I must be getting old I still know how to shoot manually

[fullmetalphotograper]

I must be getting dated. I just assume most pros can shoot manually. Take a look at this <a

href="http://www.prophotoshow.net/blog/2007/12/10/learning-to-shoot-your-camera-

manually/">Learning to shoot your camera manually</a>.<br>I maybe it is because I started with film,

but I just assume at some point a pro is aware what the camera is doing. Maybe I am wrong? I have

nothing against auto functions, I use them myself but there are times when manual is the most effective

way to shoot.<p>Thanks <br>

Ralph Berrett

[doug grosjean]

I might be old too, but at 45 I doubt it.

 

I could shoot manually from the begining, more or less, but became much more adept since getting involved with fully manual cameras of the 1950s or older.

 

In fact, I took a trip down Route 66 this past summer with my 12 y/o son. First day out, I dropped my meter and it no longer worked. Shot without, but looking at the lighting and making an informed decision about intensity and exposure. Poorly exposed shots (went through about 20-25 rolls that trip) were rare.

 

Doug Grosjean

[joshroot]

I wouldn't take a single sentence on somebody's photography blog as any sort of "proof" that pros stay away from manual modes. It just sounds like the post was written by someone who doesn't know what they are talking about.

 

All the pros I know use whatever mode suits the situation best.

[walter_degroot]

no it';s like knowing how to ride a bike

or You only had that type of camera.

I was asked to take photos with a graflex while in high school

I figured it out. ( yes that big black slr that took sheet film or packs)

 

I did have more trouble with the canon ae-1 first time out.

[david richhart]

I recently bought my first slr digital camera. Starting with no photography experience, and using only the camera's instruction manual to help figure things out, would have been a terribly long and unhappy experience. <p>

Seeing my first digital pictures on the computer screen was fun, but doesn't compare to the magic of unwinding and seeing the images on my first roll of just developed and still wet Tri-X film. That was nearly 40 years ago.

[justinblake]

Manual mode is pretty much the only mode I do know how to use. All of my cameras were manual until I got my first DSLR about 6 months ago. Of course I can use the automatic modes but the results are terrible. They look no different than the kind of shots teenagers are getting on their camera phones. To get decent results you have to shoot manual or use A,S or P and work the exposure compensation.

 

By the way, what happened to aperture rings? Now days you have to flip this switch, hold this button and spin this jigger, how is that better than a ring?

[michaelging]

The optimum age for a male to be able to focus a lens manually is age 18 ,or so said a medical journal I once read. It all goes down hill from there, although very slowly.

[matt_needham]

My Canon DSLRs show aperture and shutter even in the full-auto, icon modes. I tend to stick to M and Av, but if I were to use "portrait" or "landscape" mode I'd still know exactly what my camera was doing. As long as the photographer is aware of how the camera is operating, what does it matter if the aperture and shutter are set by pushing a button, twisting a dial, or via electronic switch? With the variety of metering modes available, exposure and flash compensation settings, and exposure lock buttons it's pretty easy to set the camera up so it operates in a very predictable manner even in full auto.

[hjoseph7]

I find myself going "Manual" more and more often with my Digital camera. What I hate is that the exposure read-out changes by the second !

[mkelton]

I shoot for a small town newspaper (which means small town schools with small, poorly lit

gymnasiums) I shoot basketball without a flash and have found the only way to "trick" the

camera into doing it to shoot manual. I have had many who are new to photography (and

never used a totally manual camera) ask me how to shoot basketball. I just can't make them

understand. I started with a Nikon FM2. Now I have a Mamiya RB67 and a Nikon F4 to toy

with when not shooting digital for work.

[mendel_leisk]

I'm 57, have shot film for years, know how to meter manually, and understand the fundamentals of exposure. Mainly I just use the camera's auto exposure, maybe dialing in a compensation. I'll typically switch to manual for night shots in incandescent lighting, but that's about it.

 

Same thing with auto-focus, expecially with my lousy eye-sight. I see no point in *not* using the tools you've got built-in your camera, as long as you're not a slave to them, and know their limitations.

[fishit]

I shoot in Manual because I learned some of what the camera was showing me with my old AE1P.

But really started using it more with digital.

Allows me to use many setting to see what I like best.

Much faster now for me to learn the camera, now using a D300 manual mode.

[Ian Taylor]

I haven't been shooting that long, but I do it full time. 99% manual.

[dangoldman]

Im younger than 20, and the only time i use P is when im set up for a shot when something unexpected starts coming by and i want to grab it. And i dont ever touch anything besides that, the gimmicky sports modes etc.

[machts gut]

Ralph wrote: " I just assume at some point a pro is aware what the camera is doing"

 

When you own a piano you own a piano, when you own a camera you are a photographer ;-)

[james_kimber]

I must be getting old too... 25 just isn't as young as it once was, I guess.

 

I think that article is garbage.

 

Now, I doubt I could go through 20-25 rolls without a light meter and only have a handful of poorly exposed shots like Doug (it would probably be more like 20% unusable), but I think I could hold my own without being intimidated by the scenario. And I'm FAR from pro.

[johan_de_groote]

What I don't understand is that some people shoot "manual" with a dslr and then use the autofocus confirmation to focus and the build in light meter to set their exposure. Wouldn't you jut get the same result letting the camera do this?

[troy_taylor]

If you do night photos a digi in manual is the only way.

[maris_rusis]

Shooting manual is the only way to make the photograph come out exactly how you want. And that is the problem. Most folks don't have detailed enough wants, don't have a complete mental compendium of the possible options, to pursue one outcome and nail it. It is easier (nothing to learn, nothing to ponder) to leave the camera on automatic and hope for something nice.

[dangoldman]

Johan: What I don't understand is that some people shoot "manual" with a dslr and then use the autofocus confirmation to focus and the build in light meter to set their exposure. Wouldn't you jut get the same result letting the camera do this?

 

I shoot in autofocus. 100%. Its there, i use it (with my autofocus kit, anyway). My film kit has a split screen focus, should i ignore the split screen when focusing because that is cheating? (though i rarely actually have time to line up the image, for sports etc). I always use the meter, but that doesnt mean i always use what it tells me to. Its important to know that if shooting an airplane against a bright sky, that the camera will expose for the sky, not the plane. Therefore, you have to know to dial in compensation from what the meter suggests. The same thing can happen with all types of high exposure range images, you have to know how and when to compensate or compromise. Shooting at night, i use my digital camera as a meter if i want film to be my primary medium...

 

What if you are shooting sports? You want a fast shutter speed. What if its not bright out, but you dont want a high ISO image, you can dial in a slower shutter speed etc. What if you want a long DOF image, the camera doesnt know that! Etc.

[mr. sullen]

Your not getting dated it's just that many people these days have to be reminded of the "M" mode on the camera and how to use it, so it is those people who are truly dated. Sad really when one thinks about it.

[Leonard-just-Leonard]

My first camera was a Pentax sp1000, FULLY MANUAL. not one thing was automated. my biggest challenge since buying a Nikon Coolpix s10 point and shoot was trying to un-automate, which is virtually impossible.

 

After much experimenting I stick with either landscape for outdoors or the auto mode with flash for everything else. The rest boils down to composition and understanding the basic principles to start with.

 

Thankfully there is PhotoShop for the other stuff.

[welch]

im only 17but my dad tought me the old way and took a while to get to know about digital im still confused but im working on it you will find that learning the old way makes it easier to understand the art of photography. my first camera was a tl electro x and it is my fav camera. but i still use the manual modes on automatic cameras. auto takes the fun out of it. i dont mind working a photo for a half an hour.

[peter_k4]

I really only know how to use the MASP setting. I don't really know what any of those sports or night or flower modes do to the exposure. I've only used those a couple times when using people's point and shoots and there's no manual controls.

 

Recently I've discovered putting my D80 in Aperture priority with the exposure compensation turned on in the menus. So it's like being in a smart manual mode, with my front wheel on apeture and the back one on compensation. Don't have to worry about figuring out the exposure I just start at 0 and play with the back wheel for compensation.

[dw fletcher]

I'm only 31 but I know how to shoot manually, and I would certainly imagine that professional photographers know how. I mean, it's not exactly rocket science. There's a bit of art when it comes to judging a scene for exposure, but it's just not that hard. Anyone who knows the basic principals of photography should be able to pick up almost any camera from any era and shoot with it.

 

I've only recently gotten into modern cameras with auto focus and a bunch of different "program" modes. Even when I had a Minolta X-700 I don't think I ever used the "P" mode. It's usually aperture priority or full on manual for me. Like Peter k wrote just above me, I don't' even know what the hell those other modes do. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't feel I need to know.

 

I will say this...in the rare event that I use shutter priority autoexposure it will sometimes give me better results than manual. The reason, I think, is because on a modern camera it will select "in between" aperture settings. But even then you're talking about fractions of stops, and with negative film or digital you have plenty of latitude to make up the difference.

 

I'm not sure if this is suited to the topic, but my biggest complaint with modern lenses are the small focusing rings. It took me a long time to get used to not having an aperture ring, but I got over that. The focusing ring needs to be bigger, though. While the AF on my new alpha 700 seems to be awesome, there have been times already that I've HAD to focus manually and I cannot stand the little tiny rings way out there at the end of the lens. Eventually I'll get used to that, too, I guess.

 

Ideally they'd make digital backs for the old cameras. I understand it's never going to happen, but I can dream.