I saw in the Avian gallery that CM mentioned she is getting more used to using manual exposure. I have been working with it a little but cannot find the advantage of using it over aperture or shutter speed settings.
I have my camera set up so that the front dial adjusts the exposure comp when in either A or S. When I'm in M, of course the dials revert to controlling A & S. This makes them almost the same except for one difference. When I make a major change oi the overall light (say I swing from shadow to sunlight), the meter gets me in the "ballpark" quickly in A & S but in M I have to hunt to find the "ballpark" setting which makes it more difficult to use IMO.
What advantage is there to shooting in M that I haven't figured out yet?
Posted by Richard Ditch on March 6, 2012 at 12:57 PM
The obvious place that manual applies is birds in flight, where the light stays constant on a smallish subject while it flies against a background that changes rapidly and misleads the meter.
Posted by Edward Scott on March 6, 2012 at 12:59 PM
In the situation you're describing, there probably isn't an advantage. The advantage of using M mode comes when you are shooting in consistent light. There you can meter your scene and adjust your settings accordingly and then not worry about it. If something moves into and out of your scene, it will not cause your settings to change like it would in AV and TV modes. You can get more consistent results that way.
I've not used the manual mode very often but I did find it necessary some time ago when I was using a variable ND filter. It appeared to trick the camera and many shots taken only seconds apart had vastly different exposures even though the scene had not changed. At first I thought something was wrong with my camera. But I soon realized it only happened when I used that particular filter. So to correct it, I determined what my settings should be and switched it to manual mode to keep it the same.
OK. So I think I get it. What I thought was an advantage of shooting in A or S, which is that the meter changes the other setting when something moves into the BG say that is lighter, is really a disadvantage when your subject is not changing such as birds in flight with say trees in the BG and then to bright water as BG. In manual mode the bird will remain in correct exposure. Thanks folks. I will go out and work on it with that in mind.
Posted by Brian Gatlin on March 7, 2012 at 8:11 AM
Walt, it sounds like you've got it.
I use manual more and more often. As a bird shooter, I use it whenever I am (a) shooting birds in flight or (b) shooting birds with bright whites. For birds in flight, a manual exposure for the bird gives you the proper exposure regardless of whether it's against a light or dark background. For birds with bright whites, dialing in a perfect exposure for the whites works a lot better for me than leaving it to the camera. As Edward suggests, this works best in steady light. If the light is changing, you need to be very aware and change your exposure.
When the light on your subject is changing rapidly (clouds moving quickly across the sun, subject moving from sun to shade), it is often more advantageous to be in one of the aperture or shutter priority modes.
Posted by Harry Harris on March 7, 2012 at 10:12 AM
Thanks for asking this question, Walt. I was wondering the same thing. I would try manual mode and sometimes it worked out others it did not. I would always fall back to AV exposure mode when in doubt. One thing I did try with birds not in flight with manual is to use the spot metering mode and when in AV mode I would use center-weighted metering in AV mode.
Posted by Garry Revesz on March 7, 2012 at 1:33 PM
I'm sorry but I have a reverse question. Why would anybody want to use A or S priority anyway? I shoot primarily wildlife, birds and sports events, and any time I tried A or S either I didn't get the depth of field I wanted, or the subject in the centre was way too dark, or the shutter speed was waaaay to slow, etc. etc. I started using M when I had a Canon film AE1, and learned to read the situation. For example, this past weekend I was shooting a finals downhill ski race and if I listened to the meter, the skiers would end up being a silhouette on the snow. Instead, by keeping the ISO low, selecting the S at 1000 - 1600, I can roam up and down the A dial to control the background and get 90% that are tach sharp, full of detail and have a beautiful histo with nothing blown out. Even with the latest camera, when asked, I promote that photographers get comfortable with M because they will achieve better results more consistently and won't be fooled in any lighting situation.
Garry Revesz
Toronto, Canada
Posted by Edward Scott on March 7, 2012 at 4:27 PM
Ok, here's a scenario for you.
You're sitting in your blind, waiting for a bird to land on a perch you have set up between the woods and your feeder. It's partly cloudy out but the sun is shining on the perch at the moment. You have the camera set up on a tripod and in manual exposure mode. You meter the perch and adjust your settings accordingly and are ready to go. Suddenly, an Ivory Billed Woodpecker lands on the perch at the exact same time a cloud moves in front of the sun! You have just enough time to press the shutter button before fainting from shock. When you come to, you look at the results and find the photo is way under exposed. It's not clear enough to identify the bird, but YOU know what it is so you report your sighting to the Audubon Society and tell them you have a photo to prove it. They then send a limousine to your house to pick you up and take you to the nearest airport and fly you to Washington D.C.. They then drive you to the Smithsonian where everyone is waiting for you to view your evidence. Upon viewing your photo, the curators declare that it is too underexposed to identify it for sure. Someone announces that it looks like a duck! Another says, no, I think it must be a penguin! Sorry.
I'm sorry but I have a reverse question. Why would anybody want to use A or S priority anyway? I shoot primarily wildlife, birds and sports events, and any time I tried A or S either I didn't get the depth of field I wanted, or the subject in the centre was way too dark, or the shutter speed was waaaay to slow, etc. etc.
- Garry Revesz
I shoot almost everything in aperture preferred automatic with my Nikon cameras, as I have been doing since at least the mid 1970's. The aperture is either wide open or closed down one stop - that assures I get the highest shutter speed I can for the light and the ISO I've set. The meter takes care of the exposure for me when I point my gear at my avian subject whether it is in a shade or in direct sun without me having to figure out how much the light has changed and then fiddling with manual shutter speed and aperture. If my subject moves into a backlit location or against a very bright or very dark background I can instantly pull in the spot meter with a simple push of the defined function button on the camera body near the lens mount. The viewfinder displays both the set aperture and the meter-determined shutter speed, and if I think my shot would work better with some other values then I simply turn the front control dial to change the aperture and shutter speed together.
Great discussion! Thanks people. There is a lot to think about for me here. I am getting more comfortable with manual. I went to a wildlife refuge yesterday and found a flock of migrating Sandhill cranes and shot 500 images of them all in manual. The BIF shots came out great when I could get the focus right. I had a ball with them and came away with a few good shots. I'll post some when I get worked through them all. Thanks again.
Discussion
10 repliesI have my camera set up so that the front dial adjusts the exposure comp when in either A or S. When I'm in M, of course the dials revert to controlling A & S. This makes them almost the same except for one difference. When I make a major change oi the overall light (say I swing from shadow to sunlight), the meter gets me in the "ballpark" quickly in A & S but in M I have to hunt to find the "ballpark" setting which makes it more difficult to use IMO.
What advantage is there to shooting in M that I haven't figured out yet?
I use manual more and more often. As a bird shooter, I use it whenever I am (a) shooting birds in flight or (b) shooting birds with bright whites. For birds in flight, a manual exposure for the bird gives you the proper exposure regardless of whether it's against a light or dark background. For birds with bright whites, dialing in a perfect exposure for the whites works a lot better for me than leaving it to the camera. As Edward suggests, this works best in steady light. If the light is changing, you need to be very aware and change your exposure.
When the light on your subject is changing rapidly (clouds moving quickly across the sun, subject moving from sun to shade), it is often more advantageous to be in one of the aperture or shutter priority modes.
Garry Revesz
Toronto, Canada
You're sitting in your blind, waiting for a bird to land on a perch you have set up between the woods and your feeder. It's partly cloudy out but the sun is shining on the perch at the moment. You have the camera set up on a tripod and in manual exposure mode. You meter the perch and adjust your settings accordingly and are ready to go. Suddenly, an Ivory Billed Woodpecker lands on the perch at the exact same time a cloud moves in front of the sun! You have just enough time to press the shutter button before fainting from shock. When you come to, you look at the results and find the photo is way under exposed. It's not clear enough to identify the bird, but YOU know what it is so you report your sighting to the Audubon Society and tell them you have a photo to prove it. They then send a limousine to your house to pick you up and take you to the nearest airport and fly you to Washington D.C.. They then drive you to the Smithsonian where everyone is waiting for you to view your evidence. Upon viewing your photo, the curators declare that it is too underexposed to identify it for sure. Someone announces that it looks like a duck! Another says, no, I think it must be a penguin! Sorry.
I shoot almost everything in aperture preferred automatic with my Nikon cameras, as I have been doing since at least the mid 1970's. The aperture is either wide open or closed down one stop - that assures I get the highest shutter speed I can for the light and the ISO I've set. The meter takes care of the exposure for me when I point my gear at my avian subject whether it is in a shade or in direct sun without me having to figure out how much the light has changed and then fiddling with manual shutter speed and aperture. If my subject moves into a backlit location or against a very bright or very dark background I can instantly pull in the spot meter with a simple push of the defined function button on the camera body near the lens mount. The viewfinder displays both the set aperture and the meter-determined shutter speed, and if I think my shot would work better with some other values then I simply turn the front control dial to change the aperture and shutter speed together.