Priority modes

[Sloseph]

Morning all

iv just been looking through a load of posts and I have noticed that a lot of people here use either aperture or shutter priority modes

This has left me wondering, why? If you get a DSLR and you clearly want to learn the ins and outs of it because you have put some research into aperture/shutter speed then why not just go full manual and control it all

So how many of you are full manual and how many use priority?

[candidrachel]

I use AV or TV mostly because its quicker to use on the fly.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by candidrachel

... its quicker to use on the fly.

this.



additional letters to make post...

[audiman90]

Using Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority Mode is the same as setting Manual Mode with one less step if it is a standard exposure or the same amount of steps if you need to give the exposure some compensation.
Using Aperture or Shutter Priority gives you one less thing to worry about, giving you more time to frame your picture.
I personally use both Auto and Manual Modes, depending on the difficulty of the lighting conditions.

[Dodge]

Kind of depends on my mood, how studious/lazy I'm feeling at the time. I do mainly shoot wildlife though when speed is often of the essence so will more often than not concentrate on whatever it is I'm hoping to learn or achieve or even just shoot on that particular occasion. Fair enough, I may not learn technically every time I go out, but I inevitably do learn something, even if it's about shooting a particular animal, best place to find it, it's behaviour etc.

I've undoubtedly had some sweet shots (well imo) that I wouldn't have got if I'd been messing with camera settings at the time. I'm just not that competent. I'd sooner come home with one or two pics I like rather than no nice pics and a fuzzy feeling about doing everything manually. My camera is still smarter than me, I'm happy with that, we work as a team

[mshockley]

Originally Posted by candidrachel

I use AV or TV mostly because its quicker to use on the fly.

Agreed +1.......

[wulf]

Manual mode 99% of the time. Admittedly I am largely forced into it because my favourite lenses (on there 90% of the time) are manual only but even with the more modern lenses, I don't feel particularly slowed.

I tend to keep the ISO as low as possible unless I find that I can't improve the exposure with the shutter and aperture settings. I tend to pick an aperture based on the depth of field I want for the images I will be shooting (although I'm flexible where required). That leaves just the shutter speed and that can easily be controlled with the dial on the back of the camera. Add in the button that I can press to make the dial change aperture instead and I'm not slowed down at all.

In fact, if anything, it is faster once you get the hang of it. In AV or TV modes, you have to adjust the dial on top of the camera if you decide one or the other of those needs tweaking; in manual mode, both are under my fingers without taking my eyes away from looking through the lens.

Wulf

[Murtasma]

I can use manual mode with no issue. In some situations manual mode is required due to the camera's metering limitations or special situations where you really can't meter.

I see no reason to use the manual mode when 90% of the time the only thing I care about is depth of field (av) or my shutter speed (tv). Why slow yourself down if you understand the Big 3 and how they relate to each other there is a time and place for manual.

Fortunately Av and Tv do such a damn good job the situations I have to use manual mode aren't that high.

I'm here to make images not play around with camera settings (you should know how to still because there are situations where you have to use manual mode). I don't want to miss an image because I couldn't change camera settings fast enough to me that's senseless.

Todays powerful DSLRs allow photographers to be more flexible which is a GOOD thing.

If you really want to challenge yourself and understand the lens, shutter and metering go buy a spot meter and a large format camera.

[OsmosisStudios]

I use manual modes almost exclusively, but thats mainly because Im working with a consistent lighting situation and/or using flash.

[Murtasma]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

I use manual modes almost exclusively, but thats mainly because Im working with a consistent lighting situation and/or using flash.

This is one of the few situations where I use manual mode exclusively. Another situation would be painting with light.