Scene Modes....There, I've said it.

Dave in Wales

Dave in Wales

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Yes
Scene Modes…….
First off, I don't us them.

I know that along with ‘Auto’ and ‘P’…Scene Modes come close very to heresy when mentioned in the presence of an enthusiastic amateur photographer but, are they really as bad as all that.

I’ve been a keen photographer for over 40 years when ‘everything’ was manual.

On Wednesday I took delivery of a D7000, the photographic equivalent of a NASA space shuttle, technically speaking.
I have to say it’s a beauty and I’m pleased to bits with it.

My question is….Scene Modes are they that bad?

The camera has two modes that can be set by the user, U1 and U2, dedicated to a certain type of photography, portrait, landscape etc.

If I dedicate landscapes to U1 and use my settings am I not just duplicating the settings that Nikon has very kindly, set for me.

Nikon know their way around the camera and the multitude of alternative settings far better that I ever will, the manual has 326 pages.

I would like to know what settings Nikon has selected for each scene, but these are not in the manual.

If the desired photograph can be captured, does it matter how?

Scene Modes, are they that bad?

D in W
 
I guess they would be ok for your 'average' landscape or what have you but would not be able to make individual decisions on all the variations you will see in the viewfinder. So in essence a good starting point but not as good as seeing your picture and choosing the settings for the results you would hope to acheive.
 
My cameras don't have scene modes and I would not want them.
I think their whole point is to make the cameras sellable to a market that stretches from enthusiast to those that do not want to get into too much technicality.
Scene modes do not make the camera do more that it does in manual. Learning and using manual has the potential to give better control of results because it requires a deeper understanding of the elements that go into creating a picture.
 
surely if you take a picture in one of scene modes then look at the exif it will tell you the settings it's used? :shrug:

then you can use manual to tweek it around those scene settings if you so wish.
 
Leftcurl, I think he means the bias towards one thing over another (i.e. a landscape mode will generally go for DoF).;)

My D2x doesn't have scene modes and i can live without them but i can see the point from a marketing POV - average Joe buys a compact, shoots his holiday in sunny/holiday/landscape/whatever mode and enjoys the results. He then goes and buys a DSLR but relies on scene modes he's familiar with.

It's like video on a DSLR - you use it if you want to or don't use it if you're not interested..... simples :)
 
specialman said:
Leftcurl, I think he means the bias towards one thing over another (i.e. a landscape mode will generally go for DoF).;)

My D2x doesn't have scene modes and i can live without them but i can see the point from a marketing POV - average Joe buys a compact, shoots his holiday in sunny/holiday/landscape/whatever mode and enjoys the results. He then goes and buys a DSLR but relies on scene modes he's familiar with.

It's like video on a DSLR - you use it if you want to or don't use it if you're not interested..... simples :)
Click to expand...

Yes I suspect this is how it will work, it's how the Canons work with their scene modes anyway, portrait (tries to get BG OOF) landscape (higher DOF) etc etc On the Canons I think it sets jpeg even if you have the camera set to raw, it'll be interesting to see if the nikon does the same.
 
I keep meaning to play with scene modes on my compacts to see how they bias their settings in each one; mainly so I can try using them for uses other than the scenes described. I've already tried the fireworks scene mode of traffic trails (not much success!) but I reckon the others may have alternative uses as well. My old D70 has scene modes too but pretty sure I've never used them. Despite having been a fairly enthusiastic amateur photographer for 30+ years, I use P mode most of the time - not a lot different to A or S mode IMO, apart from lett8ing the camera make its guess before twiddling the parameters one way or the other before pressing the button.
 
Dave in Wales said:
The camera has two modes that can be set by the user, U1 and U2, dedicated to a certain type of photography, portrait, landscape etc.

If I dedicate landscapes to U1 and use my settings am I not just duplicating the settings that Nikon has very kindly, set for me.
Click to expand...

The Canon ##D range have similar custom functions (which don't over-ride to jpg if you're shooting raw - scene modes do, but custom modes don't). The 40D has three available. I sometimes find it handy when I'm in a situation where there are two or three very different styles of shot to take and I want to switch quickly between preset starting point settings I've manually set. I don't use it that often though.. and sometimes I might just have C1 set, so I can experiment around the best average exposure and quickly return to the base setting without having to think about it. I remember doing this shooting local bands in a pub, the stage lighting was dire.
 
I think of photography as trying to describe the picture you want to take to your camera!

If somebody has a clear image in there mind but does not know much about shutter speeds and apartures and then sets there camera to the closest setting and then work on the compostion and postion then thats fine by me!

I don't get why people use "auto" your camera just dosen't have a clue what you are trying to photograph.

Stuart
 
I don't see the point of scene modes TBH, but they must be there because some people like them. They're dropped from the higher end models though.

The problem is they assume things, like a fast shutter speed for action and shallow DoF for portraits, when you just can't be that prescriptive. I was shooting some portraits yesterday and ended up at f/16 to get enough DoF so that everything was sharp, including the children that kept moving. A portrait mode with shallow DoF would have been completely useless. And last week I was shooting go-karts at 1/30sec to get some background blur... :shrug:

And if you check out what they do with different subjects, some of them select the same settings, or almost identical.

If you want a fool proof point and shoot mode, then P is very good, and with program shift and exposure compensation, you can do anything from there.
 
I use P mode most of the time - not a lot different to A or S mode IMO, apart from lett8ing the camera make its guess before twiddling the parameters one way or the other before pressing the button.
Click to expand...

Agree entirely, exactly what I do. If I need a minimum shutter speed I set this on auto ISO, and let the camera sort it out.

Scene modes are just daft IMHO, as is fully auto, may as well stick to a compact!
 
With Canon DSLRs the scene modes can severely limit your freedom to control the camera. For starters, unless things have changed in recent models, you can't shoot raw in the scene (basic) modes. Often you won't have control over the focusing mechanism engaged, or the focus point used, or the metering mode, and you may find the ISO range on offer to be restricted. Many custom functions will be disengaged and not accessible. The flash will do what it wants, and not necessarily what you want. The camera will select certain picture styles for particular scene modes. I don't know wheher these can be overridden, but I suspect not.

When you know your way round a camera I think they would be an immense source of frustration for many people. If you're just starting out I'm sure they are a useful way to get the camera to spit out something vaguely usable as often as not. Whether the camera would choose the same settings as an experienced photographer with his/her own creative ideas is quite another matter.
 
I used them at first when I was learning just to see what the camera chose compared to me.
 
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