Manual mode vs automatic mode

[Tim Tucker 2]

I have the opposite problem, but then I've always used full manual cameras up until I switched to digital. I even stopped putting batteries in the F2 and used a hand held meter instead. You may think that you need to carefully calculate exposure for each shot, but as light remains fairly constant what I invariably did was to take two reflective readings off my palm (grey card +1) in sunlight and shadow, which were rarely more than two stops apart, and shoot away only checking the light every so often...

There is no mystique to manual mode or even exposure. My watershed moment was when I stopped trying to understand exposure as a single value or trying to relate it to the camera setting. A scene is a range of light intensities that fall on and react to some light sensitive media that they are focused on. All exposure does is to control the light falling on the media in relation to a calibrated range of output brightnesses so it reproduces an image of a predictable and repeatable range of brightness.

You have two controls to do this and one to calibrate the level of output brightness. Shutter speed and depth of field (aperture) linked to a calibrated output brightness for the intensity of light the first two expose the sensor to.

Consequently I find it far harder, to the point that I'm never going to even bother, trying to figure out which layer of the multitude of different *auto* modes is the correct one for the particular scene and which metering mode, etc, etc. Confuses the hell to of me for what (mostly) translates to, two or three stop differences in Aperture/Shutter/ISO settings - 1/60sec to 1/500sec is just three clicks of a dial.

My D600 has been left in aperture priority for so long that I'm not sure that the dial hasn't seized, and I think the camera is set to centre weighted matrix, but I'm not sure because I haven't checked for a year or two (exposure has remain constant so it's likely ), and I've only used other metering modes by mistake...

 

[Derrel]

"metering schmetering!"

 

[Derrel]

with most of today's digital cameras going from 1/60 up to 1/500 takes nine clicks, with today's common 1/3 stop detents. However with most cameras users can reprogram this, a common reprogramming is to use 1/2 stop difference,but I believe you can also use reprogram your camera to use whole steps.

 

[Tim Tucker 2]

with most of today's digital cameras going from 1/60 up to 1/500 takes nine clicks, with today's common 1/3 stop detents. However with most cameras users can reprogram this, a common reprogramming is to use 1/2 stop difference,but I believe you can also use reprogram your camera to use whole steps.

LOL, I'm still using lenses with an aperture ring, and even when I do use the Milvus I'm still thinking in whole stops. It's still just a spin of the dial...

 

[Derrel]

yep spin the dial! Or make that spin the control wheel. LOL. I use aperture priority so much that I pretty much pick an aperture and verify that the shutter speed is OK.

for the first several years I used the alerture ring on the lens, which is a custom setting on the higher-end cameras. After a few years though I learned to use the front dial,which is actually easier when shooting with flash and switching lenses frequently,since the aperture setting is keyed into the body and is independent of what lens is suddenly placed into position.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

There is nothing particularly noble, pure, or significant about using the "auto" or the "manual" setting on your camera.

Your camera is the tool you need to take the type of photos you want. If it works in "auto" fine, if you need to twist dials to capture the shot that is fine also.

Admittedly there is some personal satisfaction for being able to calculate the perfect exposure, when I am using my 1910 view camera with 4x5 cut film it is a necessity.

However, when I am roaming the wood, beach combing, night shooting and such, this is where digital shines. I can stand, kneel or lay on my belly for the perfect shot, I can bracket the exposure or try some creative angle. When I get home on my monitor I can delete all the "crazy ideas" photo at no cost. I almost always start in "auto" then switch to manual if needed.

Using manual exposures for the sake of doing it manually, to me is like pushing a riding lawn mower.