Automatic vs. Manual?

[bazooka]

I drive a Magnum which is an automatic, but it also has a slap shift so I can run as a pseudo-clutchless-manual. I don't ever use it though.

 

[Destin]

Alway shoot manual, never remember settings because there is no point every situation is different

I disagree.

I shoot lots of concerts, and I can tell you that most of the time my exposure will be in the neighborhood of iso1600, f2.8, and 1/125th.

I shoot lots of high school football at night. I can tell you the exact exposure required for the 4 closest football fields to me.

I shoot lots of basketball with OCF. Same settings every time.

Being able to remember settings is a HUGE time saver.

 

[Patrice]

I get a kick out of these 'shoot manual' threads. They come up pretty regularly. Some guy suddenly figures out how to sort out exposure settings and how thy work and soon after we get a 'shoot manual' thread. Invariably the thread brings out the 'I must be good because I only shoot manual' blokes. Big deal.

I paid good money to get a really nice D700 with lots of features and I'm gonna use them. The trick is to understand how the auto and semi-auto modes work, when they'll work and when they won't. Even the the oh so frowned upon scene modes have a place in photography and they work very well when used correctly, just like any other feature of these smart cameras.

I remember how happy I was when I got an F4s with matrix metering, auto focus, aperture priority, shutter priority, intervalometer back and the program mode. What a joy to have so many new and useful tools in the kit bag, and all in one easy to use camera body. Manual is nice, but it is not the 'be all' of camera operation. Modern cameras have a ton of useful features, an accomplished photographer will have a working understanding of all of them and know when and how to use them.

My opinion. Yours may differ.

 

[MLeeK]

Alway shoot manual, never remember settings because there is no point every situation is different

I am like Keith and I shoot manual all of the time because it's how I work. It's ingrained in my brain. However, I am not an advocate of all manual all of the time like Gary is.
I can dial in settings most of the time just by looking at the situation and be correct. It's fast and it's natural to me, however I do NOT believe it's the answer for everyone or even almost everyone. There are not many people who shoot like we do in all manual all of the time.

I know when and how to use the priority modes and I teach them often. It's just more complicated to ME to use a semi-manual mode. For me I have to then watch my other setting to be sure it's falling correctly, be aware of my metering and what my meter is hitting and if it will make a bad call.

The post processing of a priority mode is a nightmare for me. It forces me to have to look at every individual image and make sure the camera exposed it properly. When I am controlling the exposure it's consistently exactly the same and there is no having to look and make sure of anything in post. It's all the same.

Then there is the whole EC thing... It's not as easy to dial in EC as it is to just dial in the correct settings in manual. It takes looking at the back of the camera, navigating thru the quick menu and then dialing in. If my exposure is slightly off in manual I never have to take my face from the viewfinder to change the settings... It's just harder for me to use the assisted modes and doesn't make sense.

In 95% or more of all situations your lighting is not changing constantly. If you put settings in that are correct they don't change for every image. They only change when your lighting changes.

I find that in football I have to adjust my settings about two to three times as the sun goes down. It's not a constant thing. I am usually shooting from a time when there is full sunlight until well after dark. I also have to change those settings at each end of the field after dark. I know those settings after the first trip to the end zone in a new school. I know what it will already be at our home school and have it programmed in to my C1 and C2.

Is that the way EVERYONE should shoot? HELL NO! You shoot what is right for you and if it's aperture and shutter priority used correctly and you are balancing the things I can't manage? Well, my hat goes off to you cuz it's just plain a pain in my butt to do it your way. You have a talent I DEFINITELY LACK!

 

[Josh66]

I don't actually have any cameras that have a full-blown, green-box auto mode... (Well, I do have some, but they're in the closet and haven't been used in a very long time...) I do use aperture priority a lot though. Some cameras I pretty much only use in manual, others I pretty much always use in aperture priority. Just depends... Aperture priority is pretty good as long as you know when it's going to need exposure compensation.

If I'm using a flash, it's 100% manual all the time.

 

[JClishe]

Then there is the whole EC thing... It's not as easy to dial in EC as it is to just dial in the correct settings in manual. It takes looking at the back of the camera, navigating thru the quick menu and then dialing in. If my exposure is slightly off in manual I never have to take my face from the viewfinder to change the settings... It's just harder for me to use the assisted modes and doesn't make sense.

On my 50D I can simply nudge the Quick Control Dial with my thumb to control EC without taking my face away from the viewfinder, which is both easy and convenient. And fast. But I agree with your point, there is no right or wrong answer here. Personal preference and different button layouts across camera bodies will all likely impact how the photographer goes about controlling the exposure. The only thing that ultimately matters is whether the photographer is able to get the exposure that captures his/her creative intent.

 

[imagemaker46]

I grew up shooting manual, using a light meter. For the most part I learned to make an educated guess at what the correct exposures were without the use of the light meter, (shooting slide film was always metered) Shooting everything on auto is a recipe for photographic disaster, too many opportunites for the camera reading off the wrong light source. Learning how to shoot manual is a progression in photography that will help make the camera user a better photographer.

I can walk into pretty much any sports venue anywhere in the world and have a pretty good idea what the exposure is going to be, this just comes with experience. Shooting outdoors, most situations are different, but basically all the same, if that makes any sense.

Simply said, learn how your camera works, learn how to make manual adjustments, learn how to be a better photographer, isn't that the idea?

 

[Joel_W]

I pretty much shoot in Aperture Priority mode 75% of the time because I'm usually photographing flowers, plants, bugs. etc, and DOF is my main concern. I also shoot nearly every picture on a tripod, so a slow shutter speed doesn't bother me. But when I'm shooting anything with movement such as birds or animals, I'm usually in manual mode as I need to set all the exposure values to meet the given situation.

 

[unpopular]

i've always used manual mode. for me AE/AF and anything other that spot mode is unnatural and imprecise.

I could get used to AF i think if i had a decent AF lens. But i doubt i'd ever like AE or these new fangled meter modes.

 

[brian_f2.8]

i shoot manual when im doing something i care about > sports/portraits etc.. if im at a friends/family function put it on auto, reason being im not good enough to set up the camera quick enough to catch ketchup squeezing out of a hot dog bun and onto someones shirt.

 

[table1349]

Asked and answered a thousand times here and on other forums, usually ending up in an argument.

 

[picturephotos]

I started out shooting automatic when I was doing drag races. That was years ago and i've since educated myself to manual. All self taught and it wasn't easy. I memorize all my settings for different situations. I'm fortunate to remember those settings since I find it hard to remember anything else. My first thought way before I start is to get to my spot early, take a few sample shots and fix my settings in time before my subjects appear. I don't have a meter or anything to tell me if everything is correct. I very seldom use a flash except on dark cloudy days. My photos have been consistant. I am a serious perfectionist. That has it's pros and cons. lol

 

[MLeeK]

I started out shooting automatic when I was doing drag races. That was years ago and i've since educated myself to manual. All self taught and it wasn't easy. I memorize all my settings for different situations. I'm fortunate to remember those settings since I find it hard to remember anything else. My first thought way before I start is to get to my spot early, take a few sample shots and fix my settings in time before my subjects appear. I don't have a meter or anything to tell me if everything is correct. I very seldom use a flash except on dark cloudy days. My photos have been consistant. I am a serious perfectionist. That has it's pros and cons. lol

You have a meter in your camera. It's not the same as a handheld, but it's really pretty decent.

 

[pdq5oh]

I shoot manual the greatest majority of the time. Nearly all. I know what I want and don't want any settings changed unless I change them. I grew up & learned on cameras with nothing but a shutter & aperture ring. Nothing auto until my Pentax ME. Not near enough control on that for me. Learn to see the middle grey in your scenes and expose for it. Auto setting will compromise the whole scene to middle grey. Whites generally won't be white, and blacks won't truly be black. I only use auto settings when light changes too fast to keep up manually. Moving subjects going in and out of light & dark areas quickly. Otherwise, as Patrice says, I'm good enough to not need auto settings.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Same.

Totally depends on the situation. If I'm in a studio or doing still life stuff with OCF or CL than it's manual. Obviously any night shots on a tripod are manual too. For everything else I'm usually in Av and I use exposure comp for quick adjustments as necessary.