I Still Don't Use -Priority Modes
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What about you?
When do they really make a difference?
For my photos, I either shoot in Program mode or full Manual 98% of the time.
I suppose that if I had a Program-Shift option I would use it a lot, but most of the time I either let the camera make it's best guesses (with EV compensation and iso as my only tweaks) or I swing the other way and go all Manual for my exposure choices.
Part of my reasoning is that if I'm going to employ some automatic help, I might as well use it all.
And If I'm going to make my own shutter and/or aperture choices, it only takes a few seconds to adjust the other one.
One factor I'm cheating myself with, is that in P mode the camera only goes so far down on the shutter and stops==nothing slower than 1/30th of a second, to prevent point&shooters from getting too much motion-blur, so in Pmode if I'm not paying attention there will be under-exposed photos.
The times I have used aperture or shutter-priority are rare, but they made sense at the time.
Such as during an airshow when I wanted a fast shutter to freeze the Thunderbirds, but counter-intuitively I went with aperture-priority, metered the cloudy sky (with only tiny F16s in the frame I felt like this made sense) and picked an aperture that guaranteed 1/400-1/1000 shutter speeds no matter what I was pointed at.
Worked really well.
I would like to hear anyone else's thinking on when aperture/shutter-priority modes are useful.
Plenty of people are very fond of these modes, but I would like to hear some real-world advice from the members of ShutterTalk.
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Keith ,
I use AV mode when shooting sports , i keep the aperture wide open , then i have to still watch the shutter speed . If it gets too slow then i adjust the ISO . Other than sports i shoot in Manual plus RAW . I dont think i have ever shot in P or any other of the auto modes sence iwent digital .
...... Shawn
.........
Canon 20d and a few cheap lenses ..
It is our job as photographers to show people what they saw but didnt realize they saw it ......
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99% of my shots are shot in AV. Only other mode I tend to use fully manual, but that is rare.
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I use AV mode alot with a couple of my older lenses that have aperture control ring on the lens. I like to manually choose the aperture and let the camera set the exposure... I still use full manual mode alot when more control is required.
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I'm exactly the same as you KeithAlanK 
It's either on P or M, most of the time M, but P for some point-and-shoot situation.
I rarely use Tv or Av - in fact, I don't even remember the last time I used those! haha
I used Tv a lot for my night shots when I first got my dSLR, now I prefer to use M. Get it exactly the way you want, the first time (most of the time) 
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I used to take a lot of my pictures in Manual, but I ended up with a lot of problems specially in fast situations where you don't have time to set your camera. So now I us Av for my bird, bugs some flower pictures, I like very much to play with aperture because of the bokeh. Manual for my landscapes and my studio photography.
A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
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I keep mine on aperture mode. Mostly because that's how I learnt with my old olympus OM2. It's easier to make quick decisions and if DOF is'nt important you can use it to control shutter speed. In the studio I keep it on manual for full control.
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I use aperture mode for the opposite reason Essaljay, I use it as it gives me total control of my DoF.
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Today at the Charreada I used S- and A-priority modes most of the time.
Freezing rodeo action, getting motion-blur of fast moving animals, deciding on shallow DOF for certain shots--it was fun and I liked working this way.
Definitely will be doing more of this--much more!
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I would love to take pictures in a Charreada. The event is great and full of challenge for photography, I think.
A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
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If I need a particular shutter speed or aperture for some shot, I set it to S or A. Otherwise I almost always shoot on P.
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I would use AV mostly along with exposure compensation. I do also use manual....but there are times when I use P .... if I am using fill flash during the day.........its quick if I am in a hurry! I don't have to think 
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I don't think englishbob quite understood what I meant. Of course aperture control gives you full command of DOF which is why I use it. What I said was that if DOF was'nt an important facter then it could still be used to control shutter speed by altering the aperture. capice?
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Re-read Esseljay and I understand now, you meant you will use that to contrikl shutter speed if your not not after a certain DOF. My Bad I should of understood, I do just the same LOL.
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Most of my shots are taken in Av mode. It's what I leave the camera in when I put it away, and the best for my general shooting. If I need a certain shutter speed, I'm more likely to bump up the iso the required number of stops than switch to P or S modes. I'm also quick to use the exposure compensation; I have this set up as the function of my thumb control wheel.
I'm increasingly using the Manual mode as I seek more control over my lighting. If I'm using off-camera flash, or manual flash on-camera, this is the mode I'm in. I'll also use Manual when I'm in a situation with constant light to stop the camera's meter from being fooled by subjects that aren't a neutral grey value.
While 80-90% of my shots are taken in Av mode, I was surprised to find that half of my best shots were under full manual control.
I hardly ever use "S" mode. (I find the archaic but poetic term "Tv" much easier to say, once I learned that it stands for Time Value.) I'll use Tv if I'm walking the streets and want to make sure that my shutter speed is fast enough to avoid camera shake whether I'm shooting across a sunny road or into a shadowed alley. I do very little of this these days.
"P" mode is one that I only recently started using. I'm renovating my kitchen, and occasionally want to grab my SLR with its flash set to TTL Auto. In this case, I'm just looking for the kind of auto-everything that I get from my happysnaps without having to think too much about it.
On a side note, Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" is one of the most instructive books I've ever read.
matthewpiers.com • @matthewpiers | robertsonphoto.blogspot.com | @thewsreviews • thewsreviews.com
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Matt - Bryan Peterson is a great author.
For me I use AV and manual exclusively in my wedding work. Controlling DOF is one of the keys to creative photography and sets your shots apart from P mode shooting where the camera just attempts to get as much DOF without creating camera shake.
Canon stuff.
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For available light and ttl flash av mostly. For flash work its manual with a light meter.
/Paul L.
Strives to make photos instead of taking them...
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I use mostly AV mode, for controlling dof. I'm just a hobbyist without a support group. I have spent several summers making up assignments for myself. One year I set out to film a daisy that would match my favorite magazine cover. I fell in love with AV mode that summer. Some times I have a small point and shoot with me.
Then I've set up something like program, portrait, with macro. It fakes out the goal I'm trying to reach. I tried this with the xTi w/ 17/85 with almost the same result. I'm trying to help my local friends be more creative without worrying about a lot of knowledge.
Keep looking outside the box.
Canon EOS xTi w/ 17/85, Canon SD850, Canon sx100, Epson 3100z w/ 2.0, former Milolta SRT 101 and Canon EOS filmster.
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I do spend a lot of time in P and Av modes - Av when I'm trying to get the right DOF, and P when I just want to shoot and shoot fast.
Just want to clarify to those who use M a lot - some questions:
1. What do you set first? Aperture or Shutter speed? I usually set aperture first.
2. You still rely on the camera's electronic metering right? i.e. You manually set the aperture and shutter speed, but then adjust one of the two to get the little bars all the way to the centre. (haha, nice terminology )
If the above is true, then why stick in M mode? Wouldn't you achieve the same thing in P or Av mode, and just tweaking the exposure compensation? (something along the lines of what Matthew said)
Great topic Keith!
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1: Depends--if I'm trying to gather the most light under difficult conditions, I set iso then aperture, look at the meter and set shutter.
If I'm trying to get shallow DOF I do the same.
If it's about freezing action, then sometimes it's shutter first, then aperture, then iso.
No real rules, as long as you get where you need to be at the end.
2: Yes, the meter is used.
No reason you can't use A or S instead much of the time.
But when using a manual flash I prefer to lock everything down in M so there are no surprises--balancing ambient with a flash or three requires this.
In M there is more consistency between successive shots--this helps at night and is very important when shooting stereo pairs for 3D.
I also feel that using Manual mode as often as possible gets you more 'in synch' with your camera, and makes using the A and S modes easier because you're more aware of all your settings all the time.
For example, ask someone who uses P mode what their aperture and shutter was for a given shot or series, and they will usually have no idea without consulting the exif data--while a Manual shooter usually has an idea of what they were after and how they got it, and A and S shooters might know one but not the other.
In Manual, it's harder to end up in the long-shutter motion-blur danger zone by accident.
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Good answers Keith... thanks!
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