KODAK Self-Teaching Guide to Using an Adjustable 35 mm Camera
7
THE LENS O PENING
Set the shutter at its lowest speed. Use the B setting if your cam era has one. Set the lens
opening at its largest opening. Open the camera back and hold the camera up as you did
before. Press the shutter release and notice how big the ope ning is when light comes through
the lens.
Now set the lens at the smallest opening, advance the camera on ce and repeat the exercise.
Notice how small the opening is when light comes through the le ns this time. Compare several
different lens-opening settings so that you get an idea of how they r elate to each other. Just like
the shutter settings, starting with the smallest lens opening (f/16 or
f/11), each larger opening lets twice as much light into the camera as the setting be fore it.
f/16 f/11 f/8 f/5.6 f/4
In this exercise you have just kept the back of your camera ope n in order to see how it works.
The inside parts of a camera are easily broken. Therefore, it is nor mally best to keep the cam-
era back closed. Open it only when you are loading or unloadi ng film.
FOCUSING
The next setting to master is the focus. Whenever you look throu gh a lens, a magnifying glass
for instance, you have to move it back and forth until the subje ct looks sharp and in focus. The
same is true of your camera lens. As you turn the focus ring on your camera, the le ns moves
back and forth bringing the subject in focus. If you are taking a p icture of something ten feet
away from you, set the camera focus for ten feet and take the pictu re. If the subject you are
photographing is 25 feet away, set the focus for 25 feet. If you are taking a picture of a scene,
or a building, or anything that is more than 25 feet away from yo u, set the camera on infinity
(∞). At this setting, everything in the distance is in focus.
These are the three basic camera adjustments: Shutter speed, lens op ening, focus. Some
cameras have lots of other things to set and gadgets to fiddle wi th. They are all helpful and fun
to use after you have mastered the basics. For now, you should stick to practicin g these three.
The following exercises will help you learn more about these adju stments and get some prac-
tice in using them.
Now it is time to load film in your camera. Get a roll of KODAK ROYAL GOLD 200 Film. It
comes in two lengths—one for 24 pictures and a longer length for 3 6 pictures. Either will do. If
you are undecided, get the 24-picture length to start with.
All 35 mm cameras use 135-size film. To load the film in your camera, read and follow the
instructions in your camera instruction book.
Film is loaded into most 35 mm cameras about the same way. The film comes in a metal
container to keep out the light. The metal container is put in one sid e of the camera (usually the
left side). Film is wound over to the other side as you take pictur es. Then after you have taken
all of the pictures on the roll, and before you open the came ra, the film must be rewound back
into the metal container.