manual,shutter or aperture mode?

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Is manual mode less used these days by professional and enthusiast photographers and if so when is it a good time to use it?
Fireworks night shooting with difficult lighting etc?
thanks
 
Manual mode still has its uses.
I use it on still life and macro sometimes when lighting is awkward and the metering isn't very helpful.
Many photographers also use external light meters so manual is a must in that case.
Also, for flash photography, from what I have read, manual mode is the best option. Set the preferred aperture and shutter speed (upto flash sync) and the flash will add the required output to match the inputs.

Of the other two aperture and shutter priority I think they have equal weighting depending on the subject.
For me, rule of thumb is static I use aperture priority and moving, I use shutter priority.
 
I mainly use aperture priority unless the camera decides it knows better than me and chooses stupid values (i.e choosing a ridiculously low shutter speed instead of increasing the ISO from 100 and getting a much faster shutter speed), and then i switch to manual.
 
I mainly use aperture priority unless the camera decides it knows better than me and chooses stupid values (i.e choosing a ridiculously low shutter speed instead of increasing the ISO from 100 and getting a much faster shutter speed), and then i switch to manual.

why dont you just leave it in aperture mode and increase the ISO.
 
Indeed it does depend on what your shooting to be honest .....

In this day and age with post processing packages you can alter the image to achieve whatever you want.

But Aperture mode is very popular, i use it most of the time along with Shutter priority with fast moving objects.
 
I use manual with auto ISO.

I mainly use aperture priority unless the camera decides it knows better than me and chooses stupid values (i.e choosing a ridiculously low shutter speed instead of increasing the ISO from 100 and getting a much faster shutter speed), and then i switch to manual.

Why not just change the minimum shutter speed setting?
 
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To be fair with my D610 it is far easier to stay in aperture priority and move the ISO manually with the dials, but it wasn't on the D40 and i'm used to being in manual mode on the film bodies anyway.
 
It all depends on the subject but I tend to use manual to keep the exposure the way I want.


(I leave AF on so the camera doesn't get bored ;))
 
i tend to use Tv (shutter) or M (manual)

i started with M as i wanted to learn stuff
i still use M for macro i just find it more useful if the esubject isnt moving
often i use Tv as the target is moving fast, say a bee in fligh, or a do, or a bird

if im on a tripod i usually use M atm as well, rarely use Av (aperture) as i dont do much portrait stuff

often the shutter speed drops too low and i avent explored alternatives methods..canon 60D
 
I'm quite new to photography but I think I'll need to be a little more comfortable with handling the camera before I'm happy letting it handle things automatically, for the moment I seem to keep falling back to manual mode, as contradictory as that may sound.
 
I'm quite new to photography but I think I'll need to be a little more comfortable with handling the camera before I'm happy letting it handle things automatically, for the moment I seem to keep falling back to manual mode, as contradictory as that may sound.

no i agree!

i first came out of manual for speedy stuff, just dont have to time to twidlle the nobs
 
I use aperture value for gigs in the main, but as already mentioned in this thread, sometimes the camera chooses very weird settings, so I force the camera to use within a certain range so I know what to expect. Ish :D It all depends on the environment you're in though. Consistent settings and manual is fine in the main, and it depends on the user as some prefer to use nothing but and have the ability to rapidly flit through settings as quickly as it takes me to change ISO :D

I was taking photos of a roller derby the other weekend so I could practice panning shots (my god I suck at that), and I found shutter priority, or plain manual was easier to accomplish a desired result.
 
How many people manually adjust ISO on an everyday basis? I just set ISO to auto 100 so it always uses the lowest ISO possible for the correct exposure, interested as to why someone would do anything else?
 
If I'm stuck in a difficult lighting environment I'll use auto ISO but cap it at 5000 (although I generally start at 5000 to begin with, and try to drop it), as I really don't like how images look beyond that. That being said, you can do some noise recovery to get it back a bit but I find the look I want, which is a bit grainy anyway, is lost then and adding it looks poor to my eye.

I've just set it to 3200 to see what the next gig is like (for a max setting) but I'm covering two new venues, so I'm not even sure if it's usable yet as one venue is rather dark.
 
I tend to find that even at f/1.8 some of my images end up in the extended ISO range at the venues I shoot at. That's why I've had to upgrade to full frame and get f/1.4 lenses.
 
i found the max ISO auto cap today, decided to set mine at 3200 on 60D, i dont really want to go beyond that
damn, im still learning buttons, settings on the camera!
 
How many people manually adjust ISO on an everyday basis? I just set ISO to auto 100 so it always uses the lowest ISO possible for the correct exposure, interested as to why someone would do anything else?

I used to always set ISO for each shot, now it is a mix. It partly depends what lens I am using. Also the auto ISO on my old D90 is not as good as newer cameras, e.g. I can't have a variable shutter speed dependent on focal length.

When I am using my 300mm f/4 for wildlife I just set the lens wide open and have auto ISO on with a shutter speed of 1/500th and I just concentrate on getting the shot.
When i shoot landscape the camera is on a tripod and I am at base ISO.
 
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