f-stops on digital cameras

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How come consumer digital cameras only have a 2 - 3 f stop range? The sky on my coolpix 900 shots is often overexposed. My new Oly C 2500 has solved that with a 1/16000 shutter speed.

I would still like to stop down to f 16.

Can the Nikon D1 or Fuji use the small f stops?

Ludwig Beck beckludwig@hotmail.com

-- Ludwig Beck (beckludwig@hotmail.com), March 28, 2000

Answers

Yes, the D1 can use the full range of f-stops any lens provides. However, that alone is not going to solve your problem. Any camera, film or digital, will have limitations on the range of brightness they can handle in an image.

Just about any camera should be able to properly expose for the sky. But what happens to the darker areas of the photograph? If there are more than a few stops of difference between the darkest area and the brightest area in a scene, you will not get proper exposure in the whole range. It is then the job of the photographer, not the camera, to make the decision of whether to shift the exposure toward the highlights or the shadows. Any camera with manual controls will allow you to accomplish this.

-- Steve (MilwaukeeChrome@aol.com), March 28, 2000.


Thanks for the info on the D1.

The coolpix 900 has no manual exposure. I have used neutral density to reduce it, but there is an exposure compensation of 2 f stops which I4ll try.

Still, I find it a handicap that I cannot stop down more than approx. f8 on consumer digital cameras - depth of field in makro etc.

-- Ludwig Beck (beckludwig@hotmail.com), March 28, 2000.


THe Casio QV2000 has a range from f2 to f11. Auto and manually setable.

-- John Kretsch (john_kretsch@excite.com), April 03, 2000.

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