how do i teach a Canon user to shoot a Nikon SLR?

[srileo]

So my dear friend was a Canon SLR shooter a long time ago (Rebel). She

has since then forgotten all the tenets of SLR photography - aperture,

shutter speed, etc. (She apparently always shot in the Auto mode with

her Rebel (sigh..)

 

So,

now that she has alighted into the world of digital SLR photography

through me, she wants to learn how to use an SLR again. I have my N80

that i dont use anymore and am wanting to show her how to shoot with

my D70 and then let her practice with my N80.

 

So, what is the best way to teach someone the basics of photography in

say an hour's shooting session? What are good ways to illustrate the

principles of Aperture and its intimate relationship with shutter

speed, and the flexibility of film speeds? Having the d70 will be a

huge asset in keeping the guesswork out.....

 

Thanks in advance for your advice...

sridhar

[Rick Waller]

Buy her a John Shaw book....

[leslie_cheung]

Are you sure she want to learn photography? Nikon cams got auto modes as well (plus the d70 has auto iso) so she will learn on a nikon but "forgets" them on a canon? Perhaps she doesn't want to learn photography at all but just after some one on one "private lesson";p

[michaelging]

Shridhar,any good begining photography will help get her started.

 

Just tell her that everything is backward on a Canon camera and correct on a nikon. The battery compartments are backwards, the Lenses focus backwards. :)

[beauh44]

On each side of her Compact Flash card write these words: "How do you keep a Nikon shooter busy? See other side..." ;-)

 

(Disclaimer: Please don't flame me - it was an admittedly poor attempt at humor. Nikon makes fine products and I do not wish to disparage them or their customers...) Much. KIDDING!

[gib]

if it was me, I would spend an hour or more in preparation for the one hour shoot.

 

preparing - start with the end results > examples of maximum depth of field = landscape, selective depth of field, as in shallow focus = portraiture.

 

Then explain how exposure is the relationship between lens opening (aperture), duration (shutter speed), and film sensitivity (film speed). I would start her off with 400 ISO film and stick with that for awhile.

 

Make a couple of simple pages of diagrams to explain it. A whole book might be a bit daunting. Or perhaps photocopy a diagram or two from an introductory photography book. Then pass along the whole book after another lesson or two. You dont want to overwhelm someone, I dont think so anyway.

 

You could explain how program mode selects exposure combination for her and when she might want to exercise control over aperture (landscape or portraiture) or shutter speed (motion, long focal length and the battle against camera shake). When a tripod might help.

 

When I have tried this sort of thing in the past, I always tended to put the student's camera on a tripod, to keep things very stable, and allowing me to change one variable and them to look through the viewfinder and see the change.

 

Perhaps a little ghoulish but a good place for a lesson is a cemetery = you can use the larger view to discuss landscape or wide angle views, and an individual gravestone for closeup or tighter angle of view.

 

You might want to start with a zoom lens or with a 50, 28, and a 105 trio of primes. Hard to make the definitive call on that.

 

I found that putting the camera on a tripod slowed things down and made sure that as the discussion went along the viewfinder and the display remained consistent. Not sure this would be the case if the camera was just hand held and waved around.

 

I like the Freemand Patterson books but there are so many now.

 

I hope this is some of small help and triggers some ideas for you to pull together.

[ramon_v__california_]

WJ has a good lesson plan. i do that to my students --- boy scouts, girl scouts, high school students and friends. the only difference with WJ's technique is i bring them to the park with a lake instead ;-).........you will have trees and water there. plus lines and other shapes in the jungle jim, swings, etc.; squirrels, birds and other creatures.

 

have fun.

[ky2]

You can't.

[Robert_Lai]

Is she really serious about this? What's wrong with using the all auto (Program exposure) mode on the D70 or the N80? It really sounds as if your "dear friend" wants to become an even dearer friend by spending time alone with you ;-)<p>The main problem is that everything is backwards on a Canon vs the Nikon. The lens focuses the wrong way to infinity. The apertures run the wrong way too. If she wants to learn things in the correct orientation, then you need to teach her with her own camera, or a Leica (from which Canon's orientations were copied).<p>If she's really serious about this, then Bill has the correct idea, except that I'd skip the cemetery! What does she really need to know?<p>Aperture: increases or diminishes the amount of light coming through. She can see this with the depth of field preview button. Then introduce the concept of depth of field at the same time.<p>Shutter speeds: Use a tripod as suggested earlier. Show what slow shutter speeds give you with respect to subject motion vs fast shutter speeds. Explain why tripods are useful.<p>ISO speed - this one's going to be difficult. Somehow, you've got to get across that for any given level of light, there's a combination of ISO, shutter speed, and aperture that gives the right exposure.<p>That would be all that I would try to work upon in 1 hour.

[david_h._hartman]

<em>Disclaimer: Please don't flame me - it was an

admittedly poor attempt at humor. --Beau Hooker<br>

</em><br>

<strong>I am the god of hell fire and I bring you...<br>

Fire, I'll take you to burn.<br>

Fire, I'll take you to learn.<br>

I'll see you burn!<br>

</strong><br>

--Arthur Brown, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.<br>

<br>

Im in a lyrical mood tonight, damn it! Moreover Im

here to prove that my humor is worse than your humor! Yah! I

think I flamed the hell out of that fool.<br>

<br>

---<br>

<br>

<em>how do i teach a Canon user to shoot a Nikon SLR?

--Shridhar<br>

</em><br>

I dont think there is difference in teaching one brand or

the other. WJ Gibsons advice is well though out, Id

follow it.<br>

<br>

---<br>

<br>

<em>Perhaps a little ghoulish but a good place for a lesson

is a cemetery --WJ Gibson<br>

</em><br>

Not at all! <br>

<br>

As the temporary god of hell fire I could not agree more with

this selection. A full moon would add a nice touch as would a

long flowing black robes and a few troches (torches, not

flashlights). Do select a vintage cemetery. The new ones with

flat plaques to make it easy for the grounds keepers dont

have the right ambiance.<br>

<br>

Without rows of tombstones how do you teach depth of field?<br>

<br>

Dave Hartman.<br>

<br>

Postscript: ;)

[vinh]

I think you have it backwards... photography has nothing to do with Nikon or Canon SLRs. you need to teach her about exposure first and foremost. once she understands exposure, all you have to do is teach her how to set that exposure, and the various methods the camera has to measure it (i.e. meter settings). and that's it.

 

if the person understand exposure they understand what they need to know how to do on a camera regardless of brand.

 

 

as for teaching exposure itself, i find the water faucet analogy to be very easily understood.

 

i.e. a given scene needs a certain amount of "exposure" to light to properly record it. there are two ways to control how much light strikes the film or sensor, shutter speed and aperture.

 

in the context of a water faucet analogy, shutter speed is equivalent to how long you allow the water to run (the longer you let it run the more water you have, and the less time you let it run the less water you have), and aperture is equivalent to how low or high you have the faucet turned on (i.e. wider the aperture the more water comes out, smaller the aperture the less water comes out).

 

if you're trying to fill a bucket to a certain mark, you have two methods for getting to that point. fast running water for a short period (wide aperture and short shutter speed), or slow running water for a long period (small aperture and long shutter speed).

 

from here you should explain how to "calculate" exposure. i.e. each stop of aperture is equivalent to either doubling or halving the amount of light. to double or halve shutter speed, you simply multiple or divide by 2 to the time.

 

then you can explain ISO speed of the film or sensor by explaining that the higher the ISO speed, the faster the film responds to exposure to light. also explain that each doubling of the ISO speed is equivalent to halving the amount of light needed (because the film reacts faster by that amount).

 

then given a mathematical example of how to calculate exposure, e.g.

 

for a given seen, say you need f/8 at 1/250s on ISO100 film.

 

given ISO200 film, how could you get the same exposure? answer, change aperture to f/11 or shutter speed to 1/500s. why? because ISO200 film is twice as fast, so either changing 1-stop down in aperture or dividing the shutter speed by 2 can halve the exposure to neutralize that 2x increase in exposure from the film.

 

understanding the math will allow a person to know how to adjust exposure very efficiently.

 

[here you should explain metering modes, basically saying that the camera has a built-in meter to help determine a good exposure and that there is more than one way the camera can measure this value and what she needs to do when using a particular one.]

 

this completes exposure, and you should then explain why a person might choose to change exposure via one setting or the other... i.e. how aperture affects dof (everything in focus vs blurry background) and how shutter speed affects motion (stop vs blur).

 

 

that's all a person needs to know to accomplish just about anything with a camera IMO. given the option, you might skip the N80 and find her an FM10.

[robert_cooper3]

Get a Nikon FM and teach the fundamentals of exposure etc. first.

 

Just be sure that sinister forces are not conspiring to pull you to the the dark bleak side of....Canon :0 Deprogramming may be required ;)

Coop

[srileo]

WJ Gibson, Vinh Luu, Robert Lai:

I love you guys!

the water faucet example is simply a brilliant analogy!! I think she wont have a problem grasping the idea at all. Plus, with the d70 set on tripod and with my 75-300, i shouldnt have much of a problem explaining exposure. I am taking her to the atlanta botanical gardens, so, landscape and closeup opportunities abound.

 

Thanks again, and we will try to stay out of the bushes ;-)

 

sridhar

[art_nichols]

Provide her with a quiet setting, and the owners manual.

[kerry_grim]

I agree with what Eric Waller said...buy her a book by John Shaw. His writings are excellent and easy to understand as he is an excellent communicator.

[fuzzybud]

Now let me see if nI have this right.

1st I need a girlfriend.

2nd I have to convince her to accompany me to a cemetery during a full moon.

3rd Now I have to find a water faucet.

 

Yeah right!