Manual Or Auto Setting

[animalia]

Hi Guys, ;)

I was just wondering what setting do you all use on your cameras manual or auto? ;)

[rubiton]

Using the DSLR - Manual - I like to control what is being taken not let the camera decide.

Only time is on AV or TV if its a head/rug shot and horse will be swapping from sun and shade too quickly to change settings but otherwise 95 percent of the time manual.

[TerraNik]

Mostly manual unless I'm shooting flyball - then it's TV mode coz I'm lazy ;)

[~*Shell*~]

I don't think I've taken it off manual for over a year - both my DSLR and my IXUS.

[redangel]

For me at the moment its 50/50. If I really need to 'get it right' and have no time to play (Im still learning) I use auto/ man focus. If I have time to play then its manual: I want to learn my camera.

[Ripley]

If I'm taking photos of wild birds, AV mode. I don't have time to use Manual. I make sure the ISO is high enough to give me a fast enough shutter speed for the aperture and conditions. Sometimes I will spot meter if lighting is tricky. If I fiddle around too much, I've missed the shot. Landscapes, mainly AV mode because depth of field is important (I have used M before for sunsets/sunrise). The last batch of pics I'm editing now I didn't use M at all.

eta: Usually I can't see properly through the small viewfinder on my 30D in bright sunny conditions to see what the meter is telling me so that is another reason I don't use it much. I just cannot through see the viewfinder in the sun.

Edited May 27, 2010 by Ripley

[kja]

Manual here almost all the time. I may use Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority once in a blue moon or less, but they do have their uses and are worth knowing how to control.

on my happy snappy Canon SD1200 IS there is no manual mode so when I use that I just use the auto setting ;)

[huga]

Always manual on the DSLR. Auto on the Lumix most of the time, but there isn't a whole lot of control over the settings.

Edited May 28, 2010 by huga

[Guest Tess32]

I use AV almost exclusively. I have no use for manual, it just wastes my time for what I take.

[OMD²]

I'm using manual most times now. I only have it on auto when I am trying to catch the doggies playing

[animalia]

So from what I can gather is that it is better to use manual rather than auto unless say you are photographing something moving fast.

I took my heeler to the beach the other day for a photo opportunity and I found it hard to use the manual settings because she would move around a lot OR if I made her sit or drop she would creep up to me, so I didn't really have time to organise everything camera wise. Also it was a bit over cast that day and I didn't have a tri-pod and my shutter speed was slower so I found that some of pictures weren't as sharp as they should be.

I guess practice makes perfect. :rolleyes:

P.S Tess32 i had a look at your gallery, your photos are amazing! where do you to take all of the wild animal photographs, the zoo or do you travel?

Edited May 28, 2010 by animalia

[Firestone]

For me at the moment its 50/50. If I really need to 'get it right' and have no time to play (Im still learning) I use auto/ man focus. If I have time to play then its manual: I want to learn my camera.

Same here.

[kja]

So from what I can gather is that it is better to use manual rather than auto unless say you are photographing something moving fast.

I guess practice makes perfect. :D

Try shutter priority in this instance. You set a nice fast shutter to capture the motion and the camera sorts out the aperture for the conditions.

You may need to choose spot meter for beach conditions otherwise the camera may read the entire BRIGHT scene and not expose the dog properly. So put your spot on the dog and fire away.

If you have lower light conditions, bump up your ISO a bit so your camera has something to work with.

You may also find AI servo is worthwhile as it helps track movement.

And, yes, the more you shoot, the better you should get. Once you are comfortable changing settings in full manual, Av or Tv will take no time at all and you won't have to double check it every time. I use full manual in highly changing, fast paced conditions and work on the fly, because I'm used to it, I don't miss shots or fumble around with settings, it's just a fluid part of the process. It takes a lot of frames and mucking around to know you're comfortable but everyone has to start somewhere

But most importantly, have FUN!

[Guest Tess32]

So from what I can gather is that it is better to use manual rather than auto unless say you are photographing something moving fast.

I took my heeler to the beach the other day for a photo opportunity and I found it hard to use the manual settings because she would move around a lot OR if I made her sit or drop she would creep up to me, so I didn't really have time to organise everything camera wise. Also it was a bit over cast that day and I didn't have a tri-pod and my shutter speed was slower so I found that some of pictures weren't as sharp as they should be.

I guess practice makes perfect. :D

P.S Tess32 i had a look at your gallery, your photos are amazing! where do you to take all of the wild animal photographs, the zoo or do you travel?

They are at zoos

The reason I don't bother with manual is pretty simple - most of the time I want the maximum aperture anyway, and by having that set on AV, I'm going to get an appropriate shutter speed anyway. I think manual is a lot more suited to stationary subjects or places where the light is pretty constant or you're making creative decisions about what to expose correctly. There's no point using it just to make things harder because you feel you should be using it.

There are few times I don't want a shallow depth of field, so for me it is much easier to remain on F2.8 or F5.6 or whatever my lens is capable of.