Angry @ Auto

[3bayjunkie]

Back in the 1970s and earlier you had to manually set your exposure. I think Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority are great! I don't like auto! I think it was a big mistake for manufacturers to make this feature and kind of an insult to human intelligence.

Making the auto feature was pretty much their way of telling everyone; "You probably are pretty dumb and won't be able to figure out how to use a light meter, so we will just make it so the camera figures it out for you". I find this to be very offensive and now people just take it for granted. I know a lot of people on here were around prior to the auto function. This includes my mother in law, which makes me wonder how she ever took pictures of anything prior to having the auto function since that is all she uses now.

I am just curious, did people not take photos prior to this auto function and simply rely on others to do it for them, or did they just not retain the information and pass it on to their children about how to use a camera?

Sorry for the rant, but it really is annoying.

[Krusty79]

They used Polaroid or Kodak 110 cameras. No brain necessary for those.

[mosgood]

I think a big part of it is a lot of people hate reading anything, let alone a manual that's usually more technical than most people can handle for a device that's become more & more complicated over the years.

When I took beginning photography many years ago, the 1st words from the instructor was to go home, find the camera's manual, & read it (cover to cover). Get to know what features it has & what it can do (or not do). Good advice, but if you can't decipher technical gobbledy gook, you're kind of SOL. So most people put their cameras in Auto & let it make all the decisions.

I'm a control freak. For me, letting the camera take over means that I have given total control to a gadget. Not likely to happen here.

[TraceyHill3]

I used auto the whole first year I had the camera. I got a few good pictures, but I had to take so many and weed through a lot of bad ones. I really started to hate the camera deciding what shutter speed I used and what aperture I used. I'm learning more and more about exposure so I can use manual all the time. I don't have to throw away so many pics now.

[RichardTaylor]

"Back in the day" getting a correct exposure was a major problem - now it, mostly, isn't.

If you had an adjustable camera (and not all of the were) you had relate to what you were seeing to the written suggested exposure instructions that came with the film or a Kodak master photo guide.

Keen photographers, not snappers, purchased hand held light meters (I owned one) or an meter that attached to your camera.

My first SLR did not come with a meter (Pentax SV).

My second one did (Pentax Spotmatic), and through the lens metering and a match needle indication in the viewfinder by manually adjusting the aperture and shutter speed so the indicator lined up, similar to using todays cameras in manual mode.
There was no aperture or shutter priority.

For me automation came with the purchase of a Canon SLR (EOS1000) in the 90's. I thought it was great.

For snap shooters the Kodak Instamatics made life very easy, and you didn't even have to thread the film, and some of them didn't have any buttons to press except the shuttert button and maybe a button to pop the flash up.

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter how you achieve good pics.

[3bayjunkie]

well my whole point is. using a light meter is almost as simple as it gets, whether it be in your camera or an external light meter. it tells you what numbers to set in manual mode. two settings (not very complicated) and in aperture and shutter priority you only really have to make one choice.

So The camera manufacturers pretty much said to them selves that consumers are too dumb to turn two dials on a camera to get a correct exposure. That is how I see it. And now they have created a race of camera users who refuse to take their camera off of auto because its "too hard" to figure out...

[RichardTaylor]

How do you feel about automatic weapons?

Would you you like to go back to the days of the muzzle loaders because it, possibly, took more skill to use them?

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There are a lot of people out there who just want to take "memories" and don't care about the the mechanics of it, that is untill they find automation doesn't always do the trick..

[Niresangwa]

I think you're being a snob.

If you want to live your life in manual or semi-manual modes, bully for you. Just remember that the vast amount money the camera manufacturers make isn't from professionals or those well-versed in operating a camera - it's from consumers who just want a decent photograph.

That money then goes into developing the full range of products and technical advantages that we all enjoy.

Technology always follows a trend of doing more for the uer with less effort at a higher quality, why should photography be any different? Do you rant against Microwaves? Do you rant against broadband modems? Do you rant against debit cards?

Over and above that fact, the auto mode you so keen to abrogate has it's place, not just for those who want quick snaps, but also for those of us earning a good living with photography. Throughout the course of a wedding, I'll use every mode on my dial.. Manual, Synch, Av, Tv, ATv, User, Video and yes, shock, horror, I'll also use Auto.

That handy-dandy exposure meter in your viewfinder has a nasty habit of being wrong. As long as it's in the ball park though, it's fine. If I don't care about the DoF, If I don't worry about motion blur, if I don't have to worry about using my lighting equipment, then the auto modes are the fastest way to get me into that ball park.

You're welcome to your opinion, but I personally think your disdain is woefully misplaced.

[3bayjunkie]

I'm not trying to be a snob, what I am asking is (for those of you who lived in the time) how did you take photos before there was an automatic option. my grandparents have photos of my parents and they were born in the 50s. so I was wondering if they used manual settings back then, how did it turn out that people who were born in the 50s don't know how to use it since that would be how they grew up taking photos?

I am just asking out of curiousity. Did the manual exposure mode make people forget how to use manual or was there a different trick to it back then? or did the average joe just not take pictures for leisure in the late 60s and early 70s?

[RichardTaylor]

"If you had an adjustable camera (and not all of the were) you had relate to what you were seeing to the written suggested exposure instructions that came with the film or a Kodak master photo guide."

See this PDF for an example.

http://www.carlmcmillan.com/Pdf/Film...00-3_E7006.pdf