Do you....

pgriz · Mar 23, 2011

I do reset it to the settings I like to have as a "standard" which are different from yours, but as you already pointed out, when you whip the camera out, you want it to behave in a known manner. On the other hand, prior to starting a shooting session, I'll likely play with the light meter and flash if that's what I'm using, and will set the "session" settings after assessing the light and the objectives of the session. But at the end, I reset them back to my "standard".

480sparky · Mar 23, 2011

I always "park" my cameras to a certain setting.

The 'parked' mode is Auto everything..... exposure, white balance, focus, ISO, flash. That way, if I need to take a shot NOW I remove the lens cap, turn it on and at least I have a chance of getting something usable. Maybe not for the cover of NG, but usable.

By having everything set to a given point, then I know where I need to go from to get to where I want to when I have the luxury of time to take more control from the camera.

When I'm done shooting, I set everything to this "Park" mode, and I also check that there's enough battery for 50-100 shots, as well as space on the memory card. If not, they get swapped with fresh/empty.

KmH · Mar 23, 2011

The exact settings will vary based on what someone routinely shoots. For example a studio shooter will likely have a different list of put-it-away settings than a action sports shooter would use.

Drake · Mar 23, 2011

I usually do, unless I forget of course... I leave mine on:

Av - I usually shoot in the aperture priority mode, and it's convenient when I just want to snap something fast
ISO - it depends, but usually ISO 100/200
RAW
Exp comp - set to 0, but that's the thing I tend to forget about...
Evaluative metering

Hardrock · Mar 23, 2011

I have never thought about doing this! But Im way to lazy for all that when Im done I usually yank the card out and stuff the camera in my bag until the next go around. I do check all the settings before the first shot since I've burned myself in the past! It is funny to see what others do though!

mishele · Mar 23, 2011

Do some of you people line all the cans in your kitchen cabinets the same direction too?!! lol :greenpbl:

Overread · Mar 23, 2011

mishele said:
Do some of you people line all the cans in your kitchen cabinets the same direction too?!! lol :greenpbl:

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

not the same direction but I try to maintain order - but gah I'm the only one who does!!
It's hell it really is when everyone just makes a mess and you have to spend half an hour searching trough all the tins to find the one single last tiny tin of backed beans (generally hiding right in the opposite corner to where it is supposed to be and sculking behind a jar of pickled onions). I mean its not so bad when its just me in the house - I can maintain mess then cause its ordered mess - but with other gah gah GAH! its a nightmare!

And don't get me started on them leaving empty boxes in the cupboards (nothing worse than reaching for a packet of Jaffa Cakes only to find that ---- its not got a single one inside!

)

Josh66 · Mar 23, 2011

I don't have "bag settings". Personally, I don't really see the point of it. If I used the same settings often enough that I knew what I would be using next time, I would probably just use one of the auto modes.
There are certain settings that I rarely (if ever) change, so they're the same every time I put my camera away - but that's just because they never change in the first place.

To me, it's like putting the camera away with a lens on it. I don't have a ton of lenses, but even then - I have a 1 in 7 chance that the lens on the camera will be the one I want to use when I grab my bag.
Putting a lens on is faster than taking one off then putting another one on.

Will it be sunny next time I use my camera? Night? Indoors? Flash? ...
I think that if I did have "bag settings", I would almost always have to change to something else before using my camera. So if I'm probably going to change the settings every time I pick it up, why bother having dedicated settings for storage?

ISO would be the single exception for me. I make sure that's at the native setting before I put it away. (And with film, I make sure the ISO is where I want it to be for that roll.)
Oh, and the power switch. I forget to turn my camera off all the time. :lol:

I pull it out of the bag, see that it's already on, then wonder how long it's been like that... It doesn't seem to affect battery life much though.

I could understand having an end of the day setting checklist if you worked in a mall portrait studio or some place where the settings rarely change... For the kind of stuff I do, anything I set it to would most likely have to be changed, so I don't bother.

SrBiscuit · Mar 23, 2011

I don't...it tends to go in the bag as it was set when I shot last. However, I learned an important lesson last week. Now that I actually have usable pics from ISO over 400, I've been getting up there and using 800 for some stuff. Sadly I didn't check that when I went to shoot some stuff with my strobes and wound up with a bunch of stuff shot at ISO1000. So ISO is one thing that I have GOT to get in the habit of checking before I put her to bed for the night. Makes me think I'm better off with **** ISO performance lol.

Overread · Mar 23, 2011

OIIIIIIIIO - I think of it more like this:

It's not about always using the same settings, but more about knowing what each mode and value is roughly set to whilst taking into account your more common shooting subjects (this of course changes from person to person - some shoot only one thing others shoot dozens). It's knowing that when I grab the camera and its set to manual mode I know what the aperture, shutter speed and ISO are before its reached my eye; I already know if they are right or wrong and need changing. I prefer that (when starting out a day) rather than having to fumble in finding out what the setting is - then fiddling around changing it if needed.

Phranquey · Mar 23, 2011

No, I don't have a bag setting. As I'm pulling the camera out, I just think of what I was shooting last... I pretty much have certain sets of parameters that I use for various things (big glass wildlife, macro, studio, etc). If I know what I was shooting, I know what everything is set at, and what to change for what I want to do next.

bottguardo · Mar 23, 2011

480sparky said:
I always "park" my cameras to a certain setting.

The 'parked' mode is Auto everything..... exposure, white balance, focus, ISO, flash. That way, if I need to take a shot NOW I remove the lens cap, turn it on and at least I have a chance of getting something usable. Maybe not for the cover of NG, but usable.

By having everything set to a given point, then I know where I need to go from to get to where I want to when I have the luxury of time to take more control from the camera.

When I'm done shooting, I set everything to this "Park" mode, and I also check that there's enough battery for 50-100 shots, as well as space on the memory card. If not, they get swapped with fresh/empty.

"Park Mode".....so that's what the "P" stands for.

Josh66 · Mar 23, 2011

Overread said:
I already know if they are right or wrong and need changing. I prefer that (when starting out a day) rather than having to fumble in finding out what the setting is - then fiddling around changing it if needed.

Yeah - for me though, they would pretty much always be wrong. :lmao:

I used to keep a lens on the camera while it was in my bag too. I found that the first thing I always had to do was change the lens - so I started putting it away with no lens on it.

Most backpack style bags are designed for the camera to always have a lens on it. That's one reason (not the only one) I stopped using them. You have to decide ahead of time what your 'bag lens' is going to be, and arrange all of the dividers to fit that configuration. For me that often meant that I would pull the camera out of the bag, change lenses, do some shooting, then have to change lenses again just so I could put the camera away.

It seemed like a lot of lens changing when all I had to do is just put the right one on when I knew what it was going to be.

To me, setting the camera a certain way is similar to that.

Now - by the time I et the bag open, I've already decided what lens I want... Pull camera out, grab that lens & mount... Flick the power switch, take a quick glance at the top panel - check battery level, how much film is left (if using a film body), and shutter speed & aperture are displayed there too - so I can usually tell if that's in the ballpark too. If it's way off, I can at least get it close enough that the needle will be visible somewhere on the meter with a turn of a couple wheels...

For me, it's just easier to take a glance at the top LCD to see where everything is than it would be to set everything a certain way when I'm done for the day.

Either way, settings are most likely going to need changing before using the camera. You can either change them once, or change them twice (the day before, and when you first pull it out).

I don't really change metering modes, AF modes, or anything like that much - so if it's just going to be aperture & shutter speed, those are fast to adjust.

I used to have a Canon 10s. It reset itself to the default settings (1/125, f/5.6, partial metering, one-shot AF, timer off) every time you turned it off. It was annoying as hell. The timer getting automatically turned off was nice though, since sometimes I forget about that. Other than that (and the weird +/- meter) it was a nice camera though...

EDIT

My point is - for those of you that do use 'bag settings', how often do you start shooting without changing the settings from your default?

If you change them often, why use them? If you just put the camera away with whatever it was on last, yes - you're probably going to have to change those settings before you use it... But, if you're setting it to some default that won't be right half the time, what's the difference?

edit, again

Just to clarify - I'm mostly only talking about aperture and shutter speed here. Stuff like metering mode, ISO, WB, AF mode, etc. is usually only going to get changed in certain situations - so yeah, if you had to change that stuff, change it back.