Pause: Deconstructing AE
Most camcorder models made today sport an automatic exposure (AE) feature. The manufacturers build in this feature in an effort to make it easy for the camera operator to point and shoot in the half-dozen most common conditions. The result, however, provides yet another example of how the road to bewilderment is paved with good intentions.
You control AE, typically, with a wheel located on the camcorder body. This wheel shows several icons which are meant to symbolize various shooting conditions. Trouble is, the icons communicate about as well as hieroglyphics to most people. What, pray tell, does a silhouette of a mountain and a cloud tell us about its associated exposure? What follows, therefore is an attempt to answer the cry for an AE icon interpreter. Go ahead, tear out this page and throw it into your camera bag.
When you boil it all down, each of the AE selections sets two conditions: the shutter speed and the size of the aperture. The relationship of these determines the camera's light sensitivity, motion sensitivity and depth of …
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