Manual Mode: How long is it for you to mix the settings?

[rateeg]

I wanna ask, how long is it for you to adjust the apperture, shutterspeed, metering, exposure, iso, etc before you start to shoot?

And i wanna know what is the average time to do it.

My family members are getting impatientwhen i shoot them because it's about 15mins before i adjust the settings on every different environment. Lol

 

[reznap]

I don't use it unless I have a reason. It just stopped making sense to use manual for no specific reason if it was only slowing me down. I liked sticking to manual at first, as it helped me learn about the exposure triangle, but usually I use aperture priority.

For off-camera flash shots (since I can't E-TTL with my cheap flashes and radio triggers) I'm forced to use manual. I sort of have to guess my settings on the camera as well as the flash power on the speedlights, then I adjust after a test shot or two. You can also use an (incident?) light meter for getting correct exposure settings for your ambient light or flashes.

 

[SageMark]

I am confused. It should only take a few seconds to adjust m. It sounds like the holdup is in the desired result you are wishing to achieve. Sure, aperature and shutter have their small places in my book, but it's a rarity.

 

[reznap]

You do know how to read your camera's light meter right? Shouldn't be so bad if you keep an eye on it...

 

[Tulsa]

I can see what your saying. If you are not 100% familiar with what settings you need, it may take some test shoots. But by doing that you will get a better understanding. So each time you will know what to go for. Fire a test and go.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Under 20 seconds?

With practice it will become natural, and you will respond more than you think.

 

[pgriz]

I've gotten into the habit of resetting the camera to a "base" set of settings whenever I've been tinkering with them. In my case, ISO 100, picture style: standard, WB: Cloudy, Program: aperture-priority, Aperture: f/8. Exposure compensation: 0. Shooting style: Single. Then, if I whip out the camera, the settings are in a known state.

When I go into a shooting situation, I usually go in with a plan. I also take meter readings (incident) in the sunlight, shade, and primary area of interest. I make a decision whether the shots will be hand-held or on a tripod. So before starting, I have an idea of the exposure sets that I can have, whether or not I need a tripod, whether filters will be useful, and whether I will need fill light or not. These decisions probably take 1-5 minutes. After this, I'm making specific decisions on individual photos, but usually within the general parameters already worked out. My camera is set up to show the histogram after every shot, and having a quick look at that either confirms that I'm in the right exposure territory, or allows me to make corrections. If the primary exposure variables are several stops from the "average" reading, I'd be shooting in manual more, otherwise I would usually go with aperture-priority.

When changing environments, it would take me 1-2 minutes to "reconfigure my tricorder" to the new settings, to verify them with a test shot and a scan of the historgram.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Under 20 seconds?

Takes me a bit longer... Maybe 30 seconds to a minute. But I mostly only adjust the Aperture and Shutter. I decide the ISO before hand and rarely change it while shooting.

Most of "the other stuff" is dependent on the venue and I don't play with it a whole lot once its set.

But Bitter is correct... The more you do it... the faster you'll get.

 

[JasonLambert]

Even if you are in a hard situation it should only take a few seconds to set the camera. Ask yourself this question:

"Do I need to capture a fast moving object (kids at play, moving vehicle, pet) or is it still (family portrait, flower, sleeping pet)?" This question will let you know what you need to adjust first. Fast moving object you will know you need a faster shutter speed to stop the action but if the object is still you may want to adjust the aperture first and get the depth you are looking for.

Now adjust the aperture according to your camera's needs if shooting faster object or adjust the shutter speed for slower objects. You may need to introduce more light via ISO or flash if your settings start to become undesirable but this should all take about 5 seconds after you get the hang of it.

 

[Dominantly]

Like most are saying, it's fast.

I usually know walking into it what I want my f/stop to be, I also know I want to start with my ISO at its lowest setting, so from there I adjust my shutter using the light meter on a sensible area in the frame.
If the shutter is dragging below a reasonable level for the lens (focal length) that I am using, I start to budge a bit on the ISO. When I reach a point at which I dont want to take it higher, I start adjusting my aperture.
It's all a swift process with a couple test shots here and there to make sure it's looking good.

NOW when I start incorporating multiple off camera flashes into the mix and say some background features I want to show through a certain way, I require a few test shots to dial it all in.

 

[altitude604]

fairly quick. i'm usually shooting aircraft so it's normally in aperture priority unless i switch to shutter priority if i want prop arcs. even then that is set to about 1/250ish so i can go between modes with little delay and still get the shot i want.

 

[MohaimenK]

Been shooting M since day 1 but Swhetty convinced me to use AV but now I'm back at M after a few things I've learned and now M always. Now that I know exactly what to look for, under 15 sec

 

[kundalini]

Aperture adjustment on the forefinger, shutter speed on the thumb..... without removing my eye from the viewfinder. One second, maybe two.

 

[ann]

a few seconds, but, i have been manual metering for over 60 years so it just happens.

 

[gsgary]

I can make a rough guess by just looking at the light, but under 5 seconds if i use the meter