DON'T shoot in manual mode

[KeithG]

I totally agree with "the stork" for many (some?, Most!) people. Great thread topic - thanks!

It all depends upon your objective. Some people don't want to know about intricate, confusing, stupid, technical camera "details". They just want pictures.

My dive buddy has a very keen eye for detail and is able to spot stuff that I never notice. She can tell the difference between all of "those gobys" we see. She is VERY interested in capturing an image of new fish. And finding out what they are. She has ZERO interest in screwing around with camera gear.

She understands the value of using a camera to replace a pencil and slate. But it ends there. "Just give me a picture"!

For her world, a totally automatic camera is the correct solution. She understands she will not get "magazine quality" images. That is not important. Her solution is to have me carry a Canon ELPH P&S camera in my BCD and have me turn it on for her whenever she wants to capture a "happy snap" of some new thing.

She is my example of one extreme of camera usage. But I also claim that many other people are best served by letting the camera do the heavy lifting. They will never be able to get the fringe shots that require total manual control. But they can get lots of very impressive shots.


P.S. This reminds me of the arguments against relying on "autofocus" that stormed many years ago...

 

[ScubaInChicago]

I totally agree with "the stork" for many (some?, Most!) people. Great thread topic - thanks!

It all depends upon your objective. Some people don't want to know about intricate, confusing, stupid, technical camera "details". They just want pictures.

My dive buddy has a very keen eye for detail and is able to spot stuff that I never notice. She can tell the difference between all of "those gobys" we see. She is VERY interested in capturing an image of new fish. And finding out what they are. She has ZERO interest in screwing around with camera gear.

She understands the value of using a camera to replace a pencil and slate. But it ends there. "Just give me a picture"!

For her world, a totally automatic camera is the correct solution. She understands she will not get "magazine quality" images. That is not important. Her solution is to have me carry a Canon ELPH P&S camera in my BCD and have me turn it on for her whenever she wants to capture a "happy snap" of some new thing.

She is my example of one extreme of camera usage. But I also claim that many other people are best served by letting the camera do the heavy lifting. They will never be able to get the fringe shots that require total manual control. But they can get lots of very impressive shots.


P.S. This reminds me of the arguments against relying on "autofocus" that stormed many years ago...

So your basically saying Stroker should stick to the amateur point and shoot stuff and leave manual mode to the pros who can walk and chew gum at the same time.

 

[KeithG]

So your basically saying Stroker should stick to the amateur point and shoot stuff and leave manual mode to the pros who can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Well actually, what I really wanted to convey is that there are VERY FEW pros out there.

Lots of posers and wannabes...

 

[Storker]

Lots of posers and wannabes...

Yup. And a few acres of excluded middle ground.

I find the condescension oozing out of some of the posts here it a bit amusing. Particularly when it's combined with a gaping hole from the excluded middle. I don't know if the auto bad, manual good meme comes from a lack of ability to understand how you control the camera in one of the auto modes. "Green auto" or "Intelligent auto" takes away the photog's control, sure. I never use that myself. But aperture priority auto, shutter speed priority auto or aperture/shutter priority auto gives me the control I need more than nine times out of ten.

Depending on the scene/subject and the lighting limitations I of course set my ISO limits, metering mode, and exposure bias, and if I shoot aperture priority I can also set my allowed shutter speed range. And since I can set most of those parameters before I even splash, based on previous experience, this kind of automatic exposure leaves me some extra bandwidth that I can use on composition rather than fiddling with my exposure settings.

You can't have good control over the result unless you shoot manual? Auto is for snapshots only? OK, in that case I guess I'll be happy with my snapshots:

Aperture priority auto, center-weighted metering, -1 EV exposure bias:




Aperture priority auto, matrix metering, -1 EV exposure bias on ambient










I particularly like the last one as an example that manual isn't the one mode to rule them all. Because there's no way in Hel I'd get that shot if I had been shooting in manual. I'd still be fiddling with my camera's dials when my buddy had finished the kill and stuffed the fish in his catch bag.


Oh, wait! :shocked2: Here's one that's only partially a snapshot. I shot it in manual since I wanted a black background, but I used TTL-auto strobe control. IIRC, I used -1 EV exposure bias on the strobe:



BTW, some topside snapshots:


Shutter/aperture priority auto (AKA manual with auto ISO), center-weighted metering, +1 1/3 EV exposure bias


Aperture priority auto, matrix metering, no exposure bias


Program auto, matrix metering, no exposure bias


Aperture priority auto, matrix metering, no exposure bias, min shutter speed 1/500s


Aperture priority auto, matrix metering, +1 EV exposure bias