I teach photography in a public high school, as part of the intro course I cover camera settings; Aperture, Shutter speed, ISO (the exposure triangle) If I may I'll cover this unit in short form; Each setting controls a different aspect of image capture.
Aperture controls depth of field which is a distance (of focus) thing, measuring from the camera, it's the beginning of what's in focus to the end of what's in focus. Generally, the wider the aperture the shallower the depth of field. however, the further away from the camera you focus the deeper the depth of field will be.
Shutter speed controls how the camera records movement. the faster the shutter speed that is used is, the faster a movement can be will be recorded as a "stop action" and not a blur. Also the further away from the camera the movement is, the slower a shutter speed has to be to stop action, i.e. at 50 ft a train traveling at 100 mph would take approx 1/2000 sec to stop action, but the same train shot at 1/8 mile would only take approx. 1/125 sec to stop action.
ISO controls how sensitive the recording device is to light. The more available light you have the less sensitive the camera needs to be, thus in low light situations you will need a higher ISO. A lower ISO results in more detailed sharper images. The problem is that generally the higher the ISO the grater amount of noise you will have especially in the shadow areas. I tell my students to shoot as low an ISO as possible.
The overall approach; Depending on what you are photographing will determine whether you use aperture priority, shutter priority, and ISO. If there is nothing moving (landscape), shutter speed is not a concern, your priority is the depth of field, Aperture Priority. If there is a lot of movement (sports) aperture is not your concern, your priority is stopping the action or creating a blur (some blurs can be a visual representation of movement), Shutter Priority. Never shoot with ISO on auto, as mentioned, you should always shoot with the ISO as low as possible to record as sharp an image as possible, unless you like the look of noise.
One more thing thing to consider, Exposure is a combination of shutter speed and aperture. As the aperture gets wider, the faster the shutter speed will be to get the same exposure. The old analogy of light as water through a spigot, the bigger the opening in the spigot the faster you will get a gallon of water and the smaller the opening the longer it will take to get the same gallon of water.
I hope this helps.

Doesn't matter whether indoors or out...

When my concern is controlling depth of field... either with a larger aperture for shallow DoF and stronger background blur or a smaller aperture for greater DoF and sharpness from my toes to the horizon... and I need to use an auto exposure mode... I use Aperture Priority.

When my main concern is freezing movement with a fast shutter speed or deliberately blur parts of the image with a slow one... and I need to use an auto exposure mode... I use Shutter Priority.

When I have concerns about both DoF and motion blur.... and need to use an auto exposure mode.... I use Auto ISO with Manual mode.

When I don't need an auto exposure mode... I use Manual (no Auto ISO). It's always nice to be able to really lock down the exposure settings. But Manual mode isn't always possible. Auto exposure modes are necessary at times. It's just a matter of picking the one that best meets the current situation.



I never use Aperture Priority AND Auto ISO... both at the same time. That would be an "auto-auto" mode, would make for less predictable results... And, I tried, but can't think of any purpose it would serve. The same with Auto ISO combined with any of the other auto exposure modes. I only use Auto ISO with Manual.

You mention flash, and with the cameras I use there are some additional exposure considerations. I don't know how all systems work, but with Canon cameras, when you use ETTL flash with any of the auto exposure modes it will automatically act as FILL. Unless you override it, the camera makes the exposure based upon ambient light and flash output is dialed back by approx. -1.66 stops, enough to open up shadows and supplement existing light. But if you want FULL flash, it's as easy as switching to Manual mode. With full flash the shutter speed is largely irrelevant when using flash, too. When flash is the dominant or only light source, it acts like a fast shutter speed, freezing movement. ISO and the aperture are what control flash exposure and the distance flash can reach.

Hi

In clearing out some of my Parents older items, I came across a Canon EOS 40D, along with a 28-135 macro lens and a 70-300 IS lens. My guess is that these are at least 10 years old, maybe older, but appear to be in very good shape, and I would guess have been stored since at least 2008.

Are these worth even trying to sell, or possibly give to a friend getting into photography and wanting some equipment just to start with, or are they so old that the setup would just be frustrating?

Quick look online shows it was a good model a decade ago at 10MP, but not sure if it is worth bothering with at all now.

thanks in advance

The BEST advice I can give you is to stop wasting your money on cheap junk as you, most often, get what you pay for. I strongly suggest you buy the Canon flash unit designed for/matched to your camera. You can buy a better Canon unit if you wish if you are planning on sticking with photography and possibly upgrading in the future. Sorry I can't quote models as I am a Nikon guy. Best of luck and Happy Holidays.

P.S. If you're anywhere near Roberts in Indy, start there. If not call B&H for a recommendation. If you have a trustworthy local camera store, go there and support them.

So - even with flash, AS I SAID, 1/40 sec is too slow, ISO 26500 is too high, f/20 is too small.

YES, I shoot a lot of flash and do it in Manual.
A CORRECTION: With flash, a shutter speed of 1/40 will show available light as well as flash so it does affect exposure even in Manual. This is usefull when using flash for "fill". For only flash I shoot 1/250 (with my 80D since it can). Aperture does not affect exposure in flash (the TTL function compensates) UNTIL you exceed the flash capability.

Whitt, I'm going to "attack" this from a different perspective. From your experience with sports photography, and the other good points on lighting, (I agree, get at least one flash off camera on a stand, you can get pretty creative with it) I'll assume you'll be fine with lighting and operating the camera.

What I want to touch on is what will make your photos worthwhile, instead of just a bunch of random photos of a bunch of people.

I go over this with any apprentice or second shooter. One or 2 wide angle shots of the entire reception is all that is needed. Any more than that will just be thrown in the trash or never printed or put in an album/. What you need to do is first, before everyone arrives, get detail shots of the tables, decorations, the cake, etc. During the meal, go to each and every table, and have the people all move to one side of the table and pose for you. Nobody wants a wide angle photo of several guests looking away, or shoving food in their mouths. A great table shot with all the people looking at you smiling, is something that will be treasured. Walk around and get as many shots as you can of people laughing, or whispering in someone's ear, anything that shows how much fun people are having. The best part of this is that you all but guarantee that you will get a shot of 99% of every guest at the wedding reception. If you wander around the edge of the room, just trying to snipe a photo here and there, you will end up with a bunch of unflattering shots of people, and only because of luck and numbers, may end up with a possibly good shot for the album.

Talk to the event planner if there is one (usually not these days), or the DJ (in the event of no planner, the DJ will set the pace for the evening as far as what happens when. (at least a good one will.)

Obviously, know when to be where by what the planner or DJ tells you, and be prepared for all the events. The cutting of the cake, don't just walk up behind the crowd and try to grab your shots. Let the couple know that you will need to be front row center, and don't start without you there. Once there, you take charge, you tell them when to cut the cake when you have the correct position (it is only done once, you can't just hang out and "hope" you get the shot) Let them know that you will count down for them to cut the cake, and I normally will do several of this part, so you get the knife at the top of the cake, and the looks on their faces as the knife hits bottom (they always tend to instinctively look at each other and smile after the knife goes down) get the "sports action" shots of them feeding each other the cake, and hopefully not smashing it in each other's faces, but be prepared for it.

Do the same with the bouquet toss and garter toss. TAKE CHARGE, let them know that you need to be in position, and you will tell them when it's ready to go. If you can catch sports action, you can get good shots of the bouquet and garter ready to be tossed, in mid air, and people trying to catch(or in the case of the garter, men running away from) the toss.

On the "special" (first, or other) dances, get a full body shot of each dance, and a close up of the faces of each person's face doing the dance, mother of the groom, father of the groom, and the bride and groom. These often show great emotion. No need to take 10 shots of each dance unless something really stands out. It just means more culling later.

For games, like the "shoe game" or whatever. Just a few shots that show what is happening, and then if you can get some reaction shots of the guests laughing, or a close up of the bride or groom as long as they look like their having fun, is all you need.

On the speeches, please, as someone who does a LOT of these and a lot of culling, one shot of each person giving the speech, one shot that shows the expressions of the couple looking at who's giving the speech, hopefully laughing or wiping a tear is plenty for each speech. I've had to cull/edit weddings with tons of shots of each and every person giving speeches, and 50 angles of the head table. It just takes hours to go through all that. Handing the couple a disk of images like that is also overwhelming. They only want the ones worth printing, or putting in a book, not 50 expressions on the same person's face, people yawning, or people shoving food in their faces.

On the dance floor. Get the couple dancing with each other, and with other people. One or 2 shots of kids dancing, kids are always dancing is enough. Grab a wide shot or two of the whole dance floor, and a few of people that are having a particular amount of fun. Again, from experience working with inexperienced photographers, don't just concentrate on the pretty girls. Us old fat guys on the dance floor can provide some memorable photos as well. HAHA.

The main thing to take away is, you need to take control, and don't be afraid to say "excuse me" and step in front of someone to get the shot. If you are "hired" to be the photographer, you can't be timid. Don't be rude, but they want you to get the shots.

Finally, you notice I keep saying album. I would suggest that if they are just getting disks of images from the photographers from the ceremony and formals, why don't you put together a nice wedding album for them with all the photos, and present it to them as a wedding gift? My kids and grandkids look at my parent's wedding photos, and my wedding photos (both before today's nice albums, just photos put in slip in sheets) The albums are something that can sit on a coffee table for 50 years, and people will still enjoy getting them out and looking at them. If they are on a disk, in a drawer somewhere, nobody will enjoy them. An album is the best gift of all.

Just my 8 cents. (a lot more than the 2 cents, I had planned on typing)

bk