Understanding cameras and video cameras

[Cromulent]

I've never really been into photography or video before, but that might change in a couple of months. The problem is I know nothing about cameras or video cameras so I don't know what I should be looking for when it comes to technical specifications.

For instance, cameras often list things such as the lens being f/2.8, but I have no idea what this means. What is a good number here? Also, should I always go with a higher megapixel camera or is there something else I should be looking for instead? I know that optical zoom is better than digital zoom, but I doubt I'll need to use the zoom function that much.

Are there any books out there that explain this? I think I'm more likely to buy a video camera instead of a standard camera as I really want to do some YouTube stuff. I know I could probably use my mobile phone (a OnePlus 6) but I was under the impression that a dedicated 4k video camera would have better quality and features.

 

[iamtheoneneo]

All comes down to what you need it for. Are you shooting just video or will your take photos? If so a DSLR would be a good option, if not a dedicated camcorder like a Canon XA is going to serve you better in the long run.

Lenses are rated by their focal length (ie 24mm) and the amount of light they can let in (The F stop, f2.8 being good but not amazing in low light). Other abbreviations on a lens can imply quality (Canon L lens) or a feature (HSM - Hyper Sonic Motor), or the mount it connects to on the camera (EF, RF, M etc)

There are a million books and a million youtube channels that cover all of this, but ultimately you need to know what exactly you want it for, and how much you want to spend.
Remember with video you will also need to consider if your going to have to invest in lighting and audio equipment.

 

[Russinating]

I've been meaning to reply to this for a while but I've just got the time and a laptop! There are a tonne of guides out there, be them books or YouTube tutorials etc. All of that is totally beyond what I could recommend though since I haven't watched or read anything at that level for a while.

The basics, though, are super simple.

People tend to like to complicate the technical aspects to make it sound they like know a lot or that there's a lot to it, when that's not the case.

All you need to worry about really is shutter speed, aperture (f stops), ISO and focal length.

Shutter speed is the duration that the shutter opens. A 1" shutter means the shutter will be open for 1 second, and 1/1000 means the shutter will be open for 1/1000 of a second. And so on. You would use a high shutter speed for things like sports where there's lots of motion to ensure nothing's blurred, whilst you'd use a very long shutter speed (aka long exposure) for something like blurring car lights. Anything under 1/250 and people moving will be blurred.

Aperture is the size of the hole that gets opened when that shutter opens. The thing to get your head around is the smaller the number the bigger the hole, and the higher the number the smaller the hole. f/1 (which doesn't exist) is a hole as big as the lens, and generally lenses will go up to f/21 ish (small hole). A big hole allows lots of light in (f/1.2 or f/1.8 etc) so is better in low light, and the mechanics of a big hole also allows for greater refraction of light which allows you to blur backgrounds. Conversely a higher aperture (>f/13) allows less light in, so you have to use the other elements to get more light, but you get less light refraction. This means you can get pin sharp images, so you would use as high an f-number as possible for things like landscape photography where you want both the foreground and the background to be in focus.

ISO is the sensitiity of the camera's sensor to light. In the good old days that was the sensitivity of the film, and you would buy film in different ISOs depending on what you were hoping to shoot. The lower the ISO (ISO 50) the less sensitive the lens is but the cleaner the image, the higher the ISO (over ISO 128,000 on some cameras nowadays) the more sensitive the sensor is to light. The negative of a higher ISO is more grain, up to unbearable levels.

Focal length is basically how wide or zoomed in the lens is in mm. 10mm is super wide; you could fit the whole of your living room in 1 photo. 200mm and you could take a photo of a bird from quite a way away. What lenses you want will totally depend on what you want to photograph.

Focal length and f-stops are determined by the lens, whereas ISO and aperture are determined by the camera.

There's loads more of technical aspects but I wouldn't worry about those before you fully understand the basics. As with anything in life, you get what you pay for, so surprise surprise a 10-500mm f2.8 lens isn't going to be as good as seperate lenses that would cover that same range. Most people really like primes, which is the name given to lenses with no variable focal length, so they'll just be 35mm, 50mm, 100mm etc, because vs a variable lens at the same focal length they'll be far superior by not having to sacrifice the quality of glass to move etc. Starting with a 50mm (nifty fifiy) is also recommended to learn the basics.

Aside from all of that, I would say 25% of it is all of the technical stuff, the remaining 75% of it is having an eye for composition, timing, style, technique, etc. Don't forgot that by just focusing on the technical aspects.

As for what you want to do, definitely get a DSLR. I can't see any reason or benefit for you to get a camcorder.

 

[Cromulent]

Sorry for not replying sooner I got distracted by a few other things.

Thank you for the replies. I'll look into DSLRs then. I'm really after maximum video quality at 4k in both low light and daylight environments.

Edit: Being able to film at night is pretty important for what I need.

 

[iamtheoneneo]

But you still haven't mentioned your budget...

 

[Cromulent]

But you still haven't mentioned your budget...

Heh. Good point. £400 would be about my max I think.

 

[EsaT]

Thank you for the replies. I'll look into DSLRs then. I'm really after maximum video quality at 4k in both low light and daylight environments.

Edit: Being able to film at night is pretty important for what I need.

If video recording is important just forget that fancy DSLR term.
That analog film era Single Lens Reflex mirror is only in the way and you can't record video using viewfinder.
In mirrorless cameras there aren't such differences to video cameras.

Also no matter the camera, recording video in low light and at night (well, modern cities don't have reat night) is very demanding.
Usually needing "fast" big aperture lenses, meaning smaller focal ratio number. (that f/2.8 or F2.8 marking)
Unscientific photographers always keep messing things and call focal ratio (focal length divided by aperture) as aperture.
Hence smaller number actually meaning bigger aperture.

But physics is a bitch and besides controlling amount of gathered light, aperture also affects Depth Of Field:
Big aperture makes DOF/area in focus short, meaning if you have objects at different distances, most of them will be blurry/out of focus.
So if you want lots of DOF for landscapes, bigger objects etc, you can't use big apertures, but have to stop lens down. (bigger f-number)
Which actually makes different formats/sensor sizes have same light gathering ability for same DOF.


In your phone you haven't had to worry about that (likely not even having aperture control) because sensor size is very small.
Which leads to very small focal lengths for field of view, which again means small actual physical aperture size.
So they have big DOF even at fast apertures.

Another thing is that unlike with that convenient to carry in pocket mobile phone, system camera, especially with fast lenses, becomes easily notable bulk to cary.
Especially DSLRs with traditional film era sensor formats don't scale well.
And if you need to stop lens down, lots of that bulk of optics is carried around for no reason.

Also unless you're always using tripod, especially video recording can benefit from in body image stabilization.
Legacy film era systems have stabilisation in lenses, meaning it needs to be separately in every lens.
While in body stabilization works with every lens.

Heh. Good point. £400 would be about my max I think.

That isn't going to go far.
Second hand entry level body with basic lens, with maybe second hand prime is what that could get.
And getting new enough camera to include 4K video recording might be harder.

 

[StoutMeister]

Have you used the OnePlus for much photography / video already?

 

[doodah]

Loads of YouTube channels that can help fill in the blanks - recently came across Chelsea & Tony Northrup who seem well versed and nice.

Is 4K an absolute must? As I am sure there are plenty of [proper] cameras that do very good 1080p these days.

I'd be tempted to say get an entry level DSLR that has a fully articulating screen like my D5200. This will get you into the eco system and get you started in understanding everything, plus you can vlog on it.

Edit - I am obviously bias but you could get a D5500 (does 1080p60 for video) and couple that with either a 35/50mm f1.8* and you would be good to go. Both of these are excellent starter lenses; great for portraits, low light and should give you that nice bookeh effect in video if you want to do YouTube.

*£350 (body) + £150 (35mm f1.8)
£350 (body) + >£200 (50mm f1.8)

It's over your budget I know but not massively considering the price of photography.