Whats your preferance?

i meter off the grass... it's a mid-tone color and slightly reflective..

I've found that if i shoot in TV (shutter priority) that I'm not getting enough light into my photo's with a filter and hood on, so full manual is my preferances now after a few more events with my new lense.

No matter what mode you are in, you still have to use your head. I shoot Tv and P most of the time. The light changes too dramatically around here to shoot reliably on M most of the time, although I do it when called for. I shoot drag racing, so the conditions and requirements are different. I'm generally trying to keep my shutter speed above 1/1,000 in daylight to capture the starting line burst while road race and circle track photographers are trying to go the other direction. A wise old photographer once told me, and it's true in my opinion, that more pictures are ruined from a shutter speed that is too slow than a depth of field that is too shallow. It isn't always true, but he was generally right, at least for what I do.

Regardless, pay attention to aperture and shutter speed no matter what mode you are in. When either falls outside of the range that is acceptable to you, then change something. For me, that something is usually ISO.

When shooting M, the black car vs. white car still isn't automatically resolved. You can lose loose detail in the shadows of a black car and burn highlights on white cars if you aren't careful. You still have to compensate a little to make sure the subject is within the range of sensitivity of the sensor. Shooting RAW format helps, but I can't afford the storage space for the file size nor the post processing time for the volume of images I shoot any more.

I see this is another rambling post. I should never try to type the morning after a hard day and night at the track.

Lukey347 wrote in post #10935862
I've found that if i shoot in TV (shutter priority) that I'm not getting enough light into my photo's with a filter and hood on, so full manual is my preferances now after a few more events with my new lense.

A hood and clear filter shouldn't make any difference to exposure. What is probably at play is having the aperture needed for the shutter speed chosen being beyond the maximum aperture the lens can provide. As I said in my earlier post, you still have to pay attention to what is going on when you use an automatic mode. Manual requires that you pay more attention to those kinds of things.

A hood won't make any difference in the amount of light reaching the sensor and if you are talking about a UV filter, that won't either. However, if you are having the control you need on manual, then that is the mode for you.

My opinion on hoods and UV filters – hoods are essential equipment, but UV filters should only be used to filter UV if you need to do so. If you want to get rid of "green ghosts" from reflected/refracted headlights and specular highlights, get rid of the UV filter. I've got them, but things have to get pretty nasty before I'll stick one on a lens. Hoods control stray light that bounces around on the lens glass to produce flare. I can't believe how many people shoot without them. They really improve things when shooting toward the light source.

Yeah I've just learnt about the green ghosts caused by filters. One of the tracks I shoot at regualy has alot of dirt/small rocks on the edge so I use a filter to save the lens.
Once I started using a hood I was amazed at the results.

Lukey347 wrote in post #10783179
Cheers for the advice.
I think TV mode/shutter priority will be the way to go. I manily shoot motorsport (most of the being drift). Manual is good, but after reading that i realise how often i'm chasing a good enough setting.

I'm going to disagree. A black car will give you a different exposure from a white car & you're going to be chasing your tail setting EC. Even if I'm shooting in sunlight with clouds passing over, manual is just faster & better for me: Need an exposure crutch?

As I said earlier, whatever mode you use, you still have to use your head. I've been through enough DSLRs now that I know that they don't all react the same, even the format used for saving images. My old 10D gave the prettiest digital images shooting JPEGs of any digital I've owned. It was just too slow for my type of shooting and I wore it out as well. My 30D just wanted raw images. I shot raw for as long as it was my main camera. My 50D does a good enough job with JPEGs that I'm back to shooting JPEGs and only shoot raw when I need insurance or the light is extra tricky. All of these needed different exposure tricks and had different biases. In manual, a black car tends be too black and a white car too white if some sort of exposure adjustment isn't used. Just the opposite takes place on Tv, Av, or P. You just can't shut down your brain no matter which mode you use.

over the past for years i have photographed many different types of motorsports. from monster trucks to sprint cars. i have found for arenas and stadiums i tend to shoot strictly manual so i can keep the exposure of my photos uniform, but recently i started to use tv and av mode when im shooting sprint cars. i find it frustrating when im photographing a practice session and the sun comes out from behind the clouds and goes back behind them. for this instance i will use av mode. when im photographing a mud pack session, practice session or qualifying session for dirt sprint cars i will use tv mode. once the sun goes down and my shutter drops below 1/100th switch to manual mode set my aperture wide open and my shutter speed anywhere from 1/125th to 1/250th.

personally i think it just depends on the type of motorsport you are photographing and lighting situation, if its daytime or under lights.