Why all the hate on "Auto"?

[Shawn7656]

In the (digital) photography community it seems that everyone is against Auto mode. A quick and easy example, from a recent DPS article called "21 Readers Tell What they Wish They’d Known about Photography", is this:
2. “Learn Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO first. Stay on Manual. Shoot Raw.” – Alfredo Avila

Maybe this is a list of advice that you're supposed to follow after you master the bit before the next part. I have learned how to manipulate aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to my advantage, but I don't find shooting on manual to be necessary. Maybe I'm not at that point yet in photography, I don't really know. I think a lot of the times it is unnecessary though. An example would be you walking around shooting landscape pictures on a tripod with long exposures, a low ISO, and a good aperture for landscape (not my thing, I don't really know haha). Out of nowhere an almost extinct, very shy animal walks out from nearby trees and into the shadows. Your camera isn't set to take pictures of this animal. You flip your camera to auto, snap two shots, and the creature bolts away. If you took the time to flip dials, use a light meter, or if you happened to judge wrong or forget to change a setting, you could have just lost your chance to get a great picture. Instead, you did.


I assume that when you're a professional photographer you may be able to set a camera to make a perfect exposure extremely accurately and extremely fast, but I just don't know why anyone would want to use manual exclusively, especially when cameras tend to be pretty good guessers, and ESPECIALLY when you're first learning.

HOWEVER, I'm not saying manual mode doesn't have its place. If auto doesn't do a good job, I make my changes. I usually uses A or S though, rarely ever do I venture to full manual. I don't like how my camera works in manual (the controls just aren't laid out well enough) and I don't know how to do it fast enough, or accurately.


To offer advice like "stay in manual" to newbs is a bad idea IMO. They may learn to dislike photography, thinking it's way too hard and intimidating. I learned by using Auto, then learning ISO, then going onto Aperture Priority, then Shutter Priority, and I guess I still haven't mastered Manual. I've never used Program Auto before. I'm not really too sure of its purpose.... lol

Anyways. What do you pros think? Am I just not "there" yet? Or do I actually have a valid thought process going?

[OsmosisStudios]

Telling new-to-an-SLR camera users to go straight into manual is kinda like feeding them to the lions, and I dont recommend it. I've always advocated that NEW users use Program, Aperture, and Shutterspeed priority.

That said: AUTO (Especially Green Auto) isn't for "the newbies", but for "teh n00bs". It's for people who buy an SLR for the look of owning an SLR. Green auto doesn't teach you a damned thing, and if you're buying an SLR (and coming here) then you should be looking to take your photos past the point of "a snapshot of grandma". Green auto wont do that for you.

Im not saying everybody should use full manual all the time, but it's just stupid to use Green Auto all the time too.

[SwissJon]

When I go to the shops, I can buy the ingredients for a Thai meal and put them in, perhaps a little more or a little less of each bit, depending on how my mood takes me. Maybe today I want more spice, maybe tomorrow I want less.

If you go to the shop and buy a ready made package, you get whatever the inventor decided you should have. Sure it's fast, but tomorrow is the same as today, no variation, and your food gets bland and samey.

It's the same with photography. If you choose the settings for your camera, then you're the one choosing the ingredients. You can change every setting, today you may be feeling sullen, and under expose. Tomorrow, in the same light, you might be feeling chirpy and have a much brighter image. Like this, your photos start to take on your personality.

If you stick the camera in full auto, then the camera chooses the settings for you, this way your photos all start to look the same as everyone elses who had full auto, and they can become bland and boring and devoid of personality.

THAT's why people are encouraged to choose the manual settings.. Because you're looking at the difference between a wooden piece of furntiture made in a factory by a machine, or a hand crafted one off..

[Rentham]

I shoot in manual most of the time. Not for any idealistic or elitist reason. The camera may guess what I want, but I know what I want. There's nothing mysterious about manual. If you can shoot in AV or TV you can shoot in manual.

[metoo]

I mainly shoot in full manual. I like to have control over all the settings. I know the light and how fast my subject is moving etc... That's why I bought a camera with full controls. I do not manual focus though. I need auto focus...or glasses maybe? Of course I could care less how other people do it.

[Meatshield]

Originally Posted by Rentham

I shoot in manual most of the time. Not for any idealistic or elitist reason. The camera may guess what I want, but I know what I want. There's nothing mysterious about manual. If you can shoot in AV or TV you can shoot in manual.

Yip.

Maybe it's Nikon, but my camera has trouble reading my mind

[veritasimagery]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Telling new-to-an-SLR camera users to go straight into manual is kinda like feeding them to the lions, and I dont recommend it. I've always advocated that NEW users use Program, Aperture, and Shutterspeed priority.

+1. I always tell someone to start with Program, then look at the settings the camera chooses (for those unknowing, the difference between Program and Auto is that with Program the camera doesn't do any "post-processing" work for you, like sharpness, saturation, etc.), then you can take those exact setting over to Manual and play around with them. Then you can see the difference in changing the aperture, or shutter speed, or ISO. This way you're learning what it takes to "create" photos, not just "take" photos.

And if you're just gonna leave your DSLR in Auto, save yourself some money and stick with a Point-n-shoot.

[RichardTaylor]

@Shawn7656

Shoot on "auto" with a very long lens on and see what happens. It has no idea of "safe" hand holding shutter speeds (at least with my Canon DSLR).

Think as P as controlable auto. On Canon DSLRS you can shoot RAW, adjust the ISO and vary the exposure combination it selects.

Now days I never shoot auto or in P mode. It is either shutter or aperture priority and M sometimes when lighting can be tricky etc.

[Jim Bryant]

Auto......................it lets the camera think for you, which it normally thinks about f-stops and not shutter speeds...........bad camera, baddddddddddd camera.

[DanielLane]

The way I look at auto is this. Auto was designed by an engineer in a lab somewhere. The engineer(s) programmed the computer to do certain things in certain situations. So do you want to decide what your image looks like, or let some engineer somewhere else decide for you? If you want to do some sort of "auto" mode, instead of the green auto setting, go from M to P. It is still an auto mode, but you get have a little input to the decision making as well.