Originally posted by qhelix
Well, guess I'm outta luck. Can't imagine bringing a tripod inside my sling bag wherever I go.
BTW, when they say a camera has a faster lens than another camera, are they referring to the shutter speed or is it something else?
Also, I'd like to know more about this spot metering function. How does it work and when should I use it? Tried reading the manual, but I'm still not very sure about what it does.
if u dont like tripods, then follow mpenza and find a rest. hopefully its not slanted and is of the right height. i'm sure u'll get frustrated in no time. there are some tripods which are quite small and handy enough to carry. also i don't think u'll be taking night shots all the time so u don't have to carry it all the time.
fast lens means f-stop is around 1.x-2.x so its f-stop. slow lens would be 3.x and above. so if u see a f2.8 zoom lens, it means u can take a shot at max zoom at f2.8. if u see a f3.5-f5 zoom, then it means that the minimum f-stop ranges between 3.5-5 as u zoom to the max. fast lenses are expensive. they are also bigger and heavier.
a fast lens can allow more light to go in at high zooms so u can take a zoomed in shot at fast shutter speed. for digital cameras i seldom see this term used except for the F1.8 Oly 4040.
so thats why u see humongous looking zoom lenses used by sports photographers. Those monsters must be fast!
Spot metering means the camera takes the area at the center and meters the shot based on that area alone. So use this when taking macro shots like insects at botanical gardens.
Center-weighted metering means the whole image is metered but center is give added weightage. This is the default.
Matrix metering is where the scene is divided into areas. And each area is metered individually. Does ur camera have this?