Automatic vs. Manual?

[picturephotos]

I started out letting the camera choose my settings. Now I choose all my own settings on manual. What are your thoughts on automatic vs. manual. Do you always shoot one or the other or do you mix it up? If you shoot manual, what method do you use to remember settings for different situations?

 

[willis_927]

I always shoot in Manual. I don't remember what settings to use for certain situations, I choose the settings to make the photo looks the way I want it to. Large aperature if I want a smaller DOF. Faster shutter speed if I want to stop motion etc.

 

[JClishe]

Totally depends on the situation. If I'm in a studio or doing still life stuff with OCF or CL than it's manual. Obviously any night shots on a tripod are manual too. For everything else I'm usually in Av and I use exposure comp for quick adjustments as necessary.

 

[Garbz]

I don't let my camera chose my settings. I let it calculate the variables I want it to. Depending on the situation most of my shots will be aperture priority and some will be shutter priority or full manual.

I tried shooting full manual for every situation. Frankly I hated not being able to flick on my camera point and click. I missed more golden moments during my manual only period than any other time.

These days I only shoot full manual if I have the time (landscape work, night photography, studio etc), or I know my camera on auto wouldn't cut it (fireworks, motor racing etc).

 

[iresq]

Most of the time motion is not an issue. I generally shoot in Av mode. I let the camera pic shutter. Of course I always check what the camera wants to do pre-click and review the info post click. When shooting shots with motion, I generally shoot Tv mode.

 

[SCraig]

Much like the others. Aperture or shutter priority with exposure compensation most of the time, manual when the situation necessitates it. I didn't buy a smart camera just to dumb it down.

 

[ann]

Usually manual mode, being doing that for over 64 years when that was the only way to meter; however, sometimes, one does what ever if takes to get the shot.

 

[gsgary]

Alway shoot manual, never remember settings because there is no point every situation is different

 

[analog.universe]

Manual most of the time... pretty much any time I have more than half a second to prepare the shot actually. Otherwise I'm in Av.

And like others, I don't remember settings. I remember what f/2.0 looks like at 35mm, and what a fast moving subject looks like at 1/100 second, and what sensor noise looks like at ISO4000. There's no way to remember settings for a scene though, because you never shoot the same scene twice.

 

[MLeeK]

Never auto. Hardly ever a priority mode unless I am teaching someone how to use it. Why would you let the camera control anything if you know how to do it yourself and get the exact results you are wanting? Seems like a huge risk in letting the camera think for you.

 

[Overread]

The mode dosn't matter one bit - what matters is that you get the settings best for the situation you're shooting in for the creative result you want based on the lighting present (both natural and any added light such as flash or even reflectors).

f4, ISO 200, 1/250sec will give you the same photo no matter what shooting mode you use from full auto to full manual.

However what is important is getting those settings you want in the situation. When you start out this can often be a maze since you've still got to build up the experience of shooting in different conditions, with different subjects and lighting to learn what is going to be and what is not possible in certain situations; as well as what your creative side wants to make.


Also a lot of people say they shoot in one mode all the time, but even then it can depend. From my own experiences:
1) if I'm shooting flash dominated situations (that is where I'm adding the majority of light for the exposure with flash lighting) then I'll shoot in full manual mode. This is because I want a certain creative result and I've set the lights to achive that, but the camera meter can't read the flash light (its not there to be read till the flashes fire). So I've got to take over part of the metering process*


Whilst if I'm shooting general outdoor or wildlife I'll be in aperture priority mode. I want to set the aperture based on the sharpness and depth of field I want in the final shot; I also want to control the ISO (the noise level) in the photo. The rest of the time the shutter speed is being set by the camera, its already doing the metering that I'm basing my shutter speed off so might as well let it set that final setting since its going to be much faster at changing it for any lighting shifts than I ever will.
Note of course that I've still got control; I've still got to check that shutter speed; make sure its fast enough and if its not adjust the two settings I do control to get that shutter speed fast enough

Then if I'm shooting aircraft with propeller blades or panning a shot then I'll be in shutter priority. Here the creative part I want control over is the shutter speed, so that I can get a slow enough speed so that the rotor blades will blur - aperture (depth of field) takes second place and then you have ISO - so I control the ISO and let the camera balance the aperture based on the lighting.


Against all that you've also go to learn to understand when the meter will be tricked/fooled by the lighting. A good example is if shooting a very snowy scene when the camera will try to expose it all as grey; when you know that the scene is brighter. You can balance against this using manual mode or you've also got your exposure compensation in the two semi-auto modes.




All that sounds really complicated I'll bet - but in general its simple principles; the trick is practice. Lots and lots of it combined with lots of experiments. Mess around with the settings and try out different things to see what effects and results you get. Most good photography books (either film or digital) will also go into learning how to control your camera.
Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson is an often recommended beginner book on learning exposures and giving some creative ideas.




In the very end my view still stands that the mode itself does not matter - but that the photographer has learnt to control the camera first. Learn to use the semi-auto and the full manual modes fully. You can then make the choice upon which to use upon personal preference, style and what will get you the best result you want in the specific situations.


* - note in an ideal world with a more static/slow scene you'd use an external flash meter to help set the lighting values for the flash units.

 

[brush]

If I can control the environment, I like manual. But only when I can take the time to fine tune everything just so. So like landscapes, planned out portraiture, studio(ish) stuff etc. If I'm tooling around looking for cool shots I spend most of my time in a mostly auto configuration stored as custom so I can get back to it quickly, then bounce to the priority modes as needed sometimes. I don't think I've ever used the full auto settings since buying this camera. Oh wait I lied, if something epic is happening in the moment & I need to capture it fast, like a flock of birds taking flight or something you only have moments to catch, I'll flip it over to the sports mode & start firing. That's quicker than taking the time to up my ISO, shutter speed, drive mode, AF, etc.

 

[paigew]

I try to shoot manual all the time. But if its a moment I just cant miss/mess up I quickly switch to auto. This is more for stuff with the kids where the memory is more important than the quality of the photo. Eventually I hope to not ever need auto.

 

[KmH]

I learned to do photography when Manual was the only option, and have used manual mode so extensively that it long ago became an ingrained automatic, requires no concious thought, response to change the settings on the fly and not miss shots.

However, there are many shooting situations where the semi-auto modes, like aperture and shutter priority are very useful.

 

[Derrel]

I had a five-speed manual for a number of years. Now I have a four-speed automatic. I dunno...I sometimes miss being able to stuff it into 3rd gear and mash down on the gas and blow through curves in 3rd with the tach wayyy up there...but in heavy stop-and-go traffic on the freeway in the evenings or mornings, the automatic is just soooooooo much more convenient, and easier on my knee. I learned on a manual....then got an automatic.....then a manual...then an automatic....then a manual for a long time...and now, back to automatic. What's odd to some people, to whom manual versus automatic is like The Crusades, filled with religious-level fervor, girding of the loins in armor,prayers to the God of Manual, and so on, is that I was always able to get to the same,exact destinations, no matter if my chariot was a manual one, or an automatic one.