Photofacts; articles about photography, every day

The sense and nonsense of image stabilisation in a camera or lens

In the past, image stabilisation was something you found in lenses. It is a great system for compensating for camera movement. These days, we do not want a camera without some form of built-in image stabilisation. But is image stabilisation really indispensable? Or is its usefulness greatly exaggerated?

» read on (about 4 minutes)

Use a lens hood, or not?

Most more expensive lenses come with a lens hood. Cheaper lenses usually don't. You would have to buy one separately. What is a lens hood actually for, and how do you use one? That's what I look at in this article.

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Situations where manual mode is (actually) perfect

» read on (about 7 minutes)

What should you use, spot, matrix, or one of the other metering modes?

The days of a simple exposure meter are over. These days, you have many choices: centre-weighted, matrix, spot metering, and several other options. In reality, they are not that different from the old simple exposure meter. Which one should you use?

» read on (about 2 minutes)

5 things you need to know when you start filming

Almost every modern camera can film. Although you initially buy a camera for photography, you may still want to give filming a try. Here are 5 important things you need to know when you start filming.

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The basic settings for action photography

The only action I regularly photograph is my dog. In that respect, I am just an amateur. In this article, I want to tell you which settings I use to get successful images. If you want to start this type of photography, I think this is a good starting point.

» read on (about 8 minutes)

The difference between bokeh and shallow depth of field

Sometimes people talk about shallow depth of field, and at other times about bokeh. If you don't know the difference, you might think they are almost the same thing. But they aren't. They are two different things. At the same time, they are related in some way. More or less. I'll explain it in this article.

» read on (about 3 minutes)

Does a high-resolution camera need a faster shutter speed?

There is a rule that says you can still take a sharp photo at a shutter speed equal to 1 divided by the focal length, corrected for the crop factor. Is this still a good rule of thumb?

» read on (about 5 minutes)