What do you do?

[Jamie Pillers]

I set-up and use my digital cameras like film cameras as much as possible... easy with Leica or most Fujis. Anyway, I still only use shutter speed, aperture, exp comp and single point AF...but of course, format. The main difference is I like Auto ISO... I let it run through out very usable range of up to 100-12800 depending on the camera.

Same here. I try to minimize the camera features I use to mimic my long-ago film camera days. In-camera ISO adjustment on the fly is the one big improvement digital has brought to my kit.

 

[Pál_K]

... Of the posters, how many are using their camera as a camera with some bracketing or other typical camera features and how many are using video or other advanced "features" that are not found in film camera?

Even with film cameras I’ve never used autobracketing, continuous focus (tracking), or anything more than single point AF. I have absolutely never used video with a digital camera.

If I bracket, I do it manually and sparingly. I do it not because “one of these shots will have the right exposure”, but because I’m either concerned about a slow shutter speed or I want to experiment with depth of field on a closeup shot.

I had to laugh when I’ve played with digital cameras and a dozen or more little focus rectangles light up in the viewfinder - to me it’s distracting and very often doesn’t indicate what I intended to focus on. Total clutter.

For video, I have a dedicated video camera.

What I did during isolation...dusted off many of those shelf queens and put them to use. 201 different film cameras in 13 months.
...

With a mere 106 film cameras acquired over 40 years, I exercise them and get a chance to use them all and I do have a rotation scheme. Only my more recently acquired ones have not yet been used. I have a spreadsheet which contains info about each one.

 

[agentlossing]

I've wanted a more affordable take on a display-less camera with a minimum of buttons for a while now, something like the Pixii or the Leica display-less models but for a more established (and cheaper) system. A micro four thirds camera with a simple back and a good smartphone link, but with only an EVF and minimal buttons (more complex settings could be taken care of via the app) would be a lot of fun to use. Or even a DSLR like my Pentax KP with no display or array of buttons on the back. I know there's not much of a market for something like that, but I like to dream...

 

[raid]

I almost always use my camera on auto, but I think about the exposure and the surroundings and the light. Yesterday, I chose to "take a risk", and I took some photos with the camera on manual exposure. Got similar results. I used the same brain to estimate the exposure before taking the photos.

 

[newst]

The only digital camera that I use with any frequency is a Sony A7II that I bought when they were first released. I have had lots of time to get used to it.

I don't own any autofocus lenses, so 90% or so of the camera menu items don't have any meaning for me. I shoot almost exclusively old LTM lenses as I use them with my Canon and Leica bodies also.

So for my Sony, I have the camera set for auto white balance and auto exposure. Everything else is manual.

Video? Who does video with a camera? That's what my cellphone camera is for.

 

[Fjäll]

I feel the results are more consistent when I leave auto off

 

[tbhv55]

Especially on post processing for how to get sloppy images looking better 🙂 .

I think that most of us would have to admit to using this as a 'fall-back', @Ko.Fe. 😉 😀

 

[Oscuro]

Dear Bill,

My way of seeing (these days - ask me next year....) is this: subject (framing), depth of field, shutter, and ISO. This is the order. That is why the cameras are almost always on aperture priority. For races and aeroplanes with propellors maybe I set shutter priority and 1/60 or more slow than that. Maybe. Sometimes with flash at home - all manual.

Most work is colour so I am shooting with STD or Classic Chrome. No flashgun anymore. I don't carry and the one in the camera is enough. But mostly available light. If we catch a pol doing something foolish the ISO can be at the moon and it is fine.

My own little work I am ISO 6400 inside and 800 outside because I know how that will look. Maybe. Sometimes it is surprising in the edit! I edit like Mr. Jay Maisel: "no, no, no, no, no, maybe, no, no, no, no, yes!!!, no, no...."

So I think this fossil of a girl is maybe setting that camera as film camera... On Nikon I am saving the set up in a file and when I do firmware I reload settings from .bin file.

Cordialmente,
Mme. O

 

[Rayt]

With film I shot street photography with a Hasselblad SWC and Rolleiflex TLR. It isn’t about the film size but rather the stealth. Photographing people on the street at f4.5 with a yellow filter zone focused from 4 to 6 feet away wasn’t very convenient or effective much of the time. With digital now the M10M I can set up a 28mm mostly at around f5.6 or 21mm at f2.8, shutter speed 1/1000 and leave it on auto iso and shoot the way I have been shooting for 20 years.

 

[kangaroo2012]

Last week we had an eclipse of the moon, visible from our backyard. So I went to a nearby beach with no ambient light.
Cloudless, cool night so a tripod, camera and 300mm lens with 2x converter.
Done it all before a couple of years ago and have good results.
How often do you use your camera in complete darkness? Remember all the buttons and settings?
Well I thought I did, but the results were all over the shop.
Used manual everything and tried to keep track of the moon as we spun through space.
Upper right corner, lower left, ahh the middle of the frame.
Under exposed, over exposed Bang on for a couple. People out walking stopping to ask what I was photographing, ha ha look up you dills.
Some using phones with flash, it is only 360,000 km away, should be fine.
Wonderful night and a couple of acceptable shots.
Who needs bells and whistles.
Cheers
Philip

 

[Pál_K]

...Some using phones with flash, it is only 360,000 km away, should be fine...

It’s been said that on the newer phones, the flash Guide Numbers are pretty good. 😀

One feature of the Pentax K-1 is that the buttons are backlit. A nice touch. But all of my Moon photos were made with film cameras.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I set-up and use my digital cameras like film cameras as much as possible... easy with Leica or most Fujis. Anyway, I still only use shutter speed, aperture, exp comp and single point AF...but of course, format. The main difference is I like Auto ISO... I let it run through out very usable range of up to 100-12800 depending on the camera.

I do the same exact thing except for Auto ISO. I probably do not use 90% of the features my cameras offer. I simply do not need them.

 

[former member]

SLR: I stick with the Nikon Df- setup when first bought, and use the dials for everything.
Leica- stick with the M9, M Monochrom, and M8. Write my own DNG processing code for them. Use the Menu to format the cards.
I have very little patience for the menu based operations of new cameras. It takes the joy out of photography if you have to fight with the camera to use it.

 

[emraphoto]

I've wanted a more affordable take on a display-less camera with a minimum of buttons for a while now, something like the Pixii or the Leica display-less models but for a more established (and cheaper) system. A micro four thirds camera with a simple back and a good smartphone link, but with only an EVF and minimal buttons (more complex settings could be taken care of via the app) would be a lot of fun to use. Or even a DSLR like my Pentax KP with no display or array of buttons on the back. I know there's not much of a market for something like that, but I like to dream...

I’d argue there might be a significant market for that exact thing

 

[rolfe]

On the same theme, have you checked out how thick the manuals are on the new cameras? The focus modes alone can fill a chapter. Holy Guacamole!

Rolfe

 

[markjwyatt]

For digital, I use a Fujifilm XT-2. While it has myriads of menus, etc., it is quite easy to use it like a film camera. Either in full auto, aperture or shutter priority, or full manual. When I do more specialized work, I have to navigate the menus a bit (flash, slide/negative digitizing being the main ones).

 

[Tom R]

When I need a digital workflow (for any variety of reasons), I resort to my M8.2 (my only digital camera that supports Leitz lenses). No chimping, no feedback, no nothing. (I programmed the settings long ago and saved them as the default for that body.) The ASA is set to 160, and I manually meter and focus; in this way it's not very different than what I do normally. One difference: I am careful to avoid overexposure as I'm told that sensors do not retain information in overexposed highlight areas. (I seem to recall, however, that information in the lower zones is retrievable ...?)

 

[Pál_K]

... I am careful to avoid overexposure as I'm told that sensors do not retain information in overexposed highlight areas. (I seem to recall, however, that information in the lower zones is retrievable ...?)

Think of digital imaging as similar to using transparency film: you don’t want to have gross overexposure to the highlights. An overexposed sky or bright surface will have the details blown out and they’re not recoverable.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Different learning styles for different people. Here's a question to discriminate learning styles: Faced with a task, challenge, or gadget (like a new camera)... Do you:
a. Read the manual
b. Sign up for a course
c. Ask a friend
d. Or.. plunge right in?

Answers to this or similar diverge in the population. Different people have different ways of learning new things.

 

[Pál_K]

Different learning styles for different people. Here's a question to discriminate learning styles: Faced with a task, challenge, or gadget (like a new camera)... Do you:
a. Read the manual
b. Sign up for a course
c. Ask a friend
d. Or.. plunge right in?

Answers to this or similar diverge in the population. Different people have different ways of learning new things.

I read the manual. I’ll often read the manual (or find detailed info on the web) for a camera before I buy one (old or new). I’m an engineer, so not only do I enjoy reading manuals, I enjoy writing documentation. Among my fellow engineers, though, I’m apparently an anomaly.