When I bought my first dSLR eighteen months ago, I slammed through the manual and moved on as quickly as I could to the general photography books I had been recommended. My goal was to step out of "basic modes" and into full manual where I was really taking advantage of my camera as quickly as possible. A month or so in, I turned my camera to that big M and it never left it.
When I upgraded my XT to an XSi recently, I decided to give some of the "fancy' features a run through. While it's far from full proof, if you understand the limitations of Auto ISO on the XSi, it can be an incredibly useful tool... particularly in environments where you have large variations in lighting and no control over it. This got me to open the manual and make sure I wasn't missing anything else that I had put aside simply because I associated it with "here's what the camera decided for me" point and shoot style photos, and uh... I think I may be stupid.
Do you guys make use of Av/Tv (or whatever Nikon and other brands might call aperture or time based auto exposure)? I'm definitely capable of managing exposure and dof by hand, even in unpredictable environments, and I rarely lose shots over it. Even the worst are rarely off by more than a step at this point. That said, Av is miraculous. I wandered off to a very weird part of my house where I know the lighting is fairly different depending on which direction I face (1/100 at the brightest, 1/30 at the dimmest) and, after putting the aperture where I wanted, I was able to snap four shots at different exposures without thinking about it.
Obviously this wasn't equivalent to a real life test. Taking 4 shots that far apart normally is pretty much a nonoccurence. That said, is everyone else using this? Am I just stupid for thinking I needed to do everything by hand?
More importantly, what would you consider the limitations of Av and Tv? Knowing that Auto ISO is only appropriate when I know I'm not likely to be able to shoot regularly at ISO 100 and I'm not going to exceed ISO 400 is a key to making proper use of it. The only time I can think where Av or Tv might be inadequate is attempting to shoot a long exposure with a specific dof in mind.
Learn to be comfortable with all shooting modes. Av is generally an action shooter's best friend. Tv allows great control when you need a certain shooting speed for effects and DOF in changing light. I use all modes all the time and it is wonderful. Shooting sports for example in Manual is almost always a sure way to lose shots. The only exception is where light and your postioning and the subjects positioning does not change...how often does that happen? Don't fall into a trap of using one only...learn them all and then you are really in control.
Always always always read the manual! Canon's manuals are full of info and they are easy to read. AV is great like Shane said and it's great when there are shadows and light. I am been using M more outdoors when it's either overcast or under HS stadium lights, M always indoors. If your lighting is even then stick with M but if not then AV is great!
John P Mulgrew wrote:
Canon's manuals are full of info and they are easy to read.
Having looked at the manuals for a couple of P&S cameras when trying to help friends you don't know how true this is by comparison with some of the manuals out there
Some sound advice---I rarely use full manual AV suits most of my needs with some occasional TV.There is a guy called Rockwell with a well known website who espouses P/AE.
Like the man said--Learn to use them all-----Above all though ---Have fun.
My 40D seems to be pretty much stuck in AV. I'm a sucker for bokeh and a shallow DOF so I want to control that variable. Unless when shooting with flash, then it's M all the way. I just set an appropiate shutter speed, based on subject motion and focal length, dial in my desired DOF and let my 580EX II work its ETTL magic
