New Canon EOS 10D

[bigted]

I have recently bought a 10D with a 28-135 IS USM Lens. I have been using it now for a few weeks and have gradually moved away from the auto modes and find myself using AV priority mode more and more. Is this the mode most generally used by experienced users.

I am tending to set the aperture I want to use and then balance with the ISO setting to get the shutter speed I want depending on the light conditions and movement of subject.

[iwatkins]

bigted,

That is exactly how I tend to work as well. Set the aperture for depth of field and see what shutter speed the meter comes up with. If that is OK, shoot, otherwise look at bumping up the ISO or going from hand held to tripod with self timer release (must get me a remote release).

Cheers

Ian

[bigted]

iwatkins wrote:
bigted,

That is exactly how I tend to work as well. Set the aperture for depth of field and see what shutter speed the meter comes up with. If that is OK, shoot, otherwise look at bumping up the ISO or going from hand held to tripod with self timer release (must get me a remote release).

Cheers

Ian

Yes I think I need a remote as well. I was dissappointed that the timer duration is not programmable. I don't always want to wait a full 10 seconds for the photo. My old powershot A40 had a 2 second and 10 second setting which was much better.

Thanks for the reply

[misaj*]

Do a Mirror Lockup in Customise menu......

[Vegas Poboy]

When I have to set up quick shots I too use the AV mode most of the time. The TV mode is great when you're trying to shoot action shots to either show motion or stop it. When time permits you can't beat manual mode and bracket to make sure you get the right exposure.
Good luck with the new camera :)

[Mark Kemp]

You need to pick the mode to suit the circumstances.

For a landscape say, especially on a tripod, a small aperture is often important to get a good depth of field - so use AV mode. Then let the shutter speed sort itself out.

For a portrait or if you want to lose the background a larger aperture is needed - so AV mode again. But watch that the shutter speed isnt too low this time.

For sports and action you want to either freeze the action with a fast shutter or blur it with a slow shutter - so TV is the mode of choice.

If you are likely to make a grab shot and don't have time to set things then auto is likely to give a good result - probably your best shot in a hurry.

Similarly auto mode is good for general family snaps when you don't want to work too hard or maybe where a middle ground shutter speed / aperture combination is required.

Don't forget auto depth of field mode either, occasionally when you want exactly the right depth of field it is really handy.

So I guess you get the idea - TV when shutter speed is the main criteria, AV where aperture is paramount, Auto for a good compromise quickly.

[MarkH]

Mark Kemp wrote:
You need to pick the mode to suit the circumstances.

So I guess you get the idea - TV when shutter speed is the main criteria, AV where aperture is paramount, Auto for a good compromise quickly.

Exactly!

I usually use P or Av or Tv and sometimes M.

M is good for the moon, the camera is more than 2 stops from where it should be on its metering. I need to drastically under expose for the moon to be right. This is due to using a 75-300 which still leaves the moon as under 5% of the frame.

P works well most of the time for general stuff.

Tv is good for motor racing to get the car sharp and the background and wheels motion blurred.

Av is good for minimizing or maximizing the DoF, or for getting the camera to choose the fastest or slowest shutter speed it can. For waterfalls I use ISO100 and the biggest aperture number (f24 or whatever) so that the camera can choose the longest shutter speed possible, this gives the classic soft blur for the moving water.

In summary: Use the setting that is most suitable for what you are shooting.

[lightandlife]

Mark Kemp wrote:

For a landscape say, especially on a tripod, a small aperture is often important to get a good depth of field - so use AV mode. Then let the shutter speed sort itself out.



True, for landscapes, one would use a small aperture. But then would there be any difference between landscape shots from P&S and a big glass using the same aperture?

[Mark Kemp]

Why should there necessarily be a quality difference between an SLR and a point and shoot?

If you use say a 3m pixel point and shoot and a 3 million pixel dslr, set the same focal length aperture and shutter speed the only difference should come from the quality of the glass.

This will probably depend upon how much you paid for the cameras and lenses and with modern lenses the differences shouldn't be massive. Just because a picture was taken on a point and shoot it won't necessarily be bad or even noticeably different!

dslrs give you processing power and fast buffer memory to allow rapid shooting and you can change lenses to get very wide to very long focal lengths and if you pay enough those lenses can be the best quality.

Camera manufacturers sensibly assume that anyone who pays a lot of money for a dslr is interested in photography and wants all the controls. But, they also build in automatic modes and fundamentally getting a good exposure is an easy process to automate 95% of the time. These guys have been making cameras for 40, 50 or 60 years, they have a fairly good understanding of how things work!!

It is quite likely that automatic modes, or point and shoots will use the same settings that the photographer would set anyway.

When you use aperture priority, shutter priority or manual mode it is because you want to control some aspect of the picture such as blurring or depth of field.

Occasionally, of course, you may suspect that the automatic system may be fooled, such as in snow and so use a manual setting to override the automatics.

For whatever reason, if you use a point and shoot or an slr in auto mode, you trust the camera and its manufacturer to make a good decision and 95% of the time you should get a perfectly acceptable picture.

If you use manual controls you have the opportunity to change the picture as you feel appropriate. You also have the opportunity to make a complete mess of it!!

But that's what makes it fun........

[AJSJones]

Mark Kemp wrote:
Why should there necessarily be a quality difference between an SLR and a point and shoot?

.....


When you use aperture priority, shutter priority or manual mode it is because you want to control some aspect of the picture such as blurring or depth of field.




Agreed that P&S can produce similar quality images under some circumstances. However, the ACTUAL focal length of the P&S units is very small (due to the small sensor size) and they have almost infinite DoF as a result. It's hard to get a blurred background in many situations with a P&S.....

Andy

[dmalek]

well, i do not agree with saying that a P&S gives the same picture ...

because you usually dont know the aperture, the speed.

and if you know the speed and the aperture, only a SLR will give u accuracy in framing, fast time response for action, and accurate speed (depending on model a 1/500 shoot is not EXACTLY 1/500).

therefore i think you cannot get the same picture in general, but yes you can get great pictures. because the eye matters more than the camera ;)