chippy

We pay mega bucks for the latest camera with more computing power than a Moon-Lander and Auto Mode is disdained ?

Do you have an " Auto " car, or do you use a manual gearbox?................ Which drives the car most effectively ?

Are you in danger of missing the shot while fiddling with the settings ?

Washing machines, computer controlled CNC,...... Micro surgery the list is endless where the computer wins out.

Perhaps in years to come you will be able to program your drone to go to your favourite locations, take the photos

and return them to you to process in PhotoShop,

Coming from a history of manually cocked shutters, flash-bulbs and slow film speeds,graduating eventually to a Zenith SLR

(now that WAS manual) First SLR with TTL metering I am hugely impressed by the programming power and facilities offered

by a modern camera.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Very good! I don't avoid Auto, although I do prefer Aperture in many situations. The great Nat Geo photographer, Joel Sartori, said that he usually leaves his cameras in Auto when they're sitting around the house so he can just pick them up and take a quick shot when he sees something interesting.

I remember the "old" days of matching the needle to set exposure. That was semi-automatic, but it still took time, and shots could be lost.

Of course, in certain unusual situations, we have to take control and set everything manually, but that's not the norm.

ka5ysy

Well said !

Strofam

At the end of the day, the result is what matters. If a photo is well composed and exposed I couldn't care less if it was done in auto, manual or either aperture or shutter priority modes. Does manual give you more artistic control? Yes, but if you miss the shot who cares. I can make up for a multitude of control issues in my photo editor - where I can make it look like what I "saw".

I prefer to shoot in aperture mode and make full use of the exposure override my camera offers. Is this less than manual?

mikedidi46 Loc: WINTER SPRINGS, FLORIDA

I bounce around, but for me, AUTO is my PROGRAM MODE on my CANON

nikon_jon Loc: Northeast Arkansas

I use nearly all the shooting functions on my cameras including auto, but cherish the ability to make choices as to where my camera will 'concentrate' its focusing area and how I may wish to over ride the auto feature. Regarding your comments on the 'auto everything' scenario; how bout a camera that automatically puts itself in the bag with automatic choice of the lenses you will need for the day. It automatically mounts itself on a tripod if needed. It automatically sets itself for every conceivable type of photo you would like to take. ( I guess it would have to automatically read your mind for that one) When you get home you load the pics on your computer and your photo editor automatically tweaks each pic and makes it look like someone actually knew what he was doing when he shot the pic.

Now you are all set to join the ranks of those who say, "Why, last week I couldn't even spell fotogafer, now I are one!"

No thank you for me. I take pride in learning and knowing HOW to do all that the automatic feature does. A problem I see in modern photography is the need or desire to be able to pick up a camera that does it all for you. It sells cameras, of course, but does nothing for the person holding the camera. Don't let the automatic stuff on a camera take away from the satisfaction of knowing how to operate the features on a camera and getting predictable results every time. Don't get me wrong, I am not ragging on the auto setting of a camera. I use it plenty, there is just more to it than that, and I know what you are saying about auto feature getting hammered by all the so called 'experts'.

I am not saying that the new computerized cameras are bad.I have them and use them, but they are just an enhanced tool and cannot replace your ability to know how to use them. I too remember the days of having to cock the shutter, manually focus and the whole scenario of using those old manual cameras, but I wouldn't trade that for a whole trainload of modern automatic features, even though I use those features. The time and experience of using those old cameras are valuable. And, by the way, if you learn to drive a stick shift car RIGHT it is just as efficient and effective as an automatic and sometimes much better. If you are stuck in the snow, an automatic will start you out at the lowest gear ratio which will spin your wheels too fast and just dig you in deeper. You have no control over what that automatic does. On the other hand, with a stick shift, you can put it in second gear instead of first and often that will walk you right out of the stuck spot.

SueScott Loc: Hammondsville, Ohio

Totally off topic from the OP, but boy, do I agree with you! I'd take a standard transmission over automatic any day, especially in a pickup truck (I think auto in a truck is rather sacreligous). The current trend to make everything automatic takes the decision making process away from the individual - we need to use our brains or they will atrophy.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Although I can't afford one, super sports cars now come with paddle shifters. Somehow a hot car with no clutch is an affront to me. Back to cameras. I very re\arely use auto as I have a tremor in my left hand, so shutter priority is a must in most situations and an ISO is usually at 400 to insure fast shutter speeds. So- different strokes....... BTW when others look at my photos, not one has ever asked me What mode did you use?

chaman

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

I have always used Auto for my first pic's when nature is my subject. I learned early, the hard way, that my subject is not always patient while I adjust my camera settings. So I get what I can first in Auto, and then play around trying to improve the image when the subject is a patient one!!

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Using full Auto allows the camera to make all the decisions. Aperture allows the photographer to choose the Depth of Field. The camera doesn't know what Depth of Field the photographer wants, shallow or deep, or what the photographer wants the photograph to show. The same with shutter speed. The camera doesn't know if the photographer wants a fast shutter speed to freeze motion or a slow shutter speed to show motion.
To compare a camera with a car or washing machine is comparing apples and bowling balls.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I vote that auto is one of the best setting a camera has.

Regarding cars, the rush is on for electric cars. They don't have shifty transmissions, manual or automatic!

chaman

To the OP: Post an image you took at full AUTO and lets see how it looks like. Lets us evaluate how the camera did. Did it blew the highlights? Did expose too much or too less? Did it chose the best ISO for the available light?

The AUTO everything gets an image, but is it the best the camera can produce? A camera quality today is NOT MEASURED by its AUTO functions. The serious photographer looks more into what kind of sensor, how it performs in low light, how good is the focus system etc.... Your view is quite a limited one.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

And that is very unfortunate, considering the great number of photographers who use and depend on Auto functions for much (or all) of their image output.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Nothing wrong with occasionally using auto mode, and sometimes it's very convenient. However, when you are in auto mode the camera decides which focal points it will use and what it will focus on, which may not be what you intended. It will choose the shutter speed automatically which may be too slow for action or too fast if you want to purposely blur a moving object. It will also automatically choose the aperture, which may not be the right one for the composition you're trying to achieve. The camera will not know if you're intending to isolate a subject with a shallow depth of field or prefer a very wide depth of field for landscape.

How do you focus and recompose with auto. How do you specify focus points when using auto? How do you control your shutter speed for long exposure shooting in auto.

Even the various scene modes are only poor approximations of what may be needed. In the end, auto will give you the image that it's algorithms dictate, rather than the image that you may have intended.

I wish I had a dollar for every time a newbie needed help with a problem photograph only to be told that the solution would be to get off auto and take control of the results themselves. If you're serious about your photography, while sometimes auto can be a useful, mostly it is not.