How often do you use manual settings

Josh66 · Mar 19, 2010

I don't consider myself a beginner, but compared to some people - I am. :lol:

I shoot manual 100% of the time... It's just what feels the most natural to me. I don't have anything against the other modes, lol.

Ron Evers · Mar 19, 2010

I am not new to photography, I had a SLR in the late 50s. Then I set the film speed on my light meter when I loaded the camera, metered the subject & read off the possible combinations of aperture & shutter speed & decided which was most appropriate for the situation. The light meter was NOT in the camera. After almost a lifetime away from photography I am back learning digital. I now use aperature priority 90% of the time & tweek the ISO if I cannot get a high enough shutter speed. The other 10% I use Shutter priority. I will also use exposure compensation if warranted in either priority. I see no need to use full manual when the camera is capable of choosing the other variable for me.

I understand the variables & see no merit in running full manual to duplicate what the camera is capable of doing for me. I do however, usually use manual focus because I use old Minolta & Pentax mount film camera lenses on my camera.

keith foster · Mar 19, 2010

I would consider myself an advanced beginner.
I shoot manual for almost everything except sports. Things move too fast for me then and I use Av.

Hamtastic · Mar 20, 2010

I am not a beginner, but when I was I only shot in manual mode. I don't think my Ricoh KR-5 35mm SLR had any other modes.

I liked old, mechanical cameras so I never really had any exposure mode choices until I got my first DSLR. Now I shoot in M and Av.

Auto or manual is more of a state of mind to me. I don't see any difference between shooting in M and just zeroing the meter every time, and running in any of the auto modes. The manual control of exposure is in assessing the scene tones, what the meter is saying, and what exposure and processing will result in the desired print tones. All the DSLRs I've seen display aperture and shutter settings even in the auto modes. What's important to me is that the right aperture and shutter are set, not how they got set.

I have confidence that anyone who is willing to read the instruction manual that came with the camera, and will apply a few hours study and practice, can have manual exposure pretty much figured out by tomorrow. All those buttons and gizmos have got you buffaloed, but if you could get past the whiz bang features you will find very simple and easy to understand controls and features.

Exposure has 3 controls: aperture, shutter, and ISO. Beyond the instructions that came with the camera there are a million books and websites that explain these simply.

The meter tells you the proper exposure to get middle gray. If you are shooting a snowy scene the meter will tell you how to get a gray snowy scene. If you want white snow you need to over expose (brighten from gray). If you are shooting a black building the meter will tell you how to get a gray building. If you want a black building you must reduce the exposure from what the meter recommends (make darker than gray).

Understanding Camera Metering and Exposure

The histogram allows you to quickly assess your exposure. It will clearly show you if you've under or over exposed. Here's a good article explaining it.

Understanding Digital Camera Histograms: Tones and Contrast

Gaerek · Mar 20, 2010

Boomn4x4 said:
... let me just make sure I re-empahsize that my question was directed to "beginnners".... I'm having a hard time believing that I'm the only one with less than a years experience in photography that doesn't use manual modes more than 90% of the time.

I'm seeing that many of you have professional acrediations, have been members of this site for years, and have your own photography websites... You aren't actually still "beginners" are you?

I'm confused as to why it matters whether a begginer is responding or someone else. As others have said, all that matters is that you get the shot. There are tons of beginners out there who claim to "shoot manual" only to find out that they are setting the camera where the meter tells them to. If that's the case, there's absolutely no reason to use full manual. Manual is useful in basically 2 situations:

1) When you're using a strobe, because the meter is going to go off the ambient light, not the strobe. Go to manual, set your aperture and shutter to what works creatively for you, and let the flash decide everything else.

2) When there's a scene or situation where you can't trust the meter. Snow scenes have been mentioned, I mentioned sunsets and sunrises. Bascially, if you think the meter is being confused, or you simply want total control over exposure.

If you are a beginner who claims to shoot manual, but really, you're just doing exactly what the meter tells you to do, do yourself a favor and go aperture or shutter priority. This is basically how you're using manual mode now, but this is a lot quicker.

As for the begginer comment, I learned shooting manual, but that was because of my camera. I learned on a Canon AE-1, which did have shutter priority (no aperture priority), but I rarely used it as I wanted my shutter set in relation to my aperture, not the other way around. Learning manual can be helpful, I suppose, but if you already understand exposure, there's little reason to shoot manual besides being able to say "I cn haz manual mode!"

EDIT: Just thought I'd add this. When I say manual, I am referring to M mode (on most cameras). I do not shoot "green square," scene modes, or P, and I really can't recommend those for anyone who actually wants to learn photography (though I'll switch my camera to those modes when I hand it to my wife when she wants to shoot, simply because she has no real interest to learn).

Ron Evers · Mar 20, 2010

EDIT: Just thought I'd add this. When I say manual, I am referring to M mode (on most cameras). I do not shoot "green square," scene modes, or P, and I really can't recommend those for anyone who actually wants to learn photography (though I'll switch my camera to those modes when I hand it to my wife when she wants to shoot, simply because she has no real interest to learn).

Same here, frustrating isn't it.

williambarry · Mar 20, 2010

The only time I use Auto mode is when I need a jpeg rather quickly. I abhor working with jpegs, but occasionally I need one to print for some random purpose. If I have to take the time to load raw onto my computer and save it back to my card when I could have just saved it to my card... I may miss a opportunity to sell a pic.

Gaerek · Mar 20, 2010

williambarry said:
The only time I use Auto mode is when I need a jpeg rather quickly. I abhor working with jpegs, but occasionally I need one to print for some random purpose. If I have to take the time to load raw onto my computer and save it back to my card when I could have just saved it to my card... I may miss a opportunity to sell a pic.

That's one reason I typically shoot RAW + JPEG. It's not for everyone, but I rarely fill my 8gb card (and I have a couple 4gb as backup) and it gives me the best of both worlds.

xsouthpawed · Mar 20, 2010

Gaerek said:
If you are a beginner who claims to shoot manual, but really, you're just doing exactly what the meter tells you to do, do yourself a favor and go aperture or shutter priority. This is basically how you're using manual mode now, but this is a lot quicker.

Heh. I was that beginner. And then I decided to try out using Aperture priority and realized that I was wasting a lot of time following the meter. I still use manual sometimes, but I tend to stick with Av now. Quick question though. I can't seem to find the jpeg files when I shoot RAW+Jpeg. Do I have to extract it out of the RAW file or something? Thanks.

Gaerek · Mar 20, 2010

xsouthpawed said:
Gaerek said:

If you are a beginner who claims to shoot manual, but really, you're just doing exactly what the meter tells you to do, do yourself a favor and go aperture or shutter priority. This is basically how you're using manual mode now, but this is a lot quicker.

Click to expand...

Heh. I was that beginner. And then I decided to try out using Aperture priority and realized that I was wasting a lot of time following the meter. I still use manual sometimes, but I tend to stick with Av now. Quick question though. I can't seem to find the jpeg files when I shoot RAW+Jpeg. Do I have to extract it out of the RAW file or something? Thanks.

I think a lot of beginners start with manual because they think, "That's what the pros do and the pros take great shots!" Funny thing is, most pros (not all, so just because you don't, doesn't mean all don't) use Av most of the time, and use exposure compensation if they need to adjust their exposure.

As for the RAW + JPEG question. If you shoot Nikon, it might be different, but on a Canon, they should all be right there in memory card as seperate files. They have the same name just a different file extension (.cr2 for RAW and .jpg for JPEG).

Josh66 · Mar 20, 2010

I think my first week I pretty much only used the green box, full auto mode. After that, I used mostly Av for about a year. After that, I was probably using Av & M 50/50.

Just M now - I've tried using Av for 'speed & ease of use' occasionally, but it just doesn't seem faster for me anymore. Every time I try it, it will do something to piss me off, and I go back to M, lol.

bentcountershaft · Mar 20, 2010

I'm kind of the same. I would try AP and the camera would lengthen my shutter speed to compensate. Try SP and it would boost my ISO way too high. I've learned a lot more shooting manual and it has nothing to do with bragging rights. What matters is the end result. I'm not saying everyone should do it, but most of the folks that have been shooting for a long time learned that way due to lack of options and they seem to have turned out ok.

NateWagner · Mar 20, 2010

why would SP boost your ISO? I guess I don't know Canon's particularly well, but typically SP/SV only has the camera modify Aperture doesn't it?

I mean, unless you have AutoISO on.