Auto mode by experienced photographers

[BBbuilder467]

I apologize for not really understanding your statement in context. The statement the photographer made was that he was using the camera's Auto mode. Whatever that means internally is decided by the camera. I don't have an A5000 so I don't know first hand it's internals.

Should he have said he uses auto shutter, auto aperture, auto ISO, auto metering, etc at the exact same?

The OP asked if anyone uses full Auto mode. It is for certain that the photographer I talked to does. Whether he does ALL the time I do not know.

I’ve only used professional bodies for the past decade, so I had to check whether mine has a Full Auto Mode. It has something called A+ mode, which I’d set if my wife wants to take photos with my camera.

But even that mode is a pain because the Mode dial on my camera is electronic and I’ve disabled all the modes except the Aperture preferred, Shutter preferred and Manual. I had to find a menu to un-disable A+ and then try it. It made a whole lot of other menu options disappear. I don’t know which controls work and which don’t in A+ mode so it’s not easily usable for me but it’s fine for Wife Mode…. Though she’d just pull out her iPhone and shoot while I’m trying to put the camera in A+ Mode.

I think the minds of most advanced photographers aren’t wired to just pick up a camera and do nothing but press the shutter release. When I shoot I concentrate on all the variables that lead to a finished print and then I adjust to deliver that. So I can’t really relate to using an advanced camera that gives me no control.

I think what the OP was asking was can you use IA in place of PASM?

Aside from aperture, I can force the camera to get the same settings I would in PASM. It's like it scrolls from one SCN mode to the next with each half-press. Mine even displays the SCN mode it uses at half-press. My SCN modes are just variations of aperture or shutter speed modes, so IA is practically the same.

 

[iljitsch]

I use full auto on my smart phone. It is fine when depth of field is not an issue and there is reasonable light.

Right. Note though that on a phone camera in "full auto" you can still touch the screen to change focus and (on the iPhone at least), clumsily slide around to get exposure compensation. And turn off the "flash". Unless I'm mistaken, on my other cameras auto means none of that. If only to avoid the camera using flash I never use AUTO.

On my compact cameras I use P almost exclusively, as these cameras know the limitations of their lens (i.e., usually stay wide open to avoid diffraction on the small sensors) and there's not much to be gained by adjusting the aperture anyway. And I can use exposure compensation as needed.

On my interchangeable lens cameras it's A most of the time because I want to control aperture myself.

I guess AUTO could be useful if you quickly want to take a shot that calls for middle of the road settings, but the current state of the camera is something completely different.

If you have time, use manual and think about why you are changing the settings.

Hm, manual is for when I want/need to control both aperture and shutter time. Turn off the auto ISO when I'm on a tripod and don't need short shutter times. But most of the time I trust the camera to make decent ISO / shutter speed tradeoffs so A is fine.

If you have less time, but still need some control, use aperture or shutter priority. Possibly add auto ISO.

I used to feel that shutter priority is a relic of the past and no longer of any use today now we have auto ISO. But there is actually still a use case, such as:

(An air show is a good example. You don't have time to change settings. You get the shot when the plane comes by, or you don't.)

So you need a high shutter speed and let the ISO float. But if you do that in a bright environment, you could end up overexposing in M + auto ISO. In S mode, the camera can adjust the aperture to avoid this.

On the the other hand, if you enjoy using your camera in full auto, go for it.

That makes you think about every setting, which can be useful sometimes. Especially when learning.