This next section is on photo basics, and I know this is far beyond a lot of you out there, but you know what, some of you like it, and it's good to go through some of the basics if you're new to photography, so that's what we're gonna do in this little section. All right, so this is a mirrorless camera. We have interchangeable lenses, we'll talk about lenses here in a little bit. In each of the lenses is an aperture that can open and close, that helps control the amount of light coming into the camera. Now, the aperture has many different openings, and so these are the f/stops, f/1.4 is a wide opening, f/22 is a very small opening. As we go from one of these settings to the next, we're letting in either twice as much light, or half the light. That's the increments we like to work in photography. Now, by changing the size of the aperture, we are also going to be changing the depth of field, or how much is in focus. And so, very shallow depth of field at 1.4, and as we stop our aperture...
down, the depth of field grows with each aperture setting. Now, each of these aperture settings is also letting in half as much light, so we're needing to compensate with either shutter speeds or ISOs to let in the correct amount of light, until we get down to 22, where we get the greatest depth of field available in this theoretical lens at least. Some lenses will stop down beyond that. So, light comes in, and go straight to the image sensor. No mirror in this, which is why it's a mirrorless camera. So, it sends the information to the LCD on the back of the camera, which can be handy to see, but it also has a great, one of the best electronic viewfinders out on the market, and so that's what you're gonna be looking at through the viewfinder. Now, at the sensor level, taking a closer look at the light coming in, there is two shutter curtains that are gonna control your shutter speed. When it's time to take a photo, what happens is the first curtain needs to close so that the sensor can prep for actually taking an image, as opposed to just viewing it, and then it opens, this is your shutter speed, or your exposure time, and then the second curtain closes, and it does so in this manner so that each pixel is exposed for exactly the same amount of time. And then it opens again so that you can see what's going on again. And so, there's a lot of shutter movement going back and forth to get the image taken. And so, your shutter speeds are gonna range from 8000th of a second, down to 30 seconds. Before you call me out and say I'm wrong, I'm gonna talk more about this in a moment, but this is kinda the general range. And so, those thousandths are for super fast action, your normal is gonna be around a 60th to 125th of a second, and you'll use different shutter speeds for obviously different types of photography. All right, so that's what's going on in your mirrorless camera, to kinda give you a brief overview of what the main operations are in there. Now, there's a lot of different cameras out on the market, and one of the most important differences is the size of the sensor in the camera itself. Now, the largest of the common sizes is based off of 35mm film, but in order to save money, and to have smaller sized cameras, the manufacturers have developed a number of smaller sized sensors, and this one uses one that's just a step down from what is known as a full frame sensor, or one that's based on the 35mm film. And so, for those of us who used 35mm film, it was a nice transition just getting a full frame camera, but we ended up with sensors that were large, and cameras and lenses that were somewhat large for some uses. And so, the APS-C sensor in this is a nice compact, it's a very efficient sized sensor, as far as the size of the camera and the lens, and what you get out of it, so it's a very popular size. It's probably the most popular among people with interchangeable lenses out there. So, it's a good happy medium you might say. When attaching the strap to the camera, I see a number of people who have the strap attached wrong. This is the correct system. The main thing that you wanna have is you want to have that tail going under, on the underside. It is less likely to slip out, there's a little bit more pressure on it, and so it's not likely to come undone on its own. As far as holding the camera, kinda the key thing that you wanna do to do this properly is in your left hand, kinda cradle the bottom of the lens. You're gonna be able to support the weight a little bit easier, not that it's that heavy, but it keeps your elbows in tighter to your body, and so it's a more stable position for holding the camera, and so that's just a good technique to have going forward. If you look at professional photographers, that's how they hold the camera. Now, this camera has a lot of different features, and a lot of them can be turned back and forth between auto and manual. We're gonna be talking about all of these. You want to know how to work with then manually, so that if you have the time, and you're willing to put out the effort, and you know how to do it, you can set your camera up to do exactly what you want it to do. It's perfectly okay to use this camera in as many auto settings as you want to use, but I think it's good for you to know how is it working manually. That way, if you have it in automatic, and it's not doing exactly what you want, you can get in there and manually control it. I tend to be a little bit biased, and I prefer to using the manual modes as often as possible, but feel free to use as many automatic modes as works for you. But, I think if you know things manually, it's good for you in the long run. Now, if you'd like to know more about general photography, my top class is the Fundamentals of Photography. You can take a look at that at the Creative Live website, and we owe much more into lighting, and composition, working with images on the computer, and then of course, taking images with shutter speeds, apertures, ISOs, dealing with focus, depth of field, and all of those sorts of things. And so, that's something to take a look at if you want something beyond just knowing how this particular camera works.
AFTER THIS CLASS YOU’LL BE ABLE TO:
- Capture images on the Fujifilm X-T2 with confidence
- Set custom controls and menus
- Master exposure and autofocus with the X-T2
- Easily set up the camera's Wi-Fi
ABOUT JOHN’S CLASS:
The Fujifilm X-T2 is one of the best travel cameras on the market, with a large X-Trans CMOS APS-C sensor packed inside a mirrorless compact camera. But that first date with the X-T2 doesn't always go well. Skip the 356-page instruction manual and explore the X-T2's features with expert photographer John Greengo at your side.
Start with basics like setting up the camera and taking the first shot, then dive into advanced topics like using a battery grip and customizing the electronic viewfinder. Learn how to capture an accurate exposure and how to work with the X-T2's AF system. Finally, in an update to the class, find out how to update the firmware and what new features Fujifilm has added since the mirrorless digital camera's launch.
This fast start course gives you everything you need to successfully shoot with the X-T2. Whether you are just picking up the X-T2 for the first time or are self-taught, learn the X-T2 inside and out, including more than a dozen "secret" shortcuts.
WHO THIS CLASS IS FOR:
- Photographers just picking up the X-T2 for the first time
- Self-taught photographers that want to find what they're missing
- Photographers considering investing in the X-T2
MATERIALS USED: Fujifilm X-T2, lenses and accessories
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR:
John Greengo is an award-winning travel and outdoor photographer. Along with his creative work, he's lead dozens of classes on photography basics. He's taught Fast Start classes for dozens of different cameras, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Olympus digital cameras as well as Fujifilm cameras. He's lead several classes on X-Series cameras, including the Fujifilm X-T20, Fujifilm X-H1, Fujifilm X-Pro2, Fujifilm X-T1, Fujifilm X-E2, and Fujifilm X-T10. John's straightforward teaching style makes it easy to ditch the boring instruction manual to learn the ins and outs of your camera.