Full Manual or Semi Manual

The vast majority of the pictures I take are run-‘n-gun candid shots. I just like this style for some reason, both indoors and outdoors. I use M-mode indoors with flash, but even in that situation, the camera is still heavily influencing the result via ETTL flash metering.

Outdoors, there are so many variables—shade vs. no shade, angle of sun as everybody (including me) moves around, clouds zipping by in the sky—that I just don’t see any benefit at all to using M mode for the types of photos I like to take, unless there is some oddball lighting situation that would confuse the camera too much.

I go to Av mode, set the aperture for the desired DoF effect, set the ISO to as low as I can get away with, and monitor the shutter speeds in my viewfinder as I’m shooting to make sure they stay fast enough for sharp shots. For good measure, I chimp the odd histogram. Easy.

I realize you can get pretty quick with the manual controls with practice, and in fact I am reasonably quick with it considering I only have one dial, but when you’re watching people through your viewfinder trying to identify those priceless split-second candid moments to capture, you just can’t be quick enough.

Besides, aside from certain special situations where I either want blurring or the subjects are moving erratically and I want to freeze them (sports), shutter speed usually isn’t important from a creative standpoint, so why bother fiddling with it manually? In most situations (for me), it’s only important insofar as I need to know it’s acceptably fast to defeat camera shake. In that sense, it’s monitored in a binary pass/fail fashion rather than something that is dialed in to suit my creative intent for a given shot.

I thought that this post, by cynicaster, perfectly sums up the situation, especially for users of what are called "one-button cameras", like the Rebels, and the simpler Nikons. VERY well-stated!
 
I don't think it's been pointed out here, although it certainly has elsewhere on this site: If you're using full manual but simply adjusting the settings so that the camera indicates a "correct" exposure, then it's really no different than A priority/S priority/full manual with auto ISO. If you're allowing the camera's meter to determine any aspect of the shot then you're not shooting "full manual" - and that's just fine.
 
The vast majority of the pictures I take are run-‘n-gun candid shots. I just like this style for some reason, both indoors and outdoors. I use M-mode indoors with flash, but even in that situation, the camera is still heavily influencing the result via ETTL flash metering.

Outdoors, there are so many variables—shade vs. no shade, angle of sun as everybody (including me) moves around, clouds zipping by in the sky—that I just don’t see any benefit at all to using M mode for the types of photos I like to take, unless there is some oddball lighting situation that would confuse the camera too much.

I go to Av mode, set the aperture for the desired DoF effect, set the ISO to as low as I can get away with, and monitor the shutter speeds in my viewfinder as I’m shooting to make sure they stay fast enough for sharp shots. For good measure, I chimp the odd histogram. Easy.

I realize you can get pretty quick with the manual controls with practice, and in fact I am reasonably quick with it considering I only have one dial, but when you’re watching people through your viewfinder trying to identify those priceless split-second candid moments to capture, you just can’t be quick enough.

Besides, aside from certain special situations where I either want blurring or the subjects are moving erratically and I want to freeze them (sports), shutter speed usually isn’t important from a creative standpoint, so why bother fiddling with it manually? In most situations (for me), it’s only important insofar as I need to know it’s acceptably fast to defeat camera shake. In that sense, it’s monitored in a binary pass/fail fashion rather than something that is dialed in to suit my creative intent for a given shot.

I thought that this post, by cynicaster, perfectly sums up the situation, especially for users of what are called "one-button cameras", like the Rebels, and the simpler Nikons. VERY well-stated!


Derrel, which side are you on? Canon or Nikon?:345:
 
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You should let your camera automate every variable possible, unless you have a good reason to believe that it is going to make the wrong choice in its automatic decision (which is fairly often, but by no means always).

For example, my camera takes up to ISO 3200 pictures with no amount of grain that's bad enough for me to care about. Thus, I always set auto ISO with a limit of 3200 by default.

There are exceptions, like low light situations, where I may decide higher than 3200 is justifiable. Or fast action shots, where I need faster than 1/250th shutter (this SHOULD be able to be automated, but for some infuriating reason, the 6D won't let you set its auto-system to recognize anything faster than 1/250th as an automatic requirement. wtf?), where I need to shut off auto ISO in order to force the camera to use a fast enough shutter.

But outside of the times I expect it to fail, it makes sense to automate it and require that much less work for myself. Same goes for pretty much every other variable.
 
You should let your camera automate every variable possible, unless you have a good reason to believe that it is going to make the wrong choice in its automatic decision (which is fairly often, but by no means always)............

Which is why I shoot in full manual 95% of the time.
 
Full manual. I really don't see any issue adjusting the aperture, shutter and ISO according to conditions or the desired effect for the photo I want to achieve. I've gotten quite quick at messing with these settings.

Maybe because you have a D7000? :). T3i only has 1 wheel dude.

Good point. This was much less doable when I was shooting with my d5100
 
The vast majority of the pictures I take are run-‘n-gun candid shots. I just like this style for some reason, both indoors and outdoors. I use M-mode indoors with flash, but even in that situation, the camera is still heavily influencing the result via ETTL flash metering.

Outdoors, there are so many variables—shade vs. no shade, angle of sun as everybody (including me) moves around, clouds zipping by in the sky—that I just don’t see any benefit at all to using M mode for the types of photos I like to take, unless there is some oddball lighting situation that would confuse the camera too much.

I go to Av mode, set the aperture for the desired DoF effect, set the ISO to as low as I can get away with, and monitor the shutter speeds in my viewfinder as I’m shooting to make sure they stay fast enough for sharp shots. For good measure, I chimp the odd histogram. Easy.

I realize you can get pretty quick with the manual controls with practice, and in fact I am reasonably quick with it considering I only have one dial, but when you’re watching people through your viewfinder trying to identify those priceless split-second candid moments to capture, you just can’t be quick enough.

Besides, aside from certain special situations where I either want blurring or the subjects are moving erratically and I want to freeze them (sports), shutter speed usually isn’t important from a creative standpoint, so why bother fiddling with it manually? In most situations (for me), it’s only important insofar as I need to know it’s acceptably fast to defeat camera shake. In that sense, it’s monitored in a binary pass/fail fashion rather than something that is dialed in to suit my creative intent for a given shot.

To add to this, many lenses (especially those likely to be owned by people who are just starting out) are constrained by a relatively narrow useful aperture range. Many lenses aren't at their sharpest, exhibit optical defects, or don't have adequate DoF unless stopped down 1 or 2 stops, and beyond F16 or so, diffraction can become an issue. For those reasons, in addition to the ones already stated by cynicaster, you will likely prefer not to let the camera choose the aperture.

On the flip side, if you know you need a fast shutter speed for a shot, just blast the aperture wide open and you know your shutter speed is maxed out...need more? Bump the iso. Doesn't cost much more time than switching to shutter priority mode.
 
You should let your camera automate every variable possible, unless you have a good reason to believe that it is going to make the wrong choice in its automatic decision (which is fairly often, but by no means always).
I believe this, but it rarely gives me the result I want -- which is a beautiful print, sharp and well-exposed corner-to-corner. When I was in high school in the 1970's, I shot three rolls of a local rock concert with my Nikon, and every photo was well-exposed and the focus was sharp. And it was difficult -- I had filters on the flash, and I had to manually calculate all the exposures, but taking that time and being mindful of the costs are what forced me to use more care and make each shot count.
Today, I can hold down the shutter and take twenty or fifty shots, but when I do, they're all crap (I'm my worst critic). I used to take pictures without film to practice exposure and focus. Today, I shoot hundreds of pictures to practice things, but for me, only the well-planned, thought out photo matters.
I fully admit that there are zillions of photographers who are better than me, and while I'm looking at a redwood tree and twisting my polarizing filter about, they can walk up and snap a picture that will be better than mine.
I find that Green Mode and P mode don't do much for my photos, because for me, I need to pay attention to my exposure and focus. Maybe I will just go back to shooting film for a while.
 
It's spam! *cockney accent* I don't like spam!
 
Just a quick question... if you could force yourself to make each shot count when shooting film.. why not take the same care with digital?

Whether it's film or digital, you could place the same emphasis on exposure and focus, could you not?
 
Just a quick question... if you could force yourself to make each shot count when shooting film.. why not take the same care with digital?

Whether it's film or digital, you could place the same emphasis on exposure and focus, could you not?
It's a good question. I would say that the tool today lends itself to to taking many more shots. Right off the bat, having that histogram on the back lends itself to taking "throw away" shots, which I'd never been able to do before. Would I stop using the histogram? I doubt it.

With film, if you're shooting a roll of Kodachrome 64 and you go indoors, you pretty much stop shooting; you're forced to shoot only specific things. Today we can switch "film type" on a shot-by-shot basis. But you have to pay attention to that.

And there are two other things: First, evaluative exposure metering is a great technology, but it separates us from the exposure meter and the art, because we don't know what's being metered. Instead, I just bracket the Dickens out of my photos. I might switch to center weighted metering to get better control of my exposures.

Second, my old Nikon FE had a much brighter, bigger viewfinder than my Canon DSLR. I did just step up from a Rebel to a 7D, mostly to get a better viewfinder, so I am getting better control of focus and DoF with this camera.

I'm a big fan of the technology, but I view a camera as an art tool, like a paintbrush. With so much at my fingertips now, I'm struggling. I think I mastered my Rebel camera, but it had limits, and the 7D has a surprisingly steep learning curve, and I need to put more time into it. For example, my Rebel had four stops of ISO latitude, while the 7D has six. Suddenly, I'm noticing that the camera's exposure system makes a lot of decisions about ISO automatically, which I hadn't paid much attention to before. Try manually metering a 7D with AutoISO if you want to see this... it's not really manual exposure; if you dial within six stops of a correct exposure, the camera will adjust ISO to put your exposure right on the center of the meter. I'm not complaining; it's just a new paradigm for me. One of many. So I'm being much more mindful of my ISO values, because I want sharp pictures. And I've noticed that, with P mode, the camera sets an ISO when you start metering and it won't change ISO if you shift the program, but in an Av or Tv mode, it will shift ISO whenever you change aperture or shutter speed, as it will in "Manual" mode. Again, not bad things, just new things. So now I use Av mode much more, and I fix ISO to 100.

Will I really go back to film? Absolutely not, because I always hated the fact that I surrendered my film to a printer, who would automatically expose it however he saw fit. But I will try to shoot more carefully.
 
Full manual all day errr day. But having 2 command wheels makes it easy. I was much slower at it when I only had my d3k. I do use AV but I end up getting better results in manual.

Flowers I typically prefer AV though unless the light is low.
 
Just a quick question... if you could force yourself to make each shot count when shooting film.. why not take the same care with digital?

Whether it's film or digital, you could place the same emphasis on exposure and focus, could you not?
It's a good question. I would say that the tool today lends itself to to taking many more shots. Right off the bat, having that histogram on the back lends itself to taking "throw away" shots, which I'd never been able to do before. Would I stop using the histogram? I doubt it.

With film, if you're shooting a roll of Kodachrome 64 and you go indoors, you pretty much stop shooting; you're forced to shoot only specific things. Today we can switch "film type" on a shot-by-shot basis. But you have to pay attention to that.

And there are two other things: First, evaluative exposure metering is a great technology, but it separates us from the exposure meter and the art, because we don't know what's being metered. Instead, I just bracket the Dickens out of my photos. I might switch to center weighted metering to get better control of my exposures.

Second, my old Nikon FE had a much brighter, bigger viewfinder than my Canon DSLR. I did just step up from a Rebel to a 7D, mostly to get a better viewfinder, so I am getting better control of focus and DoF with this camera.

I'm a big fan of the technology, but I view a camera as an art tool, like a paintbrush. With so much at my fingertips now, I'm struggling. I think I mastered my Rebel camera, but it had limits, and the 7D has a surprisingly steep learning curve, and I need to put more time into it. For example, my Rebel had four stops of ISO latitude, while the 7D has six. Suddenly, I'm noticing that the camera's exposure system makes a lot of decisions about ISO automatically, which I hadn't paid much attention to before. Try manually metering a 7D with AutoISO if you want to see this... it's not really manual exposure; if you dial within six stops of a correct exposure, the camera will adjust ISO to put your exposure right on the center of the meter. I'm not complaining; it's just a new paradigm for me. One of many. So I'm being much more mindful of my ISO values, because I want sharp pictures. And I've noticed that, with P mode, the camera sets an ISO when you start metering and it won't change ISO if you shift the program, but in an Av or Tv mode, it will shift ISO whenever you change aperture or shutter speed, as it will in "Manual" mode. Again, not bad things, just new things. So now I use Av mode much more, and I fix ISO to 100.

Will I really go back to film? Absolutely not, because I always hated the fact that I surrendered my film to a printer, who would automatically expose it however he saw fit. But I will try to shoot more carefully.

Great answer! :thumbup:
 

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