Manual Settings

Resin42 · Oct 2, 2008

Always manual although sometimes I feel I would have faired better in shutter priority when the need to quickly adjust presents itself. Generally I don't find the camera gets it right much though.

GeneralBenson · Oct 2, 2008

ANDS! said:
It's not pointless, but its more work than you need for the majority of what it is out there. If of course you are interested in certain affects and NEED a greater control, sure. But for the most part the camera is more than capable of handling the rest so long as you tell it where you want it to start (AP mode for example).

You call it more work, I call it practice. I shoot 99% manual and find that every time I switch into a priority mode I'm unhappy that I did. I think the recurring theme to this thread is that only the people who frequent priority modes find manual slow and awkward. The people who shoot 100% manual don't seem to think this. The more time you spend in manual, the faster it gets, until it's just as fast as priority mode, but with 100% creative control.

Josh66 · Oct 2, 2008

I disagree with the above a little.

I use Av mode 90% of the time, as do a lot of others (seems like Av is probably the most popular mode). I only use M when I need it - when Av can't do what I want, or it's just easier/faster to do it in M. I don't find Manual mode difficult to use or awkward in any way, it's just overkill for a lot of the shooting I do.

And for those who "don't trust the camera" enough to use anything but Manual - are you using the camera's light meter? If you are you're putting the exact same trust in the camera whether you're shooting in M, Av, Tv, and to some extent even the green box. You are still letting the camera tell you what a "good" exposure is.

ksmattfish · Oct 2, 2008

Manual or automatic are states of mind; it's the degree of interest the photographer takes in interpreting the meter. Exposure modes just determine whether the settings are adjusted with fingers or electronics. Putting the camera in M, and just zeroing out the meter every time is running in auto. Putting the camera in P, Av, or Tv, and using exposure lock to select the aperture and shutter is running in manual.

If you've heard running your camera in manual mode is difficult you've been bamboozled. Read your camera manual, any photo how-to book, or find a website about exposure. If you've got a digital camera you should be able to get a pretty firm grasp on proper manual exposure techniques with a little concentration and some practice.

mrodgers · Oct 2, 2008

O|||||||O said:
And for those who "don't trust the camera" enough to use anything but Manual - are you using the camera's light meter? If you are you're putting the exact same trust in the camera whether you're shooting in M, Av, Tv, and to some extent even the green box. You are still letting the camera tell you what a "good" exposure is.

I was thinking the same thing looking through this thread. With my camera, I have found that an EV value of -2/3 gives the best exposure (in my opinion, anyways). It doesn't matter if the camera is in Aperture, Shutter, or Manual. Manual I just have to adjust settings so it reads -2/3 where all others I set the EV to -2/3.

The light meter doesn't change per mode. It should be the same meter for all, the only one in the camera and displays the same.

If you all were saying that Manual allows you to fine tune specific exposures I could understand. But if you don't trust your light meter in Av, then you shouldn't trust it in Manual either.