How to set the shutter speeds on the Nikon D5100?
Just trying to figure out how to set the shutter speeds and what each speed would be best used for? Lost the manual so please help!
You can download a pdf version of your manual at the Nikon site… It will give you all the information you need… To long to describe here.
Here is your manual
http://www.nikonusa.com/...100_EN.pdf" class='ext_link'>http://www.nikonusa.com/...100_EN.pdf
Here is how you control and balance ISO, shutter speed and lens aperture.
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/dslr/D5100_EN.pdf
Learning how to use the cameras light meter is perhaps the most important thing to learn first.
It's not that difficult to look up this information
Step 1 - Type in Nikon D5100 which you would get a page that would look like this
Step 2 - Click on the Link for the Owners Manual
Step 3 - Look up the information that talks about the Shutter Speed
http://www.nikonusa.com/...oprint.pdf
Now was that so hard?
There must be some thought given to what shutter speed to use. First and foremost, a shutter speed that is too low can introduce blur - not only due to camera shake (your inability to hold the camera still) but also due to moving objects.
Generally the faster the object moves, the shorter the shutter speed must be. However, shorter speeds mean less light gets into the camera, so you must compensate for the loss of light with either a wider aperture or higher ISO. And there are ramifications to adjusting those as well, so setting shutter speed is not altogether an independent function.
For camera shake, it depends on whether you have VR on your lens, or how well you can hold your camera (yes, there's skill involved in that as well). But some recognized limits are 1/60th of a second is the minimum for handheld (without VR) using a normal lens, or 1 divided by the focal length for telephoto lenses.
So a 100mm lens would be 1/100, a 200mm lens 1/200, and so on. Of course these are just guides, and some people can go lower.
And finally, sometimes photographers like to purposely introduce blur for certain effects. This technique usually requires the use of a tripod. A waterfall for instance, when using 1/2 second to 1 second shutter speeds can show the illusion of movement. This is sometimes called "dragging the shutter", but I don't particularly like that term.
I'm just briefly hitting the high points here, and a full discussion would be too lengthy to do here. So I encourage you to read up on the exposure triangle to see how shutter speed interrelates with the aperture and ISO.
Here are a few links for a start:
http://www.althephoto.com/concepts/shutterspeed.php
http://www.althephoto.com/concepts/triangle.php
Turn dial to S or Tv mode. Turn clicky wheel. Tada was that too long?
Along with downloading the Owner's Manual for your camera, watch this video tutorial:
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d5100/index.html Who better than Nikon to teach you about your Nikon D5100?
You also need to learn about the Exposure Triangle - ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed - as evidenced by your saying: "… What each speed would be best used for?" This site will help you:
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/learning-exposure-in-digital-photography You don't just set a shutter speed because you want to - unless all you're trying to do is take lousy pictures. All three "legs" of the Exposure Triangle must be in balance.