The digital camera being a fantastic and technologically advanced device contains many different applications of its own. Many users of this fabulous device are unaware of quite a few of these functions which can actually do wonders. And it is the duty and right of every person possessing the digital camera to intervene into the depths of knowledge to understand their prized possession and their varying qualities in order to foster the true respect that this device deserves. This article deals with providing information regarding one those qualities - Auto focus and auto exposure!

Exploring the information in slight more details it can be stated that auto exposure cameras are provided with a fixed focus lens or manual focus lens. These cameras are the simplest to set exposure. To obtain the correct exposure for a particular subject of photography, the only thing that needs to be done is to simply lock the exposure by pressing the shutter down halfway on the digital cameras upon a reference object that is about one fifth gray and also illuminated by the aid of the same source of light as subject of photography. After locking the exposure, the photographer has to recompose the frame and shoot the picture. Auto exposure and auto focus cameras are to some degree harder for setting the exposure, because they contain the exposure lock that is generally tied to focus-lock. However, the users or photographers using these auto exposure and auto focus cameras can still make adjustments for the correct exposure and correct focus using the digital cameras and make the photographs perfect! Again, the exposure can be adjusted by locking on an 18% reference that is illuminated by the aid of the same source of light as subject of photography. The users have to only ensure that the distance to this so-called reference is the same as the distance to the subject of photography that actually sets the focus.

Now discussing the auto focus and auto exposure lock (AE/AF) a bit more in detail. The shutter release button on a digital camera has more function than just snap a cool picture. The users have to grab a technique where he or she has to depress this shutter release button half way down thereby locking both the auto exposure and auto focus. This enables the users or photographers to have more control on exposure in difficult lighting situations while using the digital camera. Moreover, this entire process also helps him or her to determine where the camera focuses. Like if the photographer intends to set the exposure before composing the final shot of the photograph then he or she can move the digital camera slightly so that only the subject to be photographed is visible prominently in the auto focus frame in the viewfinder. As a next step he or she can depress the shutter-release button down half way to set focus and exposure and then recompose the picture and finally completely depress the button in order to capture and freeze the moment of time! It is to be noted here that the auto focus and auto exposure lock (AE/AF) is available in all photography modes of the digital cameras that are nowadays available for the general people.

Not much remains to be discussed about this particular topic of auto focus/auto exposure and a brief discussion as above is enough to reveal a bounty of information regarding this fantastic feature of the digital cameras. At the end of this discussion it can be expected that both the novice and expert photographers and user of the digital camera would benefit from whatever has been revealed and the effort to bring out the human mind from the dark oblivion about auto focus and auto exposure lock would be a success in the magic light of the digital camera!

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.snapjunky.com. Visit his digital camera guide and learn how to take better pictures with your digicam.