Stuck using Program Mode

[john_hayes4]

<p>I was at a 21st party recently held in a very dimly lit pub. I wanted to do photo's of everyone there enjoying themselves & then put the party photo's up onto the birthday girls Facebook album for everyone to see. The problem that I had was that the available light in the place was very poor. I tried appeture priority on my eos 5d but was getting long exposure times of 1/6sec 1/8sec & blurred shots because the place was so dull. Then I tried adding flash set on ETTL & still getting 1/6 1/8sec speeds but the flash was blowing out the entire photo's. The only way that I could get any decent photo's at all was by using Program mode with flash set to ETTL took care of the photo's nicely. The subjects were lit nicely by the flash but the backgrouns were very dark. the place was so dimly lit that at one stage as I looked through the viewfinder I could only barely see the shaddows of the people I was taking & a totally black room but the autofocus logked on nicely & the photo's came out very well but I had no control over whar the camera was doing. It was giving me 1/60 @f2.8. I would like to know if there is another way of setting up the camera to do these shots where I can get results quickly without taking ages fiddling around with camera settings as people see you as a bit of a fool when that happens. Any advice on this woulld be greatly appreciated..John</p>

[simon_hickie1]

<p>What ISO setting were you using?</p>

[john_hayes4]

<p>Tried everything between iso 100 & 3200 still slow speeds without flash</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>If it's so dark that you - with your own eyes - were seeing only dark shadows of people, then there's nothing for it. ISO 3200 is still pushing your luck. That's when you need even faster glass (say, f/1.4, which is going to drag in far more light than f/2.8), and then you need to take control of the exposure, manually.<br /><br />No auto ISO. Set it high, set shutter speed low (perhaps 1/15th, if you must) and aperture wide (probably wide open, if you can live with that little depth of field) to get a bit of visibility out of the background's ambient light, and <em>then</em> let the flash - on TTL - paint the foreground subjects with enough light to let them be seen. The flash will freeze the subjects, but the slower shutter will be open long enough to allow a hint of ambient light (search on "dragging the shutter" - countless great discussions/examples out there).</p>

[simon_hickie1]

<p>In these situations, I use a slow shutter speed - around 1/30 - and highish ISO (800 or 1600) to give me some ambient light. The flash will tend to freeze subject motion. I bounce the flash and use a 'Diffuse-it" device (UK) to provide a bit of fill and then use aperture to manage the flash output / DoF. IO Set flash to BL-TTL which allows more account to be taken of ambient light. Around f4 to f5.6 works well. On Nikon, it all works pretty seamlessly. I'm not sure how well Canon works in this respect though.</p>

[jaydesi]

<p>When you use a flash in aperture priority mode, the camera is designed to use the flash as fill, which is why you were still getting such slow shutter speeds. The easiest way to use flash is to switch to manual, and remember that shutter speed controls ambient light, whereas the aperture controls flash. So you adjust your shutter speed to provide the amount of ambient light you want, keeping subject motion and camera shake in mind, then you adjust your aperture so your flash provides a decent exposure of your subject. Increasing ISO will likely be necessary to get enough ambient light when it is very dark, or if you're far from the subject and your aperture setting is too narrow to allow a decent exposure even when your flash fires at full power.</p>

[craigd]

<p>Jay has it right. This threw me off, also, the first time I tried to use an EOS camera with a flash in aperture priority mode. For some reason (too many drugs, possibly), Canon decided that in Av mode, nobody would want to use a flash as primary illumination, but only as fill light. Because of this, I always favored full manual mode for flash photography with the EOS system, but as you discovered, program mode works too.</p>

[mike_godwin1]

<p>I agree with full manual mode. I then set to 400 ISO about 1/160 and then aperture for the DOF I want. With fresh batteries in the flash so recharge times are short, you could bracket the aperture.</p>

<p>Just my $0.02</p>

[bebu_lamar]

<p>Some of your problems have to do with modern cameras. In the old days and with old cameras people were told to set the shutter speed at 1/60 and pick an aperture that is within the flash range. This fact is not strictly correct because they were not told how to control ambient light for fill flash shot but it would work in most situation where it's dark and they need the flash. Of course many of these people including me learned and know more about how to use flash but many simply always did that and never ran into the problem that you had. <br>

Today with modern cameras one were told to simply set the camera on P and it would work in most situations.</p>

[William Michael]

<p>I’ll assume you are still using a Canon EOS Camera?</p>

<p>If so - there are several issues causing you grief with that shooting scenario – most have been already mentioned.</p>

 

<ul>

<li>Using Av Mode and Flash ETTL – the Camera/Flash will assume the Flash is to be the FILL Light.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>In the case of a very dark room, one is likely to get OVEREXPOSURE using Av Mode and ETTL Flash for a couple of main reasons:</li>

</ul>

<ol>

<li>firstly the flash ETTL was confused as to what had to be “filled” because it was such a dark scene overall;</li>

<li>secondly it is usual that the main Subject takes up most of the scene’s real estate and the (ETTL) metering gets further confused as to what parts of that Subject (also a very dark area) needs to be “filled”</li>

</ol>

<ul>

<li>In P Mode, however, the ETTL works in TWO DIFFERENT functionalities – and these are TOTALLY DEPENDENT upon the ambient light levels:</li>

</ul>

<ol>

<li>In Low Light Levels, about EV ≤ 10, the Camera and Flash will assume the Flash is to be the Key Light for the Foreground Subject.</li>

<li>In High Light Levels, about EV ≥ 13, the Camera and Flash assumes the Flash is to be Fill Light for the Foreground Subject. </li>

</ol>

<ul>

<li>In a very dark shooting scenario - the RANGE of SHUTTER SPEEDS available to allow adequate choice to make good photos with Dragging the Shutter technique, will be governed by TWO factors:</li>

</ul>

<ol>

<li>The Speed of the Lens – (The maximum aperture). Obviously a bigger aperture lens will allow a faster shutter speed. A faster shutter speed will lessen the chance of blur being captured by the AMBIENT exposure.</li>

<li>The (high) ISO capacity of the camera. Obviously the higher the ISO able to be used – the faster the shutter speed which can be used.</li>

</ol>

<p>***</p>

<p>Other stuff:<br>

In P Mode (most) EOS Cameras allow ‘Program Shift’. However this function is NOT available when a dedicated Flash is ‘active’ and attached to the Camera’s Hotshoe.<br /><br />However, when a Flash is attached, one can still adjust the Aperture when the camera is in P Mode and this is done by using Exposure Compensation – in fact using Exposure Compensation with an active Flash Attached, will ONLY allow the Photographer to adjust the Aperture and not allow any adjustment to the Shutter Speed.<br /><br />Conversely, if a Flash is NOT attached and the camera is in P Mode - Exposure Compensation will change BOTH the Shutter Speed and the Aperture and the change will be in accord with the software program for P Mode and also be dependent upon the Lens which is attached.</p>

<p><strong>If there is a Flash attached and active and one chooses to adjust the Aperture using Exposure Compensation, then it is (usually) sensible also to use Flash Exposure Compensation – in fact the two compensations go hand in glove for adjusting Flash as Fill when using P Mode.</strong></p>

<p>As previously mentioned, P Mode / ETTL will act differently depending upon the Ambient Light Levels: It is when the Ambient Light is between EV 9~14 that EC and FEC is the most useful (to me) to attain a range of Fill/Key light balance from the on camera Flash, when the Camera is being used in P Mode. <br /><br /></p>

<p><strong>If one uses P Mode and Flash (with or without EC and or FEC) it is very useful to plan the ISO to be used such that there is maximum flexibility within the general EV (Light Levels) to be expected.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br>

However – do not misinterpret these comments as my suggesting to use P Mode for Flash Fill in the shooting scenario you described – <strong><em>I am just explaining what and why it happened to you and how I (sometimes) use P Mode for Flash Fill when the Ambient is between EV = 9~14.</em></strong><br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>***</p>

<p>Answering your direct question:</p>

<p>In a DARK ROOM, the method I would suggest (as already advised) is to use M Mode (Manual Camera Mode) and for you to investigate how to “Drag the Shutter”. This will involve you understanding, learning, practicing and using FEC (Flash Exposure Compensation). </p>

<p>Also note for a very dark room, for example EV ≈ 2: you will be in the arena of using ISO3200 and F/1.4 Lenses, to get a suitable range of Shutter Speeds for Dragging.</p>

<p>*** </p>

<p>It is perhaps worthwhile mentioning that it is my experience that P Mode is the MOST MIS-understood and LEAST used automatic Mode – and P MODE is the only Automatic Mode about which there is much confusion and much (rampant) misinformation and the impression is often given that P Mode is somewhat ‘inferior’, or used only by ‘beginners’.</p>

<p>I mention this, because if one is under the pressure of time and one really needs to make the shot and the technical knowhow about Dragging the Shutter gets muddled and confused - then I do suggest to change to P Mode <strong>and FORGET about EC and FEC and controlling the Aperture by fancy means</strong> - and put the Flash in ETTL and one will get adequate coverage for about 80% of shots.<br>

More importantly – one should not feel a fool or any less adequate a Photographer for so doing.</p>

<p>WW</p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>Just to state the obvious: if you're using P the camera's auto-exposure is setting both Aperture And Shutter Speed. If you've got no particular Aperture or Shutter Speed preferences, just want a decent balance of the two, then P is THE auto-exposure program to use.</p>

<p>Tactics you might try: set exposure to center-weighted. The assumption being that your subject will be near the middle, and maybe better lit. Also run your ISO up to 800~1600.</p>

[dan_south]

There's nothing wrong with shooting in program mode. That's why the camera's engineers included it. And in this case it worked.

 

Flash photography is tricky. It takes a lot of practice and trial and error to balance flash and ambient light levels effectively, to consider

the impact of aperture and ISO and flash power levels. Sometimes even professionals don't have time to make all of those calculations.

An automated mode can help capture moments that would have been missed if more set up time was required.

 

The important thing is that you captured the shots that you wanted.

[bebu_lamar]

<p>If someone is happy using program mode forever that is fine. Technical aspects aren't that important for good photography. The artistic side is significantly more important. So simply use whatever mode that will give you the results you want and not too worry about all the other functions on the camera that you don't use. <br>

If you want to explore the technical side of photography and for some it's just the things they want to know. There is nothing wrong with that either but if you want to know more about the science in photography you should start in fully manual and that way you would never stuck in program mode. Fully manual mode is slower because it takes time for you to make the needed settings but it's actually a lot easier to understand and use than any automatic mode. To really use an auto mode one needs to understand how one would do in manual and then how the camera without being able to read your mind could make a decision for you. You would know when such a decision is good, acceptable or down right bad. Using automation because the machine can do it faster than you can. You can't turn the focusing ring, the dials that fast but with all those speed there are always compromises because the camera can't still read your mind and still doesn't know what it is that it's taking a picture of. </p>