RE: Basics on manual photography
This is a great overview. It seems complicated, but it makes sense when you think about how much light is getting to the sensor (aperture/shutter speed) and how sensitive the sensor is (ISO).
It's weird to me that modern DSLRs make the ISO setting so much harder to access than shutter/aperture. I'm always going out in the morning to grab a picture and forgetting that I upped my ISO the night before for something in the dark, and then ending up with unnecessarily grainy shots.
If I designed a camera, it would just have three sliders next to each other. "Full auto" mode would take its best guess, "semi-auto" would let you adjust one of the sliders (if you wanted fast shutter speed or better depth of field) and then move the others to compensate, and "manual" would let you put them where you like and let you deal with the consequences.
I mean, I know that's what cameras do now, but the controls are so esoteric and complicated, it's no wonder newcomers just leave them on automatic.
@winstonalden what camera are you using?
I can see your point and I owned my last DSLR for years without getting deep into the details of the camera as everything just felt so.. complicated. It's rarely a joy if you need to practice a long time to learn how to do the basics with the camera, as ISO, shutter speed and aperture are not high level stuff.
I bought a full frame mostly to have far more flexibility with the ISO, as I will not get a big loss if I accidentally use a higher ISO. I'm an image quality wanker (or I'm trying to be) so I could complain, but I'm also lazy to find optimal photo settings so I will rather keep quiet with small issues with the end quality and just try to get better.
And about ISO, I'm already quite used with my 6D to change the ISO quickly. However I think it's pointless to have 4 buttons on the top and one of them activates the ISO setting. I pushed the wrong button so many times in the past.
I have a Nikon D3200 SLR - literally the cheapest SLR you could buy two years ago. $500, came with two zoom lenses and a case. But it's been a trooper.
I also use the wife's Nikon Coolpix S9900 - a (barely) portable with a telescoping lens long enough to make you blush. It actually takes better photos on full automatic, but the zoom mechanism has already started to fail.
Those full frame cameras look amazing, but $$$! The entry level models cost more than we spent on the wife's car! Since most of what I post just gets cropped down for the web, I'm fine with the quick and dirty. I'm hoping my new smartphone will take some decent shots. It has two forward facing lenses for some reason. I need to research why that's such a special feature.
Sometimes I wish I had started off with Nikon, I have heard so many good things of Nikon cameras as Canon is not the brightest camera brand in all senses. But they are real good too.
Nikon Coolpix S9900 would seem a perfect choice for every peeper in the town. I'm not saying you are one, but zooms like that can do truly amazing feats.
I'm lazy reading my earlier comments, but I bought an used 6D so I got it a reasonable price. I couldn't use all the lenses I had, but it's fine as I found some good replacement lenses used too. I got the 6D with as little as 700€, most likely because there were some "hot pixels" and I'm not sure if the last owner had the required skill to clean them off. He had proposed that I'd clean the sensor (not required for that) because he said he hadn't done it as long as he had owned it. I think he knew about the hot pixels and didn't want to pay for the cleaning, while I actually managed to get them off myself.
What smartphone do you have?
The phone is an Honor 7x. I grabbed one when they dropped to $200 on Amazon, then got a SIM card from Net10 for a prepaid plan $40/mo. It's the nicest phone I've ever had and amazing for the money.
I've never heard of hot pixels before, but that's great that you could make the repair yourself.