How can I shoot at f/1.8 in bright sunlight on a Nikon D7000?
Asked 2/7/2015
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I’m a beginner using a Nikon D7000 with a 50mm lens, and I like shooting family photos at f/1.8 for shallow depth of field. In bright sunlight the photos are overexposed. I’ve tried raising shutter speed in Manual mode, but it still looks too bright, and Auto mode chooses something like f/8 instead. How can I keep a wide aperture like f/1.8 outdoors in strong sun?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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There is a reason it's choosing f/8 aperture: With most lenses the sharpest image is produced at apertures in that range. The only reason to select wider apertures when you don't need the light is to produce a shallower depth of field, in which case you have three options to compensate for the exposure:
- Increase shutter speed
- Decrease ISO
- If you run out of range on the first two then you need to add neutral density filters to your lens to cut the amount of light passing through the lens.
Originally by user27832. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user27832
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
In bright sun, f/1.8 lets in a lot of light, so overexposure is expected. To keep using a wide aperture, you need to reduce exposure in the other ways available:
- use the fastest shutter speed your camera allows
- set the ISO to the minimum (ISO 100 on the D7000)
- if that still isn’t enough, add a neutral density (ND) filter
An ND filter is a dark filter that cuts light without changing color, letting you shoot at f/1.8 even in strong daylight.
A good rule of thumb is the “Sunny 16” guideline: in bright midday sun, exposure is roughly ISO 100, 1/100s at f/16. Opening from f/16 to f/1.8 is many stops brighter, so you would need a much faster shutter speed and/or an ND filter to compensate.
Auto mode often picks f/8 because it gives an easier exposure and lenses are often very sharp around that range. But if your goal is shallow depth of field, an ND filter is the usual solution once you’ve already maxed out shutter speed and minimized ISO.
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