How Do You Shoot?

For motorsport, shutter priority, or full manual if I have time to set up a static shot.
For nature, aprture priority, or full manual if I have time to set up a static shot..
For grrab shots wandering about, P with centre weighting using the centre AF spot.
If I ever get time to put it on a tripod, full manual.

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Originally Posted by Franglais

I've found that with the D70 I use a lot more automatic functions than on my film cameras. Most of the time I let it set the exposure, choose the colour balance, choose which focussing zone to use - I choose the ISO setting but I let the camera override.

Strangely enough this seems to give the best results. I haven't yet figured out exactly when the camera will screw up. I just know that if I try to give it the wrong instructions, the result is worse, especially with flash.

Charles

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Now that is interesting. I would never have guessed you wouldn't have full control with the D70. Have you asked if others have this sort of skewing of their settings?

Thanks for posting. I'm finding this very interesting.

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Originally Posted by Arctirus

95% AP with the exception of studio work. In the studio it's 100% manual and external metering.

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Cool!!!!

"In the studio it's 100% manual and external metering."

Do you not like or trust the auto settings, or do you like having total control over the photographic process?

Thanks for playing along.

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Originally Posted by paulnj

AP mostly ........and I love my 4LB trigger also(hahaha)

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Another aperture priority guy! Funny that this has never come up in all our exchanges, posts, emails, etc. Now I know!

Got to love adjustable triggers. All my Winchesters are set to 4 pounds. My Ruger Mark II came with a 3 pound trigger, and I love it! It is a target model after all...

I CAN shoot in any mode, but AP gives me the desired SPEED/ DOF I desire. Personally, I see no reason to use my camera as a P&S, but admittedly have a few times ;)

OK 3 LB trigger one up me guy, my MP5 has a selector on it and I can pull the trigger once and spray :D

Hi Speed, I'm hooked on AP auto. I thought I'd like a fully manual system so I bought a Bessa R, L and a couple of lenses (21/4, 35/2.5). It wasn't only to try fully manual. I was wondering what the rage was about rangefinders. I've concluded that they aren't as versitle as an SLR but they are compact and light and do work well at slower shutter speeds. However I was never quite ready with the camera for the shot. Just setting the aperture and focusing are enough steps for me to deal with. A few years ago I decided I needed an upgrade in my equipment. I was using my ancient Nikon FE. I was lured in by the temptations of auto focus, matrix metering and the like. So I bought an F4. I think my photography actually suffered because of it. I'm not slamming the camera. It's a great tool. I just think it offers too many options for my simple needs. The simplicity of AP Auto is the only mode I use.

manual unless I am just taking snapshots. Then i used Program. maybe like 5% of the time I use apertuve priority of shutter priority. The only time that happens is when I have a ton of light to work with and I am shooting sports. but even then, i prefer manual.

I would say that it's manual for me 98% of the time. Not so much because I'm a control freek, but because it is such a great learning tool. Recently I have been using AP a little more often and I like that too. It really speeds things along when you are hiking with someone who doesn't have a lot of patients. :D

Aperture Priority...
unless I am trying to stop motion, then
Shutter Priority...
unless I am using my flash, then
Manual...
unless I am in a hurry, then
Program...
unless I am trying to control DOF, then
Aperture Priority...
unless...

full manual 100% i have no other choice.
guesstimate exposure or handheld meter
one 35mm f2 prime lens

I use AP if I don't have a lot of time to get a shot off. But I'm trying to get in the habit of using manual, along with using MF as well...

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Originally Posted by Speed

Now that is interesting. I would never have guessed you wouldn't have full control with the D70. Have you asked if others have this sort of skewing of their settings?

Thanks for posting. I'm finding this very interesting.

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He does have full control of the D70. He use that full control to use some of the choices available that set his camera up in certain ways. Seems to me like he has at least as much control of his camera as someone who only uses one setting. I've never quite understood the idea that the best way to control your expensive highly technical tool is to turn off most of its features. As long as the instrament is set to record the desired image, I don't think one method of getting it set is more or less in control than another.

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Originally Posted by bmadau

AP works for me & my camera because of the relatively narrow range aperature range built into it (F2 - F8). In shutter priority it is real easy to "run out" of exposure control in varying light with a fixed shutter speed (in bright ligfht F8 might still be overexposed at my selected shutter speed, or the opposited in dim light, so I found myself spinning the command dial too much) but in AP my shutter speed can be anything from 8sec to 1/2000th so it's more versatile. I find that if I desire a certain amount of motion blur, I can do like you just described, find an aperature setting that's gives me a shutter speed I'm looking for. If that's not working out, then is when I go to manual. Indoors I'm looking for the fastest shutter possible to help eliminate camera shake (when shooting handheld) so I open the aperature wide and leave it.

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We are definitely two of a kind! I got turned on to Aperture Priority after reading John Shaw's Field Guide To Landscape Photography. He cites the same reasons you do - In low light, open the apeture all the way and shoot! It's rare you'll run out of shutter speed, but you can definitely run out of aperture!

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Originally Posted by Chunk

As long as the instrament is set to record the desired image, I don't think one method of getting it set is more or less in control than another.

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I disagree with that...the evaluative metering and program modes are very easily fooled. Yes, aperture and shutter priority just as much as AP. And many times the moment is gone before the histogram even comes up to check the exposure. Knowing how to meter and using manual mode not only save time, they also increase the quality of the images.

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

I disagree with that...the evaluative metering and program modes are very easily fooled.

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That's kind of where I've been lately. I took a workshop a few years ago with a guy who shot a Nikon F5. He used it manual with spot meter the whole time (shooting slides) and I couldn't figure out why. I mean, that was supposed to be the best, most foolproof metering system out there. Why would you need to think about metering with a camera like that? Well, truth is that it doesn't always work that way. Matrix (Evaluative) is a lot better than center weighted in tricky light but far from perfect. Using manual with the spot meter, you know exactly what the slide will look like when you get it back from the lab. No bracketing, just right the first time.

I don't always work this way because it's one more thing to think about, and I don't think it's always necessary. Again - depends on what I'm shooting and what the light is like.

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

I disagree with that...the evaluative metering and program modes are very easily fooled. Yes, aperture and shutter priority just as much as AP. And many times the moment is gone before the histogram even comes up to check the exposure. Knowing how to meter and using manual mode not only save time, they also increase the quality of the images.

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You are right in this....for you and your way of shooting. I also do not like evaluative metering and have my camera set for spot metering. But to imply that Franglais' beautiful shots are coming from someone who's not in full control of what gets taken is a stretch. I think that incorporating use of automatic features into one's work habits is every bit as valid as me making my choices and you making yours. Again - if the camera is set to capture the preconceived image correctly, who ever is running that camera is in full control, IMHO.

I shoot mostly in automatic but almost as much I use manual either focusing, WB, shutter speed, appeture, or whatever I think I need.

As for shooting. I'm always looking at things from a differnt perspective, I stalk my images..

My camera is a great beginners learning tool. It's the Sony DSC-F828, all in one, but with SLR type controls. The cool thing for learning about exposure is that you (or at least I) can frame the shots on the LCD screen with all the exposure settings and histogram dynamically displayed. As you pan through a room you can watch the shutter speed and histogram change as your view falls on differntly lit objects.

That being said, I am more than ready for a DSLR (I've been shooting w/my sony for a little over a year). I just need to get my wallet ready....

Well, this has gone on long enough without me piping up. I know, I know, "Shut up already, Outdoorsman." :rolleyes:
I use whatever mode is appropriate. There's no right mode for all situations. Because I do a lot of hand-held photography I tend to use TV, just to be sure the shutter is overcoming camera shake. On the tripod, it's whatever mode works best. Manual, AV, and TV are all I use, however. I have not once used the Program modes in the year I've been shooting this camera (Canon Elan 7N). Those modes would drive me crazy, with the flash popping up half the time and all kinds of settings coming up that I want to change but can't. I need more control! All those modes do is what we the photographers would know to do anyway. I wonder what they could have given the camera instead of pointless auto modes...

I do regular checks on manual versus AV or TV and the settings are identical in controlled lighting. There's really no reason to primarily use one or the other, I say, unless you need a specific shutter speed or aperture setting. And for metering... I don't spot meter much because this camera's spot meter is like 10% of the frame-- waaay too much for a good reading. But I also have had more ruined shots by using center-weighted metering than with matrix. Matrix metering has done well for me in almost all situations. Any times it didn't were my fault for not recognizing a tricky scene and adjusting appropriately....

I haven't had my Canon 10D off on anything else but Manual (unless by accident - which will freak you the F out sometimes) since 3 weeks after I bought it last Spring. I like the learning and the control of it.

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Originally Posted by Speed

Specifically, what mode do you use the most?

I do the majority of my shooting in Apeture Priority. Probably 95% of the time.
I occasionally shoot in Manual Mode, maybe 4% of the time.
It's rare, but I sometimes shoot in Shutter Priority for flash syncronization purposes, maybe 1% of the time.
I do not use Program mode anymore.

So, how do you shoot?

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Aperture priority 95% of the time (but with my thumb on the back wheel for manual override and exposure compensation-I don't trust my camera's meter that much in any mode), metered manual or shutter priority the other 5% of the time. In the studio, 100% manual.

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

Manual, 95% of the time, in concert with a handheld meter.

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Interesting. Very interesting. You've got a modern, digital camera, and shoot primararly manual. I would not have thought that.

Do you shoot that way for the total control, or do you not trust the camera to get it right? Just curious.

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Originally Posted by Stina

Apeture Priority most of the time but if I am doing sports I will use manual.

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Thanks for playing along. I'm enjoying seeing how many people shoot in Aperture Priority mode.

I'm curious to see that you shoot in manual mode for sports. Please elaborate on that for me. Please.

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Originally Posted by livin4lax09

manual unless I am just taking snapshots. Then i used Program. maybe like 5% of the time I use apertuve priority of shutter priority. The only time that happens is when I have a ton of light to work with and I am shooting sports. but even then, i prefer manual.

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I've got to admit, that I'm surprised by how many people shoot in manual mode. Nothing wrong with that, I just find it interesting. What gear do you shoot with?

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Originally Posted by mjs1973

I would say that it's manual for me 98% of the time. Not so much because I'm a control freek, but because it is such a great learning tool. Recently I have been using AP a little more often and I like that too. It really speeds things along when you are hiking with someone who doesn't have a lot of patients. :D

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Another manual guy. You are right about it being a great learning tool. It also helps you learn light.

I agree that Aperture Priority helps speed things along. Maybe that's part of why I like it so much. I also never worry about running out of shutter speed. But since I don't have that 80-200mm f2.8 (yet), or that 300mm f2.8, or that 400mm f2.8, (you get the idea), I do worry about running out of aperture when the light gets low.

Thanks for participating.