gwilliams6

It might help the discussion to add a link to the aforementioned video. I couldn't find it.

FYI, so I haven't watched it yet, but I have to agree with chg_canon here on this one.

I shoot in manual mode 99% of the time. I still prefer having the control over my settings as maintaining a proper shutter speed to stop or blur action, and maintaining a proper aperture to have shallow or extended depth of field is often critical to my shots, or having the right flash sync speed for the effect I want, or in astrophotography.

I will sometimes use auto ISO in any quickly changing lighting conditions, but I do set limits to the range of the auto ISO so the camera doesn't get out of hand with any ridiculously high ISOs.

Cheers and best to you.

MJPerini

It is called Click Bait.
You say stuff that everyone knows can't be true, you get more clicks than if you said something sensible.

What IS true, is that modern cameras are so completely configureable that there may in fact be better more efficient ways to use our cameras than the way we habitually use them. My own feeling on that is generally that speed of use borought along with habits formed through years of shooting, often trump a newer, slightly more efficient, way that may require more thought. (and be somewhat slower)
If you get the results you want to get , there is no need to change. If a change will help YOU get better results, that the effort is worth it.

gwilliams6

Yes click bait gets you more clicks and helps your monetized channel make more money.

Cheers and best to you.

epd1947

Manual mode works well where precise and repeatable exposures are called for, such as in studio portrait sessions where your goal might be to set all parameters to essentially negate the inclusion of the ambient lighting and supply all lighting artificially. To me the issue is with people who insist that shooting in Manual mode is somehow the mark of the professional to which everyone should aspire and using anything other than Manual is only for know nothing tyros. What matters is getting the exposure you want to express the end result you want. Fighting the technology for the sake of fighting the technology makes little sense. Someone I heard put it quite well regarding avoiding the tech in our present cameras - “you don’t buy a Lamborghini and then push it by hand.”

nikon123 Loc: Toronto, Canada

If you are of a certain age, our first SLR cameras had a built in light meter. This light meter was sensitive to the adjustments made to aperture and shutter speed to arrive at an acceptable exposure. Our ISO's were also ASA's and basically limited by the film DNA. When I fist acquired a DSLR, I stayed with manual except I used auto focus. I have now morphed to Aperture Priority and Shutter Speed Priority, depending upon the nature of the photograph being created. I will use sometimes use manual for portraiture and landscape, especially where the camera is mounted on a tripod. I have also used it for Macro photography as it gives an advantage, even with a macro lens, to get closer to the subject. My 2 cents!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

BebuLamar

It's a click bait to get you to spend over an hour to watch his stuff. He actually meant "Manual mode is overrated" not outdated.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

That WOULD be a more appropriate title.....

BebuLamar

But then it's not outright wrong and thus people wouldn't click on that. Get fewer clicks that way. Saying "Manual mode is outdated" is an outright wrong and thus people want to see what his arguments are.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Ever hear of catch and release fishing?

As with fishing and hunting, for many of us photography is another way to get out there and relax and enjoy nature. Sometimes you come home with a trophy - or an excellent image - sometimes you don't. There is one sure way to guaranty that you always come home with a lot of keepers. Simply lower your standards.

griffzky

I would agree that using manual mode is not as prevalent as it once was because the auto modes offer some control and the cameras are much better than ever. However, to call it outdated is a gross overstatement. I work for a friend who is a franchise owner of a photography business that does primarily sports and school events. We shoot only on manual after using a light meter to set the initial lighting, then adjust up or down an f-stop as needed. Works beautifully and quickly when you have a line of parents waiting to have their child's photo taken.

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

I think you missed the point entirely. My point was that doing it the old fashioned and hard way doesn’t make you any better than the person using modern, more convenient methods.

And yes, there are times when a professional driver has to override the automatic transmission just like the photographer needing to use manual inputs rather than letting the camera do its thing.

When people say “I only use manual” I’m sure there are times when they go to a lot of unnecessary effort. With digital, if you don’t like what the camera just produced, then do it the old way until you get what you want. If the camera got it right the first time, you saved yourself a lot of effort. Not so when we were all shooting film and it took a week to see if you got what you wanted.

In the manual only folk’s defense, there are times when I break out my grandfather’s woodworking hand tools. Sometimes it just feels good to be in total control, but if the result turns out crappy there’s no one to blame but yourself. However, I don’t burden myself by using hand tools only. Making tongue and groove on an electric router is easy. Doing it with a Stanley 45 plane is only slightly better than being a customer of the Spanish Inquisition.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Marketing.......

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

While we are at it, I would humbly suggest that we declare a few more things outdated, you know, those things that the snobs with their so-called experience and expertise are always going on about. For example, let's repeal the inverse-square law. And that "family of angles" thing. What's that all about anyway? Modern cameras handle all of that stuff automatically. We can get rid of depth of field. Who has time to calculate that when you are on the run snapping away?

Let's not stop there. Who needs a camera anymore? There is software now that can create any image you want. Your face in front of the Eiffel Tower? No problem. In fact, you can even put a better, much improved AI generated face on yourself!

Yes, it is all true. Photographers are outdated.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States