[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by thelightening

Not only D90 actually, even D5100 is there in mind. Need to get experts advice before jump in...

If he is that keen on changing his brand, then so be it. He should be warned that he would lose money, though that he may already know. The D5100 is not bad either.

Originally Posted by shajufx

And you expect me to believe that ?

Yes.

[rajb3125]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I cannot understand M mode usage for regular shots, unless your meter is inconsistent.
Even in cameras where metering is off by +1/2 or -1/2 etc, for every shot, you can always apply exposure compensation and leave it on.
However, if your camera sometimes underexposes and sometimes overexposes, you do not need to use M mode.
Aperture priority will do (control of DOF) or when shooting action, shutter priority will do just fine.

On the serious side, as much as ^^^ is correct, its crazy to stay in Apeture mode all the time, camera doesnt know if you are using a tripod or not, it will go down all the way to 1sec+ shutter if one is not careful. In my experience forgetting Apeture mode was the best thing that happened to my images.

Moreover we are not doing war photography where speed is everything and if we take few secs to compose we will loose the image. We are in normal circumstances and taking time to compose is easy, all we need to do is look at the needle and adjust our values. If one isnt fast enough to do so, flash in TTL+A+FL (Nikon) with 1/160, f4 @ ISO 800-2000 does the trick every single time (indoors)

[lucifer1881]

I will agree whole-heartedly with tsk1979. Use of M mode is usually overkill. It is very useful when the camera is not able to meter right (may be you are indoors and shooting a bright scene out the window) or when you are shooting multiple shots to stitch into a panorama or some other situation. More often than not, P mode suffices. If one wants to get creative. Av and Tv work.

Originally Posted by rajb3125

...Moreover we are not doing war photography where speed is everything and if we take few secs to compose we will loose the image. We are in normal circumstances and taking time to compose is easy, all we need to do is look at the needle and adjust our values.

Speed is everything. The hours of magic light last only a few minutes. The less time spent fiddling with the controls, the more photo opportunity one has.

Originally Posted by rajb3125

If one isnt fast enough to do so, flash in TTL+A+FL (Nikon) with 1/160, f4 @ ISO 800-2000 does the trick every single time (indoors)

I am not a big fan of flash photography indoors unless you bounce it or use diffusers. Fill flash works quite superbly outdoors. And it works in Av or Tv or P mode. In fact, used properly fill flash can substitute for HDR photography at times.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

I will agree whole-heartedly with tsk1979. Use of M mode is usually overkill.....
Speed is everything. The hours of magic light last only a few minutes......
I am not a big fan of flash photography indoors unless you bounce it or use diffusers.....

We are not running a debate on the modes of shooting It varies to each one's situation and need. There is no hard and fast rule anywhere and whatever rules are there are to be broken.

Speed is everything when you are shooting sports, kids or important events like a wedding, because you can not rewind any of those moments one more time ever in your life. Many professionals use M mode throughout such situations because they know inside out of their cam like the palm of hand. Not the same with learners like me. Also understand, studio photographers are always on M mode, because they dont leave a chance for the cam to decide anything for them.

I have same thought about flash usage, I hate flat lighting that comes from the built-in flash and never use it except in commander mode.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I cannot understand M mode usage for regular shots, unless your meter is inconsistent.
Even in cameras where metering is off by +1/2 or -1/2 etc, for every shot, you can always apply exposure compensation and leave it on.
However, if your camera sometimes underexposes and sometimes overexposes, you do not need to use M mode.
Aperture priority will do (control of DOF) or when shooting action, shutter priority will do just fine.

I have seen my camera not shooting too well in Aperture priority mode in low lighting conditions, it would either require me to use lower stops or increase ISO or else it will either take dark image or images would come shaky due to lower speed.. While under same conditions I was able to take the shot just fine in M mode

And No I am no pro, just a beginner with a DSLR which is not even a month old

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rajb3125

On the serious side, as much as ^^^ is correct, its crazy to stay in Apeture mode all the time, camera doesnt know if you are using a tripod or not, it will go down all the way to 1sec+ shutter if one is not careful. In my experience forgetting Apeture mode was the best thing that happened to my images.

This is exactly my problem as well. When in Av mode, indoors, most of the time, camera sets to 1sec+ exposure time, which is not good for handheld. Hence in most cases even I was forced to use M mode or flash (which even I dont prefer). So as Shaju mentioned, either I lost the moment or there is a shake in the image,
The other solution suggested was to crank the ISO. Still it did not help greatly.


So question is how is one able to use the Av mode effectively. Are we missing something fundamental in understanding here?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Aperture is easy to decide and control according to me. So keep the Aperture at f/1.8 or f/2.8 if you want the best bokeh. Keep it varying between f/8 to f/16 if everything in the scene is required. So thats done.

Originally Posted by rajb3125

On the serious side, as much as ^^^ is correct, its crazy to stay in Apeture mode all the time, camera doesnt know if you are using a tripod or not, it will go down all the way to 1sec+ shutter if one is not careful. In my experience forgetting Apeture mode was the best thing that happened to my images.

Originally Posted by ampere

This is exactly my problem as well. When in Av mode, indoors, most of the time, camera sets to 1sec+ exposure time, which is not good for handheld.

So question is how is one able to use the Av mode effectively. Are we missing something fundamental in understanding here?

The aperture mode is the most flexible mode for an advanced photographer. It lets the photographer select the DOF at will. This person would also be watching the shutter speed picked by the camera before every click. If not happy with the speed, he/she will adjust ISO or aperture to get the acceptable speed. If you are not into watching the shutter speed before every click, the aperture mode is not for you.

I use manual mode only in case of spot metering, and only because I don't like to use AE locking.

Shutter priority is useful for less advanced users. I remember a novice press photographer at an OTR event, he was asked to shoot everything at 1/250 speed by his boss. Since he saw me changing settings for every other shot, he asked me for advice on how to change settings for better results. After hearing the instructions, and knowing his skill level, I asked him to stick with 1/250 sec setting in shutter priority. Wrong exposure can be fixed by his office people, but shaky pictures can't be fixed. It was action photography after all.

Originally Posted by shajufx

Many professionals use M mode throughout such situations because they know inside out of their cam like the palm of hand. Not the same with learners like me. Also understand, studio photographers are always on M mode, because they dont leave a chance for the cam to decide anything for them.

I have seen wedding photographers using shutter priority at 1/60 sec forever to match the flash lite they were using. BTW, studio photographers know their lighting very well, they are not really picking the exposure value every time.

[recshenoy]

but some how i always prefer to use the M mode. i keep fiddling with the camera settings so that i know what my camera is doing. Since lens that i use (Nikkor 55-200) is sharpest at f7.1 f8 so if i use aperture priority mode and set to 7.1 and keep ISO at 800 for a dance shot, it will choose a slower shutter speed and blur the image. yeah i can change the shutter speed by changing the exposure. but some how i am comfortable with changing the shutter speed myself instead of asking camera to do.

okay now i read comments properly. i totally agree with all about AP mode. i am a total manual mode guy. i love total control of my camera. may time i have seen that camera chooses shutter speed of 1 second etc causing major blur.

but the disadvantage of M mode is that you need to adjust the shutter speed when the shooting objects in varying light conditions. if forgotten to change shutter speed, it will cause highly over exposed or total under exposed images, especially true when shooting during sun light followed immediately by something in the shade.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Samurai

The aperture mode is the most flexible mode for an advanced photographer. It lets the photographer select the DOF at will. This person would also be watching the shutter speed picked by the camera before every click. If not happy with the speed, he/she will adjust ISO or aperture to get the acceptable speed. If you are not into watching the shutter speed before every click, the aperture mode is not for you.

I use manual mode only in case of spot metering, and only because I don't like to use AE locking.

Shutter priority is useful for less advanced users. I remember a novice press photographer at an OTR event, he was asked to shoot everything at 1/250 speed by his boss. Since he saw me changing settings for every other shot, he asked me for advice on how to change settings for better results. After hearing the instructions, and knowing his skill level, I asked him to stick with 1/250 sec setting in shutter priority. Wrong exposure can be fixed by his office people, but shaky pictures can't be fixed. It was action photography after all.

I have seen wedding photographers using shutter priority at 1/60 sec forever to match the flash lite they were using. BTW, studio photographers know their lighting very well, they are not really picking the exposure value every time.

Samurai-San, It still does not answer my question. I was never able to find a good Av setting for indoors (birthday, get-together etc). Most cases even with increased ISO, the shutter speed ended at 1sec+.

Most cases I had to resort to M with 1/60 or 1/80 or 1/100 with flash with ISO 100/200 (indoors during day time). F ranging from 3.5 to 8 depending on DOF.

I am yet to find myself a good Av mode usage. Maybe for next landscape shot I will try with Av mode with F-8.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by ampere

Samurai-San, It still does not answer my question. I was never able to find a good Av setting for indoors (birthday, get-together etc). Most cases even with increased ISO, the shutter speed ended at 1sec+.

Most cases I had to resort to M with 1/60 or 1/80 or 1/100 with flash with ISO 100/200 (indoors during day time). F ranging from 3.5 to 8 depending on DOF.

This is a little confusing. If you can meter correctly with M mode, why can't you meter with A mode?

Since the indoor shots need flash, are you trying the A mode with or without fill-in flash on?

If you haven't tried this, put the camera on fill-in flash and try A mode again at indoors.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by Samurai

The aperture mode is the most flexible mode for an advanced photographer.......
I use manual mode only in case of spot metering, and only because I don't like to use AE locking.....

Which mode is best is anyway a big question and we can get all kinds of answers from experts. I am trying M mode mainly because it makes you learn different controls by trial and error and it becomes easy to understand the patterns over a time. My 2 days training was given by Jayanth Sharma and he is a wild life photographer who shoots in Aperture mode 90% of time. So, once I am done with basic learning part, I might stick to Aperture mode, because it works as an all-round mode. Aperture mode also helps you concentrate more on composition and saving your time on setting all the values manually.

I had taken a decision that I would shoot in Manual mode until I am clear with the technicalities within the camera body. But BWS group did a street shoot last month and I really could not continue my M mode more than 10 mts, had to switch to Aperture not to miss the rare shots that came unexpected from different parts of the street every now and then. Later I realized if I continued with the M mode (learning anyway), I would have missed half the shots which were keepers for me later. A 100% manual mode which I got that day: Its 50mm 1.4, 1/500 sec, ISO-100. This 'sadhu' moved away in fraction of a second. I missed 4 such shots later because the subject never gave me time to change the settings. There was only one solution = Move to Aperture

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This is a little confusing. If you can meter correctly with M mode, why can't you meter with A mode?

Since the indoor shots need flash, are you trying the A mode with or without fill-in flash on?

If you haven't tried this, put the camera on fill-in flash and try A mode again at indoors.

Never tried flash. Was always trying with natural light! (That was a mistake).
I have heard of fill-flash technique, but dont know about it. Will learn and try.

With an M mode, I try to spot meter at -0.5 or -1 assuming flash will do compensation for the rest and take my shot. Till now it has come fine. I try remove the extra light from Canon S/W (DPP).

Hence I had the other question which I had asked some time back today. How is the MAC Aperture S/W. How does it compare against Canon DPP and Lightroom.

[HellwratH]

Another aperture priority shooter here. I do shoot in manual mode only when I use strobes to control the ambient light. Otherwise, I haven't found a reason to shoot in manual yet. I am reading "Understanding Exposure" and I hope Bryan convinces me otherwise .

And for anyone who wants to buy a new Canon 600D, buy it from flipkart, you'll get a 50mm f1.8 free with it. Here's the link:

Canon EOS 600D Price India: SLR Camera: Flipkart Cameras

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by HellwratH

.....And for anyone who wants to buy a new Canon 600D, buy it from flipkart, you'll get a 50mm f1.8 free with it.

Uff that link hurt me badly ! I can see my 50mm 1.4 sold by them 500 bucks less than what Jayesh took from me Flipkart did not have this lens when I picked up.

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Uff that link hurt me badly ! I can see my 50mm 1.4 sold by them 500 bucks less than what Jayesh took from me Flipkart did not have this lens when I picked up.

Seems like Jayesh is getting expensive by the day. At this rate, flipkart will easily overtake him and also give the much needed access as it all happens online.