There’re so many settings to control your camera and if you are a newbie in photography, things may seem harder than usual. People get confused about many options, for example, finding the F-stop setting and when to change them. Being a vital component for photography, knowing how to change F-stops needs to be mastered.
However, many beginners end up asking how to change F-stop on Canon cameras? If you are one of them, the article brings aid to meet your thirst by explaining how you can change F-stop on a canon camera. Without further delay let’s dig into the topic straight.
What Is Aperture?
Well, you need to know the basic things at first. The aperture is the function of controlling how much light you want to enter into the lens. It functions similarly to the pupil of your eyes.
When you are in a bright surrounding, you should keep the aperture open for less time to limit more light. On the contrary, in dark conditions, you want it to remain open for a longer time to let more light in.
What Is F-Stop And How’s It Related To Aperture?
The F stop is made of three components and it refers to the command of the aperture setting. It controls how much time the lens will let light enter through it. Basically, F-stops are the numerical numbers of controlling the light that may affect your photography.
So, F-stop is closely related to aperture. You can term aperture as the function and F-stop as the key to operating it. It operates by controlling the entrance of light through a hole. The bigger the hole is the more light can pass through and oppositely, the tinier the hole gets, it allows less amount of light.
F-stop numbers are expressed as f/1.4, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, and so on. However, here’s one thing that makes people a lot confused very often. The smaller the F-stop numbers get, the larger the hole gets. Again, for a large F-stop number, the aperture opening will be short.
The hole is in fact, a set of three blades that move at the same time creating almost a circle to limit the light according to the amount you choose.
How To Change F Stop?
If you are using the DSLR camera on the full-automatic mode, you probably have little chance or requirement to change the F-stop. On the automatic mode, the camera analyzes the surroundings and provides the best exposure possible.
Fully automatic camera mode keeps everything set for you so that you can just bring it out and be ready to shoot. However, automatic mode limits your horizon of experiencing even greater things. If you switch to semi-automatic or manual mode, you’ll have a great chance to explore new opportunities that are different of a kind that automatic mode offers. If you are convinced and interested to switch to manual, you need to know how to change F-stop on cameras.
Different brands and models offer different body designs and the control buttons are not in the same place. You need to go through the camera manual thoroughly to get to know better how can you control aperture. Here’s how you can change the F-stop:
- Make sure the camera you’re using is on “manual mode” or “aperture priority mode (AV)”.
- Press the AV button which is at the right-top of the camera. Then adjust the F-stop number with the help of the slider which is located right under the shutter button at the top of the body. Rotate right to increase F-stop number that smaller aperture and left for larger aperture which means smaller F-stop numbers.
When To Change F-Stop?
You can change the F-stop or aperture depending upon the depth of field you want from the picture. Depth of field is simply the fully focused portion of the frame in between the nearest and farthest elements that your eye can see. It helps you to determine if you want a blurred background or a focused one. DOF impacts the mood and warmth of the image. If you set a small F-stop, for example, f/2.8, the lens will focus only on the subject you choose. It will blur the background behind that. So, smaller F-stops provide less depth of field. On the other hand, if you set F/16, it would focus objects much behind your subject. It completely depends on you how you want the image to be captured. But surely this small choice brings a huge change in the images.
Final Note
If you wish to bring out the best from the photos you’re taking, I recommend switching to manual mode immediately. Professional photographers use this mode for capturing outstanding images as it allows them to pick exactly what needs to be chosen.
If you’re the one struggling with different settings and wondering how to change F-stop on canon cameras, I hope the article comes in handy for you. Wish you to click amazing images in the future.
