Focus and Exposure

What do focus and exposure do? How do you check to see if your subject is in focus when shooting? How do you check to make sure your subject is exposed correctly?

    Focus controls whether the subject is sharp or soft and exposure is how much light that the camera takes in, making the image darker or brighter. When shooting, you check to see if your subject is in focus by zooming in on the subject—or their eyes if it's a person—and adjusting the focus ring until the image of the subject is clearly defined, or sharp. Rotating it clockwise will bring the focus closer and rotating it counter-clockwise brings the focus further. To make sure a subject is exposed correctly, you can turn on auto-iris to see what the camera thinks is correct exposure before switching back to manual. This isn't always correct and you should prioritize having correct exposure on the subject, everything else being secondary. To adjust the exposure, you can rotate the iris ring clockwise to close the iris, making it darker or lower exposure, and counter-clockwise to open the iris, making it more exposed or brighter.