When do you use M mode

<p>So, why and when do you use M mode? For me, I only use it when using flash - where I want a smaller aperture (such as f8), but want to "drag the shutter" to let in more background ambient light with a slowish shutter speed such as 1/15. Everything else I can pretty much accomplish using A, P, or Tv, with exposure comps set.<br>

How about you?</p>

<p>M is extremely useful when the subject you're shooting is pretty constantly lit, but the background illumination changes quite a lot. For instance, you're photographing a person standing in a field. In one shot, a mountain is behind the subject. In another, taken at a slightly different angle, the sky is behind the subject. Both exposures should probably be done the same, but they will definitely meter differently.</p>

<p>I never use the "professional" (P) mode, because I know I'm smarter than the camera and don't want it thinking otherwise. I always set the camera in either Av or "moron" (M) mode. ;-)</p>

<p>In Av mode the flash mode is fill flash, so it will largely serve the same purpose of allowing the background lighting to register in the exposure. Of course, with M mode, you can control the precise amount of ambient better than you can in Av mode. I typically use M mode for the opposite reason -- when I'm intending for the light from my bounce flash to be the sole light for the exposure (e.g., 1/200, f/5.6, ISO 400) in indoor shooting. I also use M for shooting with off camera lighting, and pretty much any situation where the camera is on a tripod. </p>

<p>I use it whenever I can take my time. Although a lot of times I end up setting the camera just as it would in Av mode, it forces me to slow down and really think about what I'm doing, resulting in a higher number of keepers. The semi manual modes (Av, Tv, P) can cause you to go too fast and be careless and this may cause you to forget a simple setting adjustment like ISO or white balance that can affect the end result. If you realize when you get home that the awesome landscape you shot from the tripod was set at ISO 800 b/c you didn't change it back after shooting that deer in the shade, you'll be kicking yourself. Shooting in M just makes you really look at everything before firing away. The other modes are just too easy, and this isn't always a good thing. Don't get me wrong, they are useful and I definitely use them a lot, but if I'm in no hurry the dial goes straight to M.</p>

<p>I do use M for flash (I do a lot of indoor sports).</p>

<p>Since I am a photographer, not just a snap shooter, I use the manual mode when I know the camera can't figure out the exposure and my experience tells me the camera would choose the wrong exposure. Fireworks, stage productions, macro to name a few.</p>

<p>also, you should read the recent post about P mode. It seems most people, including me, NEVER use this mode. It lets the camera make most of the decisions for you, taking control out of your hands. When I take a photo, I know what I want it to look like and what settings must be used to accomplish that; I will set them myself instead of hoping the camera gets it right. You may as well just use a point and shoot.</p>

<p>When I have a tripod or when I want to have full control of the exposure. When using flash.</p>

<p>I use M all the time. I don't want the camera thinking for me.</p>

<p>I shoot lots of studio work where M is perfect for working tethered, and I love shooting landscapes where M is perfect because I know what I want exposed where.</p>

<p><Chas><br /></p>

<p>>>...I never use the "professional" (P) mode...<<</p>

<p>(P) is "program" mode ...unless Canon has changed the nomenclature was I was in the bathtub!</p>

<p>(M) is the professional mode. ;-)</p>

<p>I shoot mostly landscape and architecure, so it's M-mode from a tripod almost all the time...</p>

<p>All of the above. Also, M (manual) is necessary when shooting multiple images to keep the exposure constant for stitching, or using a ND gradient filter which needs to be metered without the filter, or any time with a hand-held meter.</p>

<p>All the time for sports, portraits, when using flash, concert or events where the stage lighting is consistent....and just about any other time where I am not rushed.</p>

<p>What Sarah said, but to elaborate a bit: the meter in the camera measures reflected light. Remember all the pictures of photographers with light meters dangling from their necks? Many of those were ambient light meters. A reflected light meter, unlike an ambient light meter, measures whatever it is pointed at, whether you want it to or not. So, particularly in spot mode, a minor change in framing the subject can produce a major change in metering.</p>

<p>So I use Av a lot when this is not a problem or when I have the meter pointed at something that is the right level of brightness. Otherwise, I take a spot metering off something that is close and set the camera manually. An old trick was to hold your palm so that it is exposed to light similarly to the subject, spot meter off that, and open up a stop or so (because your palm is about a stop lighter than neutral gray). A recent posting suggested an adaptation of the Ansel Adams zone system: find the brightest area where you want to preserve detail, spot meter off that, and open up two stops. Same basic idea.</p>

<p>No John, the setting isn't for the photographer. It's for the camera. In P, the camera tries to be the "professional" and calls all the shots. In M, the camera is a moron and just follows orders. I'm quite sure of this! ;-)</p>

<p>doubledouble postpost...... SorrySorry!</p>

<p>I see, M can be used as a long lasting AE lock of sorts, when using the spotmeter. Good tip, never thought of that. Personally, I always just hold in the AE lock button (I came from Canon, but am with the Minolta/Sony system now).<br>

Thats right, Av mode on Canon does default to slow synch flash mode (a custom function can change this, if I remember correctly) - but still, sometimes that can give you like 1/2 second shutter speed, much too slow for hand held. Thats why I like M, to set 1/8 or 1/15 - much more hand holdable.</p>

<p>I only use M on days that end in Y.</p>

<p>I used M a lot when I shot film until 2 years ago. I used a handheld light meter to get metering right (couldn't check the back of the camera.)<br>

I have recently started using M more & more. Here is a common scenario:<br>

Taking multiple outdoor pictures of a person standing. Subject is on left side of horizontal composition. Middle of frame is very well light. I use Av for first few pictures and middle focus point. I focus/set exposure by pressing half way, then recompose. I find correct exposure is 2.8; 1/400 second. <br>

If I keep focus point in middle, I'll have to recompose a million times and in my experience, in recomposing, focus doesn't always work that well.<br>

If I change focus point to left (where subject is), Av exposure will still get set by middle point (on 5D), so it will say something like 2.8; 1/8000 second and still will be overexposed.<br>

Instead, I switch to M, set at 2.8; 1/400 second. I switch focus point to right. I then get correct exposure and up-to-date focusing.<br>

If there is a better way to do it, I would appreciate any advice. I know 1Ds has spot metering with any focus point, so this technique wouldn't be needed.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The most important thing: use whatever mode helps you get the results you want. That is, whatever mode best helps you achieve the exposure/dof you want is the best mode to use. That said, here's how I think my usage breaks down:<br>

1. I use Av mode >80% of the time. It's the way I think, as I'm usually most concerned with dof, and I'd rather correct the camera's shutter speed when needed.<br>

2. I use Tv mode <5% of the time. I use it mostly when I have my flash on outdoors, and I want to set my shutter speed to the sync speed of the flash. Otherwise, I'll use it for panning shots when I want motion blur in the background and stuff like that.<br>

3. I use M mode perhaps 15% of the time. I use it when I'm using a flash indoors, when I want to compensate my exposure by more than 2 stops, when I'm going to stitch together photos to make a panorama shot, and when I'm using my spot meter. We often think of M as being "harder," but really it's easier for me when I'm in these situations.<br>

4. I don't P mode at all; there's nothing wrong with it, but I don't think that way. </p>

 

<p>Most of the time:<br>

Studio/flash: to have the optimal sync time and metered f-stop<br>

reportage/flash with steady ambient light, so the ratios don't change according to subject<br>

ambient light: so my exposure is consistant for easier post editing<br>

other: to get the exposure the way i need it to capture the entire tonality and so the camera doesn't get tricked into a "wrong" exposure.<br>

I guess i'm more of a photographer than into taking snapshots and i like to control what and how i'm recoding a scene.</p>

<p>Should have said underexposed. </p>

<p>M mode is almost a requirement for shooting Panos because you want a single consistent exposure for the 8 - 12 exposures you are taking. Leaving your camera in one of the auto modes risks having the exposure dance around and will make stitching the frames near impossible.</p>

<p>Randall,</p>

 

<p>Really, the only time an automatic metering mode makes any sense is when the light is changing

too rapidly for you to keep up with it. If I were shooting sports outside on a windy day with scattered clouds,

I’d use aperture priority mode.</p>

 

<p>For virtually everything else, manual exposure makes far more sense.</p>

 

<p>When you think about it, all forms of autoexposure do nothing more than select one or more of

shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. That’s it. All these fancy multi-zone evaluative woo-woo

systems boil down the decision to picking one, two, or all three of those values.</p>

 

<p>Do you really trust a simple machine to do a better job than you of figuring out if you’ve got

as much depth of field as you want? Of deciding how much to blur the flowing water? Or how much

noise you consider acceptable? And that’s completely ignoring the classical pitfalls, such as

overexposing the tux-clad groom and underexposing the bride in her white dress.</p>

 

<p>And light rarely changes so rapidly you don’t have time to spin a dial or two to compensate.

Just keep an eye on your histogram and you’ll be fine.</p>

 

<p>Cheers,</p>

 

<p>b&</p>

<p>I use manual mode 99.9% of time. I feel like I can achieve more control over exposure than any of the auto settings, although I will use auto ISO with with a limit.</p>

<p>Manual exposure is a very important feature:</p>

<p>1. Already mentioned: Flash (to control background/foreground illumination balance), stiching<br>

2. Consistency of exposure across a series of shots in a situation with rapidly changing lighting conditions. (Ironically, this is the reason that some people think that auto-exposure is useful, and I suppose sometimes it is. But if consistency is what you are after, use manual exposure.)<br>

3. Video (you set aperture and shutter-speed and can optionally use auto-ISO depending on whether you want the camera to constantly adjust for lighting or not. Most often, I prefer it not do that, but it depends. See #2.)<br>

4. HDR</p>

<p>I wish there were a manual "shift" mode like in the old Hasselblad lenses where the aperture and shutter speed could be synchronized, and an adjustment in one would effect an inverse adjustment of the other. Then you could dial up and down the permutations but keep the EV constant. </p>

<p> </p>