Why use M when you have A?

[Josh66]

Regarding metering somewhere else - there's an exposure lock button so I could point my camera away to another point, lock the exposure, go back to the original composition and take my shot.

Just depends on what you're more comfortable with I guess. For me spinning a wheel is easier than using AE Lock.


Plus, sometimes I don't want what I'm metering on to be "right".
Sometimes it'll be "that shadow needs to be 1 stop under exposed" or "that light needs to be 2 stops over"... I could do that in Aperture Priority, but Manual is just easier for me...

 

[Dominantly]

The reason I said it is not similar, is because you have no control over the shutter, so it's not like Manual mode. If you're content with letting the camera pick your shutter, thats cool, but I find it can be fooled all to often. With Matrix metering you are a bit better off in that you will get faily consistent results, but in spot your shutter can jump all over with the place.

I also was confused by "and in aperture mode you control the aperture + exposure to result in a certain shutter speed?" , unless Exposure was meant to be ISO.

There is no other way to get more consistent results then using manual mode. When you understand how to fully manipulate manual mode, you will have a strong understanding of how to create a perfect exposure.

 

[ChasK]

I learned to shoot M before there was an A or S so M just comes easier for me. My first "real" camera was a Pentax Spotmatic, ttl metering was still new. Match needle exposure or metering was a common term. This meant I could compose and meter my scene and or subject at the same time without taking my eye off my subject. Which I think is the main reason you don't want to point to the sky and back again. Who knows what you might miss.

 

[Josh66]

I also was confused by "and in aperture mode you control the aperture + exposure to result in a certain shutter speed?" , unless Exposure was meant to be ISO.

In a way, he's right. In Av - you control the aperture, and that's it. You can dial in some exposure compensation though, which will change the shutter speed.

So, in effect - you would be changing the exposure, resulting in a different shutter speed instead of changing the shutter speed to get a different exposure.


Sounds complicated...


For ME, any time I have to start messing around with any kind of compensation - I go straight to manual. In M, all you have to do is roll a wheel, or roll a wheel while holding down a button.

Which, I guess, is how you would use exposure compensation... Just seems backwards to me that way...

 

[Dominantly]

I also was confused by "and in aperture mode you control the aperture + exposure to result in a certain shutter speed?" , unless Exposure was meant to be ISO.

In a way, he's right. In Av - you control the aperture, and that's it. You can dial in some exposure compensation though, which will change the shutter speed.

So, in effect - you would be changing the exposure, resulting in a different shutter speed instead of changing the shutter speed to get a different exposure.


Sounds complicated...


For ME, any time I have to start messing around with any kind of compensation - I go straight to manual. In M, all you have to do is roll a wheel, or roll a wheel while holding down a button.

Which, I guess, is how you would use exposure compensation... Just seems backwards to me that way...

Wow, are we getting pretty complicated here.

If he meant you control Aperture + Exposure COMPENSATION, then you are just compensating for the exposure the camera picked based on your settings. I didn't see the word compensation, so when he says you adjust the Ap and Exposure for a shutter speed, it sounded weird as you adjust the Ap, Shutter, and ISO for an exposure.

I cannot fathom shooting in Aperture mode and using exposure compensation to dial in my shots vs shooting in Manual.

As Bryan Peterson said, M= Magnificent mode.

 

[Overread]

I cannot fathom shooting in Aperture mode and using exposure compensation to dial in my shots vs shooting in Manual.

The thing is when you are shooting a moving subject which is moving through changing lighting conditions or you are simply walking around and thus selecting different lighting conditions - it makes sense to let the camera do the shutter speed changing if the settings you are picking are based on the meter readings alone. Ie if the meter is reading right why add the extra step of having to change the shutter speed yourself when the camera can do it itself (and do it faster).

I agree if the lighting is such that you need more than -/+ 2 or 3 stops of exposure difference ot what the meter is giving then by all means manual mode is the only way to really go - but in other conditions I prefer the speed of aperture and shutter priority modes.

 

[Dominantly]

Maybe it's preference. There are always multiple correct exposure combination for every shot you take..
Do you manually adjust your ISO, or let the camera do it for you as well?
If you are capturing a moving subject, would your greatest interest really be on your Aperture or would it be on your shutter speed? I mean I would imagine you would want to focus on setting the correct shutter speed for whatever it is you are shooting and then adjusting the Aperture second. On top of that adjusting your ISO to help you keep your DOF via your Aperture, where you want it....

I've shot at the finish line of horse race tracks, and generally set my shutter where I want it, and then adjust my Aperture and ISO to dial it in where I want it. Because I shot most of these during the day, and the fact they only lasted a short while, my lighting didn't change enough for me to even factor it in.

 

[Overread]

Oh very true - in dimmer lighting I prefer to use shutter priority mode to at least keep it at some sane level to try and avoid motion blur. I would love it if I could set lower limits (tell the camera no shutter speed slower than 1/100sec for example) and upper limits (no ISO higher than 800) and let the auto modes work within those boundaries even it would mean getting darker shots (underexposure can be solved far more in editing than blured motion - though of course there are limits).

ISO wise I've never had auto ISO and I do prefer to keep a fixed control over it because I like my noise levels low in my images, so I suspect even with the feature I would not use it - though with those high level camera bodies where ISO 1600 is perfectly usable I could see myself using the mode certainly - if I had no worry about it.

 

[Dominantly]

I'm not sure about your body, but quite a few will allow you to put the camera in AUTO ISO, and set a high point (mine is usually capped at 800 when I do this).

 

[Plato]

or metering is useless.

Or when what you want to meter on isn't dead center, where the 'spot' for spot metering is.

(I realize that some cameras attach the spot to the active focus point, but those cameras are in the minority.)

If you don't trust the meter, what do you trust? Is your eye calibrated to +/- a quarter stop?

 

[Overread]

Canon 400D for me - so no fancy modes like that. I even lack spot metering. However my desire is for more lenses first so it will be a long while before I get a body upgrade. Just got to keep dreaming of all those nice easy auto modes

 

[Overread]

or metering is useless.

Or when what you want to meter on isn't dead center, where the 'spot' for spot metering is.

(I realize that some cameras attach the spot to the active focus point, but those cameras are in the minority.)

If you don't trust the meter, what do you trust? Is your eye calibrated to +/- a quarter stop?

Nope but my histogram is! And there are many times the meter can either be fooled or give the wrong results. Also the meter can't meter for dominant flash lighting - so any time where flash is the dominant light source the meter is reduced in its functionality. Which is why studio shooters and macro are often in manual mode - because the settings they set would register an underexposure given ambient lighting - but throw in flash and there is enough light for a proper exposure. (Which is why external meters are still used by studio shooters)

 

[Josh66]

or metering is useless.

Or when what you want to meter on isn't dead center, where the 'spot' for spot metering is.

(I realize that some cameras attach the spot to the active focus point, but those cameras are in the minority.)

If you don't trust the meter, what do you trust? Is your eye calibrated to +/- a quarter stop?

?

Who said anything about trusting the meter?

 

[Derrel]

Manual, match-diode exposure metering keeps the exposures consistent from frame to frame. Many times, if shooting flash photos for example, Manual is clearly the best choice--to keep the shutter speed consistent and appropriate, so that the areas behind the flash-lighted subjects will appear with the correct brightness, and so the camera's meter will not "drag" the shutter.

Shooting flash pictures for example, with the metering set to Aperture Priority automatic can result in very slow shutter speeds, like say f/8 at 1/8 second indoors--which can cause very big blurs, or which might pick up a lot of background light, and cause a shift in the color balance to a very warm, yellowish-red color on the background, but a cool color on the foreground lighted by flash.

SOME cameras, like the Nikon D80 for example, are known to put a lot of emphasis on the active AF point in use, according to Nikon experts like Thom Hogan. Canon's flash metering is also, on some models, pretty heavily weighted to the active AF point in use. By taking command of the shutter speed and aperture in use in Manual mode, one thing you get is the exposure YOU determine will be used, until such time as you decide to shift away from that setting. Sometimes that is the best way to work, while in times of rapidly shifting light levels, it might be easier to shoot Aperture Priority automatic; it depends too on the metering mode; spot, semi-spot,center-weighted, or Matrix aka Evaluative; shooting Aperture priority auto in spot metering mode for example, is exceedingly dangerous...

 

[iBats]

It's just different.

I use A mode ONLY in situations where I need a quick shot; street photography of people, for instance. Manual simply gives you more creative options. It's not ALWAYS about getting only the correct exposure, it's also getting a creative exposure.

yup