Camera Labs

Ok, I thought about this when I was writing my 'Why do you shoot RAW' thread, so sorry for spamming the forums!

Firstly I understand what M mode is, and what shutter speed, aperture etc are.

I just see a lot of beginners using M mode for no apparent reason. I wanted to know what advantages you guys see for manual mode above that of aperture priority or even program mode.

For my F5, I manually meter it, but I use and external meter as the inbuit meter doesnt do a good enough job. My F100 however does a great job and rarely goes wrong, I can trust that meter any day of the week. My D5000 however is in a league of its own. I dont think Ive ever taken a shot with it to be over or under exposed so I dont see any reason to take it out of aperture priority.

I see a lot of people set it up in M so that the inbuit meter is "in the middle." But thats exactly the same as using P plus a lot of effort if you move the camera or the lighting changes.

What I want to know is if you use M, what do you see this adding to your photography above A?

Cheers,
Jeremy

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

I share your opinion, a lot of people seem to use M for no reason. I have came across people using M who can't tell what the f number really means. But somehow they think that a real photographer uses M and keeps on using it, but too often the balance between sutter speed and aperture becomes wrong.

I prefer to use A almost all the time, I then use Exposure Comp to give my pictures the right tone, rather then going manual and setting both, just a lot of extra work. A because I can control the DoF.
S I only use for very specific reasons, and very rarely.
Almost never Auto or manual, Auto gives me no control and manual is work for nothing.

Although the only benefit of Manual I think is that you get more involved with the situation and considers every setting more...

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Nikon D90 | Nikkor 18-105 AF-S f/3.5-5.6 VR | Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D | Nikon MB - D80 battery grip | Lowepro Flipside 200

Nokia 6220 5mp - Carl Zeiss optics



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So far the situations where M mode is most useful are:

1) When shooting panoramas where you want to keep the exposure the same as you rotate towards and away from the sun.

2) When using flash where the flash level is being set manually.

3) On my camera access to bulb mode is made through M mode.

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Canon EOS 400D, EF-S 18-55mm, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM, EF 50mm f/1.8 MK I, EF-S 10-22mm, EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM, EF 28mm f/1.8, EF 85mm f/1.8
Canon 430EX II, Manfrotto 055CXPRO3, Arca Swiss P0
Panasonic GF3, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Olympus 45mm f/1.8

MY FLICKR!

The clue is in the word "Manual"

You make all the decisions and settings for the camera, the camera does not meter in this mode.

Ideal in tricky situations where the camera would over or underexpose or give wrong shutter times in automatic modes, i.e in low light photography.

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Mark Osborne
My life through an iPhone

I use Manual for tricky night shots or when using flash. The rest of times,I use Aperture Priority,it's the fastest.

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Gear: Nikon D80, 18-105mm, 35mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8, SB-600
Visit my work here

I use M for the complete control, if I got time. Else, I use A.
Of course I know what aperture, shutter, iso etc is, Ive got a complete manual camera from Minolta, but why should you bumb up or down the EV, if you could do it self with M?
BTW, automodes are things on cameras that I dont like/use, so, another reason for using M.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Thanks for your responses guys.

Interesting that you refer to Aperture priority mode as automatic Ruben, I consider it a manual mode

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

I agree that, Jeremy. It is by far more manual then "landscape" or ''portret''. But the camera is doing something automatic: the shutter (maybe the WB, focus, color mode etc.).
So, a full manual is really slow to use, I agree;)

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

The times I use manual are:
1, when I need shot to shot consistency e.g. panorama stitching
2, when camera metering doesn't work e.g. astrophotography
3, when I need particular combinations of aperture and shutter not easily accessible through the semi-auto modes e.g. motion stopping and high DoF wildlife

In any other situation, I'd get the same result faster in aperture or shutter priority.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I just started shooting in TV and AV modes. Before that Ive shot nothing but M. Reason has been mainly to learn, but also cause it made me feel cool

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Canon EOS 450D. (soon a 7D hopefully)
Canon EF-S 17-55/2,8 IS USM
Canon EF 70-300/4-5,6 IS USM
Canon EF 50/1,8 II
Canon EF-S 10-22/3,5-4,5 USM
Manfrotto 055 XPROB
Canon Speedlite EX580

I shoot in manual most of the time for the same reason I like driving stick shift. I feel more involved. I also learned photography on an old manual film camera (as I suspect quite a few CL readers did as well), so that process feels natural.

I also treat manual mode kind of like aperture priority anyway: Set the aperture first depending on what affect I want, then adjust the shutter speed so I've got a "proper" exposure according to the light meter, look at the picture, and then shoot some more by adjusting the exposure with the shutter speed.

When things are moving and I feel like I'll miss shots if I'm doing the exposure adjustment manually, I'll skip over to aperture priority, shoot a few to see what the camera thinks is a proper exposure, and then adjust the exposure compensation if I think differently.

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5D mk II | 50mm 1.4 | 28mm 1.8
My Flickr

The same reason why is important to know the Multiplication Table by heart.

I only using M for long exposures on a tripod.

A Is used 95% of the time, giving quick control of aperture on the front dial and ISO on the back dial.

A is ideal for shooting quickly and handheld in lower light when you want a particular aperture and shutter speed and can balance easily by changing ISO while the camera's at your eye.

I'm only using S where I want a particular effect - for example getting motion blur in propellers on aircraft.

That depends on whether the camera is set for spot metering, are they metering "in the middle" with spot metering or matrix metering?

If they're using matrix metering, then yes it would be equivalent to simple Program mode, but then they don't have to worry about resetting the exposure they want if the light changes slightly and they preferred the original exposure settings. Different people might see more effort if it was in P mode.

If they're using spot metering, then they are metering for a desired exposure effect based upon some light value in a certain location in the scene.

Interesting thread...

I come under constant criticism on Youtube for my DSLR Tips videos which recommend people always leave their cameras on Program or Auto after they've done a special effect. My reasoning being that if you suddenly spot a photo opportunity which lasts only a few seconds, the last thing you want is to pick up a camera which has been set to manual. But the 'experts' out there berate me because only a noob would use any auto mode, and serious photographers would only use manual.

It's a rite of passage which every photographer goes though - the belief that shooting in Manual is somehow the only option to consider.

I say codswallop! The best or most experienced photographer is the one who uses the mode which gives the desired result. I've grabbed many spontaneous moments in Program which would have been lost in Manual. And lest we forget, Shutter and Aperture Priority are also automatic, but with a little extra control.

I also find many of these so-called 'experts' set their cameras to Manual, then adjust the settings until the light meter reads 0 EV, thereby achieving exactly the same effect the camera would have done in Auto or Program shift!

Anyway, rant over.

Having said all of that, I am a regular user of Manual, but ONLY for times when the camera's auto modes simply won't achieve the effect I'm after. Sometimes it's a quick switch from Program or Aperture Priority to Manual to lock the exposure at a desired setting with the knowledge it won't change (often for product shots or flash work), but mostly it's when I'm shooting at night and know from experience that the auto metering will never give the desired result.

So the short answer is I use Program or Aperture Priority for regular photography, and Manual for astro-photography or other special effects. I never use Manual just for the hell of it to prove a point - I'm very much in the camp of 'why make life difficult for yourself?'