What modes do you usually use on your camera?

[pwp]

One of the things I love about the 1D Mk4 is the ability to switch modes OFF. I know I only use Manual & Av. So when I switch modes, I know what I'm getting without even looking. Not for everyone I'm sure but it works for me.

Thanks goodness the 5D3 has the lock button on the mode dial. On the old model I was consistently inadvertently bumping the mode dial onto an unwanted setting such as Bulb. This happened mostly when the body was on the shoulder and I was shooting with the Mk4, being jostled in a crowd or just moving about. It reached the point where I gaffa taped the dial in position. Hah! It looked a bit trashy, especially with the 24-70 f/2.8 which needs tape to hold the hood in place.

PW

 

[akiskev]

My favorite mode is Av.
Then Tv for sports,
and when I use my manual lenses, I stick to M. I wish Av worked properly with the manual lenses, but for some reason it doesn't. Any help here? Camera is Rebel XTi. On my dad's 5d2 there is not such a problem...

 

[zim]

Av most of the time dialling in exposure compensation when required, M for when I need more control. Never use Auto Iso, don’t like how it works on Rebel. Oh yeh and occasionally 'P'arty Mode when I’m drunk in change of a camera ;D ;D

 

[Viggo]

Av always to control dof and I adjust ISO on the go, it's the fastest way for me by far. Them the shutter can vary quite a bit without resulting in an exposure difference, if I used M i would either over or underexposed.. but when I use my flashes I always shoot M. I can't anything else to work...

 

[jm345]

Manual with Auto ISO for action shots with wildlife (and kids - guess that's redundant).
Manual and set ISO for landscape.
P mode with flash so Auto ISO will go up to 1600.

 

[Alumina]

I use manual 100% of the time when shooting macro's, and for my other lenses mostly AV, and sometimes TV, rest of the modes on my T3i remain untouched.

 

[candyman]

For my 7D


Manual with Auto ISO for sports action
AV in most other situations
With external flash sometimes P mode and mostly M

 

[bakker]

Usually Av.
M when using a tripod
Tv when using a 300mm lens.

 

[VASH1291]

Av mode for most situations and M mode for when Av won't cut it.

 

[Marsu42]

What about you?

I'm mostly shooting Av with auto iso and use exposure compensation a lot - I overexpose if I know my subject is darker than the scene, or I'm deliberately underexposing to gain speed.

Tv mode doesn't seem to be popular around here, but I use it for action shots with my 70-300L - the smaller aperture is good here, because it cannot go lower than f4 resulting in a too thin depth of field. With my setting and auto-iso, at least 1/500s is guaranteed, but if the ambient light is better the iq gets better without my intervention.

 

[SteenerMe]

Manual 100% of the time. I control what the pictures look like. Be it good or bad. The camera doesnt know what i want the outcome to be. So i tell it. I think its a little lazy to let the camera do the work. But thats just me. Ill take a blank canvas over paint by number any day!

 

[V8Beast]

Full Auto ;D With as much as I paid for my 5D3, I might as well get my money's worth by letting the camera do the thinking for me ;D

 

[smithy]

Full Auto ;D With as much as I paid for my 5D3, I might as well get my money's worth by letting the camera do the thinking for me ;D

I think my soul is slightly wounded...

I have always been a huge fan of AV mode - with manual ISO. Auto ISO doesn't appeal to me on this type of camera, but I can see its uses in some situations. Since purchasing the 5D3 I've set up the C1-C3 modes like this:

C1 - standard single shot, ISO 100, AV mode (portraits in good light)
C2 - high speed burst, AI servo, ISO 400, AV mode (sports)
C3 - silent shutter, single shot, ISO 3200, AV mode (weddings or discrete indoor functions). I suppose this would be the best candidate for auto-ISO if I were to go that way.

 

[Marsu42]

The camera doesnt know what i want the outcome to be.

The camera doesn't know me, but after shooting for a while I know my camera. If I look at a scene, I am pretty much able to predict how the camera will measure and if Av needs exposure correction - so basically, it's assisted manual mode.

 

[Razor2012]

Full Auto ;D With as much as I paid for my 5D3, I might as well get my money's worth by letting the camera do the thinking for me ;D

I think my soul is slightly wounded...

I have always been a huge fan of AV mode - with manual ISO. Auto ISO doesn't appeal to me on this type of camera, but I can see its uses in some situations. Since purchasing the 5D3 I've set up the C1-C3 modes like this:

C1 - standard single shot, ISO 100, AV mode (portraits in good light)
C2 - high speed burst, AI servo, ISO 400, AV mode (sports)
C3 - silent shutter, single shot, ISO 3200, AV mode (weddings or discrete indoor functions). I suppose this would be the best candidate for auto-ISO if I were to go that way.

Actually I found auto ISO to work really well. AV @2.8 and I had really good shots from 100 to 12800. I was amazed at how well the photos looked at high ISO.

 

[briansquibb]

Full Auto ;D With as much as I paid for my 5D3, I might as well get my money's worth by letting the camera do the thinking for me ;D

I think my soul is slightly wounded...

I have always been a huge fan of AV mode - with manual ISO. Auto ISO doesn't appeal to me on this type of camera, but I can see its uses in some situations. Since purchasing the 5D3 I've set up the C1-C3 modes like this:

C1 - standard single shot, ISO 100, AV mode (portraits in good light)
C2 - high speed burst, AI servo, ISO 400, AV mode (sports)
C3 - silent shutter, single shot, ISO 3200, AV mode (weddings or discrete indoor functions). I suppose this would be the best candidate for auto-ISO if I were to go that way.

Actually I found auto ISO to work really well. AV @2.8 and I had really good shots from 100 to 12800. I was amazed at how well the photos looked at high ISO.

I use Autoiso on the 1D4 and it is superb. My exposure problems are limited to EC adjustments

 

[helpful]

For weddings, I use full manual exclusively. I've been tempted to use aperture priority a few times outdoors, in wildly varying light, but my manual shooting is getting better as I learn to constantly monitor the meter and histograms.

I'm not saying the "semi-automatic" modes aren't good or that they shouldn't be used, but in most wedding photography (in my experience) you need absolute control over the camera - any guessing the camera has to do is an opportunity for the camera to get it wrong. If you're in a setting where you can trust the automatic settings, or at least you can check on the automatic settings and adjust them and take the shot again, then they are fantastic to use. If you're in a situation where the photo has to be as good as possible the first time with no time to retry, then learning to wield the camera in full manual is the way to go.

I haven't even used the Auto ISO feature on the 5D3 yet. I know I can restrict it to a specific range of values, but I think that I should be able to set the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focus, framing, and composition at the same time. It's exhausting and sometimes daunting, but when it's done right, it's the best way to consistently get great photos.

I'm with you. And I don't know why people complain about the auto ISO so much, because I don't want it at all, so I don't care how it works. It was terrible when one time a new camera (Nikon D90) kept changing the ISO in the manual mode. I hate that.

Like you said, using manual exposure can actually make me work faster. Imagine that I am taking promo photos of classes in a school (this morning's assignment). I set my exposure, and take a picture of the class, and then turn to take a picture of the teacher who is backed by a large window.

With any auto setting, I'd get blackness then and scurry for 15 seconds trying to fix things up with exposure compensation and all that.

With manual I get the perfect shot without changing anything, and the extra brightness behind the teacher just adds a natural backlit effect and hair halo that I couldn't have done better even with all my lights and flashes.

I only use auto modes once in a rare while in controlled lighting settings (ha, ha, this is the exact opposite of intuition) that vary distinctly from one another. Any wild or difficult lighting environment calls for manual exposure all the way, and definitely no auto ISO.

 

[Razor2012]

Or this one:

 

[RLPhoto]

M=90%
AV=5%
TV=3
P=2%

[] = 1% 8)

 

[smithy]

Full Auto ;D With as much as I paid for my 5D3, I might as well get my money's worth by letting the camera do the thinking for me ;D

I think my soul is slightly wounded...

I have always been a huge fan of AV mode - with manual ISO. Auto ISO doesn't appeal to me on this type of camera, but I can see its uses in some situations. Since purchasing the 5D3 I've set up the C1-C3 modes like this:

C1 - standard single shot, ISO 100, AV mode (portraits in good light)
C2 - high speed burst, AI servo, ISO 400, AV mode (sports)
C3 - silent shutter, single shot, ISO 3200, AV mode (weddings or discrete indoor functions). I suppose this would be the best candidate for auto-ISO if I were to go that way.

Actually I found auto ISO to work really well. AV @2.8 and I had really good shots from 100 to 12800. I was amazed at how well the photos looked at high ISO.

I use Autoiso on the 1D4 and it is superb. My exposure problems are limited to EC adjustments

Alright - I've added auto ISO to C3. I'll blame you both if it doesn't work as described. ;D

Actually I just messed around with it a bit and noticed that it adjusts ISO in order to obtain the correct shutter speed for the focal length you're using... 1/60th - 1/80th for 70mm, and 1/200th at 200mm. Nice.