Creative Modes: Are they really any good for beginners?

[Wingryder]

I'm new here so I don't know if that has been discussed or not. I have been reviewing some of the creative modes on my T3i and have come to realize that they are nothing more than a convoluted way of controlling the exposure triangle. I'm just not so sure that they are that effective for beginners looking to break away from Auto. It seems that it would be easier to learn M, Av & Tv than it would be to figure out all these creative modes.

Does anyone here use them? Or, did you use them while you were learning photography? Or are they simply for novices taking vacation photos?

 

[Designer]

The creative modes actually do more than simply manipulate the exposure parameters. They also affect the way the camera does the processing. In case you didn't realize, your camera has firmware that will make adjustments to color, contrast, sharpness, etc. and all of that processing is seen in the JPG files.

 

[JustJazzie]

I have, personally never had any luck with the creative modes. Even if you have luck with yours, it certainly won't teach you anything or help you grow in your craft. "Creative auto" is still "auto" and as they say- "if you want someone done right, do it yourself!"

 

[Overread]

The creative modes ARE harder to use and control.

But they are there because a lot of people today move up from a point and shoot to a DSLR. On the point and shoot they didn't learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO - if they did it was mostly only changing the ISO in dim light. What they had were scene modes for everything; so when they move up to the first DSLR they want those modes present.

Now granted your DSLR only has a handful (compared to point and shoots which can have legions of options); but its enough to at least make them feel comfortable. And the thing is whilst those modes really only weight Auto-mode toward certain ideals (eg sports mode aims for the fastest shutter speed; macro for a small aperture), that is all some people need and want. It's as far as they are willing to learn to use the camera; give them a 1D and they'd be in greenbox auto the whole time; maybe with a bit of program mode if they were feeling bold.



For those more keen to learn to control the camera the scene modes are something you'll very quickly grow out of. Indeed once you start to learn how to control exposure auto and program mode are often less and less used whilst aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual become much more commonly used (in my views those modes also get used more and more the more a person develops their ability to pre-visualise the shot to work out what THEY want rather than what many end up doing which is guessing that the CAMERA will choose to produce).

 

[greybeard]

I've never used them but they might be fun to play around with and that is their purpose.

 

[keyseddie]

No. Unless you wish to stay a beginner.

 

[e.rose]

My camera has creative modes?

 

[Wingryder]

The creative modes ARE harder to use and control.

But they are there because a lot of people today move up from a point and shoot to a DSLR. On the point and shoot they didn't learn about aperture, shutter speed and ISO - if they did it was mostly only changing the ISO in dim light. What they had were scene modes for everything; so when they move up to the first DSLR they want those modes present.

Now granted your DSLR only has a handful (compared to point and shoots which can have legions of options); but its enough to at least make them feel comfortable. And the thing is whilst those modes really only weight Auto-mode toward certain ideals (eg sports mode aims for the fastest shutter speed; macro for a small aperture), that is all some people need and want. It's as far as they are willing to learn to use the camera; give them a 1D and they'd be in greenbox auto the whole time; maybe with a bit of program mode if they were feeling bold.



For those more keen to learn to control the camera the scene modes are something you'll very quickly grow out of. Indeed once you start to learn how to control exposure auto and program mode are often less and less used whilst aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual become much more commonly used (in my views those modes also get used more and more the more a person develops their ability to pre-visualise the shot to work out what THEY want rather than what many end up doing which is guessing that the CAMERA will choose to produce).

Excellent point, that I had not considered, that they are for P&S customers trying to upgrade. I guess manual modes can be a bit intimidating if you are used to a P&S. I do realize that they can also control hue, sharpness, contrast, etc... with creative modes but they are still presets. For beginners, I think this would make understanding and learning from mistakes even more difficult.

 

[Derrel]

I'm new here so I don't know if that has been discussed or not. I have been reviewing some of the creative modes on my T3i and have come to realize that they are nothing more than a convoluted way of controlling the exposure triangle. I'm just not so sure that they are that effective for beginners looking to break away from Auto. It seems that it would be easier to learn M, Av & Tv than it would be to figure out all these creative modes.

Does anyone here use them? Or, did you use them while you were learning photography? Or are they simply for novices taking vacation photos?

They are more of a SIMPLIFIED way of "directing" the exposure triangle to settings that millions of analyzed photos predict have a better than average chance of being very close to optimal, given all the data that a small onboard computer can analyze. Nikon pioneered multi-segment metering, which they invented and patented and called "Matrix" metering, with at that time, a small library of 100,000 anaylzed photos that had been fed into a database, and then cross-checked as to results and patterns as far as what later became known as the EXIF info standard.

Later, they added more information, and more data points to analyze, as well as to compare MEASURED colors against measured reflectance values, as well as the information the camera is providing, such as scene brightness level and white balance information, as well as basic stuff people seem to forget about: day/day/time zone, which shows seasonal weather trend likelihood to a high degree. And also, simple stuff, such as shutter speed requirements for say "night scene + flash" as opposed to say "sports mode", or "shallow DOF portrait mode". Given location, time of day, and scene brightness level, as well as DEAD-easy stuff like blue sky and green foliage, I gave a 4+ hour photo lesson to a lady yesterday using her Nikon D5100, and the "scene modes" were amazingly good for her. We also paused for a few minuytes at the start of the fay to set up AUTO ISO with a 1/160 shutter speed minimum and a Maximum ISO of 800. The camera with the SB 700 and on board or pop-up flash performed amazingly well with the 18-55 VR, the 55-200, the 70-300 VR, the 70-200/2.8 VR and the 85/1.8 G, and for a "manual only lesson" with the 105/2.5 Ai-S and the Lensbaby 2.0 with the f/5.6 disc.

Subjects included macro: white water rafters; portraits in sun and in shade; florals, leaf and flower details, pastoral grassland scenes; woodland scenes, and a few really close-up shots, as well as a segment on flash. I was impressed by how amazing the D5100's matrix metering was in the various modes, and also the way it "tracked" the focal length using the 70-300 VR, since we had BRIGHT summer lighting.

With modern high-ratio zooms lenses being popular on beginner/hobbyist cameras, some of the VERY popular 18-200, 18-270, and 18-300 or 28-200 or 28-300mm lenses with BIG maximum aperturt drop-offs, it is basically impossible to shoot in "MANUAL" mode and do a zoom out to maximum length in a fluid situation without stopping to make a MAJOR aperture-click adjustment OR a major shutter speed click adjustment.* What people forget is that the people MOST likely to use these modes have "one-button" cameras, where the one button + control wheel adjusts exposure and can ALSO adjust +/- exposure compensation....

The * is excepting people using Pentax or Nikon cameras with AUTO ISO enabled, and the ability of those brands' system to MAKE a SET manual exposure and a set f/stop "be the right exposure" by adjusting ISO up or down faster than a person can ever hope to click a wheel six, or nine, or twelve times...

Basically, the people who use high-end cameras that have full controls, and TOP LCD's for info, and dedicated shutter and f/stop control wheels, tend to poo-poo these modes...which their cameras do not even possess...so in other words, you'll hear a lot of crap talked about these modes by people who've never really themselves figured out what they actually "do", or what they "might be able to do", let alone, "how to leverage automation"...

These modes appeal to people who either 1)understand the 1970's era concepts that were developed first with "Programmed" exposure or 2) who just want to get the right "type" of settings for easily recognizable situations, like....night party + flash, or "sports action" mode, and so on. Most of the beginner/hobbyist/fun cameras have adopted these modes, which basically use decades of research and modern microprocessor technology to SET THE CAMERA the way an experienced photographer would likely set it, given alllllllllll the data that can be collected in milliseconds, by an onboard computer.


A really BASIC point that most high-end gear shooters forget: with 18-300mm lenses that now "top out" at f/6.3, there is a HUGE number of "clicks" that need to be re-set when zooming from short to medium or out to full tele in many exposure modes. Beginners are the most-likely to be using that kind of lens. The need is usually for BOTH a speed or f./stop adjustment AND ALSO an ISO shift as well. This is just one major reason why the hobby cameras have these modes. If one does not "run out of f/stop" in bright light, one can EASILY "run into a shutter speed blur" issue when using an 18-270 or 28-300 or whatever. A shutter speed I can hand hold at 18mm is 1/6 second with about 75% success; at 200mm, can I hoold 1/6 second with 75% success rate....NO...with a one-button camera, the "scene modes" provide a way to get the camera set up FAST; add AUTO ISO into the mix, and you have a beginner shooting perfectly-exposed shots in 4 hours in FAST-paced shooting scenarios.

 

[Wingryder]

Excellent post. Thanks Derrel. I had not considered the advantages using changing apertures of superzooms, I struggled with that on my 28-135, when panning back wide, leaves the aperture set at 5.6.

 

[Derrel]

You're welcome. The thing is: I used to SELL cameras, and I've had direct feedback from people who were "stepping up" to SLR photography, and I actually know also from TPF what some of the common "gotcha" areas are. "Serious" photographers typically use FIXED maximum aperture zooms, or primes lenses with fast apertures, or a mix of both, and they also forget some of the BIG BLUNDERS than beginnrs and intermediates can easily,easily make with the cameras that begiunners and intermediates often own.

Case in point: the SINGLE_button cameras, like the T-series Canons and the 3000- and 5000-series Nikons and the old D40/D60 Nikon series: you "THINK" you're presing in that litle button and spinning the wheel to adjust the aperture, buuuuuut....you're hitting the wrong little button (one of two tiny little buttons uo the top deck), and are accidentally dialing in Exposure compensation, and every effort you make to correct WORSENS the picture. Or....in "one mode" cameras the control wheel + the button adjusts f/stop, in another mode it adjusts the shutter speed==so, confusing there.... annnnnnnd to make things worse--those cameras HAVE NO TOP DECK readouts!!! So, no visual feedbacjk until the user is looking thru the finder! ACK!

I've made the Nikon D40, single-button "eff-up" a number of times...I am used to a two-button camera where the FRONT wheel is the f/.stop and the back is ALWAYS the shutter adjustment, and pressing and holding that "little button" always means exposure comp being dialed in. The thing is--the "Scene Modes" are designed to alleviate some of the actual, real problems that noobs have had for decades. The scene modes are also an effort to address the huge issue of variable maximum aperture totally ruining photos when a noob zooms out to tele and drops a stop, to as much a 1.5 stops in aperture or shutter speed...

These kinds of issues are not even in the minds of people who use expensive bodies with FULL controls, and also TOP-deck and in-finder and maybe even RRAR-LCD readout, with FIXED max aperture f/2.8 lenses and f/1.8 primes and stuff, and who have really studied up on photography, often for years and years on end. FOr the person who picks up their camera 5-10 times a year, the scene modes AVOID a lot of the horrible,horrible foul-ups that dominated the 1990's photofinishing business...wrong synch speed, utterly blown or utterly under-under-under exposed crap, and bluuuuury telephoto shots, and so on.

 

[astroNikon]

Interesting.

I started using Creative modes because I new nothing about Manual.
I used them to allow me to see what parameters were changed and how.

So .. they were useful for me for learning. But I only used them for several months and haven't used them since.

For me, they made me think and see how the various settings affected the overall image.
Thus they were a stepping stone to full manual for me.

 

[AlanKlein]

Creative modes can help you take better pictures if you're not interested in getting too deep into photography. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you want. When I'm not shooting with my manual controlled medium format camera and using my P&S for typical vacation shots, I leave it on Auto and shoot away for 98% of my shots. It let's me concentrate on content, perspective, angle, lighting etc instead of technical stuff that can be annoying on vacation or when I just want to relax and not think too much. There're no rules that says ones better than the other. Do what you're comfortable with and change when you're ready.

 

[tecboy]

My sister uses creative modes, and my mom uses full auto. Anyone has a problem with that?!layball:

 

[Mashburn]

If you have a basic idea of ISO, F stop, shutter speed. Then I say to just put it in manual and play around a lot and look at the bar in the viewfinder (that will tell you if you are under/over exposed, usually). You can always start out in apeture mode so you can get a more basic understating on things with shutter speed and aperture.