Manual mode - How do you use yours?

Nicola.P

Nicola.P

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Nicola
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Just curious. When using manual mode do you just set the exposure until the cameras metering tells you that you are right or do you just guess it yourself?
 
I'm usually out shooting nature and set the aperture to the DoF i want bearing in mind the light I have available. Then I use the internal meter to guide me for setting the exposure and unless Im doing macro, I use AF whenever possible and lock it for composition.
 
Sometimes I'll "go commando" with the Sunny 16 rule or the Kodak exposure guide. I've got a nice Minolta meter, but it's underused.

Generally, for speed, I would use Av mode with exposure compensation if necessary.

For trickier situations like a bride and groom emerging from a dark church porch, I would use manual mode, having metered off the pathway or grass or (adding a stop) back of hand.

If there's time with manual mode, I'll make sure the cam is spot metering and check around the scene and compensate as required for e.g. sky or black dog, take a shot and check histogram and any blown highlights.
 
I tend to look at the scene and then set above or below the metered amount, by however much I believe it needs. I also often use manual flash, (or flash EC with i-TTL if I feel lazy)
 
Nicola.P said:
Just curious. When using manual mode do you just set the exposure until the cameras metering tells you that you are right or do you just guess it yourself?
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This is my ikle guide to manual exposure with a very important bit :)

If you look up grey card on google you will see that there are more exact ways to do this.. but they dont work if for example your on a long lens.. unless you have extrodinary long arms :)

Point towards the scene your going to shoot or somewhere near that has the same light as the scene your going to shoot.. look for somehting similar to a grey colour.. for example shooting sport i look for a light bit of grass on the pitch..

Point your camera at that.. I find spot metering is best for manual exposure.. using anything else then you need to fill the frame with the colour

note the settings when the exposure is showing spot on.. dial those in so you have the exact exposure.

now point at anything you want and your exposure will stay the same

IMPORTANT : this may seem like a no brainer to some but it slowed me down at first... now while you are in manual .. IGNORE the exposure meter telling you that you are under or over exposed... thats the camera guessing what your exposure should be.... ignore it.. your choosing the exposure... keep chimping (checking your histogram and actual picture to make sure exposure is staying as you Want it ie maybe light changes)

WHY?
Well again let me use football as an example.. a night match .. i do as above and set the exposure for the grass and shoot away.. my exposure levels are all over the place because of floodlights or lights in the background (at non league grounds theres allsorts) and those lights tell the camera to use exposures i dont want.. theres loads more example where auto or semi auto modes wont work..

Set your own and it stays constant.. this means you either get constantly good or bad exposures :)

I dont use manual all the time.. on a sunny day with lots of cloud the lighting can be changing every few seconds then its AV for me... I am not stuck on manual all the time... plus my camer does such a good job I am using AV more and more.. but when needs must then its M
 
I'll have a look at the camera's meter but then adjust the exposure based on the composition, i.e. if I want to include a lot of sky I'll dial in some underexposure.

I also make a lot of use of spot metering in certain circumstances.
 
AliB, I would meter the sky and overexpose by a couple of stops.
 
Ok so I have another question after reading those replys. Do you use Matrix metering, spot or center weighting?
 
Nicola.P said:
Ok so I have another question after reading those replys. Do you use Matrix metering, spot or center weighting?
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Am I on your ignore list ? :) see above re as why center or not
 
photon said:
AliB, I would meter the sky and overexpose by a couple of stops.
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Same here.... I take a white cloud, I push the exposure to about 1.5 or +2 because the camera would want to turn that white cloud into 18% grey so to get it bright white (but with details) it would need more exposure.

If using AV... I think youd need to push the exposure DOWN to make the cloud darker.. If I am correct. I always think it is very confusing as one goes down and one goes up!

Thats why I stick with manual so I know what Im doing......I think!! :D :lol:
 
KIPAX said:
Am I on your ignore list ? :) see above re as why center or not
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I did read your reply and did find it helpful. I am curious as to what others do as well. :)
 
Sorry to butt in a little late in the conversation but this is what I generally do:

For wildlife pics I set the shutter speed 1st then the aperture then the iso - I generally just leave the white balance on sunny as I can correct it later if I need to. I use the camera's meter for exposure readings and I will adjust the iso depending on what the light does.

For landscapes I set the aperture, then the shutter speed then the iso and again take meter readings from the camera to get a geneal idea of my exposure.

I tend to use spot metering for wildlife and matrix for landscapes.

I know it can be a pain to keep altering my settings while I'm out but the reason I shoot in manual is because I enjoy it and I feel it's more of a challenge for myself and I feel I get to know the camera better and how it works etc (especially when I was learning).
:)
 
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