Photographers and Auto Modes

[runnah]

I am going to make a sweeping declaration.

No one cares what mode you use nor does the mode make the photo.

 

[Gavjenks]

I am going to make a sweeping declaration.

No one cares what mode you use nor does the mode make the photo.

The existence of this thread disproves part 1 of the declaration.

part 2 is easily addressed by anecdotal evidence: I have many photos that were made by the mode. Most especially, dramatic action photos of things that happened suddenly and without warning while I was photographing other stuff. Car crash in action, random hummingbird that's only there for 20 seconds, group of parkour people running past you suddenly, etc.

I am often only able to get photos of things like that, because I have one of my custom modes set to all action parameters, and Tv mode. So even if I'm in the middle of taking a landscape, if something starts to go down, I just click click to Custom Mode 1, point, and shoot, and it usually turns out, within 2-3 seconds. Completely impossible to even consider doing that in full manual mode.

 

[runnah]

I have many photos that were made by the mode.

Really huh, I didn't know that. I assumed that my camera made the photos and I just pushed the button.

Don't be obtuse, it's not a literal statement.

 

[Gavjenks]

Don't be obtuse, it's not a literal statement.

What? I wasn't treating it literally.

I'm saying I have many photos that would not have managed to take if not for the timely convenience of auto modes. As in, the photos would have been completely impossible in manual mode.

I'm not saying that the camera is merely physically capable of taking photos in different modes.....

 

[grafxman]

When I first got a DSLR I went crazy trying the various modes and settings attempting to center the needle by cranking the shutter speed, aperture and ISO hither and yon. It was ALL a total waste of time, for me at least. Once I went to manual, set the shutter speed and aperture then let the camera control the ISO things got real simple and I started getting good photos. As for the comment about not getting many keepers when shooting manual, I recently shot 4,000 photos of the Smithsonian Museum of Nature History and 1,000 photos of the Smithsonian Indian Museum. I would say at least 99% or more are keepers. Occasionally I will duplicate a shot by turning on the flash. That's usually because of reflections. So obviously I discard one of them.

While it's nice to explore all the various features of any technical product or gadget, that by no means requires one to use the various features that are available. For example, my 7D has all these features:

8 frames-per-second capture of high-definition
Dual Axis Electronic Level and tilt display
Captures bursts of up to 126 JPEGs (large) when using UDMA CF memory cards, or 15 when shooting RAW files
White balance modes Cloudy, Custom, Daylight, Flash, Fluorescent (White), Kelvin, Manual, Shade, Tungsten
Picture styles Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Defined 1-3

It's nice to have all those choices because someone somewhere might need them. However I have never used any of that stuff and probably never will. A picture style of faithful with auto white balance gives me all I require. I don't shoot photos in controlled situations much. I don't shoot portraits, weddings, or any place where I have any control of my surroundings. My shooting is outdoors at wildlife, in zoos through half inch highly reflective Plexiglas or wire fences, aquariums through highly reflective Plexiglas or in museums through highly reflective Plexiglas.

 

[snerd]

I have been afraid to use Auto ISO as I've heard the 7D is terrible above even 400 ISO. I would be looking at that number more than the subject!

When I first got a DSLR I went crazy trying the various modes and settings attempting to center the needle by cranking the shutter speed, aperture and ISO hither and yon. It was ALL a total waste of time, for me at least. Once I went to manual, set the shutter speed and aperture then let the camera control the ISO things got real simple and I started getting good photos. As for the comment about not getting many keepers when shooting manual, I recently shot 4,000 photos of the Smithsonian Museum of Nature History and 1,000 photos of the Smithsonian Indian Museum. I would say at least 99% or more are keepers. Occasionally I will duplicate a shot by turning on the flash. That's usually because of reflections. So obviously I discard one of them.

While it's nice to explore all the various features of any technical product or gadget, that by no means requires one to use the various features that are available. For example, my 7D has all these features:

8 frames-per-second capture of high-definition
Dual Axis Electronic Level and tilt display
Captures bursts of up to 126 JPEGs (large) when using UDMA CF memory cards, or 15 when shooting RAW files
White balance modes Cloudy, Custom, Daylight, Flash, Fluorescent (White), Kelvin, Manual, Shade, Tungsten
Picture styles Portrait, Landscape, Neutral, Faithful, Monochrome, User Defined 1-3

It's nice to have all those choices because someone somewhere might need them. However I have never used any of that stuff and probably never will. A picture style of faithful with auto white balance gives me all I require. I don't shoot photos in controlled situations much. I don't shoot portraits, weddings, or any place where I have any control of my surroundings. My shooting is outdoors at wildlife, in zoos through half inch highly reflective Plexiglas or wire fences, aquariums through highly reflective Plexiglas or in museums through highly reflective Plexiglas.

 

[grafxman]

It doesn't get really terrible until it gets above 3200 then the noise can be removed with Canon's DPP software.

 

[Patrice]

Grafxman, do you not think that Auto ISO is also an auto mode?

 

[Newtricks]

But what they do is shoot in manual mode, set the aperture, and then dial the shutter speed until the camera light meter said it is at "0". And in the next scene, they point the camera to the subject and then dial the shutter speed again so that the light meter is back to "0".

Unless using "Sunny/16" or you can judge aperture & shutter speed looking at the scene, one takes a meter reading then adjust the camera from there. If the camera has a great meter built in why not use it?

 

[table1349]

I am going to make a sweeping declaration.


No one cares what mode you use nor does the mode make the photo.

I am going to make a sweeping declaration.

No one cares what mode you use nor does the mode make the photo.

The existence of this thread disproves part 1 of the declaration.

part 2 is easily addressed by anecdotal evidence: I have many photos that were made by the mode. Most especially, dramatic action photos of things that happened suddenly and without warning while I was photographing other stuff. Car crash in action, random hummingbird that's only there for 20 seconds, group of parkour people running past you suddenly, etc.

I am often only able to get photos of things like that, because I have one of my custom modes set to all action parameters, and Tv mode. So even if I'm in the middle of taking a landscape, if something starts to go down, I just click click to Custom Mode 1, point, and shoot, and it usually turns out, within 2-3 seconds. Completely impossible to even consider doing that in full manual mode.

And no one cares. A photo speaks for itself or it does not. The mode is nothing but a tool.

 

[Newtricks]

...I find what has happened is that it is getting more difficult to learn and understand all the functions that are being added. I would end up wasting more time sorting things out than I would shooting, for me personally I'm quite happy with my understanding of manual. Honestly I have been frustrated at times just trying to find things on any new cameras I buy. It really used to be so easy.

Got my 1st DSLR about a month ago. The basic settings for taking photos are not a problem, but... I've read and reread the manual so many times learning the other camera setting that pages are falling out of it.

 

[Tailgunner]

The site is full of wise guys...not to be confused with Wisdom.

I shot 100 photos of downtown yesterday at 12:30 am at night. I made a couple changes to my settings but other wise the settings stayed the same. There was no need to change and the auto mode would have been all over the place completely ruining the shots.

? For night shots, you just set it to a broader metering (not spot metering, because it lands on a lamp and ruins everything, but anything broader is fine), and dial in maybe -1EV to -2EV compensation, so that it doesn't try to make it look like daytime when it's not, and it works just fine on auto, in my experience.

In fact, photographing downtown areas is likely to be a little sketchy when left in manual with no settings changes, because the lighting is varying dramatically from full nighttime storefronts with neon to alleyways with one bare bulb 50 feet away. Were you shooting a bunch of the same sort of thing?

I was shooting a Lightning storm over downtown and why I left the settings locked in place with the exception of a few changes.

 

[grafxman]

Grafxman, do you not think that Auto ISO is also an auto mode?

Yeh, but you have to go to manual mode to get it. :scratch: Don't ask me why though because I don't know. The camera builders could probably just have called it auto ISO because that's what it is. However I've found it to be the most agreeable mode for me to shoot in especially for wildlife. I just set the f to 8, the shutter speed to 1000 and concentrate on looking out for wildlife.

It's actually kind of funny thinking about it now. Some while back I was at Fort DeSoto in the Tampa area. There was a white morph reddish egret that would visit there for a few minutes each day. I noticed this guy with a Nikon shooting shorebirds and he was constantly making adjustments, checking his photos and looking very aggravated. Then the rather rare white reddish egret flies in, walks in front of us for about 30 seconds and takes off. I got several shots of it then started back to the parking lot. He said "aren't you even going to check your shots"? I just told him there was no need. I'm pretty sure he was someone who was like I used to be, constantly changing settings in various modes trying to get everything perfect and missing shots of wildlife.

 

[Gavjenks]

And no viewer cares. A photo speaks for itself or it does not. The mode is nothing but a tool.

FTFY. Photographers do and indeed must care about their tools.

I was shooting a Lightning storm over downtown and why I left the settings locked in place with the exception of a few changes.

Ah well yeah. That basically makes it a studio with flash lighting, then, in which it wouldn't make sense to use anything other than manual. Regular downtown street photography at night though works fine in auto modes, probably much better than manual when constantly moving from neon light to sodium lamps to moonlight to whatever else every single shot. You can just shoot instead of fiddling each time.

Grafxman, do you not think that Auto ISO is also an auto mode?

Yeh, but you have to go to manual mode to get it.

???

In your signature, it says Canon 6D, 7d, 50D. I have a 6D, and auto ISO definitely works in any of the main modes (Av, Tv, M, B, Customs), not just manual. You activate it in any of those modes simply by hitting the ISO button and rolling over to the left of ISO 50, where there's an auto option. If you turn it on in an auto mode like Av, it will balance both variables for you. There are also settings in the menu to tell it HOW to balance the two when you have auto ISO on in auto modes (you can set a maximum for auto ISO, and set priorities for what it prefers to change).

I don't have a 7D or a 50D, but I do have a T2i of around the same vintage, and it also allows auto ISO to be turned on in auto modes. So I suspect those models do as well, certainly the 7D, at least, which is supposed to be fancier than the T2i

 

[Tailgunner]

Ah well yeah. That basically makes it a studio with flash lighting, then, in which it wouldn't make sense to use anything other than manual. Regular downtown street photography at night though works fine in auto modes, probably much better than manual when constantly moving from neon light to sodium lamps to moonlight to whatever else every single shot. You can just shoot instead of fiddling each time.

I'll have to try auto out sometime when I'm walking around downtown.