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Module 1 · Know Your Camera

Practice

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Start · Module 1Practice · 5 min

Practice

Lesson 10 of 12

MODULE 1 ROADMAP

  1. 1How a camera works
  2. 2Tour your camera
  3. 3Types of camera
  4. 4Sensor sizes
  5. 5Screens and viewfinders
  6. 6Settings to change first
  7. 7Batteries and memory cards
  8. 8Changing lenses
  9. 9Real-life examples
  10. 10Practice
  11. 11Quiz
  12. 12Cheat sheet

The best photographers change settings without looking. That frees their eyes for the scene. This week you will build that muscle memory, then prove it with a short shoot. Allow ten minutes for the drills and about 30 minutes of shooting time.

The brief

Make a set of 12 frames of a single everyday subject, such as a pot plant, a bicycle, a coffee cup or a letterbox, changing one control by feel before every frame. Shoot near a window or outside in open shade.

Steps

  1. Set Auto or P (program) mode, and set your date and name if you haven’t yet (see Lesson 6).
  2. Cold start drill. With the camera off and in your bag, time yourself: take it out, switch it on, raise it to your eye and half-press to focus. Repeat five times. Aim for under five seconds.
  3. Eyes-closed drill. With your eyes shut, find the shutter button, a dial or wheel, the playback button and the menu button. Say each name aloud as you touch it.
  4. Now shoot. Frame 1: as it comes. Frame 2: turn a dial or wheel a few clicks without looking, then check what changed. Continue for frames 3–12, changing one control each time: another dial or button, the focus point (with a joystick, pad or the touch screen), a zoom change, a grid on or off, a display layout change.
  5. After each frame, glance at the screen to confirm what you changed. Don’t worry if a frame looks odd. That is information.
  6. Finish by reviewing all 12 frames at 100% in playback and deleting the weakest two in camera.

What good looks like

  • You can switch on, raise and focus in under five seconds.
  • You can name and find four controls with your eyes closed.
  • You know which setting each dial or wheel changes in your current mode.
  • Your frames are sharp when magnified, because you used the half-press before every shot.
  • You can delete a single frame without opening the main menu.

Level up

Repeat the whole set with your eye at the viewfinder the entire time, never lowering the camera. Then shoot the same 12 changes on a second subject in dim indoor light, where the screen and viewfinder look different. Note which controls you still had to look for.

Finn tip: Practise the cold start drill while the kettle boils. Five a day for a week and it becomes automatic.

Module challenge

Blindfold Bootcamp · 20 minutes

A partner, or a shuffled stack of cards you wrote yourself, calls out a control: mode, a dial or wheel, focus point, zoom, display, playback. You make the change with your eyes closed, open them and shoot one frame of the same object. Twelve calls, against the clock.

  • Eyes closed for every change; open them only to shoot.
  • One object, one spot, twelve frames, no retakes.
  • Post your best frame with your total time and the control that beat you.

Post your best frame in the members’ Facebook group with #CapturEDUChallenge001.