I am bit of a dinosaur, photographically speaking. Now for a bit of philosophy…
When I started out, I had a compact camera full of gizmos and I was happy with that, as any good gearhead can be :) The more gizmos the merrier.
At a certain point, for reasons to me still unclear, I decided that I was fed up with randomness (i.e. taking a lot of photos and hoping that by chance some of them come out all right) and that I wanted to become more deliberate. So I moved to a less advanced (at the time) but more capable DSLR. I also started reading / watching online material to learn about the craft of photography and finally I managed to wean myself out of AUTO mode and spent a little time on Aperture Priority before finally settling, uncompromisingly and unapologetically, on Manual mode. I also shoot exclusively in RAW but maybe this is a topic for another post :) It took a while and results were underwhelming at first, but then things started to improve.
I like 2 things about manual mode:
- I have full control on the resulting image by deciding the shutter speed and the aperture (and the ISO number)
- The camera is more responsive (i.e. it shoots when I tell it to do so)
What I do not care for is a camera that tells me what to do and takes its time to take a photo. This is my main beef with mobile phone cameras (I have even seen that there are now apps that guide your composition! That is such a no-no for me) and with some of the more modern offerings. I do not want smile / blink detection and the such.
My current camera has a lot of functions, but they can all be turned off. So when I got it, I ignored the 400-pages manual, set it on Manual mode and I was immediately able to take photos straight away. Of course I did read the manual some days after :) To come clean, I do use a piece of automation regularly… the autofocus. Mostly because my current camera is not really made for precise manual focus.
As stated before, if (when) I will have the money, I will buy a medium format digital back. These cameras are even dumber and more unforgiving than the one I have now. And I love them :)
I personally find it very fulfilling. I know that I deserve praise for my good photos (and ridicule for the bad ones) because… they are mine! I made them. They did not happen to me. I am not saying that everyone should do like I do, but give it a try, you may like it :) Just one thing: keep at it since it takes a while to get the hang of it (or maybe I am just slow…). With a bit of research and the right app you can even do it with a phone. It will be less immediate than a dedicated camera but a good learning tool nonetheless (but no, I am personally not going to go that way, I’m in too deep :) )
On a practical note, since I shoot a lot under artificial lightning, Manual mode becomes a necessity most of the times: usually my camera does not know that strobes will fire when I press the shutter, therefore it would interpret the scene as being too dark and my exposure choices as being wrong. If the camera was not set to Manual mode, it would try to correct the exposure resulting in a badly overexposed image. Regardless, I shoot Manual all the time, even under natural light when chasing wildlife or my little princess.
Since I do not shoot in any other way, any of my photos can illustrate the (very vague) point I am trying to make here… therefore I will just add a few from my latest published shoot.
All taken with 2 lights, both Profoto D1 Air 500, one with a large octabox and one with a large beauty dish
Great shots as always Roby.
I often find auto-focus to be a necessity, especially with action.
I was reading a while ago that some pros are always trying to judge distance, so they can focus quickly in manual. Like, if they know their subject is x distance away they can snap the focus ring to that distance.
I think it was one of the Nintendo founders, an avid photographer, who always carried a ruler around to guess at distance, then measure to see if hes right.
Anyways, with the new af tech manual focus is becoming mostly obsolete.
I do use that technique (without a ruler :) ) at times, specifically when there is action (e.g. jumps) and I am using a lens which is slow at focussing (e.g. my mainstay, the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L mkII)... my camera is pretty good at finding the right focus very quickly, but it does little good if then the lens is slow at moving the focus where the camera tells it to
Yeah, manuals best if you know where the action will always be. But if you're shooting an event with lots of action (protest, wedding, etc) I always have more luck with a nice fast lens and autofocus.
That 85 f/1,2 must be a damn dream.
It is a great lens and my most used one by far. But it is also slow to AF. I still love it though :)
Yes of course if you cannot anticipate the action, AF is the way to go. Also, it depends on distance and aperture: if you are shooting f/7.1 or similar and you're not too close to your subject, the dof may be enough to forgive AF errors...