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Which mode do you use the most?

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AKL57

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I assume that professionals use the manual mode most of all. Is that correct? Which modes do you find yourself using the most and for what applications? Thanks for the input.
 
Probably about 80% aperture priority with manual and shutter taking up the rest.

--
Busch

Take the scenic route! Life is too short to do otherwise.

http://www.pbase.com/busch
 
Aperture priority when I'm out and about, manual when shooting in a studio: set my shutter speed to the X-sync setting and adjust aperture accordingly.
 
Aperture priority almost always

Manual for night shots etc..
--



Clint is on holiday! Soon to return! ;-)
 
--
fjbyrne
 
Ivan,

I was using manual mode almost exclusively to force me to learn the camera. It has helped me to learn. However, I've found it takes much longer to capture good pictures (which is the trade off) - which can be frustrating when you don't have a lot of time and you want to capture a lot of photos in short period of time.
  • Keith L
 
Francis,

You have some very nice photos. Do you you find yourself using the exposure correction most of the time?
  • Keith L
 
For times when I'm using ambient light and no flash - A mode.

For times when I'm either in control of the light (studio etc) or I'm in very difficult lighting (festivals, gigs) - M mode.
 
about 90% of the time I shoot in aperture priority with spot-meter. I use exposure lock a great deal and average exposure values from different points in my scene. I use manual exposure for night and studio work. Every once in a while I throw the camera into P/Matrix and just take snapshots...
--
KM 5D (AS ROCKS!)
18-70 kit lens
28-85 Macro 1st Gen Metal Body
70-210 f:4 (Killer Lens!)
Minolta 50mm f:1.4 + Kenko macro tube set (Shweeeeet!)
ProOptic 500mm f:5.6 Mirror Lens (Don't I Feel Special!)
Minolta 3600HS-d
Minolta Xt-Si
Olympus XA
1953 Minolta 35 Model II (Leica M39 mount) w/ Coated Super Rokkor 45mm f:2.8
Jupiter-9 85mm f:2 (Russian Sonnar Clone) in M39
Rochester 5x7 plate camera
 
Aperture priority followed by full automatic. I really doubt that most professionals use full manual most of the time. Under controlled or steady lighting then full manual may have some advantages. Studio photography is the most obvious example. Possibly architectural or landscape too. However, iff you are taking photos at a sports, entertainment or many news type events conditions can be very changeable making full manual difficult. However, there are a whole bunch of other things to tweak - exposure compensation, WB.

I'm assuming you don't mean all those creative modes - I suspect most professionals don't use those much, if at all.
 
AKL57 said:
I assume that professionals use the manual mode most of all. Is that
correct?
Click to expand...
That's a bad assumption. For one thing, it really depends on the professional and the type of photography they're doing.

The main reason to use M mode is to rely on metering other than the cameras built in meter. Otherwise, if you're using the cameras built in meter, in any mode, you can do what you want through P, A or S with AEL and/or exposure compensation. I've read that pros rely on modern matrix metering extensively and in nature photography specifically, rarely needing to compensate or use spot metering. Even if you don't want to use matrix metering, most cameras offer a spot meter which lets you be more "in control" without having to resort to M mode.
AKL57 said:
Which modes do you find yourself using the most and for
what applications? Thanks for the input.
Click to expand...
Aperture priority for the most part. I'll use P mode on vacations. Minolta implemented a smart program mode 15-20 years ago that sort of automatically determines whether you're shooting a scenic shot, an action shot or a shot of a close subject that might require shallow DOF and does an admirable job of picking a shutter/aperture combination for casual shooting. Most of the time, though, I'm shooting people and tend to use my 28/2 or 85/1.4 at f/2. If shooting in good light and using my zooms I tend to stick to f/4. I frequently aim the camera and hit AEL to avoid "hot spots" in the scene while metering, then recompose to take the shot (I find that much quicker than exposure compensation). For nature photography, still A-mode, but with an aperture chosen for DOF.
  • Dennis
--
Gallery at http://kingofthebeasts.smugmug.com
 
AKL57 said:
Ivan,

I was using manual mode almost exclusively to force me to learn the
camera. It has helped me to learn. However, I've found it takes
much longer to capture good pictures (which is the trade off) - which
can be frustrating when you don't have a lot of time and you want to
capture a lot of photos in short period of time.
  • Keith L
Click to expand...
Hi Keith,

I agree that in fast moving situations or where the light can change quickly manual mode is slower than allowing the camera to help make decisions. On the flip side, for me, allowing the camera to make the majority of decisions can be frustrating because if its not exactly what I want then I feel as if my hands are tied. With manual I can tweak things on the fly and after a while it becomes 2nd nature and it comes instinctively.

Who knows, I may get brave one day and try out the A or S modes. I'm sure that it must be easier in some cases to have your EV tweaking dialed in etc. You brought up some excellent points.

--
Ivan
http://www.ivanwatkins.com
 
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