@Teflon-Mike , when you mention manual mode, and what you have said, is it better to use one of the semi auto modes instead?
What's better? Tea or Coffee? Depends a lot what you want. If I want all that 'faff', and it can be fun, I grab the old clock-work Zenit, or the Zeiss Ikonta 120 folder, and a selenium cell light-meter. Buttons? Oh! I think I got one or two of them left on my trench coat ;-)....
But.. I did NOT spend umpety hundred quid, and more, on an all singing, all dancing electric-picture-maker to turn 'off' most of that electronic easement to try use it like the old Zenit or Ikonta! I paid that money for an all electric picture maker that would do oh-so-much of the complicated stuff 'automatically' and let me worry about a) finding things to take photo's of and b) making the most of them photo-ops, moving ash-trays or crisp-packets out the way, finding the best angle of view, etc etc etc. Worrying about what is OUTSIDE the camera, not what buttons are on it.
There's only really two that matter; the 'on-off' switch, and the shutter-release!
As for 'modes'? Sticking the thing on 'sport' or 'landscape' or 'portrait' or heaven forbid the default 'green-box' auto, and leaving it there! I can concentrate on whats in front of the camera, I dont NEED to know what buttons to press for any one shot; and I have confidence that the cameras algorithms, will, likely pick the settings I would have done anyway, and done it a lot faster. There are very VERY few instances that I might 'want' to pick anything that the electrickery wouldn't... and most often, where the situation might beg the electrikery pick different shutter or aperture settings than I would, it It 'would' pick the ones I would with a little encouragement by way of a prod or two of exposure compensation.
More often than not, the first automation to get switched off, ISN'T the auto-exposure, but the Auto-Focus.... 'cos the focus system is 'hunting' trying to get a lock on a subject, that's not slap bang in the middle of the frame under a red-dot, or staying still, or whatever, and its an awful lot less faff, for me, to just turn that all off, and focus manually, than it is to spend ages prodding buttons trying to find an alternative focus scheme, or half holding the shutter button to get a focus lock on something else, and recomposing.
What's 'better' is all very very circumstance dependent; and what I find 'best' probably isn't best for every-one, let alone all the while. BUT.... All the automation and easement in the camera, is there to be exploited. All the 'expert' programming put into it, is probably as or more expert than I am, most of the time, so there is little reason NOT to use any or all of what the camera might do for you, so that you can worry about the stuff the camera just cant... as said, there's far more outside the camera than in it, spend more time looking through the thing than at it, and when it comes to the idea of 'taking control' to try get better pictures, there is far more 'control' to be found and exploited outside the camera, moving ashtrays, picking vantage points, choosing the angle of view, asking subject to 'say cheese!' etc etc etc, than there ever is to be found in the camera, prodding buttons or dials or hunting for 'modes'...
Yeah, knowing what the shutter and aperture and ISO do for your photo, is pretty key, BUT, its not the be-all-and-end all of the job, and using manual exposure, just for the sake of the errant snobbery of saying "I always shoot manual, like a PRO!" is, probably as or more short-sighted as only ever using green-box auto!
The automation is there to make the job easy... learn what its doing by all means, that is helpful, BUT, don't be a masochist to the mantra. The easement is there, there's no reason NOT to use it, an awful lot of very good reason TO use it, and STILL, there's far more to be found looking through the camera than at it.
Use what is more 'appropriate' for the job, and that is more comfortable to do.... but, dont loose sight of the fact that whats outside the camera, is far more important than whats in it.