Physical Camera Controls for non-photographers

[jujubee]

I'm not a photographer, and I'm trying to understand the physical camera settings within Vray. So I thought I'd try to assemble some plain information for fellow Vrayers who may be confused. Please feel free to add or correct anything you see below:


The new physical camera provides 3 main controls for adjusting the brightness/intensity of an image. These are:

1) f-number (camera aperture/opening - exposure)
2) shutter speed (time opening is left open or closed)
3) film speed (ISO) (actual film sensitivity)

A description with examples have been provided by Chaos at the following link:
http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150R...icalcamera.htm

Wikipedia has several articles on the above topic of camera settings:
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_number
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed

We can generalize the following unique effects (all impact brightness):
1) f-number - impact on DOF
2) shutter speed - motion blur (often used in night shots - action)
3) film speed - contrast and grain

Here are some good charts to help determine proper values:
1) f-number - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposur...xposure_values
2) shutter speed - (can't find a good chart)
3) film speed - http://www.cameratown.com/guides/iso.cfm (some comparison images)

[DaForce]

Very nice.

Will definitly come in handy!

[jujubee]

A little cheat-sheet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16

And a nice chart cheat-sheet:
http://www.night-ray.com/PhotoCheatSheet.pdf

[siliconbauhaus]

cool

vlado just needs to implement a dummy override function

[throb]

cool

vlado just needs to implement a dummy override function

that's what the regular max camera is for. if you don't want to mess with all the dials and controls that the physical camera has then you use a standard cg camera.

[ene.xis]

at this point i d be willing to be able to control all the camera settings and color corrections in vfb after or during the rendering...i know it s achievable with the present controls in the Vray VFbuffer, but i know it would improve mine, and probably others workflow...

[jujubee]

It would be cool to be able to control exposure in the VFB... Add it to the wishlists. But unfortunately, those wishes do not help us understand how to take better photos.

[priad]

Thanks for sharing with your fellow vrayer mate

[Repenseks]

Thanks jujubee,

it was very kind of you

Regards
Srdjan

[Da_elf]

at this point i d be willing to be able to control all the camera settings and color corrections in vfb after or during the rendering...i know it s achievable with the present controls in the Vray VFbuffer, but i know it would improve mine, and probably others workflow...

yeah but isnt it redundent to have the controls both inside the camera and in the vfb?

[ene.xis]

my point...
it d be gr8 if ud only control aperture size and some other settings not related to the exposure itself, and por this other settings to the Vray FB and operate those as post work...?

[Da_elf]

yeah. but in a camera they are all related. DOF/MB/ISO/Appature/shutter speed etc etc. they are all inter related. Sure it would be great to do some color mapping after the image is rendered however my thoughts are that we just leave it as is. you know how the changing of even a small thing can put bugs into the software in other areas.

[ene.xis]

yes i m quite aware, nevertheless i think its a pertinent subject...
max is , as i see it, getting more and more in the way it of vray in many ways...eg. the obsolet and everyday less eficient material editor

i d wich that somewhere in the future when a major switch occur this could be adressed...?

[jujubee]

Anyhow not to hijack the hijack - anyone have any good photography tips they wanna share?

[mike.edel]

well, at least for digital i nowadays always use raw images (except for extremely quick snapshots):
10bit depth (at least for my camera)
real lossless white balance in post
no oversharpening by the camera's algorithms

i can recommend raw shooter essentials if you can get it somewhere (adobe bought the company...)
i tried lightroom but it is rather sluggish so far (still beta)

if you have the time, try to learn the basics by doing fully manual shots with a handheld light meter - i learned a lot this way (on a fully analog slr with manual focus)

sorry if these tips were too basic