Intro & Cheat Sheets

I have a bunch of buds who are camera experts. I am not. That said, I’ve been shooting with some camera or another, in a semi-professional way, for nearly two decades. I’m in that weird spot where I started getting interested in photo/video with digital photography before digital photography was actually good. I had some film things when I was a youth, but was an early adopter to very shitty early-digital cameras. Mini-DV (of 28 Days Later fame), and 3.4 Megapixel digital cameras were what I used early on.  
 Over time, I graduated to HDV (still a tape), then DSLR, then Digital Cinema, then Mirrorless systems. I believe Mirrorless systems are the best, accessible, camera system for semi-professional photo/video dorks. I’ve been a Fuji boy since 2020 and love their idiosyncratic X line. If you want to get into photo/video, the best you can do is just do it, a lot. There’s a famous quote, that I’m paraphrasing, that goes something like “the best camera is the one you have on you.” This is true. But it helps to like the tool and I refuse to believe that a mobile phone with a camera is all you need. Great cameras, but there’s a massive difference between that and traditional camera systems with real optics. Again: no shade on Apple (or Google), it’s just not the tool for making and doing everything. Also - tactile crafts are just a helluva lot more satisfying. Gimme those knobs and dials!  
 Camera Technique Cheat Sheet 
 
 Shutter Speed - the speed that the shutter happens - faster = darker and more sharp. Faster looks like this 1/240. Slower looks like this 1/15. In general, the rule for video and your shutter speed is for it to be 2x the frame rate. For 23.976/24, you want to shoot at 1/48. 60fps, 1/120. Not following this rule is called shooting “off-speed”. 
 Shutter Angle - Shutter speed, but for video. A higher number has greater motion blur, a smaller number is sharper (less motion blur). 180* is basically equivalent to 1/50. I know there’s a formula for ideal shutter angle but don’t remember. 
 Aperture - the amount of light that’s let in through the lens by adjusting the iris blades - lower = shallower depth of field. Lower looks like this f/1.4. This is called a “wider” aperture. Camera people will say something like “hey let’s open it up a little bit”. This is what they’re talking about. The opposite is “closing down” to make it “narrow.” A higher number looks like this f/22. Film use “T” instead of “F” - I think it’s basically the same thing. If you start saying things like “closing down”, you might appear very smart.  
 Frame rate or FPS - generally speaking, you want your frame rate to be half the shutter speed, so at 24 fps you shoot at a shutter speed of 1/48.
 
 Standard frame rates are:
 
 23.976 (most frequently seen IMHO) 
 24 
 25 (BBC Mode) 
 29.97 
 30 
 48 
 59.94 
 96 
 60 (most frequently used for projection media and animated content) 
 120 (fun) 
 240 (very fun) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Camera Mode Cheat Sheet 
 I'm embarrassed to admit how old I was before I realized what PSAM meant, and I'm even more embarrassed to admit how old I was before I realized what the letters meant.  
 P - “ Program ” use exposure comp. dial to change your photometry. If ISO is “auto” then this is considered “full auto”. 
 S - “ Shutter Priority ” use exposure comp. dial to change your photometry. You manually set the Shutter here, and everything else is auto.  
 A - “ Aperture Priority ” use exposure comp. dial to change your photometry. You manually set the aperture here, and everything else is auto.  
 M - “ Manual ” - full manual baby