Do you use manual or semi automatic?

Aperature priority most of the day (70% of the time). Usually manual at the reception if I'm using flash (25% of the time)...the other 5% is either program or shutter priority...

Could you explain why you use aperture priority most of the time?

Manual - all the time! I couldn't stand the inconsistency of anything else.

I'm also 100% manual. I'm not sure my camera has ever even been in any other mode!!

100% manual

manual. all day.

M_A_Nuel...................................all the way,but sometime for selective shots I use Av.all the rest just gets me confused.............

I'm a big fan of manual. I have a habit of dropping into Program if I walk out and into a new situation and have to keep shooting without missing a beat. That is pretty unusual in general though. I like to have an eye on where we are going before we go there and have a set of pre-planned numbers when I get there, but life doesn't always work the way I planned for some reason...

Manual, but AV is good when the lighting is constantly changing and you need to shoot fast, or use it to check the settings than drop it into manual.

I'm also a manual shooter. I forced myself to shoot only manual when I first got my camera and I'm so glad I did!

I am 100% manual as well

100% Manual!

Force of habit? I'm used to it -- and I treat it quite often like it's manual with the amount of exposure compensation I do. But too often I switch to manual and I forget that I'm not in aperture priority. I will switch to manual if I'm dealing with something challenging...and when I shoot nature photos or anything where I have time to think...I shoot manual. But not weddings...for weddings I typically have AV, TV and manual set like they are presets...tell me I'm not the only one who does this!

For portrait sessions (and altar return formals) I'm shooting manual...but for weddings where I'm just in overdrive all day long (shoot w/ me...you'll see what I mean)...I don't have time to shoot manual and my base setting is aperture priority. Maybe someday that will change...but, I doubt it...I've been doing aperture priority for too many years...

I'm manual too, but I'll dig out the AV outside sometimes.

+1

99.99% Manual.
The other day my daughter was playing softball, and the sun kept coming and going behind the clouds. So, I decided to put it in Aperture priority, and it took me a couple minutes to figure out how to do it!

I've outsourced my job to Mexico. My images are now all captured by someone named "Manuel."

You are not alone! I'm about 50/50 between Av/Ma--although I find myself shooting Manual more and more all the time. It really just depends on how quickly the lighting situations are changing. Joe Buesnick swears by the P mode, which he says stands for "Professional." It's all about understanding the how your camera meters the light in the frame. Once you can figure that out, you can still control your expoure with accuracy.

Gerald

Manual. Sometimes I shoot semi-auto to compare....than i go right back to manual.

Exactly. Once you understand the difference in spot, center weight, and Matrix/Evaluative you can work in any mode that fits the situation. I use manual mostly, but still using the meter display in the viewfinder, and then either over/under/on exposure as I see fit.

I shot in Aperture Priority for a long time, using a 6 degree center weight and having my function button set to spot so I could go to that as needed. I went away from that to manual because the D200 meter wasn't the best I'd seen. The D300 meter may be the best I've seen, and I may go back to that, but I may not. I like having dof control as well without worrying about it going to a slow shutter speed, like it will do in AP. The D300 can go to a higher ISO to prevent that, but I want to control that too.

Have I become a control freak?

Im with you two guys. Im on Av, Tv, and Manual and sometimes P. Im used to spinning either exposure comp or flash comp to my liking. Since each mode keeps its settings I use these like presets as well, esp. when I go from flash to no flash. Im usually on manual for flash so I can control the amount of ambient light and switch to Av for non flash. If lighting is tough, esp. heavy back light, I go to manual as well.

100% manual

+1. I had to force myself out of AV mode. Manual just gives me so much more creative control.

Manual and Av used to be my stocks, but after talking with Bob Davis, I've started using P more and been very satisfied with how fast you can switch things around and how easily the camera adjust to different lighting. If I'm stuck in the same room for a couple hours, I will likely go into M. I really dig thinking less about the camera and more about the shot in P mode, though.

K

That is SO true! Why let the camera get in the way when our jobs are not really about the camera?

I just got a very nice e-mail from one of my April brides...



Now I don't think she gives a hoot that I shot most of her wedding in Av, manual, program...etc. (or what brand / model camera I shoot with, or what lenses I own) -- but I was quick, easy-going, and I shot a TON of great images. I doubt I would have gotten as much accomplished if I was shooting in manual all day long (just my honest opinion). Plus...this girl is the third of four daughters to get married in this family...and her two sisters used one of the most high-end photographers in St. Louis -- so I knew there would be pressure on me to prove worthy of their decision to go with me over my high-end competitor.

Just my opinion...

A for awesome, P for Pro, and M is for the times the first two don't work (which is very rare).

Another AV Shooter here!

I shoot 90% off my weddings on AV mode. There are a few reasons I do this.

1. I shoot almost completely natural light until the reception. (Still having issues getting the reception shots I want with only natural light.) P mode would also work for this particular reason, but M mode has me thinking too technical and not enough creative.

2. I prefer to shoot wide open and I don't want that to vary. AV mode lets me set my camera to 1.4, 1.8 or 2.8 and leave it there! I use my exposure comps a lot throughout the day.

3. P mode is also useful sometimes, but I have been using it less and less to control that shallow depth of field.

I totally agree with Dan though. The bride doesn't care. It is all in what you know, how it works with your style and regardless of how you do it, you can get great images!

Steph

You can completely control depth of field in P, by the way.

How can you keep it wide open in P mode Swan?

Steph

Ditto -- except for me I was talking with Joe Buissink.

I do use AV some time when I want to make sure I am shooting wide open at F1.2 .

Crank your shutter dial to the right (on Canon), your aperture value will continue to drop until it's wide open.

av. unless i'm shooting flash... then i shoot manual

Some of us don't HAVE that particular problem of 1.2... I'm going for more automated modes lately -- especially with the new Radio Poppers, which are all ETTL savvy. That's very fun.

No sheet? wow -- learn something new every day. I am gonna go play!On my list of toys to get...

Is that something that you do once or do you have to reset it with each shot? And forgive me if this is a stupid question, but isn't that pretty much the same as AV mode then?

Steph (The non-technical one in the family! LOL)

WOW -- I just played with it and that is freaking awesome. Goodbye AV mode!

Swan you da man!!!!

hahah.

Well, it is like AV mode once you override. But, it's unlike AV mode in that, once the camera sleeps or you shut it off, it will start auto-guessing both A and T values again. By moving the dial one way or the other, you tell it how to behave in the P range... I'm sure there's much better documentation/explanation on the web somewhere. What the heck do I know!?

haha

I shoot manual if I'm in the same place for awhile, AV if I'm moving

It goes back to "P" mode much quicker... like in a few seconds after you shoot the picture.

Holy crap! Thanks for that, I never shoot in P.

Usually AV or manual for me.

Your choice of camera modes depends on your goals.

For me, getting a correct exposure while keeping up with quickly-changing scenes is paramount. That is, I do not want to sacrifice either moments or exposures. Correct exposure or get the shot? False choice, I want both.

For that reason, I only shoot manual. When shooting in any automatic mode, you have to be constantly fiddling with camera settings (the auto-exposure compensation) as a scene changes in order to get a correct exposure.

With manual, it's easily possible to get both correct exposures and not miss a moment, whereas with automatic modes, you frequently have to choose one or the other, and if you're going for a correct exposure, you're probably going to miss the moment.

Some of you are now saying, "Hold on Radlinski. You're telling me I'm going to miss shots because I'm using an automatic mode?! That's crazy talk! I shoot automatic so I don't miss shots!" Which is why your exposures are probably inconsistent, especially as a wedding photographer dealing with so many contrasty subjects, like white dresses and black tuxes.

We recently had a lengthy discussion about the way your in-camera meter works in Lauren's thread. You might want to read my description of how reflective meters (like the one in your camera) work before reading further.

The problem with any automatic mode is the same problem Lauren had. All that automatic mode is doing is lining up that exposure needle in the middle of the indicator, and that's what it's setting your camera to. So, unless every scene you're shooting is 18% gray...all your exposures are going to be off! Obviously some will be more off than others. Point is, now you're having to change your camera setting every time the scene changes! And since the scene is going to change image to image, all your exposures are going to be off.

Now if you're shooting in a manual mode, you don't have to worry about the scene changing...only the light changing. And usually the light doesn't change much between shots. Or it changes in fairly predictable ways. But the scene you're photographing can change drastically, as, say, you go from shooting a close-up dress detail (very white scene) to an overall picture of the room the bride is getting ready in (probably average gray scene). Light didn't change...but the scene did, and therefore the correctness of the camera's assumption of "18% grayness" did.

So what do you do to get a correct exposure in an automatic mode? Well...you have to use the autoexposure compensation button on your camera (or the exposure lock after finding a gray scene, like a gray card. No one does that, though) However, then you're just basically doing the same thing you would be doing if you shot manual, only now you're having to massage that dial every time the scene changes, instead of every time the light changes!

Photographers are visual people, so, for your enjoyment, pictures:

First, this is what happens when I use manual exposure modes but don't understand how the reflective meter in my camera works. This is a picture of the white light switch on the white wall behind my computer chair.



All I did was put the indicator in the middle of the exposure guide and clicked the button. That camera meter told me 1/500 at f/2.0. Of course, this is wrong. The camera meter is assuming the scene it's looking at is 18% gray. Since it's almost pure white, the meter reading is off by two stops. Looks 18% gray now, doesn't it? (Further reading: Zone System)

Thankfully I'm a clever guy, and know how to compensate for the flawed assumptions on which my camera meter is operating. If I want this scene to be exposed correctly, I know I need to set the camera so the needle lands 2 1/3 stops over the center reading, since it's almost a pure white scene. Pretty far off from 18% gray. So instead, here's the scene at 1/100, f/2.0:



Much better, eh? White switch, white wall...looks good. And you know what else is great? Now that I have a correct setting on my camera, I can point it at anything else in my office that's lit by the same light and just...press the button. I don't have to fumble with any camera settings to get a correct exposure. That makes sure I won't miss this...awesome shot of my red swingline stapler!



Exact same camera settings as the previous image. Check the EXIF data if you don't believe me So look at that...great exposures, no camera gymnastics, no missed moments.

Okay, so that's what's awesome about manual. Now let's look at how the program mode utterly, utterly fails, and hurts my soul.

By the way, no lie, I had to bust out the instruction manual to my 1D Mark 3 to figure out that there was no "full auto" mode on the Mk3. This was, for-real, the only time in my entire life I have ever used an SLR camera on any mode besides manual. Seriously, these few frames I shot for you guys are it. I feel kind of dirty now, actually...and not in the good way.

Anyway, first, let's switch to P mode and point it at that light switch again.



Oh, shocking, massive amounts of failure. All it's doing is buying into the same false assumption as the reflective meter in the camera...that the scene it's looking at is 18% gray. So, it gives me the same wrong image as when I incorrectly used the manual metering mode.

So what do you do to get a correct exposure using this automatic mode? Well, I jack the autoexposure compensation up by 2 1/3 stops and take the image again. Kinda of like what I did in manual mode, only more difficult (have to press a button instead of just spinning a dial, in P-mode anyway) and time-consuming (since I have to do it on a scene-by-scene basis instead of a light-by-light basis)



Well that worked.

But oh, man did you see what that stapler was doing! It was CRAY-ZAY!! Better get that shot!



Oh, whoops. I didn't have time to hit that AEC button and dial it back down to "no compensation" for this generally-average scene. So now it's about 1 2/3 stops overexposed. Hope that awesome stapler action wasn't important to my client!

Let's dial that down now and take the shot again...



Eh. Now it's still about 2/3 stop underexposed, since the camera's assumption still isn't right. This is a scene that's about 2/3 a stop "more white" than 18% gray. So I had to fiddle with the camera quickly, just from changing the scene, not the light and still got an off exposure.

So what's the moral of the story? Photography is all about light. I've said it I think five times on this forum in my 180 or so posts, that the analogy that photographers are artists who use a camera instead of a brush is false. We as photographers are artists who use light instead of a brush. Photography is all about light, so if you're going to fiddle with camera settings, do it because of light, not because of scene.

If you use manual exposure, you can get perfect exposures without missing shots with minimal camera gymnastics. If you use any kind of autoexposure, you're either going to miss shots because you were playing with the AEC to get a good exposure, or you're going to miss exposures because you were so focused on the shot that you didn't have time to play with the AEC.

If you don't care if you miss one or the other, please continue to use automatic settings. But as a professional photographer being paid thousands of dollars (or in half-eaten sandwiches...depends on how bad the economy gets ) to capture images (and capture them correctly) for clients, I would rather get both.

Cheers,

Matt

P.S. Oh, and if you want to try this experiment for yourself, remember that the color temperature of the light in the scene can effect your exposures. For this, I turned the Ott light I use for color comparisons onto the wall, so I wouldn't have to worry about the tungsten light in the room screwing with the color-correct exposure by saturating the red (and green) channels at the expense of the blue one. If you don't have an Ott light, perform this experiment in daylight, just for control purposes.

100% Manual.

Manual 99% of the time.

That gave me a much needed laugh for today!

Holy Moly! Now that was a great post!



Manual rocks!

That made my day. Too bad I read it at 11PM.

Manual 90% /Aperture Priority 10%

I shoot manual all the time. There is a very rare occasion that I'll be walking and just playing and shooting from the hip or somehting where I'll put it on AV..... But anytime I'm shooting for consistent results manual is the only way for me.

I don't understand the mentality that you'll miss shots if you shoot in Manual mode. To me, it's easier. And with Program or Aperture Priority, you still have to chimp and adjust for the scene. So, why not shoot manual?

I don't think using a program mode makes you any less of a photographer. I do think that if someone is paying you several grand, you'd better have some damn good exposures in any situation.