Aperture and Shutter Speed Together

The 1:1 relationship between shutter speed and aperture is the most difficult concept to understand of how to use a camera. You will only understand it by trying it over and over again a couple of hundred times. Fortunately most camera meters will let you ignore this concept. However if you plan to use the Zone System method of making photographs you must understand this relationship between shutter speed and aperture.

Cameras that allow no control of shutter speed or aperture choice will make this decision without your assistance. Cameras designed during the 1970s or earlier that allow control of shutter speed and aperture choice generally provide some type of meter indication as to when you have chosen a shutter speed and f stop combination that will also expose the film just the right amount.

Cameras designed during the early 1980s that provide control of shutter speed and aperture choice allow you to choose either the shutter speed or the aperture and then the meter automatically sets the other one. Cameras designed during the late 1980s that provide control of shutter speed and aperture choice allow you to have the meter set so that both the shutter speed and the aperture are set automatically. This is called a programmed setting. Programmed settings are a tremendous asset to both amateur and professional photographers. There are many situations that happen so quickly you don't want to have to think about the proper shutter speed and aperture. The quality of the photograph is in no way inferior to one made with manual settings. It is just a less controlled photograph in terms of motion and what is in focus.