Advice for Manual Mode

[Gary A.]

I was wondering.

 

[petrochemist]

I learnt photography using a camera (Pentax ME) that had no option for controlling shutter sped directly. I had to control the aperture myself & had the ability to dial in exposure compensation as required. (I was rather jealous of my brothers ME super as that allowed control of the shutter speed, and could set aperture as required) This left my understanding of the exposure triangle , exposure compensation etc quite workable, getting used to setting an aperture that would give the shutter speed within the range required, and judging EC so that the metering (matrix only) would be close enough for the subject.

A few years back, I spent a lunchtime shooting in the woods on manual without the using meter (Only chimping occasionally when in more difficult lighting) .
It was an interesting challenge that produced some very good results. It may have helped my photography improve but I'm not sure it did. The experience wasn't that different from using my father's old Pentax MX - though I do tend to use the meter more with that.

I wouldn't want to use it full time, as too much of what I shoot is rapidly changing (wildlife, motorsport) and there isn't time to play with controls before the decisive moment has gone. All too often in motorsport it's over before you've framed the scene - a screech of tires off to the side & by the time you've looked round there's nothing to see but a cloud of dust & debris... I generally use Av & switch to Sv when panning (or for prop aircraft - though sometimes I use manual for these).

I rarely shoot under studio conditions, where I have full control of the lighting - I get the impression that 's all some people shoot. What I do shoot is under a very wide range of lighting and often shooting only wavelengths invisible to the human eye. Judging correct exposure by eye is not possible for much of this

Manual certainly has it's place, but I suspect those who get elitist about it's exclusive use shoot a more limited range of subjects.

 

[beachrat]

I think everybody should just shoot with whatever works for them.
Jpeg,RAW,aperture priority,shutter priority,whatever.
I learned on a minolta srt-101 in the early 80's and was amazed at the light meter.
At the time,I thought that was fully automatic because of it. It was years later that I found out I was clicking in full manual.
That's what I'm comfortable doing so I keep doing it.
And believe me,I ain't no elitist. Just a simpleton with an out dated camera and a lot of lights.