I don’t get good results from, don’t like and therefore rarely use image stabilization, so to prevent camera shake hand held with my 28-135 zoom “standard lens”, I typically shoot Shutter Priority at 1/160th of a second and use auto ISO if I do not have time to think, as this allows me to be reasonably certain I have an image that won’t be blurry at any focal length… this will work with or without a hot shoe flash, which syncs at 1/200th of a second on my camera.

Aperture priority, under the lighting conditions I typically shoot in, would force me to use a tripod because of the shutter speed… and if I’m going to do that, I just shoot Manual and do it all. Therefore, I almost never use Av.

In my studio, of course, I always shoot Manual and use a tripod and my monolights and my 100 mm prime macro lens.

I started off with learning photography in Auto mode, but that quickly frustrated me because metering was frequently off, and focus was not where I wanted it (typically the eyes). Then I switched to Programmed mode, which allowed me to focus where I wanted the focus and manually adjust shutter and aperture without losing exposure, but now I find myself shooting in Manual about 80% of the time and Shutter Priority the rest.

I prefer focusing on composition and taking many shots, rather than adjusting Aperture. For those of you using Aperture, how often and how much do you adjust Aperture while shooting multiple shots during an event, like at Church? Much thanks.

Can Aperture mode be good when walking around taking photos of activities with scores of people around you? Would I have to constantly adjust the aperture when moving around and changing shots?