Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Control over the outcome, rather than letting the camera do it. Same reason there's no automatic transmissions on formula 1 race cars.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I had a more detailed response composed, but somehow deleted it with some mysterious automatic typing shortcut provided by the forum software, so this will have to do...keep in mind that I use Nikon cameras, so I am not conversant with mode names used by other manufacturers. Anyway...

The most vocal protests against various automated camera functions seem to come from folks who don't have the faintest clue around how those functions really work. Many have stated that the <Program> function works by comparing a composed image to a vast in-camera library of 50,000 or 100,000 "perfect" reference images in some mysterious fashion, which is absolutely ludicrous...the shutter would never release after pressing the button if all this digital work had to be done. I don't have any cameras with an "Automatic" mode, but the ones I have used simply add flash control to <Program> mode. I also don't have any cameras with "scene" selections, but my wife's camera does. I haven't decided whether the effect of the different choices is significant enough to make any difference or not.

What makes me chuckle every time it arises is the vast number of vocal "Manual" folks who are very big on either Auto ISO or Auto White Balance or both. In my experience, neither of those works very well. AWB, in particular, makes decisions about the color of illuminating light by comparing response curves of the three primary colors in the image (not the light), then adjusting them to make all three the same. This has the effect of correcting out any prevailing coloration from an exposure...whether green grass or blue sky or red sunset or purple walls or any other color.

There are some situations where I have to make manual exposure adjustments...either there isn't enough light, or contrast is too high, or multiple exposures need to maintain the same exposure, or any of several other reasons. If I photographed sports or birds, I'd use Aperture priority mode. But most of the time, Program mode, sometimes with gentle application of exposure compensation or with a switch to a different metering mode, generally makes choices very similar to what I would make, and does it much quicker and with less error than I would. And...if I need to shift shutter speeds or apertures one way or the other, I can do that quickly and easily. If you are watching, you will probably never be able to see when I do it. And the camera will immediately make the corresponding change to the other parameter.

I am not an advocate of any particular mode over another for any photographer other than myself. But knowing how they each REALLY work can make a huge difference in your photography when the need arises. And there's not any one of them that sets anybody with any camera apart as a "real" photographer.

Hip Coyote

I work most often in Aperture priority mode. I can use any mode well. But, on occasion, when something pops up unexpectedly, I pop into auto mode or P mode. The point of is to get the image! And I could care less about what others think about what ever mode I use, my camera, my camera strap, my shoes, my lenses, if I use a filter, a hood, or what ever. The point of photography, IMO, is to capture an image you are happy with. I have changed from desiring the "art" of the image to the "meaning" of the image. Yes, I still try to make good images. I submit images to my art club for critique. And I do ok in that forum. But I have learned that the images most important to me, ones I will keep, that family will keep, are not the lone tree on the hillside but the images that evoke some sort of memory or emotion in me or my loved ones.

Which image would be more valuable to you? The landscape in Yosemite, taken on a tripod, HDR, manipulated and "perfect" or the last photo of your grandparent shot in auto mode?

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Clearly that should have said SHUTTER priority mode...

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I do take control of my gear.

I tell it what I want, and it does it.

The difference between "photographer" and "snapshooter" is in vision, not how goes about getting there.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

With Formula 1 race cars, the driver tells the car when to shift and the car's automation does the rest - which is exactly like telling the camera which aperture or which shutter speed is wanted and letting camera's automation take over and do the rest.