Shooting in manual

[onkel_wart]

for me it's quite simple: I always use manual mode, that way it's my fault if exposure goes wrong. and if it's right I know I'm the one who did it (and that's what I want: me taking the pictures, not some smart silicon chip inside the camera doing it for me)

for me it would be ok, if my 50d hat no program wheel on top...

 

[Loswr]

for me it would be ok, if my 50d hat no program wheel on top...

How ever would you manage to take portraits without Portrait Mode, or shoot action without Sports Mode? :

 

[EYEONE]

I have this discussion regularly with a photographer friend of mine (neither of us are pros). He, apparently, reads blogs from pro photogs all the time that say "Why would you buy a expensive DSLR and then do all the work yourself?" I've told him that I didn't buy the DSLR so it could do the work for me (a P&S will do that) I bought a DSLR for the imagine quality and the control. I wanted to be able to control everything.

From the day I got out my Rebel I shot in Manual. The only times I've gone into AV (and in 2 years I could count the number of times on one hand) when I prove to be too slow at the adjustments, but I like to think I'm pretty fast.

I might sound like a camera snob but I don't think the 5D Mark II should even have a full auto mode.

 

[onkel_wart]

for me it would be ok, if my 50d hat no program wheel on top...

How ever would you manage to take portraits without Portrait Mode, or shoot action without Sports Mode? :

damn, where did I put the manual? does it really take portraits automatically? even if there's no one around? I have to check this... this could boost my output massively!

 

[markIVantony]

Here is the first image, it was obviously exposed for the sky, and not the subject. The second image was manual and overexposed the sky. These are not post processed yet, I'll try later to adjust the sky a little in the second image.

My initial thought upon seeing the first pic would have been "oh, I should have used spot metering", rather than "oh, I should have used manual mode". And possible, AE Lock. I'm not a pro, but my experience has been that spot or average metering can solve many exposure problems. Maybe I need to force myself to shoot Manual and see what the experience and results are like. For example, I'll be shooting a baseball game on Sat. Last week it was white pants with grey jerseys, and full sun.

 

[markIVantony]

for me it would be ok, if my 50d hat no program wheel on top...

How ever would you manage to take portraits without Portrait Mode, or shoot action without Sports Mode? :

I'm waiting for a wheel with the tick mark for "as the eye sees it". 8)

 

[DJL329]

I was forced to shoot in manual yesterday, too much backlighting was going to result in poor exposures, and it was much easier to use manual exposure. I could have used exposure compensation, but I found it easier to use manual.

How about spot metering mode?

 

[Aaron78]

I was forced to shoot in manual yesterday, too much backlighting was going to result in poor exposures, and it was much easier to use manual exposure. I could have used exposure compensation, but I found it easier to use manual.

How about spot metering mode?

I find myself shooting in M mode all the time, but i do tend to change my metering mode rather than over/underexpose to get proper exposure. Whatever works best for the camera operator though....

 

[onkel_wart]

there's one point in favour of manual mode that is really important:
you can learn from the mistakes you make. the cpu will make he same mistake over and over again.

 

[Joseph]

I love shooting in Manual mode on my 1D It's all I use actually , no matter if it's fashion , weddings , nature , kids , anything - love it - it become extremely simple after doing it for just a short while !