Automatic vs. Manual?

[djacobox372]

U know, its not really manual if your camera has a light meter. U should try guessing exposure without looking at the meter, it makes u think and slow down, both good things.

Your kidding, right? The key is understanding exposure and applying it to the photograph you're presently taking. Why guess when you have the proper tool to do the job at hand?

Not kidding in the least. One could also say "why draw freehand when you can trace?"

learning to "read light," will make you a better photographer. Our minds play a lot of tricks on us when it comes to how we perceive light--like a sub-conscious post-processing with heavy HDR. If you challenge yourself to read the light intensities as they are (not how you're brain has processed them), then it will aid in your ability to conceive of future photographic opportunities.

 

[djacobox372]

U know, its not really manual if your camera has a light meter. U should try guessing exposure without looking at the meter, it makes u think and slow down, both good things.

If that is the criteria, then it is not really a manual camera if it has a shutter release or variable aperture. You should have to remove the lens cap and figure out how long to leave it off and live with what ever aperture your lens has.

You're missing the point. I tend to think that a photographers ability to intuitively read how light and shadow interact in a scene is important, whereas the dexterity to accurately time exposures is not.

 

[unpopular]

You need to know how to read the light in order to use a meter, also. Computerized super-meters help automate this process, but they are only effective in objective renderings of typical subjects.

Again, this is the misconception that a light meter measures "proper exposure" rather than light intensity.

 

[manaheim]

My personal thought on this... after much consideration... is to read the other 4,000,000 threads on this very topic.

 

[unpopular]

sometimes I feel like I wrote half of those replies in the last six months.

 

[KristerP]

Manual or Aperture priority.

 

[ann]

You need to know how to read the light in order to use a meter, also. Computerized super-meters help automate this process, but they are only effective in objective renderings of typical subjects.

Again, this is the misconception that a light meter measures "proper exposure" rather than light intensity.

ahmen. I must tell my students a 100 times a session, the meter makes recommendation, it is not an absolute.

 

[unpopular]

I would not even call it a "recommendation"; As I am sure you know, it's a "reference". Fancy pants meters just choose the reference that is most likely to fit according to it's program.

 

[ann]

what ever it still isn't absolute and is clueless about the photographers intent and vision.

 

[table1349]

U know, its not really manual if your camera has a light meter. U should try guessing exposure without looking at the meter, it makes u think and slow down, both good things.

If that is the criteria, then it is not really a manual camera if it has a shutter release or variable aperture. You should have to remove the lens cap and figure out how long to leave it off and live with what ever aperture your lens has.

You're missing the point. I tend to think that a photographers ability to intuitively read how light and shadow interact in a scene is important, whereas the dexterity to accurately time exposures is not.

You read, but you do not fully understand, nor can you put what you read to full use. There is more to understanding light than just how it interacts with shadows.

 

[PDP]

It doesn't matter which mode you use to choose the exposure settings.
All the exposure variables also effect other aspects of your image beyond simply creating a correctly exposed image (such as aperature and DOF, shutter speed and motion etc..).
Therefore all that matters is that these variables are such that they create the image you want. It doesn't matter how they are selected, be it automatically, or manually, just as long as they are doing what you want them to do.

 

[greybeard]

I use manual when aperture priority won't do. I have an old Gossen Luna Pro that measures incidental light that has never let me down. When I can find batteries for it. lol

 

[c.cloudwalker]

My first response was honest, I don't care how one got the image I'm looking at. I'm looking at a photo not a technical manual.

That said, however, I wouldn't trust a photog who told me he/she didn't know how to shoot in manual. Kind of like I wouldn't trust someone who can't drive a stick-shift. Stick-shifts, aside from the fact that they teach the driver a lot more about how a car/vehicle works, are very useful/maybe necessary in some situation. Now, true, when in stop-and-go traffic, an automatic is a lot easier on the old knees but I wouldn't trade in my stick-shift vehicles.

Unless, that is, someone comes up with a car which like a camera can switch from manual to auto...

 

[CouncilmanDoug]

I drive manual and shoto manual. I did shoot aperture priority the other day though because I was sunglasses and they kept making me overexpose.
Do you guys shoot manual focus too? I have one lens that I have to shoot manual, but my other main I use auto with manual override and i override it alot

 

[CAS1951]

Why would you spend the $$ for a DSLR if you shoot strictly in auto? Is it because you don't understand the relationship between the ISO, Aperture and shutter speed? If this is the case and you don't want to be bothered with it, then perhaps a point and shoot would serve you better (and cost much less). You have much greater creative control if you shoot using manual settings.