shutter, aperture priority or manual?

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scaryrob

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Robert
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hi all.
my first post :)
just wondered which setting everyone uses when taking general photos?
i heard alot of people keep on aperture priority. i normally keep on manual. what about all you guys and why???
thanks in advance :D
 
Aperture priority for me - only have to worry about one setting then really.
 
AV for still stuff, TV for moving stuff, general shots I don't really use manual.
 
thanks all for the advice.
av seems to be the preference.
 
scaryrob said:
thanks all for the advice.
av seems to be the preference.
Click to expand...

Me too. Why do you prefer manual?

They are all just different ways of doing the same thing, including P. You should always get correct exposure, and with the compensation and exposure shift controls you can achieve it with the same combination of settings too.
 
The correct exposure is not necessarily the best looking exposure every time.

Also, say you're taking pictures of something important, say professionally. You can't have a setting randomly change and make your pictures all look different.
 
Hi Robert

When you say it's your 'first post' - are you new to photography or just new to the forum ?

If you're new to photography then it's refreshing to hear that you shoot in manual.

As other's have said 'correct exposure' is the key and the 'type' of photography you do will determine how you arrive at that.

How you want to capture a moving subject might mean that you concentrate on shutter speed. How you want to capture portrait's might mean your aperture comes first.

It's horses for courses really but if you like working fully manual - there's no doubt (when combined with ISO) that there's no better way to get a grasp of how all the variables work together.
 
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I have read a lot of posts on numerous photography forums asking the same question, but the one question which is never asked is. "Which white balance is appropriate"? I personally find that white balance can make a significant difference to a photograph. I have used them all at various times, but find the auto white balance setting better for general use.

Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations?
________
THE HILLS FORUM
 
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For "general photography" ie walkabout on a summer's evening I'd always say use P a setting in which all of your input in the menus and on the buttons is respected and one that can be tweeked as you begin to shoot by a turn of the control wheel.

P stands for prepared, it means you are ready to go with only shutter lag between you and a great shot.

I think there's too much emphasis within these columns on equipment and laborious exposure technique and not enough on capturing the moment. My assistant Tony is currently working with shadows in street photography, shadows of people and dogs primarily. He uses an old 35mm manual focus pentax with match the needle exposure metering and he's a far better snapper than I am.
 
When I first started getting into taking photos of horses jumping (all of 6 months ago!) I used shutter priority as I though a fast shutter speed was most important to stop the action but I found that, mainly, I was having trouble getting the correct exposure on different coloured horses, especially bays and blacks. Also, because I had no control over aperture, backgrounds were often too sharp to show off the horse to best effect.

Then one day I was chatting to a pro photographer covering an event and he advised me to shoot manual exposure. I now find that I have much more control over my shots and can get exposure nailed most times after a few "practice" shots. I am also getting backgrounds pleasingly blurred so that horse is highlighted. All this using a manually selected combination of shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

I don't have all that much experience, but this works for me and gives me results.
 
shutter to control movement

aperture to control DOF

manual for flash work, where you want to have the same exposure over and over again (e.g panorama), or if your a odd ball who also manual focuses and only owns primes.


scaryrob said:
hi all.
my first post :)
just wondered which setting everyone uses when taking general photos?
i heard alot of people keep on aperture priority. i normally keep on manual. what about all you guys and why???
thanks in advance :D
Click to expand...
 
niv2: How do you have time to set both aperture and shutter speeds before the horse has passed?! And having a wide open aperture (for shallow depth of field) goes hand in hand with a fast shutter speed (for freezing action) so I'm surprised that you were previously struggling to get both.

I tend to use aperture priority for most things as it's a quick change of control wheel to set the required depth of field and the camera sorts out the rest.
 
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I tend to preset shutter speed, aperture etc based on what I believe to be a neutral colour (I think some use a grey card?) and then take test shots to check that I have correct exposure. I find that exposure does not vary that much in a round of jumping providing that I select jumps carefully so I use same exposure for that round. I just keep and eye on exposure and adjust regularly.

On sunny days I originally found that I was only using a moderate shutter speed (1/1000) and this was resulting in a small aperture and a huge depth of field........I then realised that I needed to balance Shutter speed & ISO to get a larger aperture. But my main problem was getting correct exposure on darker horses so I switched to manual

As I said, I am not that experienced at this , but a pro event photographer suggested I try it and it works for me.
 
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I use Manual most of the time. After discussions on a how to shoot birds thread, and tdodd's very informative posts... I occasionally use Tv or Av when I'm trying to achieve something specific, Tv for panning for instance.
 
I think it's worth taking a moment to re-align some of the replies here. Shooting on manual and using Av/Tv with exposure compensation are pretty much the same thing.

Surely the mode the camera is not the key factor. Who chooses the exposure, you or the camera is the real question. For example, if you shoot a frame and adjust the settings after seeing the preview, it's not going to make all that much difference where the mode dial is.
 
When working in the studio I use Manual all of the time. When doing location portraits with natural light I use AP mostly, to control DOF
 
Manual is good for when your metering is inconsistent due to fast moving action, changing backgrounds etc.

I find at football matches, because im sitting down - the sky and buildings/cars etc get in the frame alot and this can throw the metering way off. But with manual you can still get the camera to find the right exposure, you can just lock it in place afterwards.
 
Adey said:
Manual is good for when your metering is inconsistent due to fast moving action, changing backgrounds etc.

I find at football matches, because im sitting down - the sky and buildings/cars etc get in the frame alot and this can throw the metering way off. But with manual you can still get the camera to find the right exposure, you can just lock it in place afterwards.
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Yeah, that's right. I use manual as more of a 'set & lock' mode.

Also, if you are using one of the auto modes but then tweak the exposure with compensation, you are using more 'manual' exposure control than you do when actually shooting in M but just line up the marker in the viewfinder by hand.
 
manual when I'm doing college stuff or things I can take my time about, other than that I'll use aperture-priority (and especially if I'm feeling a bit lazy! :) )
 
100% Manual for me, I like to be in full control...even if it means that I can't blame the camera for a poor shot!
 
Aperture for a lot of things, sometimes manual and occasionally P.
The mode depends on the type of shooting, equipment and intended use.
 
killwilly said:
I have read a lot of posts on numerous photography forums asking the same question, but the one question which is never asked is. "Which white balance is appropriate"? I personally find that white balance can make a significant difference to a photograph. I have used them all at various times, but find the auto white balance setting better for general use.

Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations?
Click to expand...

For me I AWB always and shoot raw. Or to get it perfect in camera I have a grey card somewhere gathering dust or you can get one of those expensive chart thingys. You ain't gonna want to carry it down the street with you though ;) I never use any of the built in settings.
 
mostly AP, unless I'm using my off camera flash then its manual
 
I tend to leave mine set to Av, F2.8 and the ISO set to 400, that way during the day a grab shot is just that, grab the camera and shoot.
AWB is generally set, though if its a good light day I will switch it to daylight before I shoot.
For flash I always use manual and even though I shoot raw I set the WB to flash.

I do miss my custom modes though, I used them a lot and had pre programmed settings for shooting B&W
 
"Prepared" because you're ready to shoot, carpe diem as they used to say in Rome, you'll always get a picture with P and if there's time hit A or S and set an appropriate value to suit the subject.
P to a phototjournalist stands for "professional". Grab a shot, tweak the setting with the control wheel left or right for a subsequent shot with, if your subject is still there, a more appropriate Aperture or shutter speed.
 
95% of the time I use the aperture priority mode and the exposure compensation dial when necessary. I rarely use flash and I rarely need to compensate more than -2 / +2 EV so, there's no point for me to shoot in manual all the time, since it would be a waste of time.

I also use the shutter priority mode when shooting motorsports or moving subjects.

When I need to use flash or long exposures, manual it is.
 
dinners said:
Hi Robert

When you say it's your 'first post' - are you new to photography or just new to the forum ?

If you're new to photography then it's refreshing to hear that you shoot in manual.

As other's have said 'correct exposure' is the key and the 'type' of photography you do will determine how you arrive at that.

How you want to capture a moving subject might mean that you concentrate on shutter speed. How you want to capture portrait's might mean your aperture comes first.

It's horses for courses really but if you like working fully manual - there's no doubt (when combined with ISO) that there's no better way to get a grasp of how all the variables work together.
Click to expand...


hi,
im new to the forum and new to photography.
i find manual easier to use as i shoot mostly indoors and in dim conditions. this causes alot of my shots to be underexposed naturally. using manual enables me to compensate for this easily in each shot as opposed to using av or tv as setting compensation is harder and does not self cancel.
another reason i use manual is because i can leave the aperture at its largest for most light leaving me just to look after the shutter speed to prevent camera shake.
does this make sense?
any advice greatly appreciated.
 
Mainly manual up until now, personal choice as I think I learnt more that way

But having read previous threads like this I'm trying out the A mode for ease of use

Have set the command dial to direct exposure compensation so I can control that with just the dial.

Im trying it out with one finger on that and another ready to go on the ISO button if the shutter speed is too low

Seems to be working so far
 
phototuition said:
"Prepared" because you're ready to shoot, carpe diem as they used to say in Rome, you'll always get a picture with P and if there's time hit A or S and set an appropriate value to suit the subject.
P to a phototjournalist stands for "professional". Grab a shot, tweak the setting with the control wheel left or right for a subsequent shot with, if your subject is still there, a more appropriate Aperture or shutter speed.
Click to expand...

Most people have their tongue firmly in their cheek when they quote that old chestnut.

Rather worryingly you seem to take it seriously!
 
Talking some sense . . . :clap: Aperture priority or 'P' is my bag, however, no one has mentioned metering, good though it is these days, I favour the old fashioned Center Weighted metering and the option to lock this in on the back button. This means I can meter off any appropriate area, subject or a neutral, lock it, then recompose as required on the area I want in focus with a half press, then re frame and press. Pressing the back button again after the shot to release the metering ready for the next shot.

It sounds complicated, but I find its a natural 'stepped way' of looking at the shot. If its a grab shot, no time, the subject is usually center frame and CW metering does the job anyway.

I always shoot JPG/RAW, with the camera preset menus to my preferences for JPG. Then if AWB or something is not quite right I can change it, 'run with the hair, hunt with the hounds':thumbs:

This is my way, that works for me me, I'm no great shakes as a tog . . . :bonk:

CJS
 
It depends what I'm shooting?

With rugby I use Aperture Priority (wide open all the time) and if the shutter speed starts to get a bit low I bang the ISO up to compensate.

With motorsport I use Shutter Priority so I can control the amount of blur in the picture.

Anything where I don't need to control DOF or motion blur (not that often for myself really) I tend to stick it in P and just change the exposure to suit... unless of course I find anything like the shutter drops too low or I don't have enough DOF (product shots at work for example) and then I use Manual.

I guess people will all have different preferences but what I think I'm trying to say is don't just use 1 setting for everything... experiment to find out what each setting does and what you can do with each setting... then use what you find to be the best setting for what you're shooting.
 
Av 95-99% of the time. M for flash work (product shots for selling stuff). Tv very rarely. P almost never anymore (although I think I should restart using it for birds in flight).
 
For me Av = Aperture value = Aperture priority.
 
Photodiva said:
Nah, P stands for 'Professional' :)
Click to expand...

Are you taking the mick... :thinking:

Google would suggest it stands for Programmed AutoExposure, or just Program, as would my camera manual...
 
LOL. Of course there are some tongues firmly planted in cheeks with some of the interpretations of what 'P' stands for. It stands for 'Programmed Auto Exposure' The scorn which seems to be heaped on use of the 'P' setting is mostly an amateur attitude - many pros will use 'P' without hesitation when there's a clear advantage in using it. Fill flash outdoors is a prime example - where 'P' will give good results without too much bother for the tog beyond perhaps a slight adjustment of flash output. I know many wedding photographers who work that way for the outside fill flash shots. Gary Fong who charges telephone numbers for his wedding work - uses 'P' for outside flash shots.

To answer the original question though - I use AV most of the time - the reason being that with bird shots subject movement and shutter speed are a prime consideration. In AV mode I know that with the lens wide open I'm going to get the fastest shutter speed I can at any given ISO setting with the luxury of stopping down a little when the light permits.

I'll occasionally use Manual when lighting is difficult or bg luminance is constantly changing - but not very often.
 
CT that is interesting, I thought for the birdies you'd be using Tv so you know your shutter speed is going to be kept up.
 
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