Weekly Poll: What mode do you shoot in most often?

[Kosior]

Hmm... I use M mode most of the time. I change to the Av only when I want to do some exposure bracketing shots for a HDR - Av mode is - I belivie - the only one suitable for the HDRs becouse it doesn't change the aperture when shooting a series of photos so the DOF stays the same.

[chanraymond]

I'd usually leave my settings to Av before I put the camera into the bag so I can take a spontaneous shot without much fiddling with the settings. Tv only when I want the shots to look still and full Manual for night photography (I have all night )

[Sionara]

I primarily shoot in Aperture Priority mode but I have been trying to work with Manual mode more lately. But Av mode is definitely still the default for me.

[Teewinot]

I shoot in Aperture Priority about 90% of the time because I am usually concerned mostly with my depth of field.

[borsuuk]

For me it all depends on the time I have to make the photo (or at least the time I THINK I have). Most of the time it is the Aperture priority, because the depth of field seems most important in blending the subject into the background or making it stand out.

I go for full manual settings only when the electronic brain inside my camera fails to go along with my intentions (which is rare - thank you Canon) and for the Shutter priority when I have a mobile subject. Program mode seems to be a little lazy for someone who wants to exercise his photography skills and it often fails to give what one wanted from the shot.

As far as Auto mode is concerned, I guess I would have to be indecently drunk and aware of it (rare combination unfortunately) to assume that I am not able to control aperture and flash and framing simultaneously.

[candleman]

Gaa ! i cant believe so many people use "P" !!!
i tried it once and i hated it.... it gave me sreoiusly grainy shots

M, A, & S is all you need
M -if theres time for dozens of shots...
A -(mostly) this makes sure you dont miss a shot
S -movement

[ni2sml]

Generally aperture priority, for control over depth of field and corner sharpness. Lately however I've been using manual mode for flash photography. Also for carefully staged shots I often use manual mode and the camera's spot metering to set the highlight exposure.

[Ewie]

I used to shoot mainly in aperture priority (Av) mode but as I'm gaining in confidence I am finding that I mainly use full manual mode. I like that fact that I'm telling the camera what to do, not the other way around...

Being the control freak that I am, I'm also learning to manually set white balance to suit each scene. I bought an expodisc some time ago and I swear by it. It saves so much time in POST and I find I'm rarely adjusting the WB later, and if so, only very minor tweaks.

[VacantNight]

Manual - I'm definitely not good, but I like learning about what the different adjustments can do.

Otherwise, a scene mode or P. I stay away from auto at all costs, really. After experimenting with Manual, I am never happy with auto's results.

[Olivier H]

I've never switched to the scene modes of my camera, but used to go P a lot, which usually gave good results.
Now it's M all the way, with spot metering.

Sometimes a bit of aperture priority and matrix metering when I want quick snapshots.

Sometimes also, I let the camera decide, in P/Matrix metering, take a shot, chimp on the LCD screen to check the exposure, and then I go M with the same settings that the camera decided, and adjust from there.