The Joy of Manual

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archangel

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Started using Manual today instead of the aperture setting. I am amazed i like it so much. Juat thought i would share this as i have 5minutes free:D
 
archangel said:
Started using Manual today instead of the aperture setting. I am amazed i like it so much. Juat thought i would share this as i have 5minutes free:D
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I find that hard to believe...


Theres no way that took 5 minutes to write :)
 
cup of coffee in one hand, donut in other and one letter at a time LOL
 
I found it made a marked difference and i really feel more in control....Seeemples
 
In a lot of conditions you wont see the difference between a pic taken in manual or any other mode..if the other mode got the exposure right and so did you..

Manual is good when there is a danger of the auto mode getting it wrong.. which can happen a lot.
 
I like shooting manual at night :thumbs:
 
Dman said:
Can make a fair bit of difference, funnily enough :cuckoo:
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yes in certain situations (I use it but not just for the hell of it) but for the most part its not worth while over shooting in AV since you are still using the camera meter.
 
POAH said:
yes in certain situations (I use it but not just for the hell of it) but for the most part its not worth while over shooting in AV since you are still using the camera meter.
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I totally agree.

I mastered the basics (thanks Understanding Exposure!), then switched to M - full time (basically as you said, "for the hell of it").

Couple of months down the line I rarely moved out of Av or Tv again, with a 3 stop +/-EV compensation in camera which I'm rarely out of there is little point. That is until I start playing with the strobe or some complex scenes, then yes M is the only way to go.
 
Manual mode has it's uses but I wouldn't go to it by default, you're just inconveniencing yourself...

Unless you have Auto ISO so that exposure's taken care of for you in which case you could probably use it nearly all of the time.
 
POAH said:
yes in certain situations (I use it but not just for the hell of it) but for the most part its not worth while over shooting in AV since you are still using the camera meter.
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It's a right pain in the arse when your lighting conditions are difficult (i.e., the real world) and are causing the shutter speed to flicker all over the place. I only rely on Av if my lighting conditions are fairly plain.
 
Each mode has its uses lets face it they are there to make life easier should we choose and more importantly when we DECIDE to choose it, if that decision is made for sound reasons other than just "cos I always use that mode" then your making what you feel is the right choice for you and your conditions.

As for manual, well ISO is never on auto for starters, that I do want full control over ALL the time. I will often use Av when aperture is critical and I want to focus on my shutter speed, so I can set the aperture I want and then adjust the ISO to get the correct shutter speed for both hand holding and the effect I desire.
Shooting flash I generally go manual, I guess its just a habit now and not one I'm not keen to break, using ettl flash I can dial in the settings I want for the exposure on the camera and let the flash gun (s) play catch up, it usually works.
 
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loplyg said:
Manual mode has it's uses but I wouldn't go to it by default, you're just inconveniencing yourself...
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I find the opposite: only by using manual will I get the result I want rather than what the camera thinks I want.
 
loplyg said:
Manual mode has it's uses but I wouldn't go to it by default, you're just inconveniencing yourself...

Unless you have Auto ISO so that exposure's taken care of for you in which case you could probably use it nearly all of the time.
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Auto ISO isn't manual though really.

Anyway, at least 90% of the time shooting in manual means less work for me. Each to their own though, I couldn't care less what mode someone uses. :)
 
It does not matter what setting you use, from manual to program if you think in manual mode.

If you wack it into manual mode and then just move the aperture and speed to get the meter in the middle you are simply slowing things down. If you think in manual mode, what aperture do I want, what shutter speed do I want, do I want to over expose, under exposure etc etc then manual becomes faster.

If you really want to become a master manual shooter you don't think of any of the above....... you just use your instinct mode and let the force be with you :):)
 
I use manual when I have time to think about the shot, if time is an issue I throw the camera into shutter or aperture priority. I've found aperture priority a life saver in fast moving situations such as street festivals etc..
 
gingerweasel said:
I use manual when I have time to think about the shot, if time is an issue I throw the camera into shutter or aperture priority. I've found aperture priority a life saver in fast moving situations such as street festivals etc..
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Now I have found the opposite. In street festivals or in my case weddings certain things such as bright wedding dresses or white cars can throw a meter even when the overall light is actually the same. If you are aware of light levels all the time you know when to alter the settings.

Shooting in manual really reduces the amount of post production corrections
 
Surely manual is the easiest mode to shoot in. You set the required aperture and control the exposure with your thumb. This way you have total creative control over every shot as you take it. I find very rarely I use the zero position on the meter and normally over or under expose depending on conditions.
Perhaps its because I always have shot this way since learning on an FE and F3 and its become the norm. I should maybe try the AP and SP modes as I might be missing out on something but even then you have to use exposure compensation so I can't see any benefit.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Interesting thread.

I use AV for most stuff as I know what DOF I want for the shot and shutter speed doesnt bother me, as (correct me if I'm wrong) as long as its enough for the shot to be stable (i.e 120/sec or above) then it doesnt matter if its 250 or 750/sec.

I use the exposure comp if needed though.

I use TV for panning stuff or sports though, and if I want a long exposure.

I use Manual when shooting at night indoors with the flash, i.e event/party as for me I found this gives best results.

I guess this may change over time, but for now this works best, I like to be quick shooter, i.e 'there is the shot, bang, got it'. I don't like to spend ages setting up the shot, as I'm usually with someone and don't want to be anti-social.
 
I had a 1D mk1 with no auto setting back in the day, and when I got it I promised myself I wouldn't use av or tv before learning manual fully.

Taught me a lot very quickly! :D And I got complete rubbish for the first couple of months!
 
I needed to know how manual worked for my own peace of mind. So I read up on the zone system did lots of practise and now I use it most of the time.
However, if you always set the meter on the middle in manual mode, you may just as well be using AV or TV.
 
I use P mode all the time - green button on the camera gives me the auto exposure according to the programme mode I've set, spin the front dial to set time and enter Tv mode, spin the rear dial to do the same with Av mode. Genuinely not trolling - have any other manufacturers copied this from pentax yet? It's fantastic! And if it turns out that Pentax nicked it from someone else then apologies - who was it?

Edit: P mode is "Hyper programme" on pentax, not the standard "programme" mode on other cameras - for us the manual calls that "green mode".
 
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Most makers P mode will have a program shift control associated with it allowing you to shift the exposure through several solutions to the scene presented.

Most also allow you to use the exposure compensation dial or button,
 
Hi Ian,

thanks for this, but my understanding is that this is not the same thing - exposure compensation is completely different to both TV and AV modes. How does shifting the exposure solutions work though? Maximise aperture -> Maximise depth of field -> maximise sharpness via lens MTF? Yhat's what the green button setting on the hyper-programme mode does, but the ability to just instantly switch to Tv or Av by spinning the appropriate control dial without needing to drop the camera from your eye is brilliant - that's why I was wondering which other brands have copped on to it. IT's one of those things that seems really simple and obvious until you use it for a day and appreciate how genuinely useful it really is in practice.
 
M for me... on a side note, what metering zones do you shoot in most of the time? center weight, spot, partial , evaluative?
 
I shoot M 99% of the time, I tried to use Av once just to see if it would make me shoot faster and it horribly overexposed because I was in spot metering and I was pointing at a black shirt.
I had the correct exposure set up in M too -.-

I like full control of my shutter speed and aperture, iso I select manually anyway and only raise it if I can't get enough light with my shutter/aperture.
The only time I use Av or Tv is when shooting in truly difficult lighting where it changes several times per second (think stage lights)
 
Blasteh said:
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The only time I use Av or Tv is when shooting in truly difficult lighting where it changes several times per second (think stage lights)
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That's one of the best times to use manual I find. Anything auto and the metering is flying all over the place, makes it very hard to do anything creative. With manual you know what you're getting and can use the lights to your advantage.
 
Jayst84 said:
That's one of the best times to use manual I find. Anything auto and the metering is flying all over the place, makes it very hard to do anything creative. With manual you know what you're getting and can use the lights to your advantage.
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Not if it's going to be hit or miss, the lights might be off and you'll get under exposure or too many will be on and you get blown out everything..

I have shot M in changing lights before with great success, but I don't think it would go smoothly every time.
Let's face it, the camera can change the camera settings faster than you every time :)
The only time you don't need that speed is when the lighting is not changing or changing very slowly. Whether or not I would use Av/Tv over M would be situational though.
 
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