About Focus And Exposure - Nikon N60 Instruction Manual

About Focus and Ex osure
Focus, exposure and metering system are important factors for taking pictures.
Knowing the characteristics of each factor helps you widen your photographic
expression.
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Focus and depth of field
When focusing, depth of field should be considered. Depth of field is the zone of
sharpest focus in front of and behind the subject on which the lens is focused. It
varies according to shooting distance, focal length and, above all, aperture.
Smaller apertures (larger f-numbers) will produce a deeper depth of field where
the background and foreground become sharper; larger apertures (smaller f-
numbers) will produce a shallower depth of field where the background becomes
blurred.
Exposure
Light from the subject passes through the lens and is sensed by the film. Light
reaching the film is controlled by the shutter speed and aperture. The proper
combination of shutter speed and aperture for subject brightness and film
sensitivity results in the correct exposure.
The N60/N60QD's General-Purpose Program, Auto-Multi Program and Vari-
Program automatically control shutter speed and aperture. In Shutter-Priority
Auto exposure mode, you can manually set shutter speed and the camera
automatically sets the proper aperture. In Aperture-Priority Auto exposure mode,
you can manually set aperture and the camera automatically sets the proper
shutter speed. In Manual exposure mode, you manually set both shutter speed
and aperture.
Metering System
As the proper combination of shutter speed and aperture for correct exposure is
determined according to subject brightness and film sensitivity, measuring
subject brightness is very important.
In general , brightness inside the viewfinder is not uniform. The N60/N60QD
provides two metering systems: Matrix Metering and Center-Weighted Metering.
With Matrix Metering, data on scene brightness is detected by the six-segment
Matrix sensor. With Center-Weighted Metering , most of the meter's sensitivity is
concentrated on the 12mm-diameter center circle in the viewfinder.
(With D-type AF Nikkor lenses, the N60/N60QD camera performs 3D Matrix
Metering. See page 48.)