billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

IMHO, Aperture is better because it sets the mood for any shot. That said I make sure that my ISO is set so I have an appropriate shutter speed.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

Hey, everyone started out as a newbie. There are countless resources online for the novice. You can Google o find some, or go to Yoube and search there. That would be more targeted.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Spend a dollar and get a depth of field calculator application.
I generally shoot Tv which for Canon is Shutter Priority.
To me when I am usually shooting relatively fast moving things if you don't stop the motion the rest doesn't much matter. That said I know a lot of people who shoot Aperture Priority. Each has its place and use. Getting a reasonably accurate white balance and exposure are also important especially if you are shooting JPEG and not RAW.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

It depends on what you want or need to do. The circumstances dictate which is better.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

As others have said, it depends. I use aperture to control depth of field - how much is in focus. I also use a single center focusing point When there isn't enough light, and the shutter speed drops, I boost the ISO.

Use shutter speed if there is action or fast motion. The faster the subject is moving, the faster your shutter speed should be. Again, you may have to adjust your ISO.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

If you set the aperture YOU have control of the depth of focus. Set it wide, and you can blur out foreground and background, Set it narrow and everything can be in focus. If you let the camera set the aperture, then you are at the mercy of the machine!
Shutter priority is useful when you need to stop action - shooting fast moving subjects, or when using long tele lenses.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

Bud - From one novice to another. I shoot mostly outdoors on Aperture priority about 50% of the time, Shutter priority about 20% of the time and full Manual 30% of the time. Generally, I'm most concerned about depth of field which is why I'm on Aperture mode but if I need to freeze movement or blur water, I switch to Shutter mode. Obviously, I would also shoot full manual if I needed to control both DOF and movement. I used to shoot more Manual because my camera would drop to too slow a shutter speed as I closed down the aperture in Aperture priority and I found it easiest to manually set ISO, speed and aperture. However, thanks to UHH I learned a great trick: When on Aperture mode, set the ISO to "auto" then select a minimum shutter speed (menu options on my camera). That way as I close down the aperture, the shutter speed drops as it should but at my selected 1/60th of a second, the speed "locks" and the camera automatically starts to increase the ISO, instead. See if your camera can do this. It makes shooting on Aperture mode a lot more attractive.

bleirer

Different combinations of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO can give the same exposure. As you spin the dial you can see the equivalent exposures. For example if you open up the aperture a full stop but cut the time in half, the exposure remains the same. If you are handheld you want the shutter fast enough to prevent blur. Go for at least 1 1/2 times your focal length as a rule of thumb. If you don't care about depth of field, most lenses have a sweet spot around f8 or f11. So use aperture priority to keep it at f8, if the shutter is too slow at f8 kick up the ISO until the shutter is fast enough.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

No such thing as better. There are several controls for a reason, they do different things. Again, back to the Exposure Triangle.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Ah Yes, The Exposure Triangle... The ISO, Shutter, Aperture one or the Light, Shutter, Aperture one? As I think about ISO as Gain over Time the more I like the latter. But because you can easily change ISO on Digital Cameras I think the former has become the standard that people refer to usually. Regardless of which you like or believe in we do have a lot of flexibility with Digital that film didn't offer.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

That's pretty much what I would have said.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

No auto exposure mode is "better". They each have their uses, depending upon what you're shooting and how you want the images to look.

Aperture Priority mode (Av in Canon cameras) is the one to use when depth of field is important for a particular shot.... either great depth of field, sharp from near to far with a small aperture... or shallow depth of field to blur down a background and make a subject stand out by using a large aperture.

Shutter Priority mode (Tv in Canon cameras) might be what you want to control how subject movement is rendered in images... fast shutter speeds to best freeze all movement OR slow shutter speeds to allow some deliberate motion blur and depict action in a still photo.

Other auto exposure modes include:

Program mode (P), where both shutter speed and aperture selection are left to the camera can be useful when none of the above matters and you need to work very quickly.

Manual + Auto ISO is actually another form of auto exposure... which can be useful when you want to control both shutter speed and aperture for the above reasons, yet still need auto exposure.

Flash is yet another mode.... It can be "fill flash" where it merely supplements ambient lighting conditions. Or it can be "full flash" where it's the primary, dominant or only light source. In the latter case, the flash itself acts like a faster shutter speed to freeze subject movement (most flash will give effect similar to 1/720 shutter speed) REGARDLESS of what shutter speed is set on the camera. The distance flash can reach is controlled primarily by aperture and ISO changes. Much flash is now done using a form of auto exposure, but there is also fully manual flash.

Some folks will try to tell you that pure manual mode is the best way to shoot... but that's simply not true. Sure, it's nice to lock down all the exposure factors precisely, when it's possible to do so. However, depending upon what you're shooting, ambient conditions and techniques you're using, some form of auto exposure can be the only way to "get the shot". So it really pays to know how to use all the different modes. There really is no such thing as a single "best" exposure mode. Buy the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. Read it. Study it.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Neither is better. They serve different purposes. Aperture priority allows you to control the size of the aperture to allow in more or less light and control depth of field, and then automatically chooses a shutter speed to compliment it for s "good" exposure. Shutter priority is just the opposite. It allows you to select the shutter speed from fast to slow in order to stop action or create motion blur, and then automatically selects an aperture for a "good" exposure. A little experimentation on your part using both, in a variety of circumstances, will quickly educate you on what to use when.

Of course, you can't leave out the third part of the exposure triangle, ISO. While modern cameras allow higher and higher ISO sensitivity with lower noise, the goal is still to use the lowest ISO setting you can while maintaining the appropriate shutter speed and aperture to capture the image as you've envisioned it. Sometimes, depending on lighting conditions and your goals, that calls for a compromise of the shutter speed, the aperture, or the ISO setting.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

With today's cameras, you can have the best of both worlds. If you are shooting moving objects and select shutter priority, but are not satisfied with the aperture, then adjust the ISO until you are. Vice versa when selecting aperture priority.

b roll wanabee

I got a lot out of shooting fountains & waterfalls
Play with the shutter speed to create different water effects. High shutter to stop the motion crisp and lower to blur the motion. Then play with the aperture to focus the foreground and back round in different ways. See how the iso changes.
You can make almost infinite unique pictures of the same shot.