What modes do you usually use on your camera?

[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.

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.

*Looks @Brian while trying not to laugh*

 

[jhpeterson]

The short answer is it depends on the situation!

I use Manual exposure as much as possible when I'll have at least modest control over lighting conditions. This is now close to two-thirds of the time. I use a hand-held meter, almost always in incident mode to determine the ambient exposure, or in flash mode when I introduce lights.

In situations that happen too quickly for me to accurately respond, which includes much but not most of my action and sports work, I'll go into Shutter-Priority mode. I find the control dial very useful in adjusting exposure compensation quickly and many years of experience help me get it right - at least most of the time. Figure about 20-25% of my current exposures are taken this way, though this number was higher a few years back, before I returned to the habit of hand metering each situation.

For those times when I'm just walking around with my camera, when I'm playing tourist or have it with me for those "just in case" moments, I'm more likely to have it in Aperture-Priority mode. This probably happens about ten percent of the time.

I will almost never use any of the other modes, except Bulb for long exposures.

As for the other controls, I never use Auto ISO, while I'll almost always use Auto White Balance. My logic for this seeming contradiction is that I would rather chose how much degradation in IQ I'll find acceptable (and I can pretty quickly assess the general light level, hence ISO required for optimal results), but trust the camera more than my eyes for changes in color temperature. Amazing how quickly a cloud can pass in front of the sun. Since I shoot in RAW for (nearly) everything, I only need to be close. I can correct whatever errors in balance I've made in Lightroom and Photoshop.

 

[bleedo]

Manual always with bulb occasionally...