What mode do you use most?

[lazarus219]

Once again, I got the thought from another thread and thought it might be interesting to see more about the way everybody shoots here.

I've seen a lot of interesting things in regard to this, people shooting manual but with no actual regard for what settings they are dialing in- just making sure the needle is in the middle (I do not see any purpose in that, you are still just following the meter in a slower fashion than it could do itself). People using shutter priority as a reverse way of controlling DOF. All different things....


So, For your general shooting, what mode is your camera most likely to be in?

For me- it's something like 70% aperture priority and the rest manual.

[ricktas]

I said manual, as its what I use most of the time.

Though If i am really unsure of a shutter speed/ aperture combination, I will use Av / Tv and use that to take one shot to get a 'reading' then swap back to manual. I will for instance set an aperture of F2.8, take the shot, to get a shutter speed result, to then use in manual.

[Kym]

So, For your general shooting, what mode is your camera most likely to be in?
For me- it's something like 70% aperture priority and the rest manual.

AP for me 50% of the time (DoF reasons), Action (Shutter priority) 10%, other modes for special effects the rest.

Mentally I shoot in two modes (P&S and Serious). P&S at social functions etc. and serious when the wife and I go out with a plan as to what we are shooting.

Even in what I call P&S mode I'm trying to think of composure, DoF, Lighting etc.

Takes a while to get disciplined.

[mercho]

With my new camera I find that i am using manual mode most of the time. However as Rick said, If i am unsure of the lighting conditions i will switch it to Av mode to find out the shutter speed, or vise versa....

[pgbphotographytas]

I started off with Auto when I got the D40, went to manual and now I mainly do Tv (Shutter priority) mainly with a bit of manual sometimes.

Paul

[ving]

seeing that i do alot of macro, mostly manual as i dont have a choice. when any af-s lens is on tho it depends alto on what i am tring to do.... cant really say one or the other. i use all modes except the auto/scene modes.

[winterstorm]

As the majority of my shots is in the studio, I use manual, but if I'm outside I use aperture priority and then hope for the best.

[Luke Thompson]

pretty much manual all the time, other then when my camera is in my housing or if im shooting surf and the light keeps changing

[MrJorge]

While I'd love to say Manual, I do try to use it as much as I can.

However I find I use Av mode for my sports stuff the most due to it being hard to change settings as quickly as required when a cloud comes over and goes away and comes back in the middle of a match.

[Steve Axford]

I leave it on Av but switch to manual quite frequently

[stevemack]

I try to make it habit to use manual or i will use AP.

steve.

[Redback51]

90% manual where I tend to shoot underexposure. 4% Program mode (particuarly when using flash) and rest Av. Cheers :food04:

[arthurking83]

........

For me- it's something like 70% aperture priority and the rest manual.

Ditto!

Unless I want to specifically shoot in manual for some reason, I'm always in [A] mode.

Once or twice I've used [S] shutter priority, and that was for some action/sport type shot, which I don't normally do.

Dial in some exposure compensation quickly with the shutter dial.. and all is achieved quick'n'easily

If I end up using flash whether on board or speedlite, I tend to find myself going to manual and matrix metering. Seems to work best for me until I learn more about how flash photography works.

[jev]

I'm somewhat surprised to see so many people using "manual". Why would anyone do that unless (1) you're using an external lightmeter or (2) use flash?

Anyway, I would have to check to see what I'm using most - which I'm far too lazy for ;). So, I answer: "it depends". Fast moving sports, especially when panning: Tv (for non-Canonists: that's probably 'S' on your camera :)). Other ambient light photography: Av. Studio or flash: manual.

[I @ M]

I'm somewhat surprised to see so many people using "manual". Why would anyone do that unless (1) you're using an external lightmeter or (2) use flash?

Anyway, I would have to check to see what I'm using most - which I'm far too lazy for ;). So, I answer: "it depends". Fast moving sports, especially when panning: Tv (for non-Canonists: that's probably 'S' on your camera :)). Other ambient light photography: Av. Studio or flash: manual.

I think Jev hit the nail on the head, everyone here paid good money for 21st century technology and I reckon the vast majority of the time the camera will get the exposure right when using aperture or shutter priority leaving YOU to concentrate on composition more.

For me, manual exists only when using studio flash lighting and occasionally to darken a landscape when the aperture priority mode can't give me the light I want even with 2 stops of exposure compensation.

[cwphoto]

I think Jev hit the nail on the head, everyone here paid good money for 21st century technology and I reckon the vast majority of the time the camera will get the exposure right when using aperture or shutter priority leaving YOU to concentrate on composition more.

For me, manual exists only when using studio flash lighting and occasionally to darken a landscape when the aperture priority mode can't give me the light I want even with 2 stops of exposure compensation.

The trouble is that 21st century metering technology still relies on the subject being of average reflectance to be effective. In consistent light you can't beat manual exposure for control.

I only use AE in rapidly changing light, or for taking snapshots.

[SpaceJunk]

almost always leave the camera set to aperture, but then I check the shutter speed the camera decides and alter settings if I have to, leaving the camera on aperture means I can grab it in a hurry and gets some shots off with some likelihood they will be exposed OK?, but it is pleasing to see CypherOz's comments :-

[quote]Mentally I shoot in two modes (P&S and Serious). P&S at social functions etc. and serious when the wife and I go out with a plan as to what we are shooting.

Even in what I call P&S mode I'm trying to think of composure, DoF, Lighting etc.

Takes a while to get disciplined.[quote]

that to me is great news, a bloke who takes some care with all his images, I still use a p&s a fair bit and like to think I take due care with them also ;)

[jev]

The trouble is that 21st century metering technology still relies on the subject being of average reflectance to be effective.
That simply is not true. Did you ever look at how evaluative metering works? Try it once, see what the camera does if you're shooting bride and groom. No midgrey there. No, it's not foolproof - you will need to work the system. Yes, that can be a hard job.

We've got a saying here that roughly translates into: "Metering is knowing, guessing is missing" (in Dutch the alliteration really sticks: "meten is weten, gissen is missen"). It's just that you need to know how it works and what it measures.


In consistent light you can't beat manual exposure for control.
I beg to differ. In manual mode, where do you base your settings on? Guesswork? Chimping? Trying to read a histogram? Getting that needle in the middle (which basically is the same as the camera is doing, but than in a slow and tedious way)?

[lazarus219]

I have been thinking the same thing Jev. What your saying is pretty much what I meant in my original post about using manual but going off the meter.

My reason for mentioning that is in my class pretty much everybody shoots manual mode but always just putting the meter in the middle. I always wondered why because in the end that is just going by the meter which the camera can do a lot faster than a person turning the dials. I asked a couple of people why they bothered and they all basically seem to have the idea that shooting in manual at all times is just what experienced photographers do and that any semi-auto modes are bad.

Maybe we have totally missed something, I will be interested to see why everybody sticks to manual.

While I was typing this I thought of one other time when I do use manual. At weddings when I am shooting the couple in the shade with a bright background. I will use the ICM to meter the sky in the background.

[cwphoto]

That simply is not true. Did you ever look at how evaluative metering works? Try it once, see what the camera does if you're shooting bride and groom. No midgrey there. No, it's not foolproof - you will need to work the system. Yes, that can be a hard job.

We've got a saying here that roughly translates into: "Metering is knowing, guessing is missing" (in Dutch the alliteration really sticks: "meten is weten, gissen is missen"). It's just that you need to know how it works and what it measures.


I beg to differ. In manual mode, where do you base your settings on? Guesswork? Chimping? Trying to read a histogram? Getting that needle in the middle (which basically is the same as the camera is doing, but than in a slow and tedious way)?

Jev, I think you need to do some reading on how light meters actually work. All metering modes in your camera are based on the age-old principle of reflected light - which means when you're photographing a subject of non-average reflectance, the metering won't be accurate - Evaluative mode or otherwise.

In manual metering mode I use various methods: sunny-16, grey card, white-point, incident meter - all of them offering more control than any AE mode you care to suggest.

[cwphoto]

I have been thinking the same thing Jev. What your saying is pretty much what I meant in my original post about using manual but going off the meter.

My reason for mentioning that is in my class pretty much everybody shoots manual mode but always just putting the meter in the middle. I always wondered why because in the end that is just going by the meter which the camera can do a lot faster than a person turning the dials. I asked a couple of people why they bothered and they all basically seem to have the idea that shooting in manual at all times is just what experienced photographers do and that any semi-auto modes are bad.

Maybe we have totally missed something, I will be interested to see why everybody sticks to manual.

While I was typing this I thought of one other time when I do use manual. At weddings when I am shooting the couple in the shade with a bright background. I will use the ICM to meter the sky in the background.

Because putting the needle in the middle is not always going to result in correct exposure.

If you're shooting an average reflecting subject then the needle 'should' be in the middle and manual exposure offers no appreciable advantage.

But if you're shooting anything but an average reflecting subject (ie; high/low key) than your needle shouldn't be in the middle anyway for correct exposure of such subjects.

Manual exposure gives you ultimate control in consistent light but when your subject's reflectance is non-average. Examples: weddings (black tuxedos and white wedding dresses), sport (different coloured uniforms/cars/bikes etc)...

[lazarus219]

I don't really understand what specifically in my post you are referring to there CWphoto. Everything you have said I agree with and was my point about it not really being any use just using manual but going off the internal meter.

[cwphoto]

I don't really understand what specifically in my post you are referring to there CWphoto. Everything you have said I agree with and was my point about it not really being any use just using manual but going off the internal meter.

The first part where you agree with Jev. Jev doesn't appear to know how metering works - and I thought you were accepting the same misunderstandings that he was.

[hoffy]

I am another one who is about half ap & the other half sp modes. I think that most of the time the camera will make a better attempt on getting it right then I will, but I do look at the histogram & I also look at the screen & will dial in or out EV compenstation as required.

[lazarus219]

I see, I was actually agreeing with some of the other points. I agree with you in regard to internal light meters being average reflected meters.

I guess what Jev said does hold some relevance in the way evaluative metering works by comparing it a database to try and find similarities. In the end though it is still just another reflected meter with the same old problems of being tricked by the tone of something.

[cwphoto]

I see, I was actually agreeing with some of the other points. I agree with you in regard to internal light meters being average reflected meters.

I guess what Jev said does hold some relevance in the way evaluative metering works by comparing it a database to try and find similarities. In the end though it is still just another reflected meter with the same old problems of being tricked by the tone of something.

Don't believe the hype - this is mostly marketing spin. If Evaluative was that good, then power pros would use it all the time - they don't.

[lazarus219]

I don't believe the hype, that's why I have an incident light meter. Evaluative (matrix for nikon) is far from perfect, it is a fair bit better than average though.

In camera reflected meters are still better off than most people just guessing.

[cwphoto]

In camera reflected meters are still better off than most people just guessing.

Sure, but two of the four examples I listed for metering in manual involve using the reflected meter: grey card and white point.

And one of the others is not really guessing (sunny-16). It's as accurate as any method in the relevant conditions.

Manual exposure isn't about guessing - you often still use the reflected meter. The difference is how one uses it.

[jev]

All metering modes in your camera are based on the age-old principle of reflected light - which means when you're photographing a subject of non-average reflectance, the metering won't be accurate - Evaluative mode or otherwise.
I know how they work, I designed lightmetering systems for security cameras in a previous job. However, modern evaluative metering systems *can* work differently, they don't necessarily need an 18% reference.

Did you ever work with Ansel Adam's zonesystem? Here (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/zone_system.shtml) is a good read... Modern evaluative metering uses similar techniques.

For example, in full evaluative mode the system can actually analyse the whole image and look for hightlights, than base the exposure on these highlights (in combination with several parameters in the rest of the measured histogram), thus making sure you use the optimal dynamic range the camera is capable of. That is very similar to what Minolta did in a crude form in their Dynax 7 series if I remember correctly (they offered a brightness distribution display). Bottom line: there *are* other ways to measure for non-18% reflective scenes.


In manual metering mode I use various methods: sunny-16, grey card, white-point, incident meter - all of them offering more control than any AE mode you care to suggest.

Sunny f/16: guesswork, based on a flimsy rule of thumb. Might work in your area in circumstances you usually shoot under, but not everywhere at anytime.
Grey card: reflective (how do you determine the reading there?)
Whitepoint: What do you do with "whitepoint" where exposure is concerned?
Incident meter: agreed, the best method, beats any other method hands down - provided you can get close to your subject and take readings at different points. A little time consuming too...

Really, these methods don't offer "more control", that's just a state of mind. You have full control over exposure in both, manual and (half-) automatic modes, you just need to know what you're measuring and how to do it correctly (but that goes for incident reading too... ;)).

Bottom line: use whatever you feel most comfortable with in a given situation - if that is manual mode after having measured using incident reading or any other effective method, great. But do not wipe other techniques off the table - they can be at least as effective - if you know their limitations.

[Wazza999]

I leave it on program but frequently change the aperture so effectively Av. My pentax k10d has two program modes, auto-everything and P which sticks with user settings for iso and raw mode, so I use P. My rationale is if need to take a quick shot I don't have to worry about shutter speed and if I have time I can simply use the override.
Warren

[cwphoto]

I know how they work, I designed lightmetering systems for security cameras in a previous job. However, modern evaluative metering systems *can* work differently, they don't necessarily need an 18% reference.

Did you ever work with Ansel Adam's zonesystem? Here (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/zone_system.shtml) is a good read... Modern evaluative metering uses similar techniques.

For example, in full evaluative mode the system can actually analyse the whole image and look for hightlights, than base the exposure on these highlights (in combination with several parameters in the rest of the measured histogram), thus making sure you use the optimal dynamic range the camera is capable of. That is very similar to what Minolta did in a crude form in their Dynax 7 series if I remember correctly (they offered a brightness distribution display). Bottom line: there *are* other ways to measure for non-18% reflective scenes.



Sunny f/16: guesswork, based on a flimsy rule of thumb. Might work in your area in circumstances you usually shoot under, but not everywhere at anytime.
Grey card: reflective (how do you determine the reading there?)
Whitepoint: What do you do with "whitepoint" where exposure is concerned?
Incident meter: agreed, the best method, beats any other method hands down - provided you can get close to your subject and take readings at different points. A little time consuming too...

Really, these methods don't offer "more control", that's just a state of mind. You have full control over exposure in both, manual and (half-) automatic modes, you just need to know what you're measuring and how to do it correctly (but that goes for incident reading too... ;)).

Bottom line: use whatever you feel most comfortable with in a given situation - if that is manual mode after having measured using incident reading or any other effective method, great. But do not wipe other techniques off the table - they can be at least as effective - if you know their limitations.

With all due respect you're talking rubbish.

First your 'Evaluative' rant. I'm glad you use words like 'can' in your description because that's exactly what they might, may, or potentially be. Which is precisely the problem when used as AE. They are simply no match for manual exposure. Evaluative metering and AE is still incapable of correctly exposing a high or low-key scene - because it still relies on the fundamental underlying base that it simply measures a reflected value of light and has no way of knowing what the subject's reflectance is.

21-zones of 'average' is still 'average'.

Sunny-16 guesswork? Hogwash. Anywhere on the globe if your subject is in full sun then sunny-16 is as accurate as any exposure method period. That's not a guess - it's fact. Try using evaluative under such conditions when shooting a high-key/low-key subject and see how you go - sunny-16 will be more accurate 100% of the time.

Grey card? Takes the non-average reflectance variable away from the argument that's how. But I see you seem to already know how a grey-card works so I don't know why your arguing against it.

Whitepoint, ie; pegging the highlights. Take a spot reading of the area in the scene you want to be rendered as the brightest part with detail and back off 5x (or 2&1/3rd stops) for correct exposure.

For exposure control you cannot successfully argue that AE gives just as much as ME. You can't because you're arguing against fact. Any form of AE (P, Tv/S, Av/A etc, regardless of EC) still ultimately gives the power of exposing the scene to the camera. ME is the only setting which gives it to the user. There are plenty of scenarios out there where AE falls over - I've even listed a few.

AE certainly has it's place, when speed and convenience are weighted over ultimate control then AE is great - situations where the shooting environment has rapidly changing ambient light is great for AE, but that's exactly what AE offers: convenience and speed - ME has the control.

[Tannin]

Any form of AE (P, Tv/S, Av/A etc, regardless of EC) still ultimately gives the power of exposing the scene to the camera. ME is the only setting which gives it to the user.

Oh dear, now you are talking nonsense. On the back of your camera there is a big round dial.* Turn it clockwise to increase exposure, anticlockwise to decrease exposure. It works in both aperture and shutter priority modes, it's called "exposure compensation" and it gives you, the human being, the power to expose the scene exactly as you wish.

(* Other brands of camera put the dial in a different place. Works the same way though.)

[cwphoto]

Oh dear, now you are talking nonsense. On the back of your camera there is a big round dial.* Turn it clockwise to increase exposure, anticlockwise to decrease exposure. It works in both aperture and shutter priority modes, it's called "exposure compensation" and it gives you, the human being, the power to expose the scene exactly as you wish.

(* Other brands of camera put the dial in a different place. Works the same way though.)

Only if you use AE lock it does, otherwise the camera is ultimately deciding exposure.

AE with EC is just that: the camera's interpretation less (or more) of a value.

The key is in the bold part.

And a practical scenario: football match in consistent light, one team has a white uniform - the other black. Please explain how AE with EC is going to work from a practical perspective when you are shooting a piece of action of a white-uniformed player who is then suddenly engaged by a black-uniformed player?

And here I was with all this wonderful respect for you after your great response in the hi/lo ISO thread, oh well.

Now all - repeat after me; AE = convenience and speed, ME = control.

Either are useful depending on your situation.

[Tannin]

Why bring AE lock into it? It's a needless distraction from the the real points:

First, that the user retains control over the exposure (in your example, by adding +ive or -ive EC to the metered value - exactly as in manual mode one adds or subtracts from the suggested exposure given by the needle. The only difference - and I stress the only difference - is that in the first case one starts from a fixed pre-set base relative to the brightness of the metered scene, where in the second case one starts from a fixed pre-set base relative to absolute exposure.

Second, and more importantly, you are putting a subtle but critical spin on the question which, were I not to pull you on it, would neatly derail the discussion. This is your assumption of consistent light.

Now maybe your subjects of choice tend to have very different shades and be in consistent light (your football example would be a good one for this, provided you are not at the MCG or another large stadium where half the ground is usually in sunlight and the other half in deep shade), but then my subjects of choice tend towards the exact opposite situation: they are reasonably consistent in colour, but they move constantly between different places and through different lighting conditions. (I primarily do birds and other wildlife. They move. A lot.)

But perhaps we should return to the key word in your contention: "control". Both methods offer the ability to select (within reasonable limits) any exposure you wish. You might object that most cameras only offer ~3 stops of + and ~3 stops of - EC, meaning that if you want an exposure outside that six stop range of the metered value, you can't have it. I'll happily conceed that point, but then ask how often you (or any photographer) actually wants to be more than three stops over or under the metered value? I can imagine such a circumstance, but I can't say I've ever experienced it, nor would I expect to. So let's set this aside as a red herring, and return to the fact that either method allows (in so close to all circumstances as not to matter) the photographer to decide the actual exposure. Is that not "control"? Certainly sounds like "control" to me, and perfectly fits a dictionary definition of the term.

So where do we differ? What is it that you mean by "control" that I have not considered? The answer, I think, requires that we redefine "control" to mean something like "camera does what the user expects it to, in a consistent way". If I was shooting your football example (unlikely, but you never know) or something like a surfing contest, then I suspect that manual would indeed give me more control (in the sense of "more camera does what I want and expect it to). On the other hand, if you have ever tried to follow a fairy-wren in its frenetic travels in, under, through, and on top of the foliage, the opposite applies - not just because we are talking rapidly varying brightness levels which you'd never be able to keep up with on manual, but also because the subject itself remains constant, while the light changes rapidly.

Let's boil tht down to a nice, simple pair of rules:

Constant light, varying subject: shoot manual, it saves a lot of messing around with EC, and is less likely to result in duds.

Constant subject, varying light: shoot Av or Tv, it saves a lot of messing about with manual controls and is less likely to result in duds.

I'd have said that the second was the more common circumstance, but I'm only guessing that. Depends on what you shoot, really.

[jev]

I'm glad you use words like 'can' in your description because that's exactly what they might, may, or potentially be.
I strongly suggest you go and take a look at the Minolta Dynax 7.


Sunny-16 guesswork? Hogwash. Anywhere on the globe if your subject is in full sun then sunny-16 is as accurate as any exposure method period. That's not a guess - it's fact. Try using evaluative under such conditions when shooting a high-key/low-key subject and see how you go - sunny-16 will be more accurate 100% of the time.
As I said: maybe it works where and when you are shooting. Over here (Netherlands, latitude=52 north, longitude=5 degrees east) full sunny conditions are an exception to the rule. There almost always are clouds. And that's the point where the guesswork starts.

Second, the sun here is never as harsh here as it is in the southern parts of Europe (or in central Australia and probably a lot of other places). The angle under which the sun reaches the earth often is a showstopper for sunny f/16 over here. Sunny f/16 is a good thing to quickly detect ISO setting failures with but that's about it over here.

Third, there's (as Tannin so nicely describes) a large dial on the back of your luxureous dSLR. Using that, you can dial in exposure compensation, exactly for the reasons you mention. Low key? Dial in -2 or so. High key? +2.


I don't know why your arguing against it.
I'm not arguing against greycards, I'm just making clear you most likely take a reading from the greycard using the same system that is used in half automatic modes. If you use a graycard, you also can use AE with that same greycard. It's just a lot faster that way.


Whitepoint, ie; pegging the highlights.
Basically, that is part of the zone system - there is no fundamental difference between pegging highlights and using midgrey. And yes, you could do the exact same thing with exposure compensation on your camera in automated modes (how are you gonna measure the highlights BTW? Most possibly reflective, right?). Again, taking a reflective reading and compensating for it's reflectiveness (wow, use that word in scrabble once!) is the key and it doesn't make any difference if you tell the camera about it or if you tell and calculate that difference yourself. Except in speed.

What I'm trying to make clear is that a lot of the methods you describe are not fool-proof and often are based on the methods used in AE. Knowing *what* to measure and *how* to measure it is the key. Your camera can do that for you, provided you know how to work it.


I'd have said that the second was the more common circumstance, but I'm only guessing that. Depends on what you shoot, really.

Amen to that!

PS: some interesting stuff from Nikon on the subject here (http://www.europe-nikon.com/behind_the_scene/en_GB/articles/broad/16/1.html). This interview, straight from the horse's mouth, makes perfectly clear that in-camera metering is not just 18% grey reflective metering anymore in modern cameras.

[Analog6]

I tend to leave the 300D permanently on Tv @ 1/125 as it means I can grab it and (mostly) get a usable image. I mainly use Manual for the 20D.

I find Tv more useful than Av due to the fact that I like to keep to 100ASA and Av often results in too slow a shutter speed.

[cwphoto]

Why bring AE lock into it? It's a needless distraction from the the real points:

First, that the user retains control over the exposure (in your example, by adding +ive or -ive EC to the metered value - exactly as in manual mode one adds or subtracts from the suggested exposure given by the needle. The only difference - and I stress the only difference - is that in the first case one starts from a fixed pre-set base relative to the brightness of the metered scene, where in the second case one starts from a fixed pre-set base relative to absolute exposure.

Second, and more importantly, you are putting a subtle but critical spin on the question which, were I not to pull you on it, would neatly derail the discussion. This is your assumption of consistent light.

Now maybe your subjects of choice tend to have very different shades and be in consistent light (your football example would be a good one for this, provided you are not at the MCG or another large stadium where half the ground is usually in sunlight and the other half in deep shade), but then my subjects of choice tend towards the exact opposite situation: they are reasonably consistent in colour, but they move constantly between different places and through different lighting conditions. (I primarily do birds and other wildlife. They move. A lot.)

But perhaps we should return to the key word in your contention: "control". Both methods offer the ability to select (within reasonable limits) any exposure you wish. You might object that most cameras only offer ~3 stops of + and ~3 stops of - EC, meaning that if you want an exposure outside that six stop range of the metered value, you can't have it. I'll happily conceed that point, but then ask how often you (or any photographer) actually wants to be more than three stops over or under the metered value? I can imagine such a circumstance, but I can't say I've ever experienced it, nor would I expect to. So let's set this aside as a red herring, and return to the fact that either method allows (in so close to all circumstances as not to matter) the photographer to decide the actual exposure. Is that not "control"? Certainly sounds like "control" to me, and perfectly fits a dictionary definition of the term.

So where do we differ? What is it that you mean by "control" that I have not considered? The answer, I think, requires that we redefine "control" to mean something like "camera does what the user expects it to, in a consistent way". If I was shooting your football example (unlikely, but you never know) or something like a surfing contest, then I suspect that manual would indeed give me more control (in the sense of "more camera does what I want and expect it to). On the other hand, if you have ever tried to follow a fairy-wren in its frenetic travels in, under, through, and on top of the foliage, the opposite applies - not just because we are talking rapidly varying brightness levels which you'd never be able to keep up with on manual, but also because the subject itself remains constant, while the light changes rapidly.

Let's boil tht down to a nice, simple pair of rules:

Constant light, varying subject: shoot manual, it saves a lot of messing around with EC, and is less likely to result in duds.

Constant subject, varying light: shoot Av or Tv, it saves a lot of messing about with manual controls and is less likely to result in duds.

I'd have said that the second was the more common circumstance, but I'm only guessing that. Depends on what you shoot, really.

I don't know whether it's convenience or ignorance Tony, but you have totally missed the crucial point that AE with EC still involves AE, so you don't have control any more - the camera does. AE is not an absolute value, it is a variable - so how can you argue that it gives the same result as a constant (ME)? AE +/- a value is still a variable.

Example: You're shooting a bride in consistent light with AE. Lot's of white around so you dial in some + EC. Now you re-frame slightly and the camera now offers you a different EV than before because the scene is slightly less/more high key due to the new composition. With AE you now have to re-adjust your EC to suit, whereas with ME you don't.

Which one offers more control?

I brought up AE lock because that is the only way you can achieve an absolute value with regards to EV in an AE mode - the only way.

As for your example, Tony I never said that ME is the best choice for all subject matter. If you read my last post carefully you'll notice that at the end I was very clear that both are valid modes to work in depending on what you are shooting. I don't do birds so I will defer to your judgment here, but I do shoot sport at large stadiums like ANZ, SFS, SCG etc. ME is still much preferred, as 80% of the time the games are under lights (consistent light), or under cloud (consistent light), or I'm shooting into the sun (consistent light). The other 20% of times I just roll my finger over the Main dial three clicks when the play enters shade and I'm at an EV which suits the scene - simple and effective, and I retain control of EV regardless of which team is in the frame (which I wouldn't get with AE).

[cwphoto]

As I said: maybe it works where and when you are shooting. Over here (Netherlands, latitude=52 north, longitude=5 degrees east) full sunny conditions are an exception to the rule. There almost always are clouds. And that's the point where the guesswork starts.

Err Jev, it's a rule for when a subject is in full sun. When you have clouds the rule doesn't apply.

[cwphoto]

Third, there's (as Tannin so nicely describes) a large dial on the back of your luxureous dSLR. Using that, you can dial in exposure compensation, exactly for the reasons you mention. Low key? Dial in -2 or so. High key? +2.

AE with EC offers less control than ME with subjects which rapidly change in reflectance (sport), or when re-framing/composing a high/low key subject in consistent light.

[cwphoto]

I'm not arguing against greycards, I'm just making clear you most likely take a reading from the greycard using the same system that is used in half automatic modes. If you use a graycard, you also can use AE with that same greycard. It's just a lot faster that way.

Sure, but the difference is you are taking a reading from something which matches the calibration on your camera (normally 18% reflectance), not some random scene which may or may not reflect 18%.

[cwphoto]

Basically, that is part of the zone system - there is no fundamental difference between pegging highlights and using midgrey. And yes, you could do the exact same thing with exposure compensation on your camera in automated modes (how are you gonna measure the highlights BTW? Most possibly reflective, right?).

Only if you then lock that value using *. Otherwise, how are you going to ensure the camera is metering only the highlights/midtones in AE? You can't.

[cwphoto]

Again, taking a reflective reading and compensating for it's reflectiveness (wow, use that word in scrabble once!) is the key and it doesn't make any difference if you tell the camera about it or if you tell and calculate that difference yourself. Except in speed.

AE needs to be locked for that to work. Otherwise, a change in the subject's reflectance value will require you to compute a different amount of EC.

[mbong]

the first couple of messages is easy to understand but the more i read the more confuse I'm getting lolz...I've no idea about the AE, AC discussion but I'm using Aperture Priority and sometimes manual if I want to play around. Speed Priority...sometimes...may be about 5% out of 100%. Tried to play around with the exposure thing but still dont understand them. Something for me to learn.

[DanNG]

AE mode majority of the time, but slowly moving more and more to manual

[Tannin]

I don't know whether it's convenience or ignorance Tony, but you have totally missed the crucial point that AE with EC still involves AE, so you don't have control any more - the camera does. AE is not an absolute value, it is a variable - so how can you argue that it gives the same result as a constant (ME)? AE +/- a value is still a variable.


No, I have not missed that point, CW. Not at all. It is simplistic and quite misleading to elevate a manually selected exposure value to the status of a constant under all circumstances, while not according the same treatment to a metered exposure value.

If you think about it, calculation of correct exposure has two key input variables: (i) the amount of light falling on a scene, and (ii) the reflectivity of that scene. Neither bears any particular relationship to the other (i.e., they do not normally co-vary), and it is entirely arbitary to select either (a) or (b) as the "main" or "primary" component around which we should base all our calculations.

Let's work this through. There are four (and only four) possible combinations:

(i) assume (a) constant light falling on a scene, and (b) constant subject reflectance. Both the manually selected value and the metered value remain the same relative to the scene in question - i.e., for this scene, both are constant values.
(ii) assume (a) constant light falling on a scene, and (b) variable subject reflectance. The manually selected value remain the same relative to the scene in question and is thus a constant, while the metered value changes as the subject reflects different amounts of the light falling on it - in this instance it is a variable.
(iii) assume (a) variable light falling on a scene, and (b) constant subject reflectance. The manually selected value varies relative to the scene but the metered value remains the same - i.e., the manually selected value is a variabe but the metered value is a constant.
(iv) assume (a) variable light falling on a scene, and (b) variable subject reflectance. Now neither the manually selected value nor the metered value remain the same relative to the scene in question. Both are variables.


We can easily work this through with practical examples to verify:

(i) You are outdoors, taking 100 photographs of sheep, all the same breed. It is a clear, sunny day. The sheep are all the same colour, the light won't change for hours yet: if you get one shot correctly exposed, you can continue with the same settings till the sun goes down. If you decide that you want to make things a bit brighter or a bit darker, roll your thumb a click or two in the appropriate direction. (Or your index finger if you are shooting Nikon.) What exposure mode are we using here? It doesn't matter! In either manual or Av, you have complete control. (The reason why you are taking 100 pictures of 100 near-identical sheep is a question for another day. :) )
(ii) It is the next day. Now you are taking pictures of the farmer's goats. It's another perfect day, but the goats are all different colours! Some are jet black, others pearly white, others in-between. Now to get correct exposure you need to do one of two things: either base your exposure settings around the constant input value (the light falling on the scene) and ignore the variable input value (the colour of each goat), or base your exposure settings around the variable input value and adjust each shot to compensate. Here, because manual exposure is constant relative to the light source, it does indeed give you more control (or to be strictly correct, it makes it quite a lot simpler to maintain control). It is a lot easier (and probably more effective) to add a little more or less brightness to any given shot by adding a click or two of extra shutter speed or aperture than it is to first compensate for the variation in the metered value as the different coloured goats go by, and then add or subtract a bit more EC as well. Here, your claim that manual offers more control is tenable (or would be if we qualified it to mean "more convenient and simple control). This example, of course, is essentially the same circumstance as your example of the two football teams, and it should be no surprise to see that it leads to the same conclusion.
(iii) The next day you have to shoot the pigs. These pigs are all the same colour (pink) but being excited about getting their pictures taken they keep running around, in and out of the shed and in and out from under the trees. Just to make life more difficult, clouds keep blowing across the sun, making you work sometimes in bright sunlight, sometimes not. Now the boot is on the other foot: manual exposure is not constant relative to the light source, it's varying constantly. Luckily, we have a modern camera with the usual automatic exposure modes, so we stick it in Av, confirm that the exposure it suggests for the first pink pig is correct (or add a little EC if not) and then carry on to shoot the other 99. All the pigs are the same shade of pink, so the metred exposure value remains constant relative to the subject, and you can easily adjust the brightness of any desired shot by adding a little +ive or -ive EC. In contrast, the manual value varies wildly as the light conditions change, and you have to work very hard to maintain control of your exposure.
(iv) Now the farmer wants you to photograph his cattle. It's a mixed herd: the Aberdeen Angus are jet black, the Murray Greys are almost white, and the Jerseys and Friesians are multicoloured. They are nervous and keep moving around in and out of the shade while the sun keeps coming out and going back behind the clouds. Neither the metred value nor the manual value is constant relative to anything that matters. Both are variable, control is difficult to achieve, and you are going to have to work hard for your shots today.


OK, enough of silly examples ... or are they silly? It's not at all difficult to think of real-world circumstances which correspond to each of the four possible situations. I'll provide some common birding examples because they come readily to mind, but just about any kind of reasonably general photography should have matching ones. (i) birds in the open, such as waders (which are nearly all brownish-buff). (ii) Large waterbirds: egrets are pure white, swans are jet black. (I probably should use manual for these myself, but I tend to do it the hard way (Av & EC) out of habit - and also because it's quicker to grab some EC with my thumb still looking through the viewfinder than it is to lower the big telephoto lens, let go with my left hand to reach the mode selection button on the top left of the camera, click and dial for manual mode, then raise the lens again, hoping that the bird is still there.) (iii) Most woodland and forest birds (i.e., more than 50% of all the birds you'd want to photograph). Although they vary in colour quite a bit, most tend towards middle tones (very few passerines and near-passeries are pure black or white) and in any case, you tend to spend some considerable time working with a particular subject - it's hard enough getting close to one bird at a time, never mind three or four different ones! (iv) A thankfully rare situation when birding! You get the odd example, but in general the difficult-coloured birds are large and like to be out in the open where the light doesn't vary much.



Example: You're shooting a bride in consistent light with AE. Lot's of white around so you dial in some + EC. Now you re-frame slightly and the camera now offers you a different EV than before because the scene is slightly less/more high key due to the new composition. With AE you now have to re-adjust your EC to suit, whereas with ME you don't.


A clear example of circumstance (ii) above i.e., the one out four possible circumstances where manual does give more convenient control. Nevertheless, in practical terms it sounds like a bit of a non-issue to me. You already have to be using focus lock if you have the bride off-centre (or else be messing around selecting off-centre focus points or (worse!) using automatic focus point selection) and most (all?) modern cameras allow you to do focus lock and AE lock with a single button press. (At least all the Canon ones do; it's been a while since I shot Nikon but I bet they are the same in this regard.) Or else you are using manual focus, in which case (given the dreadful manual focus aids in modern viewfinders) you either have bags of time to set things up or else are a bit of a miracle-worker. (With that said, in practice I don't actually bother having the focus lock and the AE lock slaved together, I prefer to just change the EC if I don't like the numbers in the viewfinder. No real reason, just habit.)

-------------

Enough!

This has been an interesting discussion, CW, and although we may never agree about the correct way to define "control" in a photographic context, I am neverless getting an interesting and potentially useful insight into your working habits. It would be good practice for me to try a few of them out for myself at some stage.

[cwphoto]

No, I have not missed that point, CW. Not at all. It is simplistic and quite misleading to elevate a manually selected exposure value to the status of a constant under all circumstances, while not according the same treatment to a metered exposure value.

If you think about it, calculation of correct exposure has two key input variables: (i) the amount of light falling on a scene, and (ii) the reflectivity of that scene. Neither bears any particular relationship to the other (i.e., they do not normally co-vary), and it is entirely arbitary to select either (a) or (b) as the "main" or "primary" component around which we should base all our calculations.

Let's work this through. There are four (and only four) possible combinations:

(i) assume (a) constant light falling on a scene, and (b) constant subject reflectance. Both the manually selected value and the metered value remain the same relative to the scene in question - i.e., for this scene, both are constant values.
(ii) assume (a) constant light falling on a scene, and (b) variable subject reflectance. The manually selected value remain the same relative to the scene in question and is thus a constant, while the metered value changes as the subject reflects different amounts of the light falling on it - in this instance it is a variable.
(iii) assume (a) variable light falling on a scene, and (b) constant subject reflectance. The manually selected value varies relative to the scene but the metered value remains the same - i.e., the manually selected value is a variabe but the metered value is a constant.
(iv) assume (a) variable light falling on a scene, and (b) variable subject reflectance. Now neither the manually selected value nor the metered value remain the same relative to the scene in question. Both are variables.


We can easily work this through with practical examples to verify:

(i) You are outdoors, taking 100 photographs of sheep, all the same breed. It is a clear, sunny day. The sheep are all the same colour, the light won't change for hours yet: if you get one shot correctly exposed, you can continue with the same settings till the sun goes down. If you decide that you want to make things a bit brighter or a bit darker, roll your thumb a click or two in the appropriate direction. (Or your index finger if you are shooting Nikon.) What exposure mode are we using here? It doesn't matter! In either manual or Av, you have complete control. (The reason why you are taking 100 pictures of 100 near-identical sheep is a question for another day. :) )
(ii) It is the next day. Now you are taking pictures of the farmer's goats. It's another perfect day, but the goats are all different colours! Some are jet black, others pearly white, others in-between. Now to get correct exposure you need to do one of two things: either base your exposure settings around the constant input value (the light falling on the scene) and ignore the variable input value (the colour of each goat), or base your exposure settings around the variable input value and adjust each shot to compensate. Here, because manual exposure is constant relative to the light source, it does indeed give you more control (or to be strictly correct, it makes it quite a lot simpler to maintain control). It is a lot easier (and probably more effective) to add a little more or less brightness to any given shot by adding a click or two of extra shutter speed or aperture than it is to first compensate for the variation in the metered value as the different coloured goats go by, and then add or subtract a bit more EC as well. Here, your claim that manual offers more control is tenable (or would be if we qualified it to mean "more convenient and simple control). This example, of course, is essentially the same circumstance as your example of the two football teams, and it should be no surprise to see that it leads to the same conclusion.
(iii) The next day you have to shoot the pigs. These pigs are all the same colour (pink) but being excited about getting their pictures taken they keep running around, in and out of the shed and in and out from under the trees. Just to make life more difficult, clouds keep blowing across the sun, making you work sometimes in bright sunlight, sometimes not. Now the boot is on the other foot: manual exposure is not constant relative to the light source, it's varying constantly. Luckily, we have a modern camera with the usual automatic exposure modes, so we stick it in Av, confirm that the exposure it suggests for the first pink pig is correct (or add a little EC if not) and then carry on to shoot the other 99. All the pigs are the same shade of pink, so the metred exposure value remains constant relative to the subject, and you can easily adjust the brightness of any desired shot by adding a little +ive or -ive EC. In contrast, the manual value varies wildly as the light conditions change, and you have to work very hard to maintain control of your exposure.
(iv) Now the farmer wants you to photograph his cattle. It's a mixed herd: the Aberdeen Angus are jet black, the Murray Greys are almost white, and the Jerseys and Friesians are multicoloured. They are nervous and keep moving around in and out of the shade while the sun keeps coming out and going back behind the clouds. Neither the metred value nor the manual value is constant relative to anything that matters. Both are variable, control is difficult to achieve, and you are going to have to work hard for your shots today.


OK, enough of silly examples ... or are they silly? It's not at all difficult to think of real-world circumstances which correspond to each of the four possible situations. I'll provide some common birding examples because they come readily to mind, but just about any kind of reasonably general photography should have matching ones. (i) birds in the open, such as waders (which are nearly all brownish-buff). (ii) Large waterbirds: egrets are pure white, swans are jet black. (I probably should use manual for these myself, but I tend to do it the hard way (Av & EC) out of habit - and also because it's quicker to grab some EC with my thumb still looking through the viewfinder than it is to lower the big telephoto lens, let go with my left hand to reach the mode selection button on the top left of the camera, click and dial for manual mode, then raise the lens again, hoping that the bird is still there.) (iii) Most woodland and forest birds (i.e., more than 50% of all the birds you'd want to photograph). Although they vary in colour quite a bit, most tend towards middle tones (very few passerines and near-passeries are pure black or white) and in any case, you tend to spend some considerable time working with a particular subject - it's hard enough getting close to one bird at a time, never mind three or four different ones! (iv) A thankfully rare situation when birding! You get the odd example, but in general the difficult-coloured birds are large and like to be out in the open where the light doesn't vary much.



A clear example of circumstance (ii) above i.e., the one out four possible circumstances where manual does give more convenient control. Nevertheless, in practical terms it sounds like a bit of a non-issue to me. You already have to be using focus lock if you have the bride off-centre (or else be messing around selecting off-centre focus points or (worse!) using automatic focus point selection) and most (all?) modern cameras allow you to do focus lock and AE lock with a single button press. (At least all the Canon ones do; it's been a while since I shot Nikon but I bet they are the same in this regard.) Or else you are using manual focus, in which case (given the dreadful manual focus aids in modern viewfinders) you either have bags of time to set things up or else are a bit of a miracle-worker. (With that said, in practice I don't actually bother having the focus lock and the AE lock slaved together, I prefer to just change the EC if I don't like the numbers in the viewfinder. No real reason, just habit.)

-------------

Enough!

This has been an interesting discussion, CW, and although we may never agree about the correct way to define "control" in a photographic context, I am neverless getting an interesting and potentially useful insight into your working habits. It would be good practice for me to try a few of them out for myself at some stage.

The part in bold is probably the real point under argument, and the rest I mostly concur with. So agreed, time to move on. :)

You're not a farmer are you? :D

[Tannin]

What me? Run Angus and Murray Grey in the same paddock?

[hepiL]

For me it's the aperture priority or manual if using my old speedlight. Custom white balance is a must

[AmyK]

My reason for mentioning that is in my class pretty much everybody shoots manual mode but always just putting the meter in the middle. I always wondered why because in the end that is just going by the meter which the camera can do a lot faster than a person turning the dials. I asked a couple of people why they bothered and they all basically seem to have the idea that shooting in manual at all times is just what experienced photographers do and that any semi-auto modes are bad.

Maybe we have totally missed something, I will be interested to see why everybody sticks to manual.



We get told that at school as well during photography...it frustrates me!

Basically the teacher said at the beginning of the year, if you can't use manual, you fail.

:devil1:

Anyway enough of my ranting.


I use AV for portraits and sport, and then use Manual for everything else. Or Auto, if I'm out with friends, and can't be bothered changing the settings LOL!

[Steve Axford]

We get told that at school as well during photography...it frustrates me!

Basically the teacher said at the beginning of the year, if you can't use manual, you fail.

:devil1:

Anyway enough of my ranting.


I use AV for portraits and sport, and then use Manual for everything else. Or Auto, if I'm out with friends, and can't be bothered changing the settings LOL!

Ah, now I get it. I did wonder why so many people were saying they used manual. I use manual if the light source is very hard for the camera to read - ie the internal meter isn't a lot of use. If the internal meter is reading correctly then I use exposure compensation and Av. But .... nobody taught me what I should do (probably wouldn't have listened if they had :crzy: - is that the right smiley? - who cares - it looks good)

[Anthony Phillips]

Manual 95% of the time

Av the rest

[The_Scroop]

I'm always in Av for daytime shooting and always M for night.

I have it pretty easy with my camera. I set the ISO to automatic with a max of 6400. Then set the shutter to a minimum of 1/80. I can then let the camera do all the work, all I need to worry about is setting the appropriate aperture and the camera will take a perfectly exposed shot in all conditions. If i need to, I can perfect the exposure with ev compensation.

[rhonda]

I tend to use AV mostly. Often I will get a reading in AV or TV depending on what I'm after then change to manual using the settings.

[kernsy]

I mostly use either manual or shutter priority because for riding shots that i take i need to get the shot at the exact point they are in the air or doing something (if that makes sense).

[lazarus219]

It does but how does that affect your choice of exposure mode?

[roburg]

I probably use shutter priority most by volume in terms of number of photos taken (mostly wildlife shots with fast shutter and auto ISO), but M (for panoramas and some landscapes) or Av (most everything else) wouild be used more in terms of how often they are being used. Does this make sense??

[Miaow]

Usually P (and then shift) and Manual if I want somethng specific. Occasionally I'll use Av or Tv though I tend to go straight to Manual.

[Shane.R]

Started in manual and stuck in manual..works for me.

[Greg Sorenson]

manual most of the time. I keep it pretty simple. I do a lot of long exposures so in low light i use bulb, esp for lightning shots.

[Julie]

Manual and some AP depending on the situation at the time. I switch to AP before putting the cam in my bag, just incase a quick shot is needed and I don't have time to set manual.

[Kym]

Stating the obvious? (It was a while before I ever knew the pedantic meaning of the abbreviations :) )

Av = Aperture value
Tv = Time value
Sv = Sensitivity value

[IanB]

Interesting; v e r y interesting; that so may are using manual; good to hear; so do I so I have control. Certainly if things are getting a bit fast or may not last I will use AE or even programme.

Who uses manual focus? I do; but only when all else fails

It will be interesting to see the final results of the poll.

Cheers

[Helen S]

Who uses manual focus? I do; but only when all else fails

That in itself is an interesting question. ;) I use autofocus most of the time as the old eyes are pretty shot, but I do use manual focus with live view (and my glasses) for macro work. :)

[Hydra_ADL]

I usually use Manual and try to stick with the sunny 16 rule as much as possible

[mrsgrumblebum]

I mainly use AV. Gotta practice alot more on the other modes. :cool:

[Miaow]

Interesting; v e r y interesting; that so may are using manual; good to hear; so do I so I have control. Certainly if things are getting a bit fast or may not last I will use AE or even programme.

Who uses manual focus? I do; but only when all else fails

It will be interesting to see the final results of the poll.

Cheers

I use manual focus when its too dark for AF - i really detest that AF assist beam thing the canon does :/ I prefer no flash if possible so i'd rather manual focus if I know there is going to be problems. Usually i'll use auto focus during the day though

[Lines]

I'm mainly set the camera to AV but occasionally flick it over and experiment in Manual.

Nath.

[jev]

It very much depends on the type of photo:
- Flash: always in M
- Studio: always in M
- Sports (outside): usually Tv
- Journalistic events: usually Av, sometimes P *
- Almost everything else: Av.

Focussing:
- On digital camera's usually AF, though in the studio when there's plenty of time I sometimes focus manually. On my older analog camera's MF, even if they do feature AF.

*): you read that correctly: "P". When situations are unknown upfront, P usually does a good enough job and you always can deviate from the sstem-proposed settings using the dials...

[saratoga]

Most of the time Aperture Priority, and then Manual a close second

[Sar NOP]

After using Nikon FM2 for more than 20 years, I had enough of manual mode (often without metering). And now, aperture priority works quite well with birds...:cool:

[ving]

i use sleep mode...

[Paper_Mache_Man]

I shoot rushed most of the time.

Otherwise Av...why is it Av anyway?

[MrJorge]

I shoot rushed most of the time.

Otherwise Av...why is it Av anyway?

I believe the v is for "value". Av = aperture value, Tv = time value.

[giddings]

i learnt on film and playin with settings on manual was rewarding and taught me a fair bit

[jaqson]

I started out with manual because I hate auto when the flash is used and was not to sure about Aperture and Speed settings. Apparently Program is good to use too. When I went for some advise a sales rep said - just use the scene modes. The thing is I want to know how to correctly expose and I can do that if the camera does it all for me - hence manual is my fave, however Ive taken well over 1000 images since xmas and only a hand full of ok ones - so maybe I should listen to the sales rep :(

Paul educated me in aperture priority a few days ago so I might go have a practice tomorrow.

[[ kane ]]

M mode for me most of the time, if not I use Av. HDR and pano I use Av, unless I'm doing a 5 shot HDR, then its all manual.

[TassieSnapper]

AV priority all the way.

[RuthJ]

90% Av, 8% M and 2%Tv...more or less :p I don't ever move out of those 3....perhaps I should play a little more out of Av :D

[IanB]

I ticked manual; but to be honest I'm getting lazier as cameras get better and I find I'm using AV more often then I want to admit to. With older film cameras I could set aperture/shutter without thinking about; but with the newer wheel dial things today I never know which way to turn the wheel. Glad it's not car. I use to love my manual FM2 Nikon; all manual; two or three things turn; so simply.

:)

[Miaow]

Originally when I answered this post I was using program mode allot - now its AV nearly all the time or Manual :D

[Kym]

Still Av mostly; with fixed ISO. Then M, Then Tv.
Always raw!
Using Ev a lot more nowadays; typically -1/3 or so to keep highlights safe.
Also adjust metering more (spot, centre weighted and area).
I also use the AE-L more than a year ago.

[David]

Started with Auto till i did a workshop and learnt about EASI (Exposure = Apeture + Shutter Speed + ISO) then used auto to get an idea of what the camera thought was the better combination of A and S and then played with Manual Mode and bracketed everything and then mostly Manual or AV for DOF control or TV if I wanted to control speed for waterfall effects etc.

These days its all M mode and creative modes IF Im too tired or bored to think about the shot, lol :) and my ISO stays at 100 or 200 or I wait for some natural light.

Cheers

David

[ving]

sleep mode...

[ving]

oh ok...

mostly manual (75-80%) then aperture for most of the rest... on very rare occasions i use shutter. in av i use auto iso (range:200-800) flash com -1.7 if i have flash on.

[Cris]

Still Av mostly; with fixed ISO. Then M, Then Tv.
Always raw!
Using Ev a lot more nowadays; typically -1/3 or so to keep highlights safe.
Also adjust metering more (spot, centre weighted and area).
I also use the AE-L more than a year ago.

Exactly. couldn't have said it better.:)

[DzRbenson]

I said Aperture as I mostly photograph my kids and I need to track them.

[kaivee]

I use to use a lot of auto modes on my 350D but upgrading to the 50D I have found the auto modes to be quite ordinary.

I mainly use Av with exposure compensation for photos of my children, manual for landscapes.

[para]

Try and use manual as much as possible but underwater tend to av/tv a little depends on conditions

[Shane]

Wow, great thread for a newbie like me. I don't know why I didn't see it before now.



Though If i am really unsure of a shutter speed/ aperture combination, I will use Av / Tv and use that to take one shot to get a 'reading' then swap back to manual. I will for instance set an aperture of F2.8, take the shot, to get a shutter speed result, to then use in manual.

Hey Rick, you weren't the only one to say that but you were the first.
I don't understand the point in that. If I understand correctly you are effectively using the Av or Tv mode to decide what settings to use and then switching to manual and using those same settings in manual mode. Why do you do that?
It's possible that the answer to my question is in that technical part in the middle of this thread that lost me.

Oh yeah, I nearly always use Av with a set ISO and always in RAW.

[ving]

hi shane, av or tv will expose a shot correctly no matter what seting you use... take not of the settings the camera has given for shutterspeed in av, then switch to manual mode to duplicate, or alternatively if you want to under expose of over expose you now can knowing the base for a normal exposure... it allows for creative exposures.
also if you do it this way get get to learn what manual settings to use for certain conditions to achieve the pictuer you want... ei self-metering.

i use a nikon d40 with old manual lenses often and if i didnt know what settings to use under a given situation id be taking a dozen shots before i exposed correctly... old manual lenses on my camera do not meter (or auot focus) at all but still work fine :)

[TOM]

hi shane, av or tv will expose a shot correctly no matter what seting you use... take not of the settings the camera has given for shutterspeed in av, then switch to manual mode to duplicate, or alternatively if you want to under expose of over expose you now can knowing the base for a normal exposure... it allows for creative exposures.

that doesn't make any sense to me. the camera will expose the scense in shutter or apeture priority exactly the same as it would in manual setting. the meter is telling the camera to adjust, or telling you to adjust, to expose the scene to 18% grey. you then need to decide if the cameras meter is right or not, whatever mode you are in.

[Shane]

Thanks Ving. I was thinking about it at work today and come up with something like that. I'll be doing it when I start to experiment in manual.

[wideangle]

Av most of the time but manual some of the time as well when I know what setting I want and don't want the shutter speed or anything else changing.

[wideangle]

that doesn't make any sense to me. the camera will expose the scense in shutter or apeture priority exactly the same as it would in manual setting. the meter is telling the camera to adjust, or telling you to adjust, to expose the scene to 18% grey. you then need to decide if the cameras meter is right or not, whatever mode you are in.

Totally agree with you there. Sometimes I think some people use the talk that they shoot manual as it's meant to be more complex and professional or something.....I can understand if you have been used to an all manual camera from back in the day, but with digital wheather you are using manual or Tv etc you are still looking at the electronic meter and adjusting your exposure accordingly.

[ving]

...but with digital wheather you are using manual or Tv etc you are still looking at the electronic meter and adjusting your exposure accordingly.
nah in tv the camera adjusts the exposure for you, same with av. i guess if i wanted to under expose in these modes i could just put the exposure compensation value in the negatives, but i just use manual mode instead... not all cases have electronic metering (or any for that matter). my d40 does not meter at all with any of my manual lenses (300/4.5, 50/1.8 and 55/3.5 micro) and i have to guess how to expose it thru my own knowledge of aperture and shutterspeeds.

[Goldie]

I primarily shoot Av (with awareness of EC, ISO and shutter speed) to achieve the shot I want.

I'll use Tv occasionally went the focus is on action.

I am moving towards M though, esp with off-camera flashing etc.

[phild]

I use aperture priority mostly, but always return leave the camera to programmed AE just in case I need to take a quick snapshot (i.e. have no time to fiddle with settings). If I'm shooting at night I tend to use full manual.

I find the thing I need to control most is DOF, so aperture priority does it for me. I usually adjust the shutter speed (i.e. exposure) quickly with the compensation wheel at the rear of the Canon which falls nicely under the thumb (I don't understand why Nikon users think its in the wrong place).

If the lighting is tricky I do an AE lock on an area that I feel will give me the correct exposure. For Landscapes I usually underexpose a fraction to preserve the shadow detail.

[NicD]

M mode for me all the time, and wouldn't have it any other way.

[GlennSan]

Today at Kondalilla falls outing, 89% of shots on manual. When I shoot my kids running around the yard it'd be nearly all aperture priority.

Horses for courses.

btw - the poll was obviously written by a Canon user. I don't have those modes on my Nikon or Blad or ... :D

[mongo]

Today at Kondalilla falls outing, 89% of shots on manual. When I shoot my kids running around the yard it'd be nearly all aperture priority.

Horses for courses.

btw - the poll was obviously written by a Canon user. I don't have those modes on my Nikon or Blad or ... :D

Mongo uses AP and sometimes manual on FILM camera But mostly P on digital but soon to consider hand held meter and "manual' for digital.

[Krzys]

Dont have any modes

[Clubmanmc]

Mainly shoot Tv, use saftey shift (its a canon custom function) as i like to control the movement in the image i am taking..

will shoot city scapes in manual mode Bulb (longer exposures over 30 sec..)

other than that ill shoot Av only when i want to do some thing that requires a shallow depth or vice versa...

M

[nathanvale]

I shoot manual when shooting babies - but on an outdoors shoot with kids running around I shoot with Aperture Prioroty mode. so I can choose my DOF.

[Empire]

I mainly shoot manual mode ... if Im shooting in conditions that are changing rapidly then Ill switch to Av.

[heartyfisher]

I use the Programed mode most (and AP sometimes) but I use the dial and the +/- alot.

[wazonthehill]

I make sure I put the camera away in P mode, just to ensure that if I grab for some reason to shoot, It just does.

Flick between P, Av, Tv and M depending on what I am shooting, back and forth just to play and to try and wear things out!

[Kym]

We have updated the NTP Learning plan to better explain the learning process...

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?p=232440#post232440


The learning plan is designed to help members acquire the fundamentals of photography in a sensibly structured manner, one key element at a time.
This approach avoids information overload.
The learning plan is also very practical in that it asks those participating to post images and get feedback (constructive critique) whereby they can quickly improve their skills.

We start with the camera in full auto (with fixed ISO sensitivity of 100 or 200, and JPEG mode) while learning to hold the camera and compose shots
We then progress to Aperture Priority (with fixed ISO) while learning Depth of Field (DoF)
We add Shutter Priority to the skils (with fixed ISO) while learning movement control
Once the above are understood we process to changing ISO (100 thru 1600) using mainly Aperture Priority while learning about sensitivity and noise
The participant is now ready to use full manual control of the Exposure Triangle (ISO sensitivity, Aperture, Shutter speed)
We advance to control of white balance using raw mode instead of JPEG
Finally we add other aspects such as flash, stabilisation (tripod) and other creative options

The above sequence provides a sound base to further explore the joy of photography.
All AusPhotography can feel free to assist with the NTP process by commenting to NTP posts and providing CC to NTP participants.

[Pacifictonz]

I stay pretty much on AV, I wish I knew enough to use manual but I don't - this is all pretty new to me and I don't like to use the programme or auto modes as my camera will change back from RAW to Jpeg. Think that is one of the downsides maybe of having got a 'learner' camera.

[stoogest]

...I shoot manual when shooting babies...

Not very nice....:D

[Gregg Bell]

Being new Im using the landscape mode, and S and A mode. I keep giving a crck at manual but for the life of me the photos are always dark. is this normal?

or do i need to mess about more?

[stoogest]

Try either upping your ISO, reducing your shutter speed or increasing your aperture (or a combination). All three will create more light in your photos.

[Kym]

Being new Im using the landscape mode, and S and A mode. I keep giving a crck at manual but for the life of me the photos are always dark. is this normal?

or do i need to mess about more?

Exposure Triangle = Shutter + Aperture + ISO sensitivity = 'correct exposure'

Correct exposure is not the same as creative exposure.
Eg. ISO 100 f/16 and 1/60 & ISO 100 f/2.8 and 1/2000 are the same amount of light but the depth of field is radically different.

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=24079

I strongly recommend you at least read the New to Photography sticky threads http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=104
better still work through the learning plan.

[Edgar]

On default I would use Av priority. But when I use the speedlite, I would use M mode because there is really only a few shutter speed I would be setting in M, the rest would be tinkering with the aperture.

Ocassionally, I would switch to P if I can't get a good results in either of the two priority, once I've got an acceptable shots, I would check the readings, then switch it back to Av or M, replicate the same settings and start adjusting from there.

[pgbphotographytas]

Since I last responded to this thread my usage has changed a bit, I am now mainly using AV with some use of M. :)

[Satine]

Mostly AV as I want to control the depth of field when I take photo's of horses. Most of the time the background isn't that crash hot so it's good to adjust the depth of field to help compenstate. I'm always aware of ISO and Shutter Speed to get the best shot.

[Whisky_Mac]

Early on I used AV, seldom if ever TV but now use mainly manual and tend to use a lot of manual focus expect on the UWA 12-24 Tokina as I find it hard to find focus on it, but the 50mm f1.4 and the 70-200mm f4 I have no trouble with manual focus. Only use auto focus if chasing action shots. Of course I never said the shots were any good. LOL

[IanB]

Interesting; v e r y interesting; that so may are using manual; good to hear; so do I so I have control. Certainly if things are getting a bit fast or may not last I will use AE or even programme.

Who uses manual focus? I do; but only when all else fails

It will be interesting to see the final results of the poll.

Cheers

I have to be honest: The 5D2 is making me lazier by the day; it's smarter then me at selecting exposures, so now I'm on Av more and more and use exposure comp when I think the camera is wrong; but I'm often proved wrong :o.

[sonofcoco]

I actually started off in M mode and was very slow with it :) Am now using Av mode a bit after I finally worked out it wasn't the mode that was rubbish but my understanding of how it worked. This happened when I read the manual after having the camera for 10 months haha

Turns out the shots were too bright because I hadn't noticed that the wheel on the back of my 40D controlled the exposure. 10 seconds after reading the manual everything was fine again.

Go between a mixture of the two now.

[bigdazzler]

70% manual, 20% A, 10% S ... :th3:

[The Moose]

Mostly Av but I do use manual a bit these days. If I'm shooting flash then I'll always shoot manual.

[tanalasta]

Av for most situations.
Program for when I hand a camera to somebody else and can't be bothered twirling the aperture dial before I hand it over from what it was set at previously.

Manual for indoor or people photos where the minimum shutter speed I have set (1/40) may be too slow to freeze the action. Auto ISO means the camera gives me a helping hand if I stuff up and try to underexpose.

[wova]

Hi, I use a nikon D300 and the mode I use the most is A (Aperture Priority) for my general photography but when I am shooting sport or something that is moving very fast, I will put the camera in S (Shutter Speed Priority). Why do I use these modes and not manual, because I like to be able to set the shutter speed or the aperture size. I think manual mode is a bit of a wast of time. But saying that I have used Manual mode when I am inside and there is hardly any light.
Tom

[hackcessor]

I am fairly new, but I am trying to learn Manual.

Av is a great help, I try to get the info I need from Av and then flick over to Manual.

Hopefully in time, this process will teach me the basic/fundamentals

[Bean]

Even though i have just started i have been using manual lots and im getting the hang of it pretty easily.
Otherwise; Av mode somtimes and program mode is great when somebody else is using the camera.

[SandraS]

I use AV mode most of the time unless I'm feeling really lazy then I change to Priority mode.

I've attempted to shoot in manual but find I can only do that indoors or in shady areas as I cannot see the information in the viewfinder due to my glasses; I just cannot get close enough to see the information on my 30D in bright light.

[bowds1122]

90% in AV mode, unless I need shutter speed control, then I switch to manual.

[mattsuzu]

I do mostly bmx photography so i use manual.

Reason for this is i don't want the camera doing things while i'm trying to pick a sweet spot in the trick. Dealing with fractions of seconds between the perfect, and worst spot in a trick - and i will follwo the rider up to the jump so auto focus especially is a pain.

So basically, i spend five minutes a shoot on setting up the camera, focussing the lens, then its all locked off and all i have to do is press the clicky thing at the right time.
I also use wireless flash shoes (Even in broad daylight), which don't leave me any flash metering so i like to setup my camera around this.

I use flashes because my subjects are usually in front of a stark white concrete, or blue sky background - If i use the flash i can expose the rider properly, and almost underexpose the sky slightly to get some really nice blue gradients...
I'm no camera geek, so if i'm incorrect in my practice its just one of those things.
I have my fun anyway!

[Helen S]

I ticked Manual, but for a good portion of this last weekend I used Aperture Priority. It was more as experimentation than anything else, but I'm pretty happy with the results I got.

[Natsky]

Mostly on Aperture priority or Manual, dependent on subject. I often shoot manual at indoor weddings and music gigs, setting my aperture and shutter manually and letting the camera decide which ISO will suit. Works a treat!

[IngridM]

Shutter priority for all action stuff. Aperture priority when I want a pleasant OOF blur. Manual sometimes, particularly when I'm not getting what I want out of the first two. Almost never on auto/P.

[ving]

just to show how much things change...

manual.

[Xenedis]

So, For your general shooting, what mode is your camera most likely to be in?


Manual, 99% of the time.

I don't currently do any sort of shooting that would require shutter-priority or aperture-priority mode. Personally, I like being able to independently control either exposure setting.

[Brishawk]

Ah, don't hate me but right now I am using intelligent auto on the pana as it gives better results than scenes. But prior to my SLR sabbatical, I was using mostly Av and some Tv.

[gh0st]

Manual 99% of the time, spot metering

[Dazzman]

Manual in studio or working with outdoor strobist, Shutter Priority for most other occasions, and Aperture Priority for some landscapes.
Should use more Av though.
Daryl

[Mircula]

Hello,

I am new to photography as well....

Used manual right from the start after reading about the basiscs...


I just read all 5 pages of this post and must say, I think i learned a alot.

Will try to use AV more often as i understand now where it can come in very handy....

Thanks guys,

Cheers,

Mirc

[gaidin]

Aperture mode here by a big margin...or I use it to get a baseline and then play around with ISO and shutter speed in Manual ;)

[Brishawk]

Ok I am back in SLR land so Av mode for me again (with Tv thrown in for good measure).

[Ross]

Mostly aperture priority with a little shutter on sport.

[grw46]

Because I like to use a manual focus lens I mostly use Av but have been known to slip onto the Green band (Hey I'm learning) when there is a shot I want and I've got the kit kens on:eek:

[eldean]

Since I bought my 1st DSLR 4months ago, I mostly used Manual mode.. pretty happy with the result..:)

[rwg717]

I do a lot of high speed sports, so I am stuck with shutter priority because there isn't the time to set manual....it simply wouldn't be possible to take 400 shots in 8o minutes of a football match.(At least my brain wouldn't work that fast:()
Richard

[Kevin M]

at least 80% of all my photos are taken in Manual mode ...I do take meter readings in Aprture priority or shutter priority mode but generally end up shooting up to 1 stop under exposed. I find it gives a little better contrast myself.

[DAdeGroot]

Av followed by Manual.

Really depends on what I'm shooting.

For birds, mostly Av, for Landscapes mostly M, for portraits, hmmm, candid = Av, studio = M.

[IainBest]

I've mainly been shooting in Aperture priority, but am starting to force myself to use manual mode more, when I have the time to set up the shot.

[peterb666]

Aperture priority about 80% of the time.
Full manual about 15% of the time.
Something else for the remaining 5% of the time (program, scene mode, shutter priority, iauto- probably in that order).

[kiwi]

Mostly I use "P" for persistent

[griffljg]

I tend to leave my camera set to Program Mode in case I need to take a photo in a hurry. As is to be expected, most photos are taken in Program Mode.

If I have time to think, then I usually change to Aperture Priority. I find that I get better definition using about F8 on my Zuiko 12-60 carrying lens. Maximum aperture for sports photography or fast moving objects.

And then full manual with ISO locked to 100 for flash photography. - I use an old Nikon SB25 flash on an Olympus E3 camera. Surprisingly, that combination works very well.

[Topgunn]

With my GX-10 I leave it in program with normal settings for when I need it in a hurry and I set the program line to suit whatever im shooting at the time to either normal, DOF priority or high speed priority. From there i can still turn either dial and also adjust iso if im not happy with the settings given to me and essentially end up in Av, Tv, TAv or even manual if i adjusted all settings and if things change i can hit the green button to go back to program all within a couple of seconds. I read in this thread another Pentax user uses their camera like this too. Im nearly at the stage where i can do all this without thinking and for me personally is way way quicker than just using manual and trying to get the exposure meter in the middle. For me this system seems to work well. :th3:

[sniper1969]

I too use Av about 80% of the time, and the other 20% is spent on P.

[Willz]

90% time on Manual

Sometimes I use shutter/aperture priority to see the effects then combine the two and find out the best settings for that particular shot then fire away

[johndom]

I use shutter for a lot of my work, with a tiny bit of auto iso as backup.
If its at 125th or more, there wont be any blur from either myself or them. If you get the shot it wont matter too much if it is a tiny bit noisy.
I also shoot on manual a lot of the time as basically i can never rely on the metering 100% of the time.
Once I have set an exposure, i just work with that and having done that a lot know roughly what the exposure will be and what I need to change to follow the conditions.
Sunsets are a classic example, you cant rely on metering for the best result.

[kiwi]

Im in zombie mode mostly

[kevinj]

I don`t know,taking my new 7D out for the first time tomorrow,I`ll get back to you,Av on the 450D.

[kiwi]

I'm not sure why a new or any camera should matter Kevin?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[georgegowan]

I use Av most of the time in the daylight. And with that, I usually keep it on the lowest aperture possible with the exception of sunsets where I use a high aperture.

Tv for rivers/waterfalls. I like to take HDR shots of rivers and waterfalls as it's hard to keep an entire scene exposed properly. So I use Tv to keep the water trails even and then use -1, 0 and +1 and combine later.

And then I use manual (Bulb) for night photography. Obvious reasons there.

[Phil Mac]

Mostly use aperture mode to utilise the sweet spot of the lens for sharpness etc.

[starship]

Manual most of the time after metering off using the program mode to get benchmark for the scene.

[tomtom1]

Manual and Av split fairly evenly.

[dunnart]

I use aperture priority 98% of the time, although I cheat with flash. I've not really worked flash out yet, so I generally set to Auto and let the camera do the figuring out.:D

[castaway]

I use manual all the time.
Mainly because I learn more about photragraphy when i turn off all the gadgets off.
I bought a digital camera for the savings against film and the ability to see my mistakes as I make them not just for technology,but thats only my view.

[SnowA]

Aperture for probably 85% - mostly candids, some landscape. 5% shutter speed, 5% manual and 5% program/auto - the latter mainly for flash, which I'm still pretty unsure how to use properly.

[NicD]

100% Manual for me

[ravescar]

95% manual on 40D and 5D, Av and Tv once in a blue moon.

[ving]

stealth...

[bowjac]

I usually use Program mode, but jump to manual or Av for anything tricky.

[grnis200]

Daytime, 80-90% it's Av most of the time choosing F/4, 8 or 22 as required to control DOF.
The rest is usually Tv to add some control blur, and these are often my favourite shots.

Night, 80+% is manual. I thought I was in the minority and just never learnt how to use the improved Auto features but it's seems that more people use manual than I thought. (Reassuring that I am not necessarily technically inept!) I've started to bracket Day and night too preparing to do more HDR and just wanting to get exposure perfect.

I do like AE lock during the day, and when I get frustrated I often translate the AE-Lock settings to M.

[grnis200]

We get told that at school as well during photography...it frustrates me!

Basically the teacher said at the beginning of the year, if you can't use manual, you fail.


I'm no teacher or Pro but I personally don't like that philosophy.

Measuring correct (technically) exposure is the part of photography I find easiest. And shooting RAW can overcome some mistakes.

Correctly implementing creative exposure and finding and framing an interesting subject is much harder for me.

You can take rubbish photos which are correctly exposed. At the end of the day your portfolio is worth nothing.

However, find an interesting subject, frame it well and use creative exposure and bracket and you will have many more keepers.

My $0.02

[Zac]

Aperture priority.... unless I'm using flash then its M for me :)

[bigdazzler]

100% auto

[darylcheshire]

I mostly shoot program mode but my early attempts at bird photography shows me that I should pay more attention at the shutter speed. I don't know what the experienced guys do, have to read more bird blogs.

With railway photography, program mode is ok and zoom framing is more important unless lighting is low.

I'm also interested in low light photography and sometimes use Bulb and I have Canon's interval timer for time shots.
I also experiment with HDR or panorama shots and merge them in post processing.

Like one poster said, I have a serious mode and a muck around mode. For example, I'll go to Docklands in Melbourne and take 50 photos sometimes in Auto mode as I'm not really trying to take unusual shots, just record images. I call that tourist mode or PHS mode (Push Here Stupid)

The bird photos however, take more thinking.

Daryl.

[Milbs1]

60 % Aperture Priority
30 % Manual (and moving towards this more and more)
10 % Shutter Priority

[astrogirl529]

I use aperture priority a lot, but adjust manually if needed.

[Kikz]

Out of topic,sorry newbie here,this is in regards to av mode,i am realy confused on this one,i tried to take a shot inside my room,the light is on so i am supposed to get a good exposure on my photo,i set my aperture to 4.0 and then it reads 0"4 on my shutter,press the shutter and voila!!!the photo is blurred!!why is that?does this mean i need to adjust the aperture to lower or higher settings?from what i understand av mode has fully automatic shutter settings right?and it will automatically give you the right shutter speed in a certain condition?am i missing something?

[Papou]

Manual mode most , better control over your metering ,depth of feild etc otherwise "P" mode when feeling lazy:).

[Dylan & Marianne]

Out of topic,sorry newbie here,this is in regards to av mode,i am realy confused on this one,i tried to take a shot inside my room,the light is on so i am supposed to get a good exposure on my photo,i set my aperture to 4.0 and then it reads 0"4 on my shutter,press the shutter and voila!!!the photo is blurred!!why is that?does this mean i need to adjust the aperture to lower or higher settings?from what i understand av mode has fully automatic shutter settings right?and it will automatically give you the right shutter speed in a certain condition?am i missing something?

IT means that the lighting in your room was such that in order to get a good exposure at F4, it needed to decrease your shutter speed to 0.4 ( I presume a pretty dark room). To overcome this in a dark room and to ensure a faster shutter speed that doesn't give motion blur, you'd need to set your iso higher first to allow a faster shutter speed for the given light condition - try that and I think you'll be pleasantly suprised :)
Another way to do it is to exposure compensate a few stops below and have a fill flash do the rest of the work.

[Kikz]

IT means that the lighting in your room was such that in order to get a good exposure at F4, it needed to decrease your shutter speed to 0.4 ( I presume a pretty dark room). To overcome this in a dark room and to ensure a faster shutter speed that doesn't give motion blur, you'd need to set your iso higher first to allow a faster shutter speed for the given light condition - try that and I think you'll be pleasantly suprised :)
Another way to do it is to exposure compensate a few stops below and have a fill flash do the rest of the work.


Now i clearly understand the av mode,so my next problem if i boost my ISO is the noise right?pretty tricky,thanks so much Dtoh mate...

[baldrick]

Shutter priority a lot of the time, shooting aeroplanes in flight, using a slow enough speed - about 125th or maybe,90th to give good prop blur ( pet hate aeroplanes with frozen props, they look like plastic models hanging from the ceiling). Of course this makes it harder to get a sharp panning shot but what the hell, makes it more interesting.

[Frank44]

I use AV as i like playing around with the Depth of Field and manual about 25% of the time

[Dwarak]

I use av for landscapes where I can control the aperture for maximum depth of field shutter priority for portraits where I want to capture the moment. Sometimes use program mode for potraits too...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Erin]

Manual everything. :)

[Tjfrnds]

Av 95% of the time. In tricky situations I sometimes use P to check exposure, then use manual for tweaking.

[H2OMotion]

My preference is to shoot Manual, however, in about 20% of situations I'll use AV.

[stixstudios]

95% Av, 5% Manual.

I like to choose the Aperture for DOF depending on what I'm shooting, and let the camera decide shutter speed.

[rossco]

i went with manual as there was no 'fast and furious' option

[Mr Zee]

Manual mode for me. ..the reason of being able to see the changes made to scene and getting a better grasp on how the elements of the exp tri work together.

[Wizofoz]

I shoot with a K-7 and love the TAv feature. Its like manual mode with auto ISO. So, shooting sports, I choose a higher shutter speed, medium/shallow depth of field and the auto ISO takes care of the shifting light values. Taking portraits is the opposite, set a shallow depth of field, a shutter speed adequate to take out hand shake and let the camera adjust the ISO. In either case, pressing the famous 'green button' brings the exposure back to the camera's calculation of what is the required A/T/I combination to bring the camera back to base ISO (either changing the Shutter speed or Aperture value, depending on the customisable setting.)

So I don't have a category to vote for. I don't see TAv listed :D

[Bananaman]

I started shooting in manual when i took up photography to force myself get a feel for shutter speed and aperture settings on exposure. I just never stopped.

[RRRoger]

Considering how poor the AF is, I would expect 2/3 of the manual shooters to be using a Canon.
After getting my 21mp 5D2 several months ago, I have used manual more than the rest of my 55 years of photography put together.
I almost never use it on my D3, nor did I use it on my other Nikons.

[Flash Hit]

Manual 50% - Av 40% - Programmed C1 for HDR 5% - AUTO!!! 5%

[RaoulIsidro]

I use Aperture Priority most of the time because I am always composing the image with Depth Of Field in mind.

[marshall]

I use Aperture Priority as a default but go to manual when I'm not getting the results I want.

[forjahwarrior]

Manual pretty much all the time. I've always used it since learning on an old film SLR. I think having a grasp on the way aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together can only improve your ideas and what you are trying to achieve with photography - not saying I don't have a long way to go. I do have a Canon.

[magrose]

Depends on the amount of time and who I'm with. If with a non-photography oriented group I tend to just use P. On my own I tend to opt for A and sometimes Tv.

[darkbhudda]

Manual. Was trying P mode when I first got my DLSR but it wasn't exposing to my satisfaction. Went fully manual and now my camera obeys my every command so I'm much happier.

[jasevk]

I tend to vary between either manual or aperture priority

[ronaldhw]

most of the time I use aperture priority, but sometime I change to Shutter or Manual when I have external flash attached to the camera (most of the time I want more than 1/60 shutter Aperture priority default value!)

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day all

Just been reading all the comments above with some interest - what a great set of views and advisory comments
I like Kym's up the front - "Mentally I shoot in two modes (P&S and Serious)." as that also describes a lot of what I do as well

For me ...
Way back in the dim dark ages (1960s) everything was manual, then came semi-auto [you set Aperture or Speed, it did the rest] and now lots of fully-auto -> all pretty amazing stuff
These days I float between 80% "Program" and 20% Aperture - the beauty of "P" for me is that I find on many, many occasions the metering system gives me an exposure combo very close to what I would have chosen anyway, but/and when it needs tweaking, then a qwik twist of the dial swings the aperture up/down to get what I'm after. No need to muck around, and in a qwik/tight/grab spot, the camera will always come up okay

Hope this is of interest to others
Regards, Phil

[mynxt]

I generally use Manual. If I want to check or see what the camera thinks I'll go to Av. Having read a website yesterday I will be trying out Tv next time I'm out shooting waterfalls.

[thegumbootman]

Aperture priority then Manual.

[7D user]

Just thought I would add my 2 cents worth. One of my sons is in his first year of a diploma in photography here in Melbourne at the Photography Studies College http://www.psc.edu.au/ in South Melbourne.
Thus far all photos the students take must be in manual exposure and manual focus. If they submit a frame to be assesed and it is found to have been taken Av, Tv or any thing else, they have to go away and do it again.

An interesting discussion none the less.

[BillB]

I shoot Manual 90% of the time, switch to aperture priority for HDR.

[malam]

I use Aperture Priority most of the time (90%) and moving towards Manual Mode. I consider myself a beginner - got my first digital SLR less than a year ago. I do check the shutter speed selected by the camera from time to time and have had to override the setting a few times. Would love to be able to go fully Manual though.

[georgegowan]

I use Aperture Priority most of the time (90%) and moving towards Manual Mode. I consider myself a beginner - got my first digital SLR less than a year ago. I do check the shutter speed selected by the camera from time to time and have had to override the setting a few times. Would love to be able to go fully Manual though.

Why would you want to go full manual all the time? I've just never seen the point of shooting in manual all the time. The camera does a pretty dam good job at selecting the shutter speed in Av for me. Then, if it was a bit off, it's pretty easy to change to EV. (Not trying to be rude :p)

A friend of mine also always uses manual exposure and focus and just takes a long time to set up for a shot. When you could let the camera do the job at focusing and exposing and fix up anything which is slightly off from there.

[Luke11]

Started off with AV and occasionally Manual but recently using Manual mode more often and feel more comfortable and confident in getting the better shot in this mode.

[StephenM]

About 80% Av (+/- exposure compensation) and 20% manual for me. Manual mostly for dawn/dusk/night sky shots.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Eberbachl]

I have to say I mostly shoot in Program Auto. I can check the aperture and shutter speed selected, and simply spin the dial to adjust the aperture or shutter speed as appropriate whilst retaining the same exposure and remaining in Program Auto. Simple, effective, fast and I have great control.

I do use A, S or M when I feel it's necessary, but for most of the time it's 'P' for me.

:)

[crum]

AV the majority of the time for me

[CraigPauli]

Most of my photography was at night doing shots of the city etc. Once I got a general feel for what settings worked for most it was a case of setting up at a start point check then work from there. Can't wait to go try out new lens bought, a canon 50mm f/1.8 and see what I end up with :) I use to like going out checking out different effects that can get from changing wb , colour tone etc and using nd filters etc and seeing how much it effected the exposure.

[wolffman]

Aperture for me 90% of the time, with an exposure compensation dialed in if the lighting is tricky.
I've started doing a little more manual now and then for landscapes but only if I have filters with me and the lighting is getting pretty dicey with the sun in the frame.
If I'm shooting with flash then I will normally go either manual to eliminate the ambient lighting, or P to let the camera do the thinking and dial in compensations on the camera and flash to fill or vary the flash vs ambient lighting

[Othrelos]

Pentax DSLR cameras have an incredibly handy TAv mode,I wish other makers would take note of this. All things considered 90% of my work is done in full manual mode, because that is what I grew up with on the Leica M3.

[jetjeep]

AV mode 90%
Manual 10%

[Kerro]

AV 100%

[in2fx]

I use Aperture Priority mode more than anything else and then adjust the other settings to suit what I want, except at night when I go to full Manual

[magfish]

My preference is manual particularly when time is not an issue. I do a lot of photography in the wilderness however and find that the quick changes of lighting conditions often means I miss the shot adjusting exposure and so I mainly shoot in aperture priority in these conditions. I think the main issue with manual versus automatic exposure is the degree of creative control. Yes you can bump exposure compensation up or down a bit and mostly the auto modes can give a reasonable result, the end point of automation however is to have a robot system go out and take all the shots for you and you just wait at home to view the results. Probably not what we want though. Another thing about automatic exposure especially with the evaluative systems is that it is someone else's idea of the ideal exposure for your conditions. Point three photographers at the same scene using the same cameras and lens combinations using manual exposure and you'll most likely get three very different sets of images of the scene. Point three similar cameras at the same scene using the same fully automatic settings and you'll have difficulty telling them apart because they all conform to a theoretical ideal exposure combination for the given conditions. The attraction photography has for me is being able to capture an image of a scene in a way that is just a little bit different to way it has been captured before, to inject a little of myself into the image as it were, this cannot be done using auto settings because you are getting is someone else's ideal exposure settings, and they're not even there so how can they know what the best settings should be.

[maxima]

AV most of the time, manual when I'm doing night shots

[Nicholas Brennan]

Interesting to see so many using Manual, I personally only use manual if there is tricky light, I want a different effect or I am shooting indoors with a strobe.

I did once upon a time use Manual a lot and I found I was spending more time setting up the camera to take the shot, shooting sports and events I found that this was consuming time that I could be better investing in shooting - would hate to miss that great shot whilst fumbling around with settings! Everyone has their way of working - it just doesn't suit me... I did read a great article from Scott Kelby that opened my mind a little... he said why use manual when you can leverage the Aperture or Shutter priority, let the camera work for you... of course this is not always suitable. It changed the way I did things though and have never looked back.

I wish I could reference where I read this as it was really quite interesting and I would be able to share this. Sorry!

[Namus]

Typically use AV the most; may switch to Manual if I need to adjust something (usually shutter speed in changing/poor light conditions)

[William]

For what It's worth, I always shoot manual and in RAW . The light meter is never in the Middle, Just a bit under, I actually go more by the Histogram and adjust the Shutter speed from there, ISO is always stuck on 100, And anything from f8 to f10 , That way I only have to adjust the shutter for the exposure , For Fast action , I just dial the ISO to 160 usually :)

[Mikepaus]

Manual for portraits and scenic shots, although I do tend to use App for the majority of time. When walking around I leave it in P mode so I don't miss that important fleeting shot.

[aquafish]

Av for me. I'm not too confident with manual at this stage of the game.

[Sobriquet]

A bridesmaid handed me a 50D (kit lens) to take an image on Saturday, I try to just go along with other photographers and don't make a big deal about it, but I instinctively changed the mode first, then changed the ISO, then changed the aperture, then an exposure adjustment then when I raised it to my eye I noticed it wasn't even on a particular focus point so I changed that too. I then handed it back without thinking about it. It was on full auto with a sport scene selected - I wouldn't have known what scene to put it on and didn't have a clue what it would do had I left it. Parts of the manual I never read!

[Captured frame]

For general use I use aperture priority,action - sports shutter priority and macro manual.

[kiwi]

I use "p" for pray

[stylo]

I'm with many others on here - It seems that I use Av most of the time

[William]

I've been down at the beach shooting the Quiksilver Pro Boardriding comp , 5hrs a day for the last three days and I did find shooting TV A big help , Especially with changing light , Just set the Shutter to 1250/sec ISO 320 and let the camera do the Aperture for me , it only varied from f9 to f11 so I still got good DOF , I usually shoot full manual :D Must be getting slack :th3:

[pollen]

This kind of poll is meaningless without knowing what one typically photographs

The application dictates what modes one uses

For example, it would be foolhardy to use AV or TV when using non TTL studio lighting. Similarly, if the light is changing quickly and one doesn't have enough time to change settings using M would cause shots to be missed or wildly mis-exposed. For those who say they aren't experienced enough to you M - I think you've missed the point of M. Using M mode doesn't imply some sort of mastery over the camera, on the contrary it can sometimes suggest a lack of knowledge over the features and idiosyncrasies of camera controlled metering.

M simply overrides camera controlled shifts of the AV and TV parameters, and stabilises your exposure shot to shot despite changes in the scene and what the camera meters. But when the TV (time value) is irrelevant, and you don't need exact identical exposures between shots, then it would be silly to not take advantage of AV mode. (for example)

In the end it doesn't matter which mode you use as long as you are getting the exposures you want.

[dredi1975]

Most of the time my camera is set on aperture priority or manual.
Maciek

[ving]

stealth...

[Kym]

stealth...

:lol2: what do you say to that? You win!

[Kym]

This kind of poll is meaningless without knowing what one typically photographs...

The question is still valid as a raw indicator of modes used. Clearly it varies (or should) according to what you are taking.

[Max]

I have had fun reading all 8 pages and you can almost get the impression that you need to be shooting in manual or that to learn you need to shoot manual or only if you are good do you shoot manual.

I think it really is all about understanding what shutter speed and aperture do for you and the subject you want to photograph. I would like to think that people that take photography serious enough can go outside on an overcast day and judge by the light available what shutter speed they are going to get with the aperture they want to use. Then adjust iso to suit etc. At times its simply a matter taking a test shot. Also why shoot in manual all the time, would really like to hear why? The metering is getting better all the time why not use it and the different metering modes ?

Is this the same as saying auto focus vs manual focus, I recall the debates 20 odd years ago?
Do you focus manually?


I shoot av mostly, then manual but with or without auto iso then for specific speeds tv . Keep it simple stupid works for me I am usually chasing kids, wildlife/birds, so whatever works as fast and as simple as possible timing and framing is more important.

[fabian628]

Av 90%, M 6%, Tv 3.9%, B 0.1%
Just a guess :p

[geedee]

Manual mode 90% / Av 10%. Manual and spot meter and try to balance the scene to get the best exposure for light and dark, or if in a hurry use the Hyper button on the Pentax to give the best combo.
GeeDee

[Geoff79]

Before I came to this site I pretty much only used Program and some of the Auto modes.

Since I came here I don't think I've taken the camera off the Av mode for more than a shot or two. I haven't really tried Manual much yet as I don't overly trust myself with it... but maybe in time I will.

On holidays, though, I think I'd probably still reach for some Auto modes when I'm hanging out with my wife and not on my solo sunrise strolls. On those strolls, though, probably still Av 100% of the time. I know a few times (with even less understanding than I have now) I tried non-auto shots of my wife (and sometimes with me too) and stuffed it up, and often you only get the one chance and it's disappointing to mess that one shot up. :)

[JamesDoylePhoto]

I use manual almost all of the time, being old school, I like to have control over the exposure by using the "tonal system" but having said that I will use aperture prioity when the light is changing quickly, such as when clouds are moving across the sky and you have periods of shade and bright sun. Also when doing birds in flight or fast action of wildlife where I need shutter speed over depth of field I'll set the aperture and let the shutter speed fall where it will. This might sound backwards, why not use shutter prioity? Well if you use AP and the light changes it will give you the fastest shutter speed for the available light where as if you use SP and the light falls below what the meter can read then you lose the shot.

[wazonthehill]

I would say program is my most common with ev adjustment, followed by Av, TV, Manual

[Geoff79]

Before I came to this site I pretty much only used Program and some of the Auto modes.

Since I came here I don't think I've taken the camera off the Av mode for more than a shot or two. I haven't really tried Manual much yet as I don't overly trust myself with it... but maybe in time I will.

On holidays, though, I think I'd probably still reach for some Auto modes when I'm hanging out with my wife and not on my solo sunrise strolls. On those strolls, though, probably still Av 100% of the time. I know a few times (with even less understanding than I have now) I tried non-auto shots of my wife (and sometimes with me too) and stuffed it up, and often you only get the one chance and it's disappointing to mess that one shot up. :)
Already since this last post I have changed it up completely. I now pretty much exclusively use the Manual Mode. I love having that total control over how the image might come out. I admit it has not proved to be beneficial so far in fast moving situations, but I'll get there and I'm happy to keep at it. I ended up finding the Av mode wasn't always giving me the result I wanted and I often went to the Manual mode after taking the Av shot anyway. Now I just sit on M.

And funnily enough, we just went on holidays and I didn't take one single Auto shot. :)

[sx1]

Aperture priority for most day to day pictures.

But because I am more interested in long exposure photography (& lately taking more pics of this sort), I've been using the manual mode.

[MiniFighter]

Started in Auto, Currently on AV mode and tinkering with M lol

[jaso1]

Av mode for me atm , have played with manual on various occasions and need to so some more with it .
I hate auto now as it is too inconsistant and that stupid little flash popping up does my head in lol .

AV is where it is at for vast majority of my shots though for sure .

[ashey]

I use Av when shooting birds, and manual for landscapes.

[Denis]

Aperture priority mostly, to be in control of DoF, bokeh and corner sharpness

[Nicalum]

Aperture Priority most of the time, Shutter Priority to freeze moving objects.
Still exploring the advantage of Manual Mode especially in Wedding Photography. No second chance here when we made a mistake.

[William]

Full manual !! , When out shooting the Quiksilver Pro last year all day I got lazy and on the bright sunny day I shot in Shutter Priority @ 1250th sec , The camera kept the aperture around F9, f11 which was good :D

[bowjac]

Program mode. A great feature of the D7000 is that I can easily tweak Program mode to emphasise shutter or aperture.

[photomike666]

Full manual, with manual focus. I want full control over the captured image.

[Kerrie]

Depends on what I'm shooting.

Av,tv and occasional manual now. P mode I have no idea even what it does yet.

Auto action if I must grab something fast moving at a moments notice.

[Papou]

What a Great read:), Mostly maual for me except for certain Birding conditions...What works great for one may not necesarilly work great for someone else until they try out all the vatiouse Modes and play around with them ey:)..

[MALCEB]

It obviously depends on the situation but either Manual or Aperature

[mini696]

Often I will start off with a shot or two in program mode. I also leave the camera stored away in this mode just in case I pick it up and need to get off a quick shot without thinking about lighting etc.

After the first two shots I will switch to full manual or aperture priority, sometimes shutter priority, but it really depends on what I am shooting, and what I am trying to achieve.

[seastorm]

Aperture priority. I like to be able to control the DoF and bokeh.

[Val]

I clicked Shutter Speed on the poll as I like to photo a lot of birds in action. However, I also use Manual a lot of the time, when I'm not shooting movement.

[MaHo]

Started in manual mode, then moved to Av (and still for most), but now hitting up Tv when required (festivals and such).

Will most likely stay with Av as a primary - but I can see me moving back towards manual depending on the situation nowadays.

[rodw]

G'day all

Just been reading all the comments above with some interest - what a great set of views and advisory comments
I like Kym's up the front - "Mentally I shoot in two modes (P&S and Serious)." as that also describes a lot of what I do as well

For me ...
Way back in the dim dark ages (1960s) everything was manual, then came semi-auto [you set Aperture or Speed, it did the rest] and now lots of fully-auto -> all pretty amazing stuff
These days I float between 80% "Program" and 20% Aperture - the beauty of "P" for me is that I find on many, many occasions the metering system gives me an exposure combo very close to what I would have chosen anyway, but/and when it needs tweaking, then a qwik twist of the dial swings the aperture up/down to get what I'm after. No need to muck around, and in a qwik/tight/grab spot, the camera will always come up okay

Hope this is of interest to others
Regards, Phil

This quote on page 10 sums it up for me and I think explains why I am in the minority who use P most. For me the dim dark ages started in the early 80's with a manual SLR (before that it was a Kodak Instamatic!).

My next SLR only had aperture priority and manual modes. let's face it, if you can control aperture, you can control shutter speed. So after a short holiday using auto modes for snapshots, I moved to P as I could not do what I wanted. I find it is easy to move the thumb wheel to move either the shutter speed or the aperture the way I wanted. I am a great believer in using technology and as a casual photographer with lots of other interests, and when I learnt my third film SLR had a database of 30,000 scenes that were consulted to set the exposure, I figured I would be better off letting the camera to take over a few tasks and leave me to concentrate on other creative things. It did not take long for the camera proove it was better than me! Now I tend to use A and S modes where I want to control a specific feature and it is so easy to apply EC if required. I am really looking forward to getting my D800 which has two thumb wheels so I think it will work much like my F80 film camera and be much easier to use these sort of features.

[bleAf]

Most of the time I use aperture mode. Then there is the use of manual mode when I have time on my hand to frame, compose and get the exposure that I want.

[Geoff79]

Well I'd become a Manual enthusiast and used no other mode, but since my camera went for a swim I no longer get on-screen display which doesn't always suit my manual needs... so I have reverted back to Av for photos that I don't set up slowly for. I must admit, I do like Av and never realised before you could set the exposure. :lol: ... but :( But yeah, I do like it. I do still use Manual for a lot of slow shutter speed shots, but for the rest, Av is my friend.

[Snpsht]

As a newbie, it is almost all auto at the moment, as I have just had the Pentax a few days. With the info I am starting to get from this site, a few more experiments will definitely occur!

[Roddy]

Hey,

I'm shooting 95% of all the time in aperture priority mode.
And as I am a big fan of wider aperture lenses... I limited my auto ISO to 200-800.
With this setup I can shoot all my picture without tripod... even by sunset.

cu Roddy

[Duane Pipe]

User priority:lol2:

[Mark L]

cu Roddy

G'day Roddy, and hopefully we will cu.

- - - Updated - - -


User priority:lol2:
Dave, about to watch a (TV) Program, then I'll look that up in my Manual (AVad a long day). :confused013

[xxdrakexx]

I use Program 90% of the time and the rest is Scene my camera doesn't have Manuel :confused013

[Kerrie]

For things that are still -av mode and I try to control dof and exposure mostly. And composition...I'm getting used to considering lighting too now, sort of.

For moving and unpredictable ' things' ( read puppies, animals, anything moving really) I'm using the auto setting of ' moving objects' on my camera. It sets the camera at widest av and handles the shutter speed for me. I can set exposure prior if I want to. Then I just try n focus.

Does that make me bad I revert to auto when needed? :confused013

- - - Updated - - -


I use Program 90% of the time and the rest is Scene my camera doesn't have Manuel :confused013


I still don't get program mode. I've read about it, but I don't get it :confused013. Maybe once I get the others I will try and understand it again. Just FYI.

[hectic3]

Aperture. Easy and gets the job done.

Otherwise Manual :)

[xxdrakexx]

An update while I'm sitting on the bus lol since o got my dslr iv been useing auto 90% of the time as I'm on holidays and olny bden takng once in a life time / person memory shots but when I get back to coonamble ill have yo lurn the other modes lol well I better stop now or ill miss my stop

Sent from my U8180 using Tapatalk 2

[ving]

sleep mode...:Doh:

[Mark L]

sleep mode...:Doh:
Good night.

[Duane Pipe]

Which ever mode suits me at the time "User Priority":lol2:.

I shoot manual most of the time. I don't know why but I haven't practiced that much with aperture and shutter priority.
The only time I do is when Birding...

[MasterOfRoc]

Shutter or manual generally, go to cheat mode when I'm not confident on what I need, but that's rare

[azilko]

aperture priority for the most part while im learning, ill deviate to manual for specific shots one day :)

[fenderstrat1963]

Lately, it's almost always manual. If not that, then mostly aperture priority. I like that term "user priority" though Dave :th3:

Steve

[SandraS]

I haven't touched my camera for a few months but I generally use P mode.

I don't like full auto as I prefer to shoot in raw, and I've never gotten the hang of TV mode. Use to shoot in AV quite a bit but the camera always seemed to do a better job than I could so that's why I moved back to P.

As for manual..well, I cannot see the writing in the viewfinder in bright daylight as I need to wear glasses, and if I can't get the hang of AV or TV I'd hate to imagine how terrible my images would be in manual :rolleyes:

So I shall persist with P, and some AV thrown in for good measure. :)

[hagane]

I like the flexibility offered in the Av mode and use it the majority of the time. For flash boosted shots (indoor) and night time shots, manual mode with lots of trial and error. :-)

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Flashfreddy]

Pretty much Manual mode if I'm not sure of light I will put it on AV then lock it on manual, I think it all depends a lot on what your photographing to.

[MissionMan]

Mix of Manual, Shutter and Aperture. If I'm shooting kids, I may shoot shutter priority to keep the speed high, if I want a particular look, I go with Aperture, if I need speed and aperture I use manual. I limit my ISO to 6400 but I always keep an eye on it to see when it's heading too high

[in2fx]

I still switch between Manual, Aperture Priority and Shutter Speed Priority all the time depending on what I am shooting at the time because I am into so many different types of photography.

Sport and fast moving subjects usually has me on 'TV' (shutter priority).

People on 'AV' (aperture priority) unless using speedlites.

Landscape, Seascape, Night Photography, Macro, and special effects etc., on 'M' (manual).

[ausfitter]

I usually use AV but I find myself lately using Manual, which has been great, cause you can really get a good grasp on how the little things make a big difference.

[ktoopi]

I use all three all the time but if pushed to pick one I use the most it would probably be manual:)

[snappysi]

I use manual 99% of the time....if I ever use any other its to get a baseline of what the camera thinks....

[glennb]

It's aperture for me but now I'm into macro it's been a bit more in manual mode lately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Frank 44]

I use AV 75% of the time and TV and manual the rest of the time

[mattweller]

For me, i am mostly in AP, however for shots i pre-plan, i will use Manual.

[maxima]

Depend on situation. Night shots mostly manual, other times when there is enough lights AV.

[ROA44]

Manual for me while I'm trying to get a better understanding. I'm not going afraid of it.

[Greengrass]

''Professional'' (the word between Quotation marks because i'm not near so good as i wanna be.) i useManual only.
Bat that doesn't mean i'm 'allergic' for the automatic mode or any other mode for that matter.
I gues you just get use to doing wat suits you best and depending on circumstances why make it difficult?

[Niki]

Manual for me, I struggled to get the hang of it at first, but now I don't even think about it. The more photos I took, the easier it got & I like the control it gives me. I will admit though that I am often guilty of forgetting the ISO factor & having the odd "camera shake" shot that could have been avoided.... :p

[Ian Brewster]

It would be interesting, but impossible, to do a survey of the time spent in PP by the Manual Moders and and the AP/SP shooters added to the time shooting the image, and then also comparing the results with the same eyes.

It's the pop-up toaster for me if available.

[ricktas]

It would be interesting, but impossible, to do a survey of the time spent in PP by the Manual Moders and and the AP/SP shooters added to the time shooting the image, and then also comparing the results with the same eyes.

It's the pop-up toaster for me if available.

The question is not how much time you spend doing anything. The question is what mode do you use the most (ie generally what do you set your camera to when taking photos)

[phild]

Aperture priority mostly, manual for night and Astrophotography.