vray physical camera set according to DSLR

[dominikmateasik]

This might be a generations old and universal question for which there is no exact answer but:

 

whats your set of rules or rather some starting norm according to which you set your vray camera settings (f-number,shutter speed,iso) in order to behave like real DSLR

 

i know what all the setting do in real DSLR and how they translate to vray and basically the problem of real world dont have to apply to vray cam (if u dont want to) but how do you approach this issue

 

i found some rosters and theories like sunny 16 rule,f number 4 for interiors and 11 for exteriors,or stuff on wiki ,even the excell sheet with changable settings but they kinda differ from each other and therefore my question

 

for example-you are shooting an interior against the window and you want as much light as possible to light up the scene,whats the first thing you do (f number?or source light itself) and what are the following settings and according to what you set them, some cheat sheets some rosters on internet?

 

thanks for all the answers/suggestions

[Nicolai Bongard]

If you do not render with depth of field or other fancy effects you could just set your camera settings to whatever looks good. It does not really matter. However, if you are to match a real photo you should read the exif info (if available) and set your camera settings to those real values listed there, then adjust your lights until it matches. Then all the fancy camera effects will be pretty much the same.

 

Also it is important to remember that real world photographers "cheat" all the time, with fill lights and whatnot to make the photo look good. You should do the same, and since you are working in the digital realm your "cheat" possibilities are pretty much endless.

 

Also, in your example, the values used will vary depending on what you use to light up your scene. If it is vray sun the values may be different from what you would use if you used a spherical HDRI instead, and the values will vary from HDRI to HDRI. It also depends how much fill lights you have on the inside, so the possibilities are pretty much endless.

 

For most jobs i tend to just adjust the f number to whatever works, and keep the shutter speed and iso on 200 and 100. For interiors anything from 2-4 may be a good starting point, for sunny exteriors maybe in the range of 12-15? Once again, there are no set values, just keep tuning until you get what you want.

[dominikmateasik]

thanks for reply nicolai

uve basically confirmed my theory/experiences of vray cam settings being just about bringing in more light (when not talking dof or so) without any magical way of mixing them together pursuing somehow better outcome, i guess whats left is only the convenience when having it set closer to real camera ,the other features like general and ies lights will behave more natural with its real world settings as well.

 

when talking about "cheating" ,this is more theoretical and broader question to answer than the previous one- how do u use the fill lights,using softbox material in vray,or simple planes,how do u deal with unwanted light from fill lights terminating shadows you actually want to keep, is there any "how to",making of,tutorial on this issue? was trying to look it up few times with no luck. or is it just good old- try and see- approach , any 2 cents on this issue would be helpfull and appreciated