Camera Simulator

Background went soft when you opened the aperture? Depth of field explains why, and aperture covers what the f-numbers mean.

Picture turned grainy as the ISO went up? ISO explains the trade you are making, and noise reduction covers what can be cleaned up afterwards.

Subject smeared at a slow shutter speed? Shutter speed explains it, and motion blur shows when the blur is worth keeping.

Wondering how the three controls trade against each other? The exposure triangle sets it out, and a stop is the unit they all share.

A free online camera simulator that re-shoots real photographs

This camera simulator runs in your browser, costs nothing and needs no account. Pick one of eight real photographs, set the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focus, metering and white balance as you would on a DSLR or mirrorless camera, and the picture is worked out again with those settings: the background blurs, moving things streak, noise rises and highlights clip.

Each scene is a sharp photograph with a depth map, an estimate of how far away every part of the picture was. From that the simulator computes what your settings would have recorded, using the same optics that govern a real lens and sensor. A coach panel beside the controls puts numbers on what you see, such as the near and far limits of sharp focus and how many stops you are from the photographer’s own exposure.

What you can change, and what each control does to the picture

Above the sliders are four exposure modes. In Manual you set aperture, shutter and ISO yourself and the meter needle under the photo tells you what the camera thinks of the result. In Aperture you choose the f-number and the camera picks the shutter speed, which is how aperture priority works on a real camera. Shutter does the reverse, as in shutter priority. Auto picks all three from the meter.

Using it as an exposure triangle simulator

Every click of the Aperture, Shutter and ISO sliders is one third of a stop, the same step a camera dial makes. That makes the trade between the three easy to see. Choose Manual and set an exposure that reads 0 on the meter. Open the aperture three clicks, for example from f/8 to f/5.6, and the picture gets one stop brighter. Shorten the shutter three clicks, for example from 1/125 to 1/250, and the brightness is back where it was, with a softer background and less motion blur than before.

Repeat the trade with ISO in place of the shutter and the brightness returns again, this time with less noise. The three pictures have the same exposure and look different, and the difference is what you are choosing each time you set a camera.

Ready to try this on a real camera? How to shoot in manual mode walks through the same three decisions in the order you make them in the field.

Using it as a depth of field simulator

Open the People scene, tap the man in the blue shirt to focus on him, and drag Aperture from one end to the other. The gorge wall behind him goes from sharp to a soft wash. Then zoom in with Focal length at the same f-number: the blur gets larger again, because background blur grows with the physical width of the lens opening as well as with the f-number. Switch Camera to APS-C or smartphone and the same f-number gives more depth of field.

The Landscape scene teaches the opposite problem, getting a near boulder and a far canyon sharp together. The coach panel shows the hyperfocal distance for your settings. Focus there and the far limit of sharpness reaches the horizon. Stop down past f/16 and the whole picture softens slightly, which is diffraction.

Need real numbers for your own lens? The depth of field calculator gives the near and far limits of sharp focus for any focal length, aperture and distance.

Shutter speed: freezing, blurring, panning and shake

The Surfer scene is the shutter speed simulator. At 1/1000 or faster the surfer and the spray are frozen. Slow the shutter and he streaks, twice as far each time the exposure time doubles. Tick Panning and the camera swings with him, so he stays sharp while the wave streaks behind.

The Seascape scene has moving water in place of a moving person. With Tripod chosen and an ND filter fitted, an exposure of a second or more turns the surf into a smooth sheet while the rocks stay sharp. In the Night sky scene a long exposure turns the stars into short lines as the Earth rotates, and the longer the focal length, the sooner it shows.

Shake is separate from subject movement. With Support on Handheld, a shutter slower than about 1 over the focal length blurs the whole frame, which is the reciprocal rule. Handheld + IS buys about four stops, and Tripod removes shake completely.

Want blur on purpose? Panning keeps a moving subject sharp against a streaked background, and long exposures smooth water and draw light trails.

ISO, noise and sensor size

Raising ISO brightens the picture without adding any light, so the grain you see at high ISO is the noise that was always in a dim exposure, made visible. The Night street scene shows the choice plainly: handheld, you need a high ISO to keep the shutter fast enough, and on a tripod you can drop to ISO 100 and let the shutter run long for a much cleaner picture. Press Magnify to see the noise at pixel level, then change Camera to smartphone: a small sensor collects less light and gets noisy far sooner.

Metering and exposure compensation: when the camera gets it wrong

A light meter assumes the scene averages out to a middle grey. The Snow scene breaks that assumption, so in Aperture, Shutter or Auto mode the snow comes out grey and dull until you add about a stop and a half of exposure compensation. The Live music scene fools the meter the other way: the frame is mostly dark arena, so the camera brightens everything and the lit performers burn out until you dial compensation down, or switch Metering to Spot and tap the singer.

The needle under the photo shows your settings against the meter. The coach panel shows them against the exposure the photographer used, so you can see the two disagree. Turn on Histogram and Highlights to check the result the way you would on a camera screen: the stripes mark areas that have clipped to pure white.

Not sure which metering mode to leave the camera on? Metering modes covers what evaluative, center-weighted and spot each read.

The eight scenes

Under the simulator, “Real photos, real settings” shows more photographs with the aperture, shutter speed and ISO the camera recorded, and a note on why those settings suit the picture.

The 21 challenges

Each challenge names a result to produce, such as “Blur the background” or “Keep the stars as points”, and passes only when the picture meets it with a good exposure. None of them passes at its starting settings. A hint is there if you want it, and each one ends with a short account of why the answer works. The challenges you finish are remembered in your browser.

• Aperture and focus: blur the background, get everything sharp from front to back, focus by hand with peaking.
• Shutter speed: freeze the action, show speed with motion blur, pan with the subject, handhold a telephoto, make the water silky.
• ISO and support: handhold at night, let stabilization buy you time, make a clean night shot on a tripod, keep the stars as points.
• Exposure modes and metering: aperture priority, shutter priority, zero the meter in Manual, keep the snow white, expose a lit stage in a dark arena, spot meter a performer.
• Filters and color: a long exposure in daylight with an ND filter, fix an orange cast, warm a scene on purpose.

Color cast challenge left you guessing at the numbers? White balance explains the Kelvin scale and which way the setting moves the color.

What the simulator cannot show

• Distances come from an estimate, so the depth of field limits are approximate and fine edges such as hair can show a faint outline.
• It can add blur, noise and darkness to a photograph. It cannot recover detail the original never had.
• What was hidden behind a moving subject has to be filled in, so very long streaks can look smudged.
• Zooming crops the view from the same spot, as a real zoom does. You cannot walk closer or change the angle.
• The smartphone setting is a single exposure from a small sensor. Real phones combine several frames and add background blur in software.
• Noise is shown as the sensor records it, with no noise reduction, so it looks rougher than a finished picture from the same camera.

None of that changes the direction or the size of what each control does, which is the part worth learning here. What a screen cannot give you is the weight of the camera, the light changing while you decide, and a subject that will not wait.

Common mistakes

• Changing three things at once. Move one control, look, and move it back. The effect of each is easy to read alone and hard to read mixed with two others.
• Watching only the brightness. Two settings with the same exposure can be very different pictures. Look at the background, at anything moving, and at the noise with Magnify.
• Trusting the meter needle on every scene. Snow and a dark stage both centre the needle on a wrong exposure. Check the histogram and the highlight stripes as well.
• Leaving ISO on Auto while learning. Auto ISO hides the trade you are trying to see, because the camera quietly repairs the brightness each time you move another control.
• Stopping at the screen. The numbers only become habit when you set them on a camera in your hands.

Try this

Ten minutes, no hints. Open the Surfer scene in Manual with ISO on a fixed value. First make a correctly exposed picture with the surfer frozen. Then, without changing how bright the picture is, make one where he streaks across the frame: if you run out of aperture and ISO, fit the ND filter. Last, tick Panning and find the shutter speed where the surfer is sharp and the wave is a blur. Write down the three sets of settings and notice which control you reached for first each time.

Not sure what to point the camera at afterwards? Fifty project ideas give you a subject for the next hour.

Frequently asked questions

Is the camera simulator free?

Yes. It runs on this page in your browser with nothing to download and no account to make. Finished challenges are stored in your own browser and nowhere else.

Is it a DSLR simulator or a mirrorless one?

Both, because the controls it models are the same on each: aperture, shutter speed, ISO, exposure mode, metering, focus and white balance. It is not a copy of one maker’s menus or buttons, so what you learn carries over to any camera with manual controls.

Does it work on a phone or tablet?

Yes, in any current browser. Tap the photo to focus and drag the sliders. A larger screen makes small changes in blur and noise easier to see.

How accurate is it?

Exposure, depth of field, diffraction, motion blur, noise and white balance are calculated from standard optics and sensor formulas, in the same third stop steps a camera uses. The distances in each scene are estimated, so treat depth of field figures as close, and see “What the simulator cannot show” above for the rest.

Can I use it to teach a class?

Yes. There is nothing to install and no sign in, so it opens on school computers and tablets. The challenges make ready exercises, and how to teach photography covers planning the lessons themselves.

Can a simulator replace practice with a real camera?

No. It is a quick way to see what each setting does and to test an idea before you go out. Framing, timing and reading the light are learned with a camera, and the histogram on its screen will tell you whether what you learned here held up.