What mode?

mbg0333

What mode does everyone shoot on?

Portraits...would more than likely be Aperature Priority

Sports.... Shutter Priority

What about weddings?

When does using manual work the best?

What would be wrong with using the sports mode vs shutter priority?

Lots of little questions...hoping for lots of little answers!

Thanks!

jfriend

mbg0333 wrote:

What mode does everyone shoot on?

Portraits...would more than likely be Aperature Priority

Sports.... Shutter Priority

What about weddings?

When does using manual work the best?

What would be wrong with using the sports mode vs shutter priority?

Lots of little questions...hoping for lots of little answers!

Thanks!

If at all possible, you want to avoid the pre-built modes like "sports" mode. These are pre-programmed tables that determine aperture and shutter speed for you automatically. If you know just a little bit about your camera and your situation, you can always do better than the pre-programmed modes.

As for whether to use shutter priority mode or aperture priority mode, it all depends upon what is your first priority to control. Needless to say, aperture priority mode lets you dial in the aperture and the camera picks a shutter speed that makes a decent exposure. Shutter speed is the other way around.

When I'm shooting daytime sports with plenty of light, my priority is to shoot my lens wide open (f/4 on my 200-400) so that I can get subject isolation from the background (the background will be blurred and the subject will look sharper and stand-out more). When setting up on the field, I set to Aperture mode, set to max aperture and look at the shutter speed. I happen to know that I want at least 1/1250th, but anything faster than that is fine. If the camera shows me that I have enough light to have at least 1/1250th, then I'm fine. If not, I raise my ISO a little bit until I get a fast enough shutter speed.

When I'm shooting marginal light sports, I set the camera to shutter priority. Depending upon how much light I have, I set the shutter speed to somewhere around 1/500th or 1/750th. I then set the camera to auto ISO. The camera will open up the aperture all the way. If that isn't enough light, it will raise the ISO the least amount it needs to to make a good exposure.

When I'm shooting strobes in a studio, I set the camera to manual mode because I'm going to meter once for the scene and then just set the exposure manually on the camera and not let it change. I set the shutter speed to 1/125th. I use a light meter to measure the studio strobes and it tells me the aperture I need on my camera. I dial in that aperture. I take a couple test shots and decide if I should tweak that aperture setting or not.

When I'm shooting an a fast-paced outdoor event that goes from sun to shade, I put the camera in program mode. This will automatically adjust both shutter speed and aperture for me, but at any time, I can rotate the front or back dial to tweak shutter speed or aperture whichever I want to change. So ... if I have time to think about the shot, I can dial in the best balance of shutter speed and aperture. If I don't have time to think about the shot, the camera will just pick a combination that makes a proper exposure.

If I'm shooting flash with moderate ambient light, I will often use manual mode. I set the shutter speed to something around 1/125th so people that aren't posing won't be blurred even if they are moving a bit and there's enough ambient light to contribute to the exposure. I then set my aperture according to what the situation warrants and the flash will adjust it's power to make a proper exposure.

There are no abolutes with this. Even people who predominantly use one mode like aperture priority still have to keep an eye on what the shutter speed is going to be and they have to tweak either the aperture or the ISO in order to keep the shutter speed in a decent range. So, the mode determines which the camera will optimize for if you don't do anything, but the best result will always come when you still see what the camera is going to pick before you shoot and make sure that's a good result.

Scott_Quier

It all depends (doesn't everything )

• When using off-camera flash - manual, always
• When shooting weddings/receptions with on-camera flash - manual, always
• When outdoors, with on-camera flash, usually Av 'cause I'm using the flash for fill and Canon Av does a good job. But, sometimes, I use manual.
• Outdoors, no flash, usually Av unless I want control of the shutter speed, then I use Tv.
• My IR modified 20D - no choice, manual each and every time and I have to watch the histogram to be sure to get enough exposure. The light meter in that camera is, at best, only a very poor WAG.

There is not one mode. As seen above, my shooting mode is driven by the photographic problem(s) I'm trying to solve.

swintonphoto

Scott_Quier wrote:

It all depends (doesn't everything )

• When using off-camera flash - manual, always
• When shooting weddings/receptions with on-camera flash - manual, always
• When outdoors, with on-camera flash, usually Av 'cause I'm using the flash for fill and Canon Av does a good job. But, sometimes, I use manual.
• Outdoors, no flash, usually Av unless I want control of the shutter speed, then I use Tv.
• My IR modified 20D - no choice, manual each and every time and I have to watch the histogram to be sure to get enough exposure. The light meter in that camera is, at best, only a very poor WAG.

There is not one mode. As seen above, my shooting mode is driven by the photographic problem(s) I'm trying to solve.

I use Aperture priority 70% of the time. Then I use shutter priority when there is enough light and I am doing sports. I use manual when I am shooting in studio or when there are some other issues that require more control. But, really, it depends.

evoryware

Manual most of the time now.
Av if I'm shooting action or sports in differing light conditions (mix of sun and clouds, buildings blocking sun, etc), or late afternoon shooting as the sun is constantly getting lower.
Tv if I'm shooting sports in constant lighting conditions.

pathfinder