it has a disadvantage, when you push it too high. Depending on the camera, you can crank up the ISO different amounts before experiencing too much noise in your image. This noise in the image can often lead to the image looking "grainy" or blotchy as I have seen. My camera is really not too good and tops out at around 800 for usability, but the D3100 should be able to go higher. A good comparison of the noise introduced by changing the ISO here.

I'll talk about focal length of lenses and how a DSLR generally works tomorrow   .

[Cvdasfg]

 

 

OK Then:

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is the duration that the sensor is being exposed to light. The longer the shutter speed, the more light, the brighter image. The shorter shutter speed, the less light, the dimmer the image. Of course, the amount of light hitting the sensor depends on the ambient light of the scene. For example, if you are shooting sports and you want to capture a single moment of action, you would want to use a faster shutter speed. If you are shooting in the dark, or shooting some stars, because of the low amounts of light as well as since your subject isn't moving much, you would want to use a longer shutter speed.

There are downsides to using either too short or too long shutter speeds. If it is too short, your image can often be too dark. If it is too long, it makes your shots more susceptible to the shaking of your hands, and the motion of your subject, which can lead to blurring as you saw in your image above, which is often why it is common to use a tripod when you are using longer shutter speeds.

The adjustment of the shutter speed can lead to some interesting effects, especially with water, as you can see here. In the shots with fast shutter speeds, the water seems to freeze, as you are capturing a shorter duration of time. With the longer shutter speeds, you can see the water seems to be much more smooth, as a longer period of time is being captured. But when one is using a fast shutter speed, one would get less light hitting the sensor, as light is hitting for less time, which would require compensation with adjusting the aperture, making a perfect transition to discussing aperture.  B)

Aperture

Aperture is the number usually measured in F-stops, which represents how open the aperture (the opening through which the light travels through the lens) is. This can change a number of things: Depth of Field (DOF), and the amount of light that passes through the lens, onto the sensor.

When you open the aperture (in this case by changing it by using either A or M modes), it lets more light through the lens, onto the sensor. This allows you to so a number of things. If you are in a dark place, you want to open the aperture more to let more light onto the sensor to get a brighter picture.

If you are shooting in brighter conditions, in which you want to use a faster shutter speed, you would want to adjust your aperture to make your picture bright enough.

One interesting effect of using a larger or smaller aperture, is that it changes the depth of field. DOF is the depth of the area that is in focus. As you open the aperture (lower f number) you will get a shallower DOF, leading to a narrower range of distances that are in focus. There are some great examples of the effects of the changing the aperture on the Wikipedia page here. When you close the aperture, the more is in focus. This deepening/shallowing of what is in focus can be used artistically to produce soft backgrounds and/or foregrounds, but can also be annoying as if you are using too large of an aperture, your whole subject may not be in focus, leading to your picture not being usable.

As you may realize, you will have to adjust the aperture and shutter speeds to compensate for each other for the different conditions you may be shooting in. For example, I took this picture a while ago with my cool little Panasonic DMC-LZ8 point and shoot here.

I used an f/3.3 aperture and a shutter speed of 1/200s. On this image you can see the blurring of the background (often called bokeh) and the relatively narrow range of distances that are in focus. I shot this on a sunny day,

A quick side note about f-numbers: the lower the number, the larger aperture, the higher the number, the smaller the aperture.

ISO

The idea of ISO comes from the days of film, in which film was made with different "speeds", basically meaning different sensitivities (more can be read here). Now that film is mostly obsolete, digital cameras use the same name for a similar idea. As a higher ISO number meant greater sensitivity to light, higher ISO numbers on a digital camera represent higher gain of the signal from the sensor. This makes the image either darker or brighter depending on how much the sensor signal is amplified. This is yet another thing to take into consideration when choosing ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.

For example if you have a very dark scene, you will want to increase the ISO, to make the image bright enough. But like many other things, it has a disadvantage, when you push it too high. Depending on the camera, you can crank up the ISO different amounts before experiencing too much noise in your image. This noise in the image can often lead to the image looking "grainy" or blotchy as I have seen. My camera is really not too good and tops out at around 800 for usability, but the D3100 should be able to go higher. A good comparison of the noise introduced by changing the ISO here.

I'll talk about focal length of lenses and how a DSLR generally works tomorrow   .

 

WOW thank you so much my man. Thank you so much for the effort you put into the post!

[nickl]

WOW thank you so much my man. Thank you so much for the effort you put into the post!

np man!

[ALwin]

snip

 

 

snip

There should be a setting in ALL Nikon cameras that prevents the shutter from being released, a.k.a. the camera from taking a photo, if it is not in focus. Perhaps the OP has this setting disabled. In my Nikons that setting is usually Custom Setting a1 (AF-C priority selection) and a2 (AF-S priority selection).

[ALwin]

Examples http://imgur.com/gallery/2mjeN/new

 

Just got it.. so TBH no idea how it "normally works"  How far away should i be from things? 

 

Each camera lens has a minimum focusing distance, if your lens' minimum focusing distance is for example 1meter and the distance between the camera and the subject is less than 1m, the camera will not be able to focus.

 

Additionally, you may be using a very slow shutter speed that can not compensate for handheld use.  Even if you have Image Stabilization activated, it can only compensate for a few stops.  Most people who take photos handheld, without the use of a tripod, will not go slower than 1/80th to 1/100th of a second.  Anything slower, even with the assistance of Image Stabilization, there is a big chance that involuntary muscle movements of your hand, arms and body could cause the camera to lose steadiness.

 

@nickl has already provided you with a good explanation of ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed. If you're interested you should take a basic course on photography, check what is available where you live.

[ALwin]

Each camera lens has a minimum focusing distance, if your lens' minimum focusing distance is for example 1meter and the distance between the camera and the subject is less than 1m, the camera will not be able to focus.

 

 

This is the problem with most entry level kit lenses and cheap lenses.  They do not come with a focus scale.

 

Take the lens below.

• Near the base of the lens (the numbers 22, 16, 11, 8, 5.6...) are the Aperture or F-stop indicators, many modern lenses no longer have this manual Aperture ring.  This I can live without.
• The next set of numbers, 28, 35, 50..., that's the focal length indicators.  Important to have in a zoom lens as this indicator can let you properly set the focal length you want to use.
• Then the third set of numbers, usually shown behind a transparent plastic or glass screen, while on some lenses it can be written directly on the lens body (see second image below).  The numbers usually come in two rows, one for Imperial units and the other for Metric units, with an Infinity symbol at one end.  This is your focusing scale, indicating the focus distance of your lens.
• Some lenses have an additional set of numbers just below the focusing scale, usually shown with a line/arrow with a dot pointing towards the focus scale.  This is the hyperlocal distance indicator
• Additionally some older lenses also have a red dot on the same line as the hyperlocal distance scale.  This dot is the Infrared focus shift indicator, for people who do IR photography either using IR film or IR converted digital cameras.

Personally, I can live without the manual aperture ring, the hyperlocal distance and IR focus scales, but I refuse to buy any lens that does not come with a focal length and focusing distance scale.  Aperture I can control digitally or use adapter rings that let me manually control the aperture (based on guesswork) and as for IR, I know how much to shift my focusing when I do IR photos.  My IR converted cameras are already adjusted for the focus shift.