sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

My first camera (1974) was a Canon Ftb - it, as did most cameras of the time, had a light meter that you could see in the viewfinder. You could adjust the aperture and/or shutter speed to get the correct exposure, so it was manual. The sensitivity - the "speed" of the film was predetermined by what film you loaded, so that also was "manual".

JoAnneK01 Loc: Lahaina, Hawaii

My first camera was a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera.
First SLR was an Exa II. It took a while and I used a light meter to help in making my decisions as to setting up the camera.
Periodically I use Auto on my DSLR, but I still use my trusty light meter when shooting in manual.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Canon FTb took a couple of minutes with a good instructor. Went right out an took a couple of rolls of film in Panama, Cape Canaveral and Washington DC. with excellent results. Never used a camera more sophisticated than an instamatic before that.

Daisy Dog

My first 'real' camera was a Nikon FM that I bought when I was in my 30's. I read several How-To photography books, took a darkroom class, and used it at least once a week for my work. I'm 70 now and I'm still learning how to use manual mode.

chippy

It were a lot less complicated in the "good old days".......... ISO was the grade of film you had put into the camera...l.......you were stuck with

that selection until the end of the film .........unless you were "proper-posh" and carried a second or third camera.

We dont realize just how lucky we are !

d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

I was 12 when I "liberated" my Mother's Argus c3. Manual was all there was and I learned without benefit of any user guide. I have no idea how long it took, but it was learned very well. The first SLR was a Minolta SRT101 and I got all instruction from the store - Cooper's Camera Mart in Baltimore. Today, my Nikon D300 and D7100s are all set for Manual as a norm. Auto is great, but Manual is such a natural habit for me that I keep it going except in circumstances where lighting and subject matter are changing quickly.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

My first (real) camera was a Kodak 35 and manual was the ONLY option. I progressed to 3 Rolleiflex Dual reflex cameras and progressed to a Hasselblad film with 3 backs and 4 lenses. While overseas, I got a Miranda 35mm SLR and 3 lenses. Lost all of them to a wife (she sold them all while I was overseas) who was taking advantage of me being out of the country and converted everything to cash before divorcing me. Now I have the Kodak 35 and a couple of other old cameras and my Nikons (D7000, D7100 and D610) and multiple lenses both zoom and prime. I also had a Nikon D70s that was purchased new and finally gave up the ghost late last year. Everything prior to the D70s (which was my first digital DSLR) was manual or near manual compared to everything from the D70s to now. So, I was forced to learn manual... which was probably a good thing as sometimes lighting conditions can fool the auto exposure systems and I can look at the exposure the camera is recommending/using and decide to override. I actually shoot manual, or aperture priority about 80% of the time. How long did it take to learn to use it? I don't think you ever quit learning. The light quality and amount is always changing either in direction, conditions (cloudy, foggy, sunny, rainy, etc.) and shoots are seldom the same conditions. BUT, now that we are shooting digitally, you can see your shots and reshoot if necessary (unless it is a onetime shot like an event or news story)..

davyboy Loc: Anoka Mn.

Not the least bit interested in manual mode

BebuLamar

Well I am not Chris T because I would never put anyone on the ignore list. Thank you for your replies.
Where I am going with this? So far the survey has resulted in about the same as my observation over the years with the people that I know. People who started out with a manual camera had no problem using it. At one time I posted that I learn how to use a manual in half an hour and someone told me that I am either super smart or lying.
I also have seen a lot of posts on the UHH as well as other photography forums that many who started out using auto got stuck on auto and had a hard time learning how to use the camera in manual. I would like to know why it is so as so far in this thread most people had no problem using the camera in manual.
Once again thank you all.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Of course you can because unlike CT you don't have the rest of the forum blocked.

My first camera was a KODAK 104 at age 8 or 9.

My first SLR was a YASHICA FX-1 all manual. I had the basics figured out pretty quick and was pretty competent within 5 or 6 rolls of film.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

My Dad was into cameras . He showed me how to do the settings and a lot of other things I needed to know. We even had a dark room in the basement.

jgunkler

I first learned many years ago with a Minolta SLR, using an external light meter and then setting the camera the way i wanted using EVF equivalents. Not very difficult to learn. I'd set the camera to any combination of shutter speed and aperture that gave me the EVF from the light meter reading. Then I'd think about what I wanted to do with the shot and fiddle shutter speed and aperture in opposite directions until I had what I wanted (or as close to it as the speed of the film would permit.)

I don't understand why I would ever want to go back to that and ignore all the advantages my DSLR provides. I typically use AV (unless I'm capturing action, then it's shutter priority) with spot metering to discover settings that give the right EVF, then fiddle shutter and aperture in opposite directions. If I can't get to the settings I want, I'll adjust ISO (or use Auto ISO.)

Only if the scene, or the result I'm after, are unusual do I completely ignore what the camera suggests, essentially determining my own EVF. Even then I'm more likely to look at what the camera suggests to help me think about what I don't like about it and adjust from there.

Shutterbug57

You have gotten a few pages of responses. Most assumed, as I did, that by use, you meant be able to produce acceptable snap shots. Our answers appear, for the most part, to be based on that assumption.

Now, if by “learn how to use” you include pre-visualizing your final image thereby knowing which film to select for a given setting while thinking about the developer and paper you would use to bring out the best in the image. Learning about the effects of aperture for DOF, what pushing or pulling film does to your final image and how to use this to your benefit, etc., then my answer would change.

What exactly did you mean by “learn how to use the camera”?

Thrawn John Loc: Scotland

I started as a kid with a camera built in the 1940's - split screen focus, manual everything, can't see the pic til two weeks later when the spools came back from Boots :)
When I got my first SLR, it had a built in exposure meter and it felt like cheating!
I did a wee bit of reading (I like learning that way as well as hands-on) and so I wanted to try playing with different apertures and shutter speeds to freeze or deliberately not freeze action, that kinda thing.
The basics took maybe a couple of rolls of film over a couple of months. (Hardest part was trying to work out what I'd done different weeks ago - no EXIF on film).
I like manual because it gives full control - you know exactly how the camera is set, you can change one thing and one thing only and see the difference and really learn what the changes do and how to get what you want from the camera. e.g. Shallow DoF so I don't look back and go "*what* was it I was trying to get a picture of there?"
I never use auto anything, simply because my D90 over-exposes everything to my taste and also because I like to decide what the settings are and if they don't work, I can see what went wrong and change it.
Possibly the best thing I find about digital is that you can see the pic immediately - have a chimp, change something, take another pic.
I wouldn't tell anyone to use manual or auto - auto will get you a usable picture if there's enough light. Whether the picture is "good" or "interesting" to you might be another thing. I also sometimes shoot a frame in auto, have a chimp, and then go into manual, adjusting the settings according to what the image was like. (e.g. The subject is the darkest thing in the frame - I'll blow out the background like the camera wouldn't / Sport mode froze the action but I want to pan and blur out the background... whatever I want that the camera doesn't think I do.)

BebuLamar

Of course what kind of images you can get from a camera varies depending on your skills. My question is really how difficult is it to use a camera in manual to produce the same results as you would in auto. And so far I see that it's no difficult at all.