What mode do you use?

[Mad Aussie]

I guess this kind of will depend on what people are shooting the most but here's how I think it breaks down for me pretty much ...


40% Shutter Priority (Tv on a Canon) - I shoot a lot of cycling, wildlife, and landscape. Much of the landscape is water. All of there things need me to control the movement to get the effect I want. I use the Tv to achieve this most often and then switch to manual if the effect needs finer adjustment in terms of DOF, exposure etc

39% Manual - After using Tv I often find I need to fine tune my shot so I use manual alot for this. Sometimes I want to be cautious so I use manual to slightly underexpose my shots knowing I can correct them properly in PP.
I use manual exclusively for the more special effect stuff like the extreme lighting/shadow shots and also for portraits.

20% Aperture Priority (Av on a Canon) - For landscapes I often switch to Av to control the DOF and colour intensity I want and then switch to manual if I think the shots needs more fine tuning. Sometimes I'll start with this for portraits also before switching to manual again.

1% Other - on rare occassions I'll use A-Dep, or even Auto as a metering exercise, and bulb for lightning/night shots.

Good question!