Presume this is a tool for point and shoot guys to figure out what a SLR feels like. If you can add a shutter half-click simulation - have an out of focus element and bring that to focus with the shutter half-click, that'll be awesome.
SLR Camera Simulator
31–40 of 73 posts
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't actually do anything
The aperture on an SLR only closes once you press the shutter release (or press the depth of field preview button, but those are becoming rare on consumer grade hardware). If the aperture closed as soon as you changed it the camera would be unusable because the viewfinder would become very dark, and the autofocus would stop working.
>or press the depth of field preview button, but those are becoming rare on consumer grade hardware
I bought a Nikon D5100 last summer, my first SLR since a Pentax K1000 I had for decades. The lack of a DoF preview button was a little hard for me to adjust to.
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#33Why not show the result in real time as you adjust the sliders? You can still show the preview off to one side or whatever. It would help develop a tighter iterative loop for experimenting and save the cognitive overhead of trying to remember what was wrong with the one before. Have some image 'troughs' which you can populate with screen grabs including the settings you used to allow quick reference to settings from…
> You can still show the preview off to one side or whatever. It would help develop a tighter iterative loop for experimenting and save the cognitive overhead of trying to remember what was wrong with the one before.
ITYM, "Why doesn't this SLR camera have burst mode?"
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#34Is this the same SLR simulator I saw a couple of years back? Can't tell because it's Flash. Seems to me like DSLRs don't really need simulators. Pick up a DSLR, dial it to P or green or whatever, and go. It's simpler and more responsive than a point and shoot, just bigger and heavier. (My four year olds love using my smaller DSLR and have less trouble using it than a small P&S.) Anyone wanting to learn the fine point…
Dialing it to P teaches you nothing, since the camera is picking the exposure settings for you.
If you're really going to learn via shooting, you need to bracket your shots, line them up side by side in an app like Lightroom or iPhoto and look at the metadata to see what changed in the scene from the setting changes. Most people aren't going to bother doing this.
If an app like this is done properly, it would let you see the DOF and exposure changes more coveniently than post-shot chimping can.
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
In manual mode it's not that simple from what I could glean (haven't touched a D5100 myself). You have to half depress the shutter release, simultaneously press the exposure compensation button and only then you can adjust the aperture with the command dial (otherwise you'll just change shutter speed). That's pretty crummy IMO and rather elaborate for a beginner. My D7000 is more straightforward since it has a separa…
Why do this in manual mode?
Agreed, a beginner fiddling in manual mode vs A mode is going to go insane.
Edit: A mode on Canons is Av mode.
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#36Why not show the result in real time as you adjust the sliders? You can still show the preview off to one side or whatever. It would help develop a tighter iterative loop for experimenting and save the cognitive overhead of trying to remember what was wrong with the one before. Have some image 'troughs' which you can populate with screen grabs including the settings you used to allow quick reference to settings from…
Many cameras (including mine) do not have an LCD that accurately reflects shutter speed or ISO settings.
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
No see you're as confused as she was :) Most zoom lenses are variable aperture, e.g. at 18mm they will open up to f/3.5 but at 55mm they will only open up to f/5.6. The simulation doesn't address this, and it can be surprising for a beginner to see the aperture changing as they zoom - they may become fixated on zooming as a way to control aperture without realising they are observing a side-effect.
Better lenses are fixed aperture though, so I don't think it's unreasonable to replicate that here. My 24-70 is 2.8 across the board.
Most kit lenses on entry level cameras aren't fixed aperture though - I am guessing this app targets entry level users.
In any case, the need to have fixed fast aperture lenses is diminishing with IS and high ISO performance. I'd rather carry a fixed F4 than a fixed F2.8 zoom with a 2012 camera. It's going to be a much smaller lens and just as effective for most use cases.
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#38This is neat. I like the advice that you give when the pictures are bad, but it took me a little while to get from "this picture is OK, but kind of blurry" to a good one. I guess I can't expect to pick up a SLR and get a good one on my first try!
Yeah, you probably can pick up an SLR and get a decent shot on your first try, especially if you use the Automatic mode.
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Better lenses are fixed aperture though, so I don't think it's unreasonable to replicate that here. My 24-70 is 2.8 across the board.
While I agree with the point on quality, constant aperture zoom lenses tend to be MUCH more expensive than variable aperture lenses. Your single lens costs more than twice her entire starting kit :) They also tend to have fairly specialist zoom ranges. I find it hard to imagine somebody with a constant aperture zoom lens would find benefit in this camera simulation. The majority of the kind of people using it will be…
>> While I agree with the point on quality
It's important to note a distinction.
The faster aperture tends to necessitate better glass, but the idea that only fast lenses have good glass would not necessarily be true. There are plenty of "slow" lenses that have very good optical quality.
Re: SLR Camera Simulator
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm confused. Are you suggesting that the type of person who would find the camera simulator site useful is likely to be somebody who would own something like a Canon 5D Mark III? That's a $3,500 camera - body only. If you own that camera, I should hope you aren't visiting camera simulator sites, otherwise I suspect you're not going to be putting it to much good use :)
I have come across at least 2 people holding a 1 series camera and shooting in Auto or Programmed Auto modes. And I was severely disheartened. I am only expecting people who actually have a DSLR with either a variable or constant speed lens but still shoot auto will come and be able to try their hands out on a same scene with similar type of lighting but different shutter speed aperture combinations and later on be m…
Why would you be disheartened? A lot of photographers (including skilled amateurs and pros) shoot in P mode when the situation allows for it.
Prolific shooters usually know what to expect from their camera, so there's no need to experiment with settings all of the time, and if they see a P mode choice they don't like, they can program shift or switch to A/S/M mode.