Lesson Info
14. Camera Operation
Lessons
Class Introduction
05:58 2Welcome to Leica
15:54 3Shutter Speeds
12:38 4Apertures & ISO
06:30 5Accessory Shoe
06:46 6Back Side Controls
25:30 7Bottom Controls
06:24 8Front Controls
04:56Lesson Info
Camera Operation
For my final section, I'd like to talk about the overall camera operation. We've been talking about all the individual controls up to this point. So if I'm gonna go out shooting with the Leica camera, what do I wanna think about first? First thing is I wanna have a charged battery. So get that battery charged and install it. Have a fresh memory card, formatted ready to go. Choose raw JPEG. I would prefer DNG, the raw format, so that I get the best and most exposure latitude and greatest detail there. Go through the menu system real quick, see if there's any funky changes that you made the last time you used it. And if you're gonna be taking a big trip for this, you wanna leave home with a sensor that is nice and clean. 'Cuz it is much easier cleaning a sensor at home, than it is on the road. When it gets to shooting with the camera out in the field, the Lieca cameras are pretty simple in most respects. Most of your main control settings for the exposure are easy, obvious settings. Your...
shutter speed, aperture, the ISO button is very quick and easy to get to. For white balance, it's just right there in the set menu, which is very quick to get to. So let's look at how I would set this up for a few different types of settings. First up, let's look at what I would call a super simple setup. Now, there is some manual controls on this camera that you just can't get around, like manual focus. But, if I wanted to set this up as automated as possible, I would choose A for the shutter speed, so the camera is figuring those out. This is the aperture priority mode. You could choose a moderately wide-open aperture, like 5.6, it's kind of a good middle number in most cases. You could leave the ISO at auto, so it automatically adjusts ISO and bumps it up as needed. Probably wanna check your exposure compensation and make sure that's at zero unless you specifically want it someplace else. White balance at auto is gonna work pretty well in most situations. And a single shot will work well in most cases as well. So this is as simple as this camera gets. You are still gonna have to manually focus. Next up, let's talk about landscape photography. This is where we want more depth of field, maybe, perhaps, we are also using a tripod. And I know Liecas are great in the hand, but yes, they can be used on a tripod. In this case, I wanna have my ISO as low as possible. ISO 200. I don't wanna go down to 100, because it doesn't have quite as much exposure latitude there. It's gonna have a wider exposure range, and the finest quality detail at 200. Next up, is I'm gonna want to have a fair bit of depth of field. At 11, 16, 22, depends on the situation, and depends on the lens. With that deep depth of field, I'm often gonna end up with a slower shutter speed. Oftentimes around a 30th of a second. This will depend on the light, it's not gonna be exactly a 30th of a second. And that way it's nice to have a tripod if you're doing this type of shooting. We won't worry about exposure compensation, because we're in a manual mode. Auto white balance is a fine place to start. Adjust it if necessary. You could use the single drive with a cable release attached to the shutter release. Or you could be using the two second self timer, that way if your camera's on a tripod, you can press the shutter release and there's no vibrations when you actually take the photo. Next up, let's look at portrait photography. So in this case, we're gonna be shooting with shallower depth of field, so that our subject stands out from the background. And we're gonna be using faster shutter speeds to compensate for any movement that they might have, or you might have. Because you're not gonna be on a tripod for these types of photographs in most cases. My first setting here would probably be a fairly wide aperture. 1.4, two, to 8.4. Depends on the scenario a little bit. I'm then gonna wanna have a shutter speed that is gonna be fast enough to stop any sort of movement on their part. 125th of a second would do it in most cases. Don't wanna go overly fast here. I prefer ISO 200, but I would bump it up if necessary, if the light levels are low. Exposure compensation will be at zero. Auto white balance if it's working, adjust if necessary. And on the drive mode, probably in single. Perhaps in continuous. But single for most I think would work fine. So that's portrait photography. Let's try action photography. Little bit challenging with Leicas in some cases, but you can definitely shoot action with this camera. Here we're gonna want faster shutter speeds. And so, in this case, 500th of a second or faster, depending on the type of action you're shooting. This is when having a faster lens, a 2.8, or a two or 1.4 lens, is gonna really help you out. You're gonna probably need a little bit higher ISO. 400, 800, 1600, maybe higher. Won't be using exposure compensation. We'll use auto white balance. And of course, we'll be using the continuous drive on that, so that we can shoot through a series of photos relatively quickly. Finally, let's do basic photography. This could be street photography, travel photography, or maybe anything where you just don't know what the next photo is going to be. In this case, it's nice to have a little bit of automated help. So the shutter speed automatically selected in the aperture priority mode. Works out well for most people. A modest aperture around 5.6, and then you can adjust as need be for what you're trying to shoot. I like to start off with the ISO at 200, and as I get into lower light levels, or if I need faster shutter speeds, then I will bump up the ISO. Make sure that exposure compensation is at zero, unless you're specifically wanting to change it. And that's when I would probably have the rear-dial programmed for easy compensation, so that I can just turn that very quickly and easily. Auto white balance, unless you need different. And then usually just a single shot at a time is perfectly gonna be fine. And so I think this is good for street, basic, travel photography. It's how I leave my camera set up quite frequently. So, if you wanna get some inspiration, there are lots of photographers that use Leica cameras. Here's a short list of names of well-known photographers that have made quite a bit of their career using Leica cameras. They have a fantastic collection of work. Feel free to look them up on the internet, or in books and in other places. They have some great stuff, great to get inspired as to what you can do with your own Leica. So at this point, I can say congratulations. I think you are now an expert in the M (TYP 240) camera. Get it out there, have some fun, and take some great photos. If you are interested in other photography classes that I have here at Creative Live, I'm not gonna talk about all of them. We don't have enough time. But there's a ton of them. You can find them here. Just go into the search bar and type my last name. Greengo, G-R-E-E-N-G-O, and you'll see the full list of them. If you wanna find out more about what I'm doing, you can go to my website. Johngreengo.com Got a lot of information there. Got a lot of free information. Got links to all my different classes and programs that I'm doing. I also lead photo tours. And you can find out information about those in my website. If you wanna connect with me on Facebook or Instagram, love to have ya connect up with me there. I am sending out information. All sorts of information all the time up there. So please look forward and link up in these places, and I look forward to connecting with you out there. So, to all of you, thanks a lot for watching here. Hope you enjoyed this class. Stay tuned in, 'cuz we have more classes to come here in the future.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
nancy mercury
This class was very helpful as a new owner of the Monochrome 246, even though there are some parts not applicable, most of the basic "get around" the menu and set up was extremely helpful. Very complete overview.
user-def74a
Very thorough and easy to follow! I have a Leica Monochrom M246, and this helped tremendously. I've taken other classes from John Greengo, and have always learned so much from him. Highly recommend!
a Creativelive Student
call a really good class. I just bought a Leica M Typ-240 and it is my first time ever using a Leica. I have learned a great deal about how to use the camera. I do want to note an error though. In the Back Side Controls lesson at 21:52 he states to scroll through images in the magnified mode to press the menu button and the trackpad. On the M240 it is the Play button and the trackpad. I found it by trial and error after trying the menu button as instructed.
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