steve49 Loc: massachusetts

Also wanted to add... I thk auto works fine for the most part.
faster and the exposures are mostly perfect ...

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

If you are OK with program and you get good results, use it.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Program mode has its place. It is important to make sure Flexible Program is available so as to control the camera if it needs to.

khorinek

I don't use Program Mode. I primarily use Shutter Priority and/or Manual. I like to control the Shutter speed (to capture subjects in motion). I'm not as concerned with aperture and I use ISO to adjust for the environment I am in. P mode doesn't give me all that with consistent results.

i080123

Question

For birding and wildlife isn’t it better to use shutter priority? The rationale being for birds in flight. I have a Tamron 150-600 G2 zoom and handhold it in a kayak. Worried about blurring.

The Nikon P1000 looks excellent and checked out the earlier model P900 since lower price point. Went with a Canon SX730 since nice and light (cheaper) too with an excellent zoom (24-940).

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

how about showing us the results of all that "chattering"?

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

It's always a good idea to experiment with the camera's settings. You might find yourself surprised at a photo that you didn't expect.

Happy Shooting

nikon123 Loc: Toronto, Canada

To those of you who are the modest non-professionals I do not doubt that your images are every bit as good! I have not used program or automatic mode in my photography, although I do not doubt that these settings can produce acceptable exposures. For 'better or worse', on my D500 Nikon, I typically use aperture priority and ETTR with 1/3rd of a stop with exposure compensation. There is likely a fair bit of snobbishness in my assertion. I have an expensive camera and an inquisitive nature and I would like to have 'some' input into the exposure that I believe is required for the particular image.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I use Program mode only for snapshots. I take mostly snapshots. So I use Program mode most of the time. But I do like being able to adjust any one of the variables and have the others follow suite. That’s good for my "planned" snapshots. 😊😊

JDG3

I think I agree, Program or Auto modes do have their place. I approach photography with a little different perspective than many. As an engineer and pilot, I have seen and used automation both in the factory and in aircraft. And by far the computer can accomplish its set goals faster and more accurately than the human ever could. In fact most factories can produce more faster and with higher quality than hand labor ever could. The same can be said of most complex aircraft, many of today's designs simply cannot be flown without autopilots flying or assisting. And most of the time this is true in photography unless the goal is art oriented. After taking quite a few courses online and at a local university where the instructors berated us for using anything but manual modes, I started experimenting with my cameras and their auto modes. Technically if the limitations of the Auto modes are understood along with the fundamentals of good photography and the photographer does not demand more than the camera is capable of producing, the results will be faster and most likely just as good as the manual modes (if the photographer is willing to admit it). In a very dynamic situation, some automation is almost always used such as aperture, shutter priority modes and auto focus. I often shoot moving subjects in shutter priority, auto focus, and auto ISO limited to around 640 or 800. Automation can allow a photographer more time to compose his subject rather than continually adjust the camera for proper exposure.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Why not? Because I prefer to be the one who makes the settings for the photographs I take. Program mode can't previsualize the final image for me and, most likely, it would vehemently disagree with how I wanted to make the exposure.
--Bob

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Straight from camera. As I wrote earlier, I had been trying to do what I thought to be a typical tripod long exposure sequence. After awhile I put the tripod away and thought it would be fun to try what full Auto "iA" would do hand held. The camera and lens have "dual image stabilization". The camera decided to stack and align multiple exposures into a single JPEG. Hence the "chattering" sound.

Just to repeat, this is a hand held, intelligent automatic, 800 mm equivalent field of view shot.

If you check the ISO, it was high. There was haze and light pollution that night. In the cloudy, rainy, Seattle area, it never is clear enough when there are celestial events. And, not to be disappointed, there were clouds passing by. I was on my way to bed, the cameras were in the closet and there was one of those "Holy S" moments. I could see the eclipse the media had been promising for a week! In hindsight, I should have been a lot less lazy. I could have prepared for a time lapse series.

(Download)

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

I use it a lot.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I dialed in the +0.7 EC when loading the expired film. The camera in Program decided f/5 and 1/100 were good for the scene presented to the camera / lens at 24mm. I set the focus point to the Stinton / Reliant logo on the tail, made sure the horizon was level, and pressed the button. The scanned JPEG was edited in LR and EXIF extracted from the camera was merged with the scanned files.

Stinson Reliant by Paul Sager, on Flickr

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

If done or used correctly, they should all look the same. Doesn't that make sense? Aside from special shooting situations where one mode or method should be superior; action, macro?