Come on, time to be honest....

99% manual
.5% Shutter Priority
.5% Aperture Priority

Told from the get go to use manual, thankful I did.. Learned more about composing images that way as well as my camera.

Only had a DSLR (7D) for about 11 months now. I pretty much always shoot in Manual. I'm still learning, and this forum has been a blessing to me!

80% AV
10% M
10% Auto

Usually, I get the desired effect of my photos by using AV, it allows me to control DOF, which is generally what I am looking for. I am starting to use my flash more, and I have been spending time in Auto and M to get a feel for how to control it better.

I paid an obscene amount of money for my 1Ds3 when it first came out...
discovered that a histogram could be displayed on the LCD. Have shot manual ever since then.

Manual when using strobes/studio (obviously) Av majority of the time + exposure comps. If know my SS is dropping. Then I usually pump up the ISO. I like to control depth in my photographs.


It lets me worry about other things like light/composition/styl​ing


Me personally manual is great but you can miss the moment if you too busy worrying about all the numbers. AV is nice because I can be like "Hey 2.8 knock out everything behind them." or "Hey 11 let's keep everything focus." and ohhh my ss is dropping under 100 let's push the ISO a bit.


Light can change ridiculously quick.


but heyyy thats just me but never full auto lol.

Full manual whenever subject(s) are at least semi-stationary, maybe a total of 75% of all shots. With semi-moving targets or fast action I'll use AV + EC for a total of 20+% of the time. Bulb and TV the remaining 1-5% of the time. I never use program or full auto.

I'm roughly guessing here, but my breakdown would be something like this...

50% manual
40% Av
8% Tv
2% P or 'green box'

The P or green box shots are for when I need something quick and quality isn't an issue. Something disposable, basically.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17610856
But saying av or tv are semi auto obfuscates that they are auto modes, not semi, you might have some control over the priotiy of the algorithms, but its still auto, not semi.

Sorry, have to disagree here...

While it's not being used in a full manual setup, using Tv for motorsport cannot be called shooting in manual by any definition...the resulting images differ dramatically depending on what speed I MANUALLY select for each shot...

The same goes for Av...

There is a lot of 'manual' biased snobbery in photography I've noticed over the years...

Sure I'm not in 'full manual' but I AM in charge...

STIC wrote in post #17639861
Sorry, have to disagree here...

While it's not being used in a full manual setup, using Tv for motorsport cannot be called shooting in manual by any definition...the resulting images differ dramatically depending on what speed I MANUALLY select for each shot...

The same goes for Av...

There is a lot of 'manual' biased snobbery in photography I've noticed over the years...

Sure I'm not in 'full manual' but I AM in charge...

So you disagree with his statement which said that Av and Tv modes are NOT manual modes?

I clearly need more coffee this morning.


But I personally see nothing wrong with calling them semi-auto modes as opposed to full auto modes. The user is clearly taking control of some of the values, while configuring the system to calculate other values for them on the fly. They are useful tools when you understand what is going on and how to use them, and when deployed in a proper manner under suitable conditions then they are capable of out performing what you can do in full manual mode.


Your camera is a tool with many modes. Learn to use that tool to create the images that you desire. At the end of the day if you are walking away with results that make you happy and haven't struggled to get them, then what settings you used on your camera really don't matter. No one viewing it on a wall in a gallery will ever care what they were. (Well, no totally sane person at least.)

I shoot only manual simply because that's how I started. Then I could only afford manual lenses, needless to say shooting with AF is blowing my mind haha

I shoot mostly sports and use my 1Dxs in manual mode but with auto ISO. For changing situations, I will adjust the exposure compensation that adjusts the ISO as necessary but still automatically if that makes sense. Best feature ever on a camera IMHO.

My first proper camera was a 350D and I tried "P" (is that Auto?) mode for a few days - completely did my head in! Never used it since as it is too confusing - my simple brain likes Manual (with Auto ISO) these days.

Av about 80% of the time, manual about 20%. Basically M when using a flash, Av most of the rest of the time.

Luckless wrote in post #17640169
So you disagree with his statement which said that Av and Tv modes are NOT manual modes?

I clearly need more coffee this morning.

But I personally see nothing wrong with calling them semi-auto modes as opposed to full auto modes. The user is clearly taking control of some of the values, while configuring the system to calculate other values for them on the fly. They are useful tools when you understand what is going on and how to use them, and when deployed in a proper manner under suitable conditions then they are capable of out performing what you can do in full manual mode.

Your camera is a tool with many modes. Learn to use that tool to create the images that you desire. At the end of the day if you are walking away with results that make you happy and haven't struggled to get them, then what settings you used on your camera really don't matter. No one viewing it on a wall in a gallery will ever care what they were. (Well, no totally sane person at least.)

Sorry, that should have read..."using Tv for motorsport cannot be called shooting in auto by any definition."

Well it sure isnt manual.