How do you shoot with your EOS bodies?

[jaycobar-chay]

I've progressed from a Rebel about ten years ago to an Elan IIe

(amazing jump in functionality) and have now picked up a 10D. When

I was young using the Rebel I just used the picture icons on the

mode dial (face for portraits, mountain for landscape, flower

for "close up" and the dreaded idiot mode green box for flash) The

pictures were horrible because I had the cheap kit lens. Young and

impatient I didn't take the time to research anything and besides,

that was before the internet came around so not as much info was out

there.

 

Years later when I got the Elan IIe I actually read books and poured

over internet sites and forums for hours and hours. I understood

how to use a camera and in an effort to really learn I tried to use

manual exposure based on a grey card as much as possible. I still

have issues with exposure as the best I can do with my enlarger is a

3 or 5 second exposure at F16 on the enlarger lens, but the images

come out well so I guess I'm doing something right. Still, I'd like

to have more time to work with burning and dodging, but with the

digital, thats all about to change...

 

I guess what I'm asking is this: what mode do you use and what type

of metering do you rely on? I mostly use partial metering but I'm

always switching between that and evaluative if I can't really use a

grey card in a scene. I guess I still need to work on judging

values in a scene so I don't really need the grey card, but

sometimes with only the 9% spot its hard to meter. On top of which

metering to use I struggle sometimes with giving up control (I'm

type A to the max) and find it hard to switch to evaluative and use

AV or TV. I feel that using this method is really no better than

using a point and shoot, but dang it, the pictures come out so well

doing it! I shot most of the 14 rolls for my honeymoon with this

method and everything came out great, but that might be due to color

print film's greater exposure lattitude and the high quality lab

that did the work. Black and white isn't as forgiving and my

darkroom skills could probably use some work.

 

Anyway, I ask mostly because I recently had a wedding photographer

reshoot my wife and I in our gown and tux and (although he was using

a Nikon) he told me he always shoots in shutter priority mode. This

guy is booked all year for weddings and is earning a high income

doing it so I figure maybe letting the camera do the work isn't that

bad.

 

How do you guys do it?

[scott_eaton]

<I>so I figure maybe letting the camera do the work isn't that bad. </i><P>I used to shoot weddings with my FE-2 and 2020, both with full TTL and in shutter priority. I was also quite busy handling and printing weddings for professional accounts, so I had a superb reference as to how my equipment worked compared to the guys doing this full time.<P>I was shocked to see just how much that old Nikon, dedicated flash, TTL, and auto-mode *blew away* the old coots with their taped range tables and hand held flash meters. A 4 roll / 36exp wedding I shot could be printed with an average density of less than 1/4 a stop deviation from start to finish while it was rare to find a full time pro using manual gear that could keep a single roll of 120 within a 3 stop bracket. VPS and Portra NC have the lattitude of a goose landing in the middle of Lake Michigan we used to say, and MF wedding shooters use every millimeter of that lattitude.<P>What I learned from this is how good TTL metering has become, and how learning how your camera actually 'thinks' in terms of metering is beneficial. When I applied the same techniques to my move to MF, I discovered I was just as accurate, as long as I understood what the equipment was doing and why it was doing it. Keep it simple, and keep your camera from having to make too many decisions. Also, shoot some Provia or Velvia from time to time to get a real feel on how your metering is. <P>To be honest, I'm not quite as thrilled with the flash metering in my 10D as my old FE-2. Then again I'm trying some other external flashes to see if the issue improves. I'm otherwise not a fan of partial metering with flash or studio but prefer to use the histogram with digital.

[christopher_bibbs]

Actually, I've found my B&W film is exceeding forgiving thanks to the huge lattitude.

 

When I'm using the TTL metering, I just look for the foolers in the scene and adjust. Mastering exposure is largely practice and taking the time to make notes so you can learn from mistakes.

[casey mcallister]

Indoor w/ flash is manual mode. Indoor no flash TV @ close to reciprical of focal length for non IS lenses.

 

Outside AV w/ fill flash. Outside no flash is sometimes A-Dep...but only the bodies that support double focus DEP (Unfortunately the 10D/20D does not offer true DEP mode!)

 

I never use the idiot modes = P,A, Sports, Portrait, Landscape, Night etc. I don't want the camera to think for me.

 

On metering:

 

For digi I meter to the highlights and watch the histogram to get the exposure looking such that it is not skewed toward the left or right axis. A nice bell curve is ideal. Underexposure will increase noise, overexposure will blow out details and totally ruin your shot. The histogram is your best frind! FEL is also your best pal, cause E-TTL on digi is unreliable.

 

For print film I meter to the shadows, and frequently drop the ISO setting a little to make sure I do not underexpose.

 

For slides i bracket and say a prayer.

[eosbob]

My cameras are in AV mode 98% of the time. For me controlling the depth of field is the single most important aspect of making great images. I use mostly "L" glass and shoot quite a bit of the time wide open. Neither of my bodies has any picture mode dials (1VHS, and 1D Mark II). As far as exposure goes, I find the evaluative meter does a great job in the majority of instances. When I think it may get fooled I use the custom feature to link spot metering to the focus point and that usually does the trick. When I want to achieve a particular shutter speed instead of an aperature I usually just stay in AV and dial in the appropriate aperature to get the desired shutter speed, except if I am shooting a sporting event then switch over to TV.

 

There is no shame in using AV and TV along with evaluative metering if things are working. Modern in camera meters are so advanced that I figure let them do the job Ipaid them to do.

 

Bob

[dogbert]

I see all modes, including the idiot modes as largely interchangeable, so I find discussions on which mode is better as somewhat pointless. If you know what logic underlies the little picture icons on the dial then there is no shame in using them, and if you don't know this then you should be using them anyway!

 

Most of the time I shoot in program mode. If the camera doesn't select and aperture or shutter speed I am happy with, I just dial it to something else. Hey presto, you can have the best of both AV and TV in P mode. Though I suppose I could do the same almost as easily in TV and AV, the only difference being that those modes start off from where you last left them.

 

I normally leave my AV set to wide open, so I can flick to this when I want to minimise DoF. I sometime uses TV when I know there is a specific shutter speed I want to be shooting at, either fast of slow.

 

With digital the histogram is my main metering tool.

[steve_dunn2]

<p>With my Elan 7E, and my Elan II before it, I mostly shoot in P. I'm not afraid to shift it, though, if I don't like what it comes up with. If I have specific need for a specific aperture or shutter speed, I'll switch to Av or Tv, but otherwise, I let P do the work and then adjust if necessary. Sometimes if I'm shooting with flash I'll use M so that I can control the aperture (I'd use Av except that it gives me the choice of a ridiculously slow shutter speed or a ridiculously fast shutter speed in many situations, and what I want is something in the middle).</p>

 

<p>As for metering mode, I almost always use evaluative. It works fine for me most of the time. I know that it underexposes backlit scenes so I use exposure compensation for those. I usually shoot colour negative film but occasionally shoot slides, and find that other than backlit scenes, evaluative usually gives a good exposure with either.</p>

[digitmstr]

>>what mode do you use and what type of metering do you rely on? I mostly use partial metering but I'm always switching between that and evaluative<<

 

It depends on the shoot: for certain (most) work (studio/location/flash/ambient) I prefer manual metering since I have more freedom to concentrate on the creative aspects once I set everything where I want it to be, exposure wise. When this is not possible or not appropriate I use Av or Tv with partial metering (10D). I always use manual K setting as well.

[sabrina_h.]

I'm with Robert, I shoot a lot in aperture priority to control the depth of field; I shoot wide

open a lot (f1.8, 2.0).

 

I do find myself changing metering modes if i'm in a multi-scene location or moving

around a lot; spot, center weighed, average. It also depends whether i'm using slides,

color film or b&w.

[phule]

Elan 7 user. Probably about 1/3 each: Av, Tv, and M. P when I want to be lazy :)

 

I don't think I've used anything but Evaluative metering; but learning the other modes is something that's on my list of things to do.

[awindsor]

William Casey McAllister wrote:

<blockquote>

For digi I meter to the highlights and watch the histogram to get the exposure looking such that it is not skewed toward the left or right axis. A nice bell curve is ideal. Underexposure will increase noise, overexposure will blow out details and totally ruin your shot. The histogram is your best frind! FEL is also your best pal, cause E-TTL on digi is unreliable.

</blockquote>

The approach of Michael Reichmann, expose as far to the right as possible without blowing out highlights in which you want visible details, does lead to more usable bits though whether this leads to an increase in performance with straight exposures is arguable. If you ever find yourself stretching the shadows slightly then this approach is definitely for you. Pulling down highlights leads to little noise while stretching shadows gives you noise almost immediately. <P>

I don't think it is fair to say E-TTL on digital SLRs is unreliable. The implementation on the 10D left a lot to be desired. The E-TTL II metering on the 20D is much much more reliable.<P>

 

My camera alternates between M mode and Av mode. Most of my flash photography is done in M mode using E-TTL II flash metering (with FEC). My regular photography is done in Av. Tv is useful for action shots which I almost never take (save the occasional bird in flight). <P>

 

I would definitely like a spot meter on my 20D. I think that a spot meter is even more use with digital than with film. I often dial in EC based on the viewfinder image and use evaluative or partial metering. I started off using CWA (more predictable) but frankly the evaluative metering is better in almost all situations.

[luke ramirez]

Elan 7ne, and I almost always shoot using Av, sometimes using M.

 

When using Av I'm almost always on center weighted average, and if not that I'm using the evaluative. But that's because I'm usually using the center focusing point to lock on then recompose. When I'm in manual I use an incident meter. But that's not really an issue since I onyl use M when I'm shooting still subjects, and have the time to use an incident meter.

[www.philwinterphotography.]

An interesting thread to see how others work. I use AV 90% of the time. That way, I have full, easy control over DOF. But I have to watch the shutter speed. I've recently started using the partial ("spot") metering on 10D more than evaluative. I put the spot on something I want to be neutral in tone and hit exposure lock. I still use evaluative if things are moving fast.

 

The problem with evaluative is that it still requires exposure compensation with high-contrast scenes. The question is, how much? When I meter with the "spot" I know how much to compensate. Having said that, the metering systems in EOS cameras are remarkable.

 

I don't use flash all that much, and when I do, it is usually outdoors. I've found that AV mode with the flash at -2/3 works great. Oh, I fix the focus on the center focus point for 90% of my shots. I don't like letting the camera pick the focus point. Regards,

 

Phil

[sean corley]

I use an Elan IIe/Eos 50e and 90% of the time I use manual mode the other 10% I use Av.(mostly when taking snapshot to record events Chrsitmas etc.)I like to make the decisions myself. I find it slows me down, makes me think about the subject light interaction and has helped me alot with my photography. I'm sure most of the time one of the picture modes would do as good a job. But it has taught me to evaluate a scene and set exposure especially in those situations where the in bulit meter maybe fooled.

[jaycobar-chay]

I like to know that I'm actually thinking about how the whole process works and have some control over it. I remember the first time I used my meter with manual mode for a whole days shooting, it was at my fiance's graduation, not the type of event where you mess around with new methods. I kept metering off of people's black gowns and adjusting exposure that way. It was stressful while I shot not knowing if I was doing it right, but they all came out great. It was totally empowering.

 

For a long time before I upgraded to the Elan IIe (I find it funny I always put the little e behind the II, it doesn't sound right if I leave it off but the weird thing is I have the eye control turned off 100% of the time) I thought about just getting an old MF body with the lenses that still had distance scales next to the aperture marks in an attempt to get the purest method of photography I could. With today's technology, I think part of the fun of taking photos is knowing how the computer can be tricked and working around it.

 

For some odd reason I feel lazy letting the camera do the work, but if I think about it, even with the old MF bodies people just let thier camera settings stay in one place according to general exposure guidelines like sunny 16, so thats sort of an automatic exposure...

 

Anyway, its been interesting finding out how other people shoot.

[miguel_tapadas]

A very, very curious and interesting post! I guess that, if you fully understand your equipment and the tech behind it, it should prove to be an invaluable tool to excel in photo expertise. This doesn't imply that knowing your gear is going to make you a better photographer, just that if you're a good photographer than gear sould pussh you ahead.

As I'm an amateur, I've grown fond of shooting mainly in M mode. First it started like "If I can't do it then I won't learn it", kind of beeing attached to the technical roots of the whole process. And, after years of trial and error, I've become quite happy with my skills. And, beiing a Canon shooter, I easily shot a recent "assignment" with a completly unknown - and wonderfull Nikon D2H kit - just sticking in M mode, dialing flash comp whenever I thought it would be needed, until having the time to try P and Tv. But allways learning! And so much still to learn! And, now and then, I indulge myself, for quickness sake, to shoot in either Av or Tv, depending on situations.