in this day of auto everything cameras...

[back alley]

...why are so many still fixated on shooting in manual mode?

i think that me, an old fart, asking this question is kinda funny. it's usually us oldsters that are the dyed in the wool diehards.

but i wonder why, sincerely.

is it my laziness that makes auto everything so appealing?

i have shot the same forever...aperture priority or at least set the aperure i want with a manual camera.
i love auto focus...

what's the strong appeal of staying in manual mode?

 

[Jonnyfez]

I can't find the auto button on my M2 or F!

 

[Lss]

what's the strong appeal of staying in manual mode?

Control and consistency.

 

[NeeZee]

I don't like autofocus but I wish my IIIf had aperture priority auto exposure and a motorized film rewind 🙂.

 

[daveleo]

I shoot either manual mode or aperture priority because I like to reduce the variables to what I "grew up with" making pictures: ISO (ASA!), shutter speed, aperture, focus. (though I now use centerspot autofocus about 75% of the time.)

IMO all the menu options just complicate the process of making a picture.

 

[Godfrey]

"Auto everything" produces inconsistent results given today's camera technology. It's fine for the 85th percentile photographs, but photographers are always trying to do better than that.

That, at the present time, requires human intervention.

 

[hteasley]

I love shooting all manually. I feel much more in control. I drive a standard transmission, too, for the same reason.

The aggravation of missing a shot because I set something wrong is, for me, far far lower than the aggravation I feel when the camera chose the wrong thing to focus on, or made a bad choice on exposure, or made it hard for me to get the look I wanted because of its ideas about what to change first (aperture, shutter, ISO) before changing other things.

 

[icebear]

Very simple :
Convenience. Everything has to be as convenient as possible.
I wonder why people even eat real food instead of being fed intravenous 😀.

The camera or whatever gadget makes the decision for you. Thinking about aperture and time and focus and even ISO - eh... what was that about? Wait a sec, I will check the web with my smartphone.
Auto everything mode gives you decent pictures in 90+x number of shots and you just press the shutter.

I want to be in charge myself 😎. Therefore I shoot M's 😀.

 

[back alley]

so i'm not a photographer?

 

[ruby.monkey]

Thanks to the fine EVF and permanent live view, manual operation with my E-PM1 gives me the exposure I'm after faster and more consistently than any of the more automated modes.

On any other camera I'm more than happy to lean on its hand-holding functionality as and when necessary.

 

[back alley]

I love shooting all manually. I feel much more in control. I drive a standard transmission, too, for the same reason.

The aggravation of missing a shot because I set something wrong is, for me, far far lower than the aggravation I feel when the camera chose the wrong thing to focus on, or made a bad choice on exposure, or made it hard for me to get the look I wanted because of its ideas about what to change first (aperture, shutter, ISO) before changing other things.

the camera doesn't choose what to focus on...you do.

 

[btgc]

Using fully AE camera without direct controls to set or bias exposure - locking exposure on something out of frame, then recomposing - is this auto or manual exposure, or maybe partial?

 

[Timmyjoe]

For me, it's because I LOVE to take pictures, and the process of making images.

I learned photography in the 1970's with B&W and a totally manual Canon TX. I love all of it, which includes deciding on the film speed, deciding on what aperture will give me the depth of field or subject isolation I want, deciding on the shutter speed to capture movement or not, deciding exactly where I want the lens to focus. This also includes deciding on which developer, processing the film myself, printing the images (now more often scanning them). I love doing all these steps, and taking the time that each step requires.

Now I use a Nikon D4 for work, because my editor doesn't give a rat's behind about the process, she just wants the images, properly exposed, and in a matter of minutes.

But for my personal work, I love the process of making a photograph.

When I was young and first learning this artform, we used to talk about the difference between photographs (the things Ansel Adams made) and "pictorial representations of what was going on" which is what I saw from so many "auto everything" cameras.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Mackinaw]

I stay with manual because I feel like I'm "making a picture" when I do it the old-fashioned way. When I put things on auto, I feel like I'm "taking a picture." A difference I think.

Jim B.

 

[Mark T]

I find that using manual controls gives me a greater sense of ownership of the resultant image. Along with what to meter and so on.

 

[hteasley]

the camera doesn't choose what to focus on...you do.

Multi-point AF cameras often pick weird things to focus on, instead of what I want. Most often, some periphery foreground object gets the focus instead of my subject.

 

[rbsinto]

I shoot mostly in manual mode because that was the way I was taught to do it.
And because most of my cameras either don't have meters, or only have metered manual.
I don't disparage those using whatever exposure mode if it works for them. Using manual doesn't make me more of a photographer or a more "real" photographer (whatever that means) than those who don't.
Whatever gets you what you want or need or are happy with is what is important.

 

[jsrockit]

You can use auto and still be aware of your cameras settings. I use some type of auto on my fujis always... generally shutter priority and auto ISO. I pop into manual mode when I feel the need is there (I need a specific aperture). On the M8, I only use manual because I cannot trust the high ISO on that camera.

I find that people put a lot more stock in technical aspects of photography than the image itself. Nobody (except maybe some photographers) cares:

- how many keepers you got per roll or if you took 100,000 images to get your shot
- what shutter speed or aperture you used
- how low you can handhold your camera's shutter speed
- how you achieved focus or exposure
- how much you were in control

The viewing public is concerned (if you are lucky) with your photograph. How you get there is your personal way of doing things and is no more valid than someone else's way of doing things.

Let's face it, once you have your head around exposure, focusing, etc. it pretty much becomes a given. It's not that hard of a concept.

 

[Damaso]

Why would I let a computer make artistic choices for me? Because that is what aperture and shutter speed turn into. Of course if you don't really care and just want to capture something then auto is just fine. But I fail to understand people who make a huge fuss of the "quality" of a Leica then shoot on Aperture priority.... seems like an abdication to me...

And of course cameras are stupid. Granted not as stupid as they used to be but not as smart as a well trained and engaged human being...

 

[jsrockit]

Why would I let a computer make artistic choices for me? Because that is what aperture and shutter speed turn into. Of course if you don't really care and just want to capture something then auto is just fine.

Do you use your camera's internal meter?