Why use "M" mode?

[Steve L]

I am coming from a Leica M6, which *only* has "M" mode, to the G1...but now, with Av, Tv and P (plus exposure compensation) available, when do you need M on a G1? Are you adding in some sort of exposure compensation to override the meter?

[afly]

Steve L wrote:
I am coming from a Leica M6, which *only* has "M" mode, to the G1...but now, with Av, Tv and P (plus exposure compensation) available, when do you need M on a G1? Are you adding in some sort of exposure compensation to override the meter?

In P, Av and Tv modes, the G1 will meter again for every frame and change the shutter speed and/or aperture if necessary. With M, you know that every frame will be exposed identically, which is sometimes important.

You may want also to use separate light meter, for example measure the incident light. With strong lights and reflective surfaces it's often easiest, because this eliminates the need to evaluate scene and guess proper compensation, which can be frustrating.


And I bet there are plenty of other reasons too.

[gbjune]

Disclaimer: what I described below was taken with Canon Rebel 2000 / 75-300mm, but I guess the G1 would behave in the same way.

One obvious one (at least that I've used it for), is when the lights are changing throughout the scene and you can't be sure where you want to take a picture.

Scenario: Seaworld, fast-moving killer whales moving around in a fairly large pool, artificial light, no way to use flash.

What I did was to meter (using P) several places that were potential places where the killer whales might show up and then set for bracketing -1,0,+1.

Some turned out pretty good. Some did not. HAd I used digital, I could have taken more.

Geir

[oops]

Sometimes you may want that "artistic" approach. Way under or over exposed, weird depth of field with exposure control, etc. Sometimes the best way to turn a dull subject into a "keeper" shot is with M mode. But you already know this.

I am happy that my G1 has M mode because without it I would not have a truly full featured camera, even if I don't use it very often. I have had times when I took 6 or 8 shots that looked horrible on the LCD. I switched to M, followed my nose, and found a real dandy. I use it as a last ditch, "gotta be a way", method to capture a really difficult shot.

[Steve L]

thanks for all of your replies!
In addition to the suggestions for when you want to "fool the meter", where you could just use exposure compensation, I just realized that the best reason for "M" is that it would be faster - the camera doesn't have to meter before the shot.
Combine with manual focus, and it would be almost as fast as a non-digital camera.....

[Kid Moe]

If you want to take long exposure pictures of the stars, or if you want to take pictures of fireworks, the easiest solution is to set things up manually. I.e 8s shutter, largest aperture.

Also, I find that when I want to use the flash when taking a close-up, it always comes overexposed in Auto or priority mode. By manually setting the shutter and aperture, I can get a better shot.

KM