Do you usually shoot in aperture priority or auto?

[Locut0s]

I'm a bit of a newb and in order to get a good feel for the interdependence between aperture size and shutter speed I started to shoot everything in aperture priority when I started with my G2 a long time back. That habit has stuck with me. But unless you are going for some effect like better DOF, more details in certain parts of the image, or capturing fast moving objects I usually don't find that much of a difference between using different aperture settings so long as the camera chooses a shutter speed faster than 1/80th or so. Is there really much of a reason to shoot in aperture priority mode for the majority of shots?

For those with more experience as professional amateurs what do you find yourself using in normal shooting conditions? When I say normal what I mean is that the subject of the picture is well lit and no DOF effects are being used. Do you use Aperture Priority, P or full Auto, or Full Manual?

 

[andylawcc]

I am kinda on the same boat as you too, but probably a bigger noob for that matter.

I am a big fan of the bokeh effect... so to my understanding is, larger aperture (not the f/ value), shallower the Depth of Field, more Bokeh! As a result, I used Aperture Priority mode a lot.

and to answer you question, if no DOF is needed (like, shooting group people at party or gathering), I just set to auto. I personally don't want a small aperture for the longer shutter speed associated with it, since my hands are unsteady and the longer shutter speed will just blur things up.
In that case, where I don't want the Bokeh effect, I just set to Auto instead and let the camera figure out the optimal setting.

 

[dug777]

Here's a good example of where I use A rather than P:

At 135mm my D80 in P usually sets my 18-135mm wide-open, or close to. It's usually so bright that it ends up coupling this with a daftly quick shutter speed, when it could have comfortably stopped it down quite a bit and still kept the shutter speed more than fast enough for hand held shooting.

EDIT: Of course, in P I can roll through practically every conceivable shutter/aperture combination that produces the same exposure using the thumb wheel, but it's just simpler to set it and go in A.

Other than that, generally my D80 stays in P. It just works

 

[soydios]

for me it's either Program, Aperture, or Manual. I shoot Program for general stuff. In low light I set the lens to maximum aperture in Aperture priority and let the meter figure out an appropriate shutter speed. If I'm in constant studio lighting conditions then I shoot Manual. For sports I'll also use Aperture priority set to f/2.8, f/4, or f/5.6 depending on the lighting. I never use Auto ISO, though.

I will say this: learn how your camera's metering and program modes work! I've got a decent grasp on what my D50's Matrix Metering tries to accomplish when it runs, but understanding the program auto is just as important. On the D50, Program will try to close down the lens one stop for better image quality once the light is available, then it'll quicken the shutter speed to the point where it'll stop action, close down the lens again, then take the shutter all the way to maximum and close down the lens even past f/11 if need be.

 

[randomlinh]

Av/M for me. I love control of the aperture, it's why I moved on to faster primes partially. This gets me in trouble since I go aperture happy when shooting people too (when in some cases I shouldn't be.. heh). I don't use M all that often, unless forced to w/ an old lens, or trying to mess w/ lighting. I use Tv for autocross.

 

[yllus]

Av, Tv or M.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
This gets me in trouble since I go aperture happy when shooting people too (when in some cases I shouldn't be.. heh).

mind elaborating on that a little bit more in layman term? Like, Large Aperture shouldn't be suitable for people shots?

 

[corkyg]

I use P, or A, depending on the lens and type of shot. When working with the 50mm f/1.2 lens, DOF is very critical, and I generally use A mode. When using a 70-200 f/2.8 lens, and shots are fairly quick, I use P.

 

[jpeyton]

P, unless I'm shooting action or portraits.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: andylawcc

Originally posted by: randomlinh
This gets me in trouble since I go aperture happy when shooting people too (when in some cases I shouldn't be.. heh).

mind elaborating on that a little bit more in layman term? Like, Large Aperture shouldn't be suitable for people shots?

yeah, depending on the shot really. I tend to like to shoot wide open, giving me a tiny window to shoot in. I rely heavily on f/2 and larger since I hate using flash (going for candid shots usually) and am indoors mostly. Then I'll get a few ppl together to shoot, and totally forget about my narrow DOF. Shooting f/1.4 with staggered ppl fails for me

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
yeah, depending on the shot really. I tend to like to shoot wide open, giving me a tiny window to shoot in. I rely heavily on f/2 and larger since I hate using flash (going for candid shots usually) and am indoors mostly. Then I'll get a few ppl together to shoot, and totally forget about my narrow DOF. Shooting f/1.4 with staggered ppl fails for me

I assume you also dislike shooting anything over ISO 400?

 

[imported_Stew]

Aperture mode, for me. When shooting sunsets/sunrises I use Manual. When using flash I use Program, since I can't figure out how to get a proper exposure in Av with flash.

 

[AndrewR]

Aperture for me unless I need shutter speed than it's shutter priority (which is very rarely). I will switch to Manual for certain situations. I use the auto mode very rarely, sometimes just to experiment.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I use Aperture Priority most of the time with frequent use of Exposure Compensation.

Av allows me to control DOF, or lock my shooting to around an aperture that offers the greatest resolution for my lens (usually around f/8). It's also good for getting a quick baseline for your exposure settings because the camera automatically and instantly meters and sets a corresponding shutter speed for you in changing light conditions, and then all you have to do is do some small tweaking with the exposure compensation. Using manual in changing light conditions would just take too long unless you were REALLY good at it. I use manual for when the camera's metering gets retarded and I need to force it to a correct exposure combination.

 

[FriedToast]

When I was learning my D80, I started shooting in Manual all the time to teach myself as much as I could by experience. Once I had a semi-handle on how things worked, I started leaving it in Aperture. I use Shutter for those dark occasions when the camera just doesn't know what to think of the situation and Aperture 98% of the time. The other sliver would be Manual- for those times when I just want to play w/ the buttons, knobs, gauges & dials on the D300 or I have an older lens mounted. P... never even gets touched.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Av or M only.

 

[montanafan]

I mostly shoot sports and know the venues pretty well, so it's usually Manual. Sometimes at night football games at a field I'm not familiar with I'll start out shooting in TV because I know the shutter speed I need and then I may find that I have to push it to get the photos and then deal with the exposure problems in PP.

Another situation is like the baseball game I shot yesterday. Conditions went from bright sunlight to dark clouds and rain quickly over and over again, so I shot in AV to keep the DOF I needed for the busy backgrounds and the shutter speeds up, and then switched ISO to deal with the changes in light.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: andylawcc
I assume you also dislike shooting anything over ISO 400?

I try to keep it at 800 and below. Although 1600 can still be used if I actually shoot it right, heh.

 

[ElFenix]

p, av, or m

 

[GoingUp]

I use aperature priority almost 100% of the time.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: Gobadgrs
I use aperature priority almost 100% of the time.

Ditto. I rarely shoot in anything other than aperture priority--I like to have complete control over the depth of field at all times.

 

[Anubis]

i normally shoot full manual

 

[punchkin]

I generally use Aperture Priority outside, Manual inside.