Fuji X70 questions

[BeatleJohn]

Hi guys... hopefully ive posted this in the right section.
Ive been messing around with the manual settings on my x70 and i was wondering is there any real benefit in having it on manual at all. I look at the info of the photos ive taken and can see that on auto the camera has adjusted everything for me. The only thing i change is my ISO if i feel like i want things to be lighter/darker.
So im curious is this the type of camera that is really meant to just be kept on auto and let it do its thing or am i missing out if i don't adjust everything manually?

[BeatleJohn]

EDIT: The only thing i change is my exposure setting dial... not iso! still lots to learn.

[Mark L]

You can mess around and that's good, but you can get really confused/frustrated and give up trying this photo stuff. (please don't give up in frustration)

Why would you start with full manual if you think full auto can do it all for you?:)
Start at the start and sometimes slower is faster, and take the time to look at some of this.... http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showlibrary.php?title=Indexes:New_To_Photography_Book

I hardly ever use full manual.

[MissionMan]

As you get further into it, you will understand what the value is in changing your settings, in particular depth of field (background blur) or adjusting shutter to make sure you don't get motion blur when you don't want it or do get motion blur when you want it.

Auto is a good place to start and using the exposure compensation is also a good place to work from. Once you get to grips with that, you can add one more setting to the mix.

[ricktas]

As per Mark and Athol's replies, you can use full manual on your camera..but it means you need to learn how and why they exist, what each function (shutter speed, ISO and aperture) do, and how changing them affects your photo. As you have said, you have changed aperture to make the resultant photo darker or lighter, but aperture settings also perform other changes to your photos. Primarily it changes to areas of your photo that will be in focus, and what will be blurred. So have a read of the basic's, as Mark linked to.

Do not try and learn them all at once. Aperture is a good place to start. Learn what it does, how it does it and what changes it makes to your photos. Then when you have that knowledge, start looking at shutter speed... etc. Learn each one individually and then start combining the changes with each other. That is probably the best way to move to full manual control of your camera.

As said though, there is not a thing wrong with using Auto. But if you want to get creative, taking control over your camera is the way to go, rather than letting some software engineer in Fuji decide what the best settings are for a certain photo you want to take.:D

Page 51-54 of your user manual will explain the differing modes on offer to you for the X70. i know it sounds boring, but reading the manual is a good place to start.