Red Sky At Night

Just wondering how you decide which to use? I assumed all really skilled photographers shot in manual. But then my girlfriend said that her photographer friend only shoots in aperture. How do you know which to use? Are there right and wrong times for each or is it a matter of preference?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Unless conditions are unusual, I shoot in Aperture mode, and sometimes Auto. Manual is good for unusual conditions.

Red Sky At Night

Thanks Jerry.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Depends on what you want to worry about. Success in the semi-auto modes is enhanced in using exposure compensation where the photographer pushes the exposure over (or under) the 0-mark for the meter. If you leave the camera in AUTO ISO and trust the IS / VR capabilities of your lenses, you really don't have to spend the mind effort on the complexities of Manual and instead use that brain power on composition and focus.

Red Sky At Night

Thanks. That makes sense.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Use the mode that will best give you the result you desire.
Could be aperture, shutter, manual, auto...

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

It all depends:
If I am shooting in conditions where I feel the in-camera light meter will be fooled I will be shooting in manual exposure.
If I am shooting where shutter speed will be a priority, either to freeze motion or to show motion, then I will be in shutter priority.
Otherwise i will be in aperture priority.
With your permission I can post some examples.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I use manual mode 99% of the time. Several of my cameras offer nothing but manual. That includes one recently acquired digital. What works for one may not for others.

Whether I select ISO, aperture, or shutter speed as the most important, will depend on what it is that I'm photographing. It becomes a system engineering situation.
--Bob

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I've shot manual for so long I tend to forget there are other modes.

philo Loc: philo, ca

I'm shooting in a combination of modes. I set the camera in M; then i set my shutter to 1/250 (depending upon my lens, the longer the lens the faster the speed) I then set my A depending upon my DF. then I set the ISO to Auto.
With these setting I can change my A with one dial and my S with another dial.
Works for me.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Why? That's often less efficient.



The only concern is are you controlling the camera. I keep my cameras in P(program) mode most of the time. The engineers who designed our cameras spend time considering this issue and often do a really good job designing the cameras to work efficiently.

The first question is are you going to use the exposure meter built into the camera or are you going to determine exposure externally. If the answer is yes you're going to use the camera meter (the overwhelming majority of photographers do), then you might as well use it's full functionality. In our modern cameras control of the camera's exposure settings are linked to the meter automatically and they responded faster than any human using the camera in manual mode.

In my favorite camera set to P mode I have a thumb wheel right under my right hand thumb. Turning that wheel shifts the shutter/aperture combinations that the camera has already selected for the exposure. Under my right hand index finger is another wheel that shifts the exposure (Exposure Compensation). Between those two wheels I have full control of the exposure. It's fast and efficient. As long as I have control of the exposure parameters I have what I need. The camera mode question then is nothing more than what gets me to the point where I'm ready to take the photo as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Joe

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

To continue on Bob's thoughts, I use different modes on different cameras. For my EOS DSLR, I'm 100% manual (all three parameters), after changing over from 100% aperture priority about 6-years ago. On my EOS film camera (fixed ISO based on the film), I prefer Program with EC adjusted to the light and / or film type. The camera makes great selections that I only occasionally need to override for something specific. I have a Sony a7R2 that I use only with legacy manual focus lenses, and that camera is 100% shutter priority w/ AUTO ISO. The Sony is kind of a hybrid in the sense I set the aperture manually the lens and just every once in a while have to adjust the shutter speed if I see the ISO is getting too high. The IBIS gives me plenty of support for very slow shutter speeds.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

There are different reasons to use any mode. That's why cameras are designed for the various functions. I have.ta tremor in my left hand so I have to use Shutter priority to control camera shake. But there are time that using apature is required to control DOF. Full manual, with manual focus is not practible with todays lenses because of the short throw, needed to auto-focus. It's a matter of different strokes etc. But, that aside, the only thing that counts is the image, how you got it, doesn't matter

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

I shoot in manual 99% of the time.

The only time I might shoot in auto anything is when I am testing the camera's meter. It's wrong a significant proportion of the time regardless of the metering mode.

In the camera's viewfinder I can see whether the camera thinks that my manual settings are too bright or too dark. I'm right more often than the camera because I know what I'm looking at, the camera just sees light levels.

The problem with auto exposure is that when you look at the results on the back of your camera there is a good chance you will end up turning the exposure compensation dial to repeat the shot. That's inefficient.

The blinkies tell me more about potential overexposure (the only error I care about) than the meter or the histograms can.

Iron Sight Loc: Utah

Good Thread 😃