Automatic exposure modes - an anachronism??

dougdarter

dougdarter

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,099
Name
Douglas
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

My camera, together with most modern cameras have five exposure modes;

Manual
Aperture priority
Shutter priority
Programme
Programme shift

Are they really necessary?

Given that all exposure values are reciprocals, why can't we just have programme shift??

Programme mode gives you the camera calculated exposure value, and programme shift then allows you to alter these value any way you wish. If you want a smaller aperture, you turn the command wheel until you reach your required aperture, and the camera adjusts the correct speed. If you want a faster or slower speed, you do the same, and the camera adjusts aperture.

The same applies to Aperture and shutter priority - you adjust aperture, and the camera selects the correct exposure, and vice versa, so do we need both?

If you want to work outside the cameras calculated exposure, then you have switch to manual, and use the cameras meter whichever way you see fit, because you can't alter the cameras chosen combination in any other way.

So I pose the question - do we really need all these exposure modes?? Frankly, it doesn't really matter how many exposure modes there are, because a good photographer will just use AE or TV mode, or manual, and a beginner will use programme until he gains the experience, and starts to appreciate the difference different shutter/aperture combinations can make.

Can anybody make any sense of this??
 
Interesting question, i have never used program mode because I when I started I could not really get my head around what it did that Tv and Av could not and stuck to what was easiest for me. I now tend to use Tv if the subject moves and if I remember to change Av if it keeps still, otherwise I stay in Tv and change the speed to get the aperture I want - and yes I know I am wrong but I am me :lol:

If the manual was clearer about program mode I may have used it instead of Tv/Av and then switched to manual for the same things I do now, but thats history.

You are probably right in that it does duplicate the other modes, but at least the user does get the choice - personally I came straight from a p&s to a 40D so I could have got used to either of the options not being there, but I don't see the manufacturers taking either out as they will leave it to the user to pick the method they are happiest with.
 
why can't we just have programme shift??

Because that's giving additional control to the user, who may not want it, yet not giving full manual for those who do want it.

Tv mode is little use for my way of working, yet (with my brand of gear) I've found it allows high speed sync for flash when used with older lenses, which AV won't. Av will take the shutter speed down to reciprocal of the focal length when flash is used in darker conditions, which is a useful trick, but I may prefer one shutter speed for consistency, so would then use Manual.

I prefer to have all the bells & whistles I'm likely to want, easily accessible, and ignore them if I choose to.
 
Read your instruction book in your kits bag, there is very useful information about the modes
 
why not just shoot manual? It;s more rewardig and you have so much more control?
I guess that because I learnt on a 35mm back in the days, thats what Im used to.
I never use the av / tv modes, and am teaching my son by putting his cam on manual and letting him experiment.
 
All modes are useful at different times & subjects

Manual is great where exposure consistency is a must (i.e. wedding), but for most normal usage AP is most useful with SP a close back-up; P (of all kinds) is great too where either the A/S isn't that vital to just capturing the shot

They all have a place

DD
 
photon said:
why can't we just have programme shift??

Because that's giving additional control to the user, who may not want it, yet not giving full manual for those who do want it.
Click to expand...

I wasn't suggesting getting rid of manual - it's my favourite mode - Expensive (but now cheap) old Nikon manual primes won't shoot with anything else either:lol:
 
I tend to think of Av, Tv and P as the same thing really. Av is P with a aperture lock, to save you dialing back to one end or the other each time you meter and conversely, Tv is just P with a shutter lock.

Say you're shooting a running event, there are hundreds of close packed runners, you need to get them all and the sun is in and out the whole time. You want P so that you can concentrate on framing shot after shot after shot in quick succession without having to worry about the changing light but you also want to lock that shutter in one place. :)

I think the way digi cameras are now that exposure modes should not be a choice of how to juggle shutter and aperture, but shutter, aperture and ISO. Letting us choose to have auto or manual control over each in any combo we like.

So, for example..... you could lock the shutter to 200th and have the aperture on the top wheel and the ISO on the rear dial. Or perhaps have the aperture locked wide open, the camera choose the shutter and you have the ISO on the wheel.
 
I'd like to have auto ISO. When shooting motorsport it would be good to set the camera to 1/250,f/8 and let it work out & set the ISO for me :)

I know I can set it myself (in manual) but in the 'standard' british summer the light levels can vary for each car on the same corner :bang:
 
mrgubby said:
I'd like to have auto ISO. When shooting motorsport it would be good to set the camera to 1/250,f/8 and let it work out & set the ISO for me :)

I know I can set it myself (in manual) but in the 'standard' british summer the light levels can vary for each car on the same corner :bang:
Click to expand...


This makes a lot of sense - preferred AE/speed no matter how the light changes. Wonderful idea!
 
It's all about features.
Features aren't necessarily benefits, they're just another bullet point that the manufacturer can list in the adverts, and the more features there are the more impressed some buyers are likely to be.
 
I guess that the big camera manufacturers just want to sell as many cameras as they can and the more expensive models preferably. So, if they put these modes on the more expensive models less experienced photographers will buy them instead of a less complicated and cheaper model and make the big manufacturers more money! (Yes I'am sceptical)
 
I think the camera makers thinking is as mentioned, newcomers tend to use the full 'auto' modes, particularly the modes like 'portrait' 'landscape' etc then graduating on to a/v t/v etc.

It is reinforced by the manufacturers, for example the lowest price Canon DSLR has around 12 'modes', to the pro-bodies having 4 (plus bulb)

I tend to use a/v for 95% of my shooting, occasionally t/v have little use for manual unless using flash.
 
I personally think a highly programmable auto mode would be usefull.

Set up an auto-iso range, a shutter speed range and an aperture range then set which settings have priority. With a bit of customisation you should be able to set it up so you have an auto mode that works within parameters which you want it too. It might be too fiddly to be of use although in vastly changing conditions it might enable you to keep a similar style shots without having to adjust the camera settings to maintain a correct exposure.
 
You know it makes sense. :D

With new digi cameras getting good quality files from ISO 100 through to 6400, that now has to be as important a parameter for each shot as the shutter and aperture. As such, the camera should give us equal control over it.

Perhaps in time we'll see cameras evolve from two main input dials to three, so that you can take full manual, shot by shot, control of all three if you want to.
 
After all the ISO setting is completely fake, it's trying to emulate film for the 'Old Fashioned Togs" ;)

If I can have an AVC system for audio why not the same for light :)


*I have designed full automatic autoranging ADC systems, it's a piece of **** :D



** waits for an "Old Fashioned Tog" to bite
 
mrgubby said:
I want some of that TAV :woot:, it may be time to move from Canon :help:





Off Topic.

If Canon / Nikon are "The Darkside" couple , what is Pentax ?????
Click to expand...


Pentax is the Sith

or mebbe....Jabba The Hut...or is that Olympus :shrug:.....whatever, Sony is definitely the DarkStar, with the power to destroy planets.


:lol:


This ^ is about the only thing I understand in this thread with all yer av tv programme shift rubbish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top