Wondering about modes

[usayit]

Most of the time in Aperture-priority... my brain just naturally thinks in those terms. In low light (which I do a lot), I shoot in shutter-priority. I know how slow of a shutter I can shoot handheld, on a monopod, leaning against a wall, etc...

 

[Puscas]

99.9 % manual mode and auto focus. I only use manual focus when my camera is really struggling (but I suck at MF).






pascal

 

[EOS_JD]

1. 90% of my shots are in Av since I want to control DOF.

2. Then I use Tv when it comes to capture fast motion since then I need control over the exposure time to get well defined motion blur, or no motion blur at all.

In both cases I use exposure compensation to avoid blown out highlights
or dark areas with no detail resolved.

since that means I control 2 parameters, I could also shoot manual all the time .. just for me Av and Tv are faster

3. I shoot full manual for all exposures over 10 seconds or so ... and when i need several shots with exactly the same exposure.

Ditto..... Although I usually also use Manual (sometimes Av for fill) when using my 580EX.

 

[RMThompson]

Well this weekend was my first real shoot with the D50, and I intended on using the A (aperature priority) mode but found it was washing out a LOT of my pictures... so I shot in Manual mostly, kept the f-stop at 1.8 - 2.8 and just changed the shutter speed up and down.

 

[clarinetJWD]

Manual. I know better than my camera.

 

[Mike_E]

Just like the gears in my car, I use them all -where appropriate.
(it depends a lot on the meter mode I'm using)

mike

 

[danalec99]

Mainly Av here - obviously, to control the depth of field
M, with flash
Tv when needed

 

[Aquarium Dreams]

Manual with manual focusing for the longest time. Started experimenting with Av priority and auto focusing since joining this forum and seeing how well it works for some people.

 

[RacePhoto]

Program mode becaus eI can still tell the camera if I want the shutter to be faster or slower, and I can use exposure composition to keep it to my desired exposure.

I always wondered what that "P" mode did?

TV when I'm shooting fast things and I want to stop them
AV when I'm composing for depth of field
M when I'm making sure I get the settings I want, not what the camera decides.

Green Box when I'm taking snapshots
Little Running man (sports), when I'm lazy and it might be moving. Camera defaults to 200 iso which is fine with me, basically is TV Auto mode.

Hard to say, but I think if I had to pick one that I'd jump to first it would be TV (shutter speed) priority because I can adjust the aperture by watching it in the viewfinder and know when I'm getting into the speed limits.

 

[Frequent Traveler]

Depends really.... Mostly manual w/AF (except in portraiture of adults/non-children then MF). Otherwise, AF with aperture priority generally speaking or AF with shutter priority, again generally speaking and possibly with MF. ;-)

 

[Peanuts]

90% manual - now, don't go looking at the EXIF data on my most recent threads though - in Sierra Leone I shot primarily AV. The light changes just say too fast, and I was way into the 'moments' to be constantly checking my histogram, or even double triple checking my exposure. I would rather get several mediocre shost with AV, then screw up 10 min. worth of shots because I wasn't paying attention.

Other then that - manual.

 

[jemmy]

When I got my first DSLR, I went with Program... ... then Aperture... now 99.9% Manual with AF... and I am MUCH happier with my work. x

 

[avcabob]

Most of the time my camera is on M, but as I'm using older lenses where I have to set the aperture manually, I'll usually set the aperture I want, and have the camera choose a shutter speed. So I guess it's really Av, although sometimes I do adjust the speed it selects.

 

[bakuretsu]

I shoot in Av 99% of the time on my 5D. The most important thing to have in mind when you use any of the auto-metering modes (P, Av/A, Tv/S) is the characteristics of your camera's metering system. I am very satisfied with Canon's "evaluative" or "matrix" metering, and I know when it will fail me and I need to use the EV adjustments to override its judgment.

I wrote an article all about camera modes and their pros and cons, and I think it could be helpful to the OP: http://www.singleservingphoto.com/2007/05/29/be-a-control-freak-shooting-modes-explained/

 

[JIP]

I did not know that! Will it keep those settings when I re-compose and shoot another scene? If I want to lock in a certain aperture, or a certain shutter speed consistent through multiple shots, how do I do that in P mode?

If you are taking a quick shot there is a button on your camera it usually says AV lock or something similar.