Do you shoot in manual or programme mode?

[Jetl3on]

Evening all, I have 2 queries,

Exposure compensation:
Having issues getting to grips with that little + - button, read a bunch of stuff and understood it works in programme mode, if set to A, it alters the shutter speed, i tried it but can't fathom what benefit it serves when you can adjust shutter speed in manual?

Do you all shoot manual mode? When would you typically use A or S mode?

[Simpo Two]

I normally use aperture priority; it does of course indirectly affect shutter speed so you can also think in terms of that as you change aperture. In that scenario I use EV to adjust exposure or bracket. In a studio I use manual because it gives totally consistent results and I can set the shutter speed within synch limits. Only rarely do I use shutter speed priority, but if I did sports etc it would be useful either to ensure a frozen subject or to control motion blur.

If you use manual mode YOU set the aperture and shutter speed; I think, without going to check, that EV then does nothing. If you want more light, you adjust the other parameters to suit. Manual means you do the thinking and the camera goes 'der'.

[davepoth]

Even if you don't shoot in manual as a matter of course, it's a good idea to play around with it to understand what everything does.

[Kermit power]

I use Aperture Priority probably 90% of the time. Most of the remaining 10% is Manual, either for Macro shooting or for long (over 30 seconds) exposures.

I will very occasionally use Shutter Priority if I'm shooting handheld at somewhere like the Wimbledon banger racing (in the evenings) and I want to ensure I don't get camera shake.

[IanMorewood]

To be honest if I'm outdoors shooting things that move and therefore cant control the light I normally would select aperture control and let the camera sort out the shutter speed depending on the light available. However if I want to freeze a moment or introduce some movement blur then shutter speed becomes more important. Like wise if Im using a long zoom I dont want to get movement blur by taking a 60th/sec shot at 300mm+. If Im shooting somewhere where I can control the consistency of the light or the subject isnt going to be gone in an instant though Im more than happy to stick the camera in manual and dial in both so I get the image I want rather than what the camera considers is ideal.

[flat-planedCrank]

Jetl3on said:

Evening all, I have 2 queries,

Exposure compensation:
Having issues getting to grips with that little + - button, read a bunch of stuff and understood it works in programme mode, if set to A, it alters the shutter speed, i tried it but can't fathom what benefit it serves when you can adjust shutter speed in manual?

Do you all shoot manual mode? When would you typically use A or S mode?

A & S modes allow you to use the camera's metering to creative ends to drive part of the required exposure...

If you want to shoot in manual mode then of course you retain 100% control of all parts of the exposure.

But with A & S you can set a particular setting - maybe wide aperture for portraits or a long shutter for sports panning - and still let the camera's metering pick the other settings.

This is particularly useful if the lighting conditions can change quickly - if you're in a forest rally stage with dappled sunlight you may expose for a patch of sun but when happens when the car moved quickly to shade? The camera's metering can adapt swiftly

With exposure control you can also effect how this metering will be applied - if you are at an airshow then in most cases the camera will want to underexpose your shots (camera will be pointed into a bright sky). So dial in a bit of + exposure comp to override the metering's brain

Lots of uses for exposure comp

[Pints]

Because most of my photos are family shots taken with my bridge, program setting suits me just fine for the majority of photos.

[GravelBen]

I mostly use aperture priority (landscapes, general stuff) or shutter priority (motorsport or moving water etc).

[Craikeybaby]

If I'm shooting something that doesn't move I use Aperture priority, so I can control the depth of field, if I'm shooting something moving, I find it better to use Shutter priority to control how the movement appears.

[MrFrodo]

I've taken to shooting in aperture mode for general shots.

Although I've got a reasonable understanding of what everything on the camera does it still seems to take better photographs than I do unless there's plenty of time to set everything up. For panning shots I often use the camera's time variation mode.

[Simpo Two]

MrFrodo said:

For panning shots I often use the camera's time variation mode.

To avoid possible reader confusion, note that Tv (time value) is Canon-speak for 'shutter speed'.

[K12beano]

Simpo Two said:

To avoid possible reader confusion, note that Tv (time value) is Canon-speak for 'shutter speed'.

(Nobody was confused until Simpo mentioned Canon!)

[Simpo Two]

I just wanted to avoid somone posting 'I have a Nikon/any other brand and it hasn't got time variation mode...'

It is 'shutter speed', and 'shutter speed priority automatic exposure'.

Bah.

Then again, 'shutter priority automatic mode' would be SPAM, which is rather fun... and also an anagram of all the other modes.

I think I just divided by zero...

[K12beano]

...and slightly more seriously:

About 90% of the time I am interested in what the lens is doing, so prefer to control aperture and let shutter and ISO sort themselves out.

But, in learning how to shoot cars and take panning shots recently, it is good to have the option of shooting shutter priority (Tv).

Manual is all well and good, but I don't use an external light meter, so (and sometimes with the benefit of bracketing) it's worth letting the camera sort some of the parameters for itself.

[Elderly]

Sensors are improving at such a rate, that 'noise' is becoming much less of an issue; so are there any cameras out there where you can select both the shutter speed AND the aperture, and leave the 'exposure' to Auto-ISO?

[onomatopoeia]

I use shutter priority for motorsport, aperture priority for most other things (people, landscapes). Manual occasionally (the moon, other night time pictures)

Never quite figured out what Program mode does.

[aizvara]

Manual mode, all the time, unless I accidentally knock the selection dial.

[marcosgt]

Elderly said:

Sensors are improving at such a rate, that 'noise' is becoming much less of an issue; so are there any cameras out there where you can select both the shutter speed AND the aperture, and leave the 'exposure' to Auto-ISO?

Mmmmm - I was going to say that Auto-ISO does that... but I'm not 100% sure.

Stick it in manual and set ISO to Auto and see what happens?

M.

[Crafty_]

Elderly said:

Sensors are improving at such a rate, that 'noise' is becoming much less of an issue; so are there any cameras out there where you can select both the shutter speed AND the aperture, and leave the 'exposure' to Auto-ISO?

Why would you want to do that ?
If you wish to control DoF you typically don't care about shutter, so use aperture priority.
You use aperture priority if you need to fix focal length.

If you are using manual to control both aperture and shutter its probably because you want to override the metering because you know the camera won't be able to cope with what you want to do - for example night shooting.

Ok, so you may be using manual because you want to do something a little out of the ordinary (maybe a shallow DoF at a slow shutter speed?)..

Either way you'd want to fix ISO so you can pick the aperture/shutter you want. If auto ISO was on at this point it would bring the metering system in and try and do something whacky..

Imagine we are taking star shots, lets say f8 at 30 secs. If I turn on auto ISO the metering system would say "fark me, its blacker than a coal pit out there, I can't change aperture or shutter so I'll bung the ISO up to max".. which results in noise that I didn't want.

If there are any cameras that allow auto ISO in manual mode I'd love to know how it works! The point of using manual is to override the metering mode, not force it in to a corner. I just can't see a use for it really.

[toasty]

Elderly said:

Sensors are improving at such a rate, that 'noise' is becoming much less of an issue; so are there any cameras out there where you can select both the shutter speed AND the aperture, and leave the 'exposure' to Auto-ISO?

Canon 7D does and I assume a lot of others too.

FWIW I shoot mostly AV if I'm actively shooting something but on walkabout I'd generally stick to P to get an 'average' shot of something quick that might be gone if I have to change settings.

Edited by toasty on Friday 16th November 14:48