Shooting in M mode only or most of the time?

[coastallight]

I'm wondering what percentage of pro's and/or hobbyist choose to shoot digital

in manual mode vs aperture, shutter or program modes.

 

Carolyn

[crabseye]

Hobbyist. Usually in Aperture priority. Occasionally in Shutter priority. Very rarely in Auto. Virtually never in Manual, Program, or Scene modes.

[tim_knight]

Also a hobbyist, went from Auto to Manual. I wanted to learn the camera and lens I had and this has worked well for me. I have had to ask some beginner questions, but that is what this site is all about.

[rickvandenberg]

Amateur: Shoot in P or aperture priority when chasing the kids around or taking general snaps. Manual when doing still lifes or where light level is constant or under my control. Manual for a sunny day at the beach for example.

[ibcrewin]

Hobbyist/hack.. mostly AV hardly P or TV. Manual when using flash or when I AV isn't giving me what I wanted.

[2yellowdogs]

Carolyn<br>

Mostly amateur, but sell some sports and event photos.

 

I use aperture priority a good deal of the time for typical daily shooting. However, when shooting sports or other similar, fast-changing action, I strictly use manual mode. This prevents varying backgrounds (crowds, sheets of ice, clouds, etc.) from confusing your meter and throwing off the exposure on your main subject.<div></div>

[michaelging]

I am a professional and I shoot only in Aperture priority,unless I am shooting under controled lighting using strobes,such as in a studio or a lit sporting arena.I never use program modes as you never are quite sure of what you are going to get.When I am shooting under controled lighting , I shoot in manual.

[michael_madio]

Pro. Always in manual due to habit from using mechanical/meterless cameras more than anything else.

[leicaglow]

Manual mode: ~30%

Aperture mode: ~30%

Program mode: ~15%

Shutter mode: ~25%

 

Mainly because I like to control focus and background definition.

[pjmeade]

Amateur, I use aperture priority for 95% of the time and manual for the other 5%

[charlene_beckman]

Amateur. Almost all aperture or manual, split about 50-50, occasionally shutter, never program. I like having control. Often I'll take a pic in aperture mode, be annoyed that it didn't turn out the way I wanted, and retake it in manual.

[calarrick]

Amateur. Aperture priority most of the time (with liberal use of the exposure compensation settings). Full manual as the easiest solution when I don't want to let the camera re-adjust exposure for a while.

 

I only recently moved to a dslr (which was also my first move to cameras with anything beyond aperture-priority automation). My first reaction to the 'variable' program ability on the D80 (it starts with a program setting but you can still dial in a different aperture, resulting in a kind of 'souped up' aperture priority automation) was to think that it was pretty cool... but I seem to have reverted to aperture priority 90% of the time.

[Charles_Webster]

Amateur - My DSLR is always in Manual mode. My point-n-shoot is always in Aperture mode. I use the P&S for quick shots around the house and when I am hiking or don't want to carry a camera case. I use the DSLR for all my "serious" photos.

 

<Chas>

[robert lee]

f8 and be there! Well, actually, usually more of a f5.6, f4; f2 on occasion.

 

When shooting with strobes, full manual aperture and shutter.

[mars c]

Amateur... 70% program auto, 25% aperture mode, TV and manual manual mode 5%, scene mode and auto mode 0%. Shooting mode 100%.

[jsbc]

Hobbyist. 50% manual, 50% aperture. Most often I shoot aperture mode first, and if it works (or doesn't), switch to manual using the suggested reading and make appropriate adjustments.

 

Even if I shoot in AV mode, I still keep an eye on shutter speed as show in VF and adjust aperture accordingly.

[les]

AV for landscapes and portraits, TV for moving subjects, M for flash.

[studor13]

The thing that I keep forgetting to do is to use Program modes to check/test my exposures versus that of Nikon's incredible knowledge base. A lot of years have gone into these modes (something like 60000 of Nikon's best ever exposures). So, thanks for reminding me.

 

Anyways, I use M for most things. On the D70 you have no choice but M for AI/AI-s lenses. I bracket a lot of my shots and M gives me a status bar showing how much is under and over exposed as well as amount of the bracketing.

 

For fun shots of the family, the Portrait mode is good enough for me. All I sometimes do is to set the black and white points. The way skin tones are rendered is better than what I can do in PP.

[eric merrill]

That's sort of like asking carpenters how many use nails vs. how many use screws.

 

I use the most appropriate tool for the job at hand.

 

When I want the same exposure no matter what, I use manual. (Using studio strobes or in severely backlit conditions that I know will fool the meter.)

 

In sufficient and "normal" light where I don't worry about the shutter speed, I use aperture priority.

 

If I'm worried about changing light conditions and still being able to hand hold, I'll switch to shutter priority.

 

I'm not sure if I've ever shot program mode with my current cameras.

 

 

Eric