AV or M for weddings?

Going to attempt to shoot a wedding for a family member in a month. Based on my reading so far, and how seeing how flashes work, it seems I might want manual exposure. However, I feel like I may miss key moments if I am constantly adjusting my camera settings in M. Any thoughts on this?

Metering modes has been debated to death... everyone has their preference. I shoot M mode exclusively, using Tv maybe less than 0.01% of the time. Shooting in Av allows you to concentrate more on the moments, but also makes you less aware of the camera settings. You start getting things like motion blur, or you go outside and shoot on a sunny day at ISO1600.

If you decide to go M mode all the way, you just get better and better at it and you "see" things differently, and can analyze lighting situations. In most cases, I can enter a room and dial in my settings without ever looking through the viewfinder. You just get so used to looking at light and knowing how it all interacts and affects your photos. This awareness can ONLY HELP you learn and get better.

That being said, I don't know if a wedding is a good time to "practice" M mode. Unless you are NOT the primary photographer. If you're the second, then heck, I'd say go M and learn a ton!!

a lot of pro wedding togs use AV - gives control over dof & helps to ensure you dont miss crucial shots in changing conditions

if you have to ask the question, i would hazard a guess that youre not confident enough in manual to shoot the wedding that way, for a while yet, so id say go AV and just remember to check your other settings when you go from one environment to another

I use M, Av, and P, the proportion changes constantly. If you don't know what metering mode to use you probably shouldn't be photographing a wedding.

I use M and AV as the situation dictates ....... there is no one right answer

I pretty much only use M mode, unless I need to capture things quickly (sports, changing conditions, live events/concerts). However, this will be my first wedding.

Just listen to Picturecrazy and learn from him.

That is all

I go M.

tim wrote in post #6651735
I use M, Av, and P, the proportion changes constantly. If you don't know what metering mode to use you probably shouldn't be photographing a wedding.

I agree.

Personally I typically use M ---- I am a control freak and know what I want.

i use AV

Oh, one more question -- When the ETTL flash determines what the subject is, does it do it based on the light, on the framing, on the center, or on the focus point?

Mostly AV..

M all the way

I use M about 90% of the time...but I usually have the flash in E-TTL, which frees me from having to calculate the exposure for every shot.

Neither of them will get you good images unless you know how they work and are comfortable with the pros and cons of each mode.

Maybe P will be better until you are more comfortable with the other modes.