Aperture and Shutter Speed for the Nikon Coolpix s550

In the P, S, and M modes, turn the command dial on the back of the camera. In the A mode, turning the command dial changes the aperture and the camera will change the shutter speed to compensate.
In the point&shoot modes the camera will set the shutter speed on its own.

I'd say you're severely underexposing. The M mode is for manual exposure. This means you're responsible for setting the appropriate shutter speed and aperture. The aperture controls how much light passes through the lens, the shutter speed controls how long that light hits the sensor. The two of them have to be adjusted properly to suit the amount of light hitting the subject. If the lens doesn't admit enough light and/or the shutter is opened for too short an amount of time, not enough light gets to the sensor and you get a black image.

The S mode is for shutter priority. This lets you set the shutter speed and the camera automatically adjusts the lens aperture for correct exposure. However, the lens has a maximum aperture beyond which it cannot open. If the shutter speed is too fast, again not enough light gets through the lens and you get a black image.

Since you didn't specify the model of your Nikon camera, I can't tell you exactly how to adjust the shutter speed and aperture. If you can't find the procedure in your manual, please feel free to reply to this post, specifying the model.

The EM doesn't really have a manual shutter speed setting. It does have a Bulb setting for long exposures and a 1/90 second manual for flash, but otherwise the camera automatically sets the shutter speed to go with the currently selected aperture.

Normally you would set the aperture and let the camera set the shutter speed. You can adjust the shutter speed by pressing the exposure compensation button for +2 stops. You can also adjust the exposure by changing the ASA/ISO setting.

If you need a manual, you can download one from http://butkus.org/chinon/nikon/nikon_em/nikon_em.htm

It depends on the exposure mode.

In Program mode (P), turn the command dial and the camera will shift the exposure by changing both the aperture and the shutter speed.

In Aperture-priority mode (A), turn the command dial and the camera will adjust the shutter speed to suit.

In Manual mode (M), hold the aperture button and turn the command dial.

If you're using a lens with an aperture ring, turn it to its smallest aperture (largest f/number) and lock it.

technically you cant, the l100 is an all automatic camera, meaning you cant manually set the ISO, aperture, or shutter speed... a good way to slow the shutterspeed would be to autofocus on something similar but darker, then keep that focus for the origonal shot...

Your camera is either fully automatic or fully manual. In addition it has shutter priority and aperture priority semi-automatic functions. With shutter prior. you pick the shutter speed you prefer and the camera will adjust the aperture. With Aperture prior it works the other way around. The exposure will be always the optimum (decided by the camera program).
You can adjust these automatics with the program dial.

You may find it is not focus but camera shake, due to a low shutter speed. Try increasing the ISO to give you a faster shutter speed, see if that helps.

Hey timpo,
I would definitely use some kind of remote release since even the smallest amount of camera shake (pressing the shutter button) can cause blurry images in high magnification images. At the type of magnifications usually involved in digiscopeing the depth of field of your images will be greatly reduced and you will need to set the camera to a smaller aperture than usual, which should result in slower shutter speeds. I would definitely have the camera set to manual exposure mode so you can control both the shutter and the aperture although aperture priority should also work well. I would not set the camera to a higher iso since you will lose quality, and since I am assuming you are using a tripod slow shutter speeds should not be an issue. Any movement by the subject will blur the subject if you are using slow shutter speeds so if this becomes an issue you can set the camera to a wider aperture at the loss of depth of field to achieve a faster shutter speed. I hope this helps!

Sincerely,
Allan
Go Ahead. Use Us.

The aperature error is due to the fact that the lens in not a constant aperature design. The settings on the LCD are assuming you are at full wide angle setting. As this lens moves towards telephoto, the aperature changes about 2/3 of an f-stop due to the mechanical movement of the lens elements. So a manual setting of f4.0 at full telephoto will be more llike f5.0 in reality. It is too bad Epson could not make the mechanical aperature adjust to compensate, but every nice feature costs something. I have not had any issue with the shutter speed changing. One guess is that the camera has shutter speed/aperature combinations that it can't achieve due to mechanical limitations, so it chooses the available combination. Another is that it wasn't in manual mode, but rather aperature priority mode and the final adjustments changed the speed.

s I understand it from what I have seen on the Web, the 3000Z can operate in several modes: 1. Fully automatic (camera select both 2. Manual (user sets both aperture and shutter speed). 3. Aperture Priority mode - user sets aperture and camera chooses correct shutter speed to get a good exposure Apparently there is no Shutter Priority mode (user cannot set only the shutter er speed and allow the camera to set the aperature to get a good exposure). This option is available on the Epson 850Z camera and this seems like a silly ommision to make on a "high-end" camera like the 3000Z.