Some say that photography is about moment. Not wrong. However, technical aspect remains important especially if you want be to a pro photographer. Like Ansel Adams, may be. What if you have no camera yet and want to learn camera settings?. There are many ways to lead to Rome. You can take advantage of camera simulators to learn how to set the camera. From setting the shutter speed, aperture and so on.
In case you are new to photography and haven’t hold camera before, there is one thing you need to keep in mind. Each camera vendor has a different camera settings. They have different menus, buttons and also symbols. The best way to learn camera settings is by understanding the concept.
For instance, there is a term of “triangle exposure” in photography. The concept of triangle exposure involves three common camera settings: shutter speed, aperture and ISO. You can familiarize yourself to those settings to figure out which setting affecting the photograph results. Once you had the camera, all you need to is to find the button locations on your camera to set that settings since you have understood the concept.
1. SimCam by Photonhead.com
In photography, there are two key settings to control light. They are shutter speed and aperture. The slower you set the shutter speed, the more light will be entering the camera lens. So do aperture. The wider you set the aperture (lower number of F), the more light will be entering the lens. Your job is to find the balance between them. SimCam by Photonhead.com comes with those two settings. Within the simulator, there is a virtual camera screen where you can see the result of your settings.
2. Play by Canon
Like the name suggests, this camera simulator is intended for Canon cameras, more specifically EOS series. So, if you have a plan to buy a Canon EOS DSLR camera then this simulator is a great choice. You will be provided a virtual EOS camera screen with a ready-to-shoot object. There are three modes you can select. From manual, shutter speed priority to aperture priority. Right below the camera, there are three boxes show the results of your settings. Every time you press the shutter release button, the photograph result will be put to those boxes. You can try different settings and compare the results to understand which setting affecting the photograph result. The moving object provided by this simulator is perfect to take a practice.
3. CameraSim
CameraSim is not specifically intended to certain camera brand. You can use this camera simulator to learn how a setting can affect the result your photo. CameraSim also offers manual mode as well as aperture priority and shutter speed priority. With the object of a little girl holds a propeller toy, CameraSim is a perfect simulator if you want to learn a portrait photography.
4. NIKKOR Lens Simulator by Nikon
Well, this simulator is a bit different to three simulators above. Or probably far different. This simulator is aimed at Nikon photographers who dream of having new NIKKOR lens. You can select all of the NIKKOR lenses (lens brand from Nikon) existing in the market, as well as the camera body. Unfortunately, this tool offers no simulation to take the photos.