Camera Simulator

18 lessons · free

Understand your camera.

Then go and use it. Short lessons explain aperture, shutter speed, ISO and focus, with a working camera inside every one.

Start the first lesson Open the simulator

Night road where passing cars have become streaks of white and red light sweeping into the distance
Fig. 1 Light trails. The shutter stays open while cars drive through the frame.M · 8 s · f/6.3 · ISO 100

How to use this manual

Read one idea

Each lesson takes about five minutes and explains one thing in plain words, with the numbers behind it.

Try it on the page

Turn the aperture, shutter or ISO in the simulator under the text and take a picture. Only the controls that lesson needs are shown.

Use it on your camera

Every lesson ends with where to find the setting on a modern mirrorless camera, and what to set it to.

Contents

1 How a camera works

  1. 01How a camera makes a picture5 min
  2. 02The exposure triangle6 min
  3. 03Aperture and depth of field7 min
  4. 04Shutter speed and motion7 min
  5. 05ISO and noise6 min

2 Using your camera

  1. 06Auto, P, A, S and M6 min
  2. 07Lenses and focal length6 min
  3. 08Metering and exposure compensation7 min
  4. 09The histogram and highlight warnings6 min
  5. 10Focus: where and how much7 min
  6. 11Full frame and APS-C6 min

3 Real situations

  1. 12Why photos come out blurry5 min
  2. 13Portraits with a soft background6 min
  3. 14Freezing action5 min
  4. 15Long exposure: silky water and light trails7 min
  5. 16Night and low light7 min
  6. 17Sunsets and backlight6 min
  7. 18Indoors without flash6 min

18 sections · 111 minutes of reading

Not a filter. A camera.

The scenes store real-world brightness, from candlelight to the sun. The simulated camera knows nothing about them and does what a real one does: light through a real aperture, for a real shutter time, onto a sensor with real noise.

So depth of field, motion blur, grain, diffraction and clipped highlights behave the way they do on your camera, and every number the lessons quote comes from the same model.

f/1.8f/2.8f/4f/5.6f/8f/11f/16
Fig. 2 Each full stop halves the area of the opening.
Marble bust with a softly blurred plaza behind
Fig. 3 f/1.8. The background melts away.
Fountain with silky water
Fig. 4 1/4 s with a six-stop ND filter.
Grainy close-up of a brick wall at night
Fig. 5 ISO 12800, seen at 100%.
Candles on a table in a dim living room
Fig. 6 Candlelight, no flash.

Free. All of it.

No sign-up and no paywall. Every lesson, scene and lens, exposure lock, the focus magnifier, sensor sizes, the 100% pixel view, live optics readouts and photo saving.

Browse the lessons

The lessons work on any device. The simulator needs a laptop or desktop.