Aperture Priority?

iDave

Back in the day, I always used aperature priority and made adjustments based on desired depth of field, period.

These days I've been shooting in Program Mode and making adjustments accordingly. I haven't been real pleased with some of the results lately. Particularly action shots.

Here's my question: What is your preferred exposure mode, and why?

I'm especially interested in hearing responses from the resident Professionials, however, all are welcomed to reply.

Thanks in advance!

HarveyMushman, are ya there?

p.s. I'm using a Nikon D200

Zarathustra

For inside/studio work, where either the light is not changing or the light is completely of my choosing, I always go full manual. I spent about a year shooting full manual for everything just to make sure that I had a good understanding of my equipment and the process in general, but have shifted to shooting Aperture Priority mode for outdoors work since the light does change rather quickly and drastically from moment to moment, especially on a partly cloudy day. Just for the record, I still have no idea what the greasy poop the Program mode on my camera does.

Zarathustra

iDave

Thanks Zarathustra . For the record, 95% of my shooting is done outdoors, using natural lighting, etc.

I'm just wondering if I could get better results using aperature priority? It doesn't make logical sense to me since the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to the chosen aperature, even in Program Mode, but I'm thinking I should revert back to my favorite AP mode for better results . Then again, maybe I just need faster glass .

p.s. The only lens I have is the 18-200 Nikon.

craig_d

I spend most of my time in aperture priority mode (often applying some exposure compensation), but I use manual mode for a number of special cases, including long night exposures, infrared photography, and panoramics (and for pano I also use manual focus). If I weren't lazy, I would spend more time in manual mode, because it really forces you to be aware of what you're doing.

iDave

Let me throw this out there.....

I was recently on a ride with a couple of sportbikes and wanted to shoot a sequence of some friends railing through the turns.....

I set the camera functions as follows:

Program Mode, Continuous focus on the lens and body at 5 fps.

The exposures were accurate enough, (not perfect, but acceptable,) but at least half the shots were out of focus.

What did I do wrong? I know the D200's shutter will fire (regardless of focus) in continuous mode, but the results were disappointing. I think I could have gotten better results if the focus setting was set to Single as opposed to Continuous, and just tripped the shutter as fast as my hand could trip the shutter.

I know this has nothing to do with AP vs. Program vs Manual, but I'm curious, about how you guys/girls would shoot a similar fast moving subject. Would you use Shutter Priority? Would you choose Continuous or Single focusing mode?

adbsgicom

[Not a Pro]
Program mode doesn't often ever maximize either setting. For what you want, you likely want more speed and less DOF, so you need AP mode to just open the camera up and get as fast of a shutter speed as you can.

I shoot AP (Av in Canon) and getting better at M now.

iDave

BTW, using the exact same camera/lens settings listed above (Program Mode, Continuous Focus on body and lens) my wife Julie was trying to shoot me rolling through the turns. I told her not to worry about the camera setting, just "zero in on the bike." All she was concerned with was composing the shot. Every shot was out of focus! Delete times 75! Obviously, the camera settings were wrong. Either that, or I'm just faster than the D200 . Just kidding.

iDave

Thanks Craig and Andrew . I'm soaking these responses up like a sponge.

I hate to admit this, but my trusty little Nikon D-50 produced better results than this D-200! I'm still learning the D-200, so there's hope, which is why I'm asking you fine folks how you would shoot similar scenes.

p.s. Disregard the earlier "Professional comment." I want to hear from everyone. Let's learn together

iDave

Here's a prime example. Exposure is acceptable. Focus totally sucks. The bike was coming towards me. He wasn't moving THAT fast! I was panning the camera as he came towards me. Feel free to jump right in and tell me what I did wrong.

craig_d

iDave wrote:

BTW, using the exact same camera/lens settings listed above (Program Mode, Continuous Focus on body and lens) my wife Julie was trying to shoot me rolling through the turns. I told her not to worry about the camera setting, just "zero in on the bike." All she was concerned with was composing the shot. Every shot was out of focus! Delete times 75! Obviously, the camera settings were wrong. Either that, or I'm just faster than the D200 . Just kidding.

I'm not a Nikon guy, so if there's anything particular to the D200 that's causing your troubles, I wouldn't know. However, the remark about "composing the shot" makes me wonder if she was careful to keep the selected AF point on the subject? And whether a single AF point was selected, as opposed to letting the camera automatically decide what to focus on? My early experience with Canon DSLRs taught me never, ever to give the camera free reign to focus on whatever it wants, because it will often choose the wrong thing. I always select an AF point, usually the center one, though in non-action situations where I have time to plan a shot, I may choose another AF point that happens to coincide with the subject when I have the scene framed as I intend to shoot it.

Another aspect of this, in regard to moving targets, is that if the "Continuous Focus" mode you mention is the same as AI Servo mode on Canon models (perhaps someone can confirm this?), then the selected AF point needs to be kept over the subject or the camera will refocus on whatever the AF point is looking at. You cannot focus and then recompose.

craig_d

iDave wrote:

Here's a prime example. Exposure is acceptable. Focus totally sucks. The bike was coming towards me. He wasn't moving THAT fast! I was panning the camera as he came towards me. Feel free to jump right in and tell me what I did wrong.

That looks more like motion blur than a focus problem. A faster shutter time would probably have helped.

iDave

Thanks again Craig .

I almost always choose the center focus point for the reasons you mentioned above. The center focus point was definitely chosen for the photo shown above. All I was concerned with was the composition of the shot. The D200 had other ideas regarding focus....

In Single Servo mode, the shutter will not fire unless the subject is in focus. On a moving subject like the one above, the focus would have been tack sharp IF I obtained focus, and immediately shot the photo. Sort of a "point and shoot" proposition. However, what's the point of shooting 5 fps when all 5 frames are out of focus? Rhetorical, of course .

Just seeking to refine my understanding, before converting to Canon

iDave

I just checked the "properties" and realize the photo exposure was 1/125th of a second at f5.6.

Maybe if I had selected Aperature Priority, and set the lens wide open, the shutter speed would have been sufficient to render a sharp photo???

That's what I'm thinking. Perhaps the subject was simply moving too fast to be captured at 1/125th of a second. Thoughts?

craig_d

iDave wrote:

I just checked the "properties" and realize the photo exposure was 1/125th of a second at f5.6.

Maybe if I had selected Aperature Priority, and set the lens wide open, the shutter speed would have been sufficient to render a sharp photo???

That's what I'm thinking. Perhaps the subject was simply moving too fast to be captured at 1/125th of a second. Thoughts?

Remember, it isn't just that the subject was moving; you said you were panning, so the camera was moving too.

Here you're more interested in shutter speed; aperture isn't critical. You might have been best off using shutter priority mode. I probably would have gone to full manual mode after metering against the background.

pathfinder

I shoot Av or Manual mode 100% of the time.

I prefer to shoot Manual mode if the light is likely to remain consistent from frame to frame. It really helps to keep your exposures consistent frame to frame.

If the light will change, or subjects will shift their head from sun to shade ( think of a bird turning its head 20 degrees ) then I shoot Av. When I shoot Av I monitor the shutter speed chosen by the camera and chimp the histogram to be sure I am happy with the result.

I use Evaluative metering, but center weighted or spot can also be used if you are used to how your meter reacts. Ultimately, I use the histogram to evaluate exposure - not the appearance of the LCD on the back of the camera.

Tv is used by some sports shooters.

Be aware that in Av, the camera may choose a very long shutter speed - up to 30 seconds long - if the scene is very dark. It is the shooter's job to know this and shift to a tripod at an appropriate time.

P is for beginners who do not understand exposure, aperture and shutter speed choices. Or for photojournalists who are jockeying in a crowd for a shot. They know how to set exposure, but may be getting jostled and moved while trying to shoot, and cannot afford a shutter speed below 1/60th which is just about the lower cutoff for P mode.

If using flash, stick with Av or Manual mode with the flash in Manual or ETTL or iTTL

catspaw

For any sports or action, I shoot 100% in AP mode. Otherwise, manual is the way to go so you get the DoF you want for the image you are working with.

pathfinder

Leah, I know lots of sports shooters do shoot in Av, I tend to also.

But some do prefer TV for fast moving action - say indoors for basketball in low light where they are going to be shooting wide open aperture anyway.

No single technique is the only answer. I always say it is good to know more than one way to skin a cat!

SoCalAl

I'm not a pro by any means but have shot motocross for about 2 years. I do not own a D200 but used one for several weekends with good success. Depending on the lens and available light I'll use shutter priority, 1/1250 to 1/1600 sec., auto iso & aperture. Keeping the speed up can be used to keep the aperture wide open for your shallow dept of field and stop action. The link is a D200 shoot. The D200 will do what you want it to do. Focus is fast. If your iso is going over 800 drop your shutter speed a little. Forgot... use continuous focus.
http://alsphotoprojects.smugmug.com/Piru-MX-Park-2008/Piru-MX-Park-Track-Events-Jan/Piru-MX-Park-040508/4654501_n7YYz#275542074_z52Vm

Art Scott

I have been shooting wildlife outdoors and landscapes........I am in full manual mode 99.9% of the time.....should I leave full manual it is for AP and only for one shot or so......I just can't get back into NOT having control of the shot........................................

time2smile

Far from a pro but my 2 cents
The photo looks more like camera shake than focus issue. Go manual set to control DOF and shutter at least twice the focal lenght or at least 1/500 set iso accordingly. Single focus center.

good luck

iDave

Thanks for the responses gang .

After reading all the replies, I'm thinking I should have done the following:

Set the exposure to AP, and opened the lens all the way. Even though it's not fast glass, at least f4 would have provided one stop faster shutter speed, and still rendered acceptable DoF.

Also, and here's the biggy, I should have set the ISO to 400 as opposed to 100. That would have provided me two additional shutter speed increases.

Between those two adjustments, my shutter speed would have moved from 1/125th/sec to 1/1000th/esc. That would have helped.

Also, I'm pretty sure the lens was set to Active (vs. Normal,) and the VR was on.

I need more practice!

p.s. Just for grins, I'd still like to hear from more shooters. I'm always interested in learning what works from other shooters . Thanks!

iDave

BTW, SoCalAL, I browsed through the SmugMug link you posted, and you nailed some great shots . It just goes to show, the problem isn't the D200 or the lens, it's me .

craig_d

The ISO is a good point. You're not in bright sunlight here, and you want a fast exposure, so ISO 100 isn't going to cut it.

For a situation like this, where you are tracking a moving object and panning, I would have been inclined to turn VR off. At 1/1000 sec. (f/4, ISO 400) you aren't likely to need it anyway.

iDave

craig_d wrote:

The ISO is a good point. You're not in bright sunlight here, and you want a fast exposure, so ISO 100 isn't going to cut it.

For a situation like this, where you are tracking a moving object and panning, I would have been inclined to turn VR off. At 1/1000 sec. (f/4, ISO 400) you aren't likely to need it anyway.

You bring up a great point about turning off the VR. I'm not that familiar with using it. Perhaps I should shoot a test series of photos with/without VR activated. I'm sure it has benefits, but I don't know enough about the pros/cons of using VR..... Can you "shed some light" Craig?

craig_d

Well, VR is basically about reducing the effects of camera shake. If you're taking 1/1000 sec. exposures, you don't have time to shake the camera, so VR doesn't really help. Also, when there is a combination of unintentional camera movement (camera shake) and intentional movement (like panning), it is possible for VR to actually make things worse by trying to compensate for the wrong things. This has gotten better over the years, but still, I suggest turning VR off in situations where you don't need it.

(Although I say "VR" because we're talking about Nikons, I should note that my personal experience is with Canon's IS, which is basically the same idea.)

iDave

I have a relatively good shooting stance for panning...




Certainly not pro caliber, but I'm consciously aware of smoothness while shooting. Whenever I ride past a pro like Killboy, I take mental notes of his technique. He grabs the composition then shoots. I'm thinking the camera wasn't set properly for the conditions. I could be wrong about that too

iDave

BTW, I know there's some lurkers out there reading this. Don't be shy . I'm trying to learn here

Jonnyyaya

IDave

I have read the posts there are several ways everyone likes to shoot, Also having a good lens for action is #1. I am posting this shot I took and listing what I used for the conditions I was in which is always different for everyone in each situation you come along . I have many photos from the track if you would like to check out.

Enjoy hope this will help : )

This is a ref only...
Canon 40D / 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
Manual 1/100 f/10.0 Iso 400
AI Servo Focus in center No Flash
This bike is moving at 90mph to 120mph

iDave

Awesome shot Jonny !

Now I'm totally confused. You nailed the shot at 1/100th of a second, so perhaps, the reason my shot is blurry had nothing to do with shutter speed.

adbsgicom

Looking at this shot vs. the one you posted, the background motion is much greater, which means that jonny was panning at a much faster rate than you were. Also, he is square on at this point so the servo wasn't having to adjust as fast, whereas your shot still had a lot of movement toward you.

Part of your problem may be just not having your panning in sync with the cycle. Looks like jonny was dead on, else at 1/100sec there'd be more blur on the cycle.

Just my take on the variance here....

craig_d

iDave wrote:

Now I'm totally confused. You nailed the shot at 1/100th of a second, so perhaps, the reason my shot is blurry had nothing to do with shutter speed.

There are different ways to achieve the same goal. The easy way to eliminate camera shake when panning is to increase shutter speed, but then you don't get that exciting background blur that Jonny's shot shows. The harder way is to practice your panning and develop a sense of what you can get away with. The longer the exposure, the more risk there is of blurring the shot either because you can't pan consistently for long enough, or because the subject does something unexpected, or just because your perspective on an object changes when it is moving with respect to you.

Even if you have great panning skills and a reliable sense of how long an exposure you should do for any given shot, you will probably still have a lot of failures. My guess is that Jonny's shot (which is fantastic) is only one of many that he took in that session, and probably many of them didn't come out nearly so well.