Before we talk about why setting your camera mode to manual is preferable in some situations, let's first go through a very brief history of how some of the fancy features of a modern camera came about. During the process, we'll explore how to make great pictures by not using fancy new features.The beginner photographer from 1900 to 1950s have only 3 big variables to think about in terms of exposure: aperture, speed, and ISO. Let's call it the "Big-Three." These three fundamental settings need to account for how much light is available (e.g. EV level). Life is easy to think about in the context of the Big-Three:
- aperture: exactly how much depth of field do I want or have?
- speed: if I handhold my camera, what is the minimum speed I can set to before there is hand-shaking blur?
- ISO: low ISO yields good grains but now you may have hand shake. High ISO yields course grains but at least your pictures may be sharp. What exactly is a good cut-off line between little hand shake and little grain?
- estimate or measure (via a primitive Selenium light meter) how much EV is available.
- configure the Big-Three to compensate for EV, using experience or exposure charts and slide rules. It's actually quite easy-- if you passed DMV exams, you can memorize the chart just as easily. There are charts/rules you can download from the internet. You can also scroll down to the end of this blog to download them.
- f/16 1/250 sec <-- sunny 16 rule
- f/11 1/500 sec
- f/8 1/1000 sec
- f/5.6 1/2000 sec
- f/4 1/4000 sec
By the way there is this Sunny-16 rule of thumb old timers like to talk about: "When it is nice and sunny outside, the proper speed at f/16 is the reciprocal of the speed of the film." So when it is sunny outside using 200 ISO, the proper speed at f/16 is approx 1/200 sec (we're off by a bit, but +/- 1 EV is not a big deal). Likewise, when using 400 ISO, the proper speed is approx 1/400 sec.
In general, when there is ample lighting, and lots of choices in the Big-Three, pictures turn out great. But when there is very little light, photographers have very little choices; the challenging lighting conditions often exceed that of the capabilities of their equipments. Let's take an example of EV5 (indoor night home, or lit by campfires or bonfires). At EV5 with 200 ISO on a 50mm lens, here are the choices:
- f/1.4 1/30 sec <-- can only focus one eye
- f/2 1/15 sec
- f/2.8 1/8 sec
- f/4 1/4 sec <-- lots of hand shake blur
In these two spectrums, there are two equally bad choices: only one eye in focus, or getting a lot of hand shake blur. Anywhere in between, you'll still get a crappy picture. In this lighting condition, the photographer simply cannot make good shots reliably due to hand shake and limited depth of field. He/she can use a tripod and ask the subjects to stay very still, or use a much higher ISO film (increase grain), or use a flash, or a combination of. In short, limited lighting will limit the Big-Three choices, drastically. Night shots are challenging to even the most seasoned photographers.
A good photographer will immediately know the limitations of his equipments in particular environments and reconfigure the equipments for different lighting conditions in a nick of time. A beginner photographer will try his best and fiddle with the equipments and eventually figures out that the lighting condition exceeds the capabilities of his equipments... usually when the precious Kodak moment has already passed!
In the 1950s, cheap, small consumer light meters came out. People no longer had to guesstimate the EV level, but still had to configure the Big Three manually. Later on, some manufacturers integrated light meters into the speed dial of the camera (Leica MC/MR-4), such that moving the speed dial also moved the slide rule that told you what aperture you should use. Finally, you manually move the aperture based on that slide rule.
Throughout most of the 40-50s most cameras didn't have a built in light meter. In the late 50s the legendary Nikon F came out (later on with F mount Photomics), and slowly convinced rangefinder users to switch to SLR. The Nikon F with Photomic had a built in light-meter such that setting the Big-Three on the camera also changed the view finder's meter for proper exposure. With this light-meter/body integration, there is no longer a need for the traditional process of 1) measuring EV, and 2) configuring the Big-Three separately. You can do 1 and 2 in the camera, in one step. But you still had to adjust the Big-Three.
The 70s and 80s saw much more electronic integrations between light meters and camera controls. First, S/Tv priority came out. No longer did people have to set all Big-Three. A photographer only needs to set the the aperture and the ISO, and allow the lightmeter+analog electronics figure out how much time should be used to expose the film. The Big-Three could now be called the Big-Two. With this new S/Tv priority mode, photojournalists who need to shoot in fast changing conditions where they didn't have time to to configure the settings, can now make shots, fast. Now, they can remove themselves from technical knowledge of cameras, to other important aspects of photography such as timing, composition, angle of view, interpretation, etc.
The late 70s and 80s saw the advent of A mode. Photographers could manually specify how much time to expose to the film, and the electronics figure out what aperture to set the lens to. New lenses had to be made such that the body could change the lens aperture electronically.
Soon afterward both A and S/Tv mode come out, the P mode (program mode) also came out. A photographer would first set the ISO, and the electronics do a best effort guess on time and aperture. It's almost dummy mode. To make things easier (or more complex, depending on your point of view) companies like Canon came out with special modes like Sports/Portrait/Night Scene, etc on cheap plastic Rebel bodies. They marketed using photos of Andre Agassi taken with a $300 consumer Rebel body fitted with a super $5000 white professional telephoto lens (very misleading). They marketed the Rebel as the camera that anyone could use; just look at this amazing picture of Andre Agassi! Buy this Rebel body! Proud sponsor of Wimbledon. Fine print: taken with a cheap Rebel fitted with a $5000 white professional lens.
Nowadays, people take their SLRs and just set it to A(auto) or to one of the modes, like Portrait, Sports, Scenery, etc. They have absolutely no idea whether their cameras can take the picture that they want given the lighting condition they have. In general, they'll try to take the shot, look at the LCD, and be disappointed with the results. Then next year, they want a slightly better camera because they think it'll take 10X better picture. They do this without any understanding of exposures, and waste money along the way. So this is what I say to all the beginners who rely on auto mode-- STOP USING AUTO MODE!!! Instead, set it to fully manual for a day. Tape over your wheels and only set the Big-Three. Yes it'll be extremely painful to have to think while trying to get the shot, but it'll be a great learning experience. I promise that after that one day, you'll gain more knowledge and appreciation for exposures, and you'll make better pictures for the rest of your life. I recommend you download the exposure chart, and think in terms of 1) lighting conditions and 2) what type of Big-Three setting you need for the style of photograph you want to take.
After that one day, go ahead and set the mode to whatever you want. With a fresh understanding of your equipments and their limitations, you'll make better pictures. Here is my rule of thumb for setting the modes:
- AUTO: a mode I set to when I give the camera to my mom.
- P: I'll use this mode only when I need convenience, and I am mostly outdoors (EV11), and moving between different locations (indoors, outdoors). I also set to AUTO ISO.
- A: a mode I set to when I specifically need the depth of field (people), and have ample light. Appropriate for slow/still things.
- Tv/S: a mode I set to for sports or water or clouds moving and such. I need 1/500 to 1/2000sec to capture fast moving objects.
- M+auto ISO: I set this when I'm indoors (EV5 or below) with no flash. I will only set 2 variables (aperture/speed) and let the computer pick the ISO. When I'm indoors, I will use a prime lens (f/1.4), and I absolutely need a speed of 1/60 sec or faster. So I only set the aperture and speed and let the computer pick the rest. For example if only EV5 is available to shoot people using a 50mm lens, I have very limited choices because I have limited light. I start at f/2.0 1/60sec (computer will auto choose 800 ISO) for EV5. If f/2.0 is too shallow, I may reconfigure to f/2.8 1/60sec (computer auto chooses 1600 ISO). If that's too grainy, I pick f/1.4 1/60sec (computer auto chooses 400ISO).
- M+manual ISO: I set this when I'm in one place and need very consistent exposures. No matter how fancy your matrix metering is, it is still reflective metering, which although is wondering is easily fooled frequently, and I often end up with 10 indoor picture that all have slightly different exposure that I need to recalibrate afterward. In this situation, it's better to measure your EV level once (gray card or incident metering) and be done with it. Sometimes I also use spot-metering to see the light level on the stage, and keep the setting the same. When your exposures are correctly set AND consistent, you don't need to play with post processing as much. If you get it right once, you never have to worry about it again. This is the ultimate mode when shooting in indoor studios, when you really know what you're doing.
Your camera has a bunch of other modes that really is just a combination of M/A/S/P and other settings:
- Portrait: the computer will set as wide of aperture as possible (blur background), and some cameras will give more warm tone to it
- Landscape: the computer will set the lens to a sweet spot (usually f/5.6 DX or f/8-11 FX), depending on brand and lens and other factors. Shutter will expect to be slower, but it's landscape, so it's ok.
- Sports: the computer tends to set wide aperture, medium/higher ISO to capture fast moving objects. Depending on model may add more sharpening in the JPG
- Night scene: the computer will do a slow-sync, flash the foreground with slower shutter speed for the ambient lights
Andrew L Lawn's exposure meter is very pretty to print and make. I love it
http://squit.co.uk/photo/downloads.html
Interesting reading, on the side of being overly verbose.
http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm
