On the Minolta Dynax 404Si camera, what does the M stand for on the manula setting?

Question

A is obviously for Aperture, but does the greater the setting number let more light in or vice versa? There is also an On/Off setting for WL? And a setting On/Off with 2 rectangles overlapping?

Answer 1

W/L is for wireless remote flash (see the red light on the front of the camera its the sensor for the remote off camera flash)

the rectangles are for "bracking"

M is for manual the settings are whatever you select "manuallly"

a

Answer 2

"M" is usually for Manual operation so you can set the aperture and shutter speed the way you want.

"A" is usually for Aperture Preferred - you set the aperture (f-stop) and the camera chooses the correct shutter speed.

The aperture is an inverse scale. The bigger the number the smaller the opening. The smaller the opening the less light is admitted - and the longer the shutter speed will be.

Here is a hypothetical example with the following criteria: ISO 200 and a bright sunny day.

f2 @ 1/1000
f2.8 @ 1/500
f4 @ 1/250
f5.6 @ 1/125
f8 @ 1/60
f11 @ 1/30
f16 @ 1/15

f2 admits twice as much light as f2.8; f2.8 admits half as much light as f2

f2.8 admits twice as much light as f4; f4 admits half as much light as f2.8, etc.

If you could duplicate this in the real world all 7 exposures would be exactly the same. You would notice a difference in image quality between f5.6 and f11 since lenses generally perform best in that range. You would also notice an increase in Depth of Field (loosely defined as that area in front of and behind your subject that is in acceptable focus) as you viewed images made from f8 up.