Standard aperture and shutter speed..?

Question

Is there anybody help me to know about the standard aperture and stutter speed in a particular environment, such as, in the rain, cloud, evening, clear sky etc for a digital SLR camera?

Answer 1

There are no "standard" settings for aperture and shutter speed. Your camera has a built-in light meter. If you take some time to actually READ & STUDY the Owner's Manual for your camera then you'll learn how to actually use it.

The closest you can come to a "standard" setting would be to put your camera in Program or Auto or whatever its called on your particular camera and let the camera set both aperture and shutter. Of course this effectively turns your DSLR into a "point & shoot".

Personally, I like to shoot in Aperture Preferred since I like to use f8 or f11 and let the camera worry about the shutter speed. I do watch the shutter speed though to make sure it doesn't get too slow.

For shooting in the rain or on a cloudy day or in the evening you'll probably need a tripod. Actually, using a tripod as often as possible will improve your pictures.

You might find the FotoSharp (http://www.fotosharp.com) Day & Night Exposure Guide useful, especially for shooting in the evening and at night without a flash.

Answer 2

Both answers, so far, have a little bit of truth to them.  There is no such thing as a standard aperture and shutter speed.  It's like asking what is the standard speed you should drive your car.  (55 mph on a highway might be fine, but in a residential zone, you'll likely kill someone.)  However, there are certain apertures that are preferred in certain situations as well as certain shutter speeds that are preferred in certain situations.  The more you shoot, the more you'll learn those.

However, let's say you've got a broken light meter or you suspect that it is wrong.  You don't have access to the internet (cause your out in the field or on assignment) and you haven't bought any kind of cheat sheet cards such as those pointed out at fotosharp.com.  There is a photographic 'rule' that will at least get you in the ballpark.  It's called the Sunny 16 Rule.  In summary, set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to 1/ISO film speed for a sunny day.    You can also adjust that rule for different conditions:

f/16 Sunny

f/11 Slighty Overcast

f/8 Overcast

f/5.6 Heavy Overcast

f/4 Sunset

Now depending on the subject, a shutter speed of 1/ISO may not work.  You may need a faster shutter speed to stop the action or a slower shutter speed to blur it.   If you adjust the shutter speed, you'll need to adjust the aperture as well to keep the same exposure value.

If you don't know the standard photographic stops, this is a good example of why it is helpful to know them off the top of your head.

Answer 3

To assis your situation, i would say that there is no fixed shutter speed and apeture.

Based on your question, i would assume that you are taking landscape photographs and figuring out the best settings.

To make tings simple, set the aperture(  f-number ) in your camera to a larger value such as F8, F9 or even F16.

For shutter speed, you should set accordingly depending on the lighting source. But if are taking photographs of rain drops, set the shutter speed to a lower setting like 1/50, 1/30 with a large f-number to achieve a slow trail of the rain droplets.

Answer 4

Hello Cindy!!  Good Question :)   I am wondering which of the Digital SLRs that you have?   The Digital SLRS that I have make it really easy to shoot in these particular situations by adjusting the White Balance (WB) setting on your particular camera.   Look at the owner's/user's manual and find WHITE BALANCE setting.   You will have the following shooting situations displayed by those small icons:  Sunny / Under Shadow / Night Shots / Inside with regular light bulbs/  Inside with florescent Lighting / using flash/.   Set WB at the situation for which you are shooting and place the camera on Program Mode.  It is wise to test each mode to learn what using this feature can do for your pictures.    Set them incorrectly and your pictures will look funny.    Now if you want to see what the shutter speeds are for each setting you select, when you set up the shot (assuming you did put your camera in Program)...  look at the indicator and make a written note of what the camera set the shutter and aperture setting at.   Or after taking the picture,  and when viewing it in the monitor...  push the "Information" button and all of the technical data will be right there for you to read and then record.   Hope that added to the good answers you have been receiving.   :))  Seize the Day.