# "PRO" mode?



## Thebigbarkhouski (Aug 12, 2015)

I'm new to photography and have been only shooting in M mode for the last few months, I feel I'm getting the hang of it.....but what about those other modes? I'm reading more and more of people who use A most of the time and some people who only use P. What do you use? What do the "pros" use? As a newbie what should I use?


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## Vtec44 (Aug 12, 2015)

You use whatever mode you need to get the result that you want, either for yourself or your clients.


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## snowbear (Aug 12, 2015)

^This.

Not a pro, but if I don't want to "chase the meter" I'll go with Aperture or Shutter priority, depending on the desired results.  I've never used P mode, except as a class exercise.


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## Derrel (Aug 12, 2015)

Most "pros" (whatever that means these days is up for debate!) use Manual mode for all flash photography. When shooting flash pictures, I would say that 99.5% of the time, the best choice is to have the camera in M mode, with a set shutter speed, and a set, pre-determined f/stop. Due to the way flash works, Manual exposure control is normally the most logical,safest,most-predictable mode to shoot in.

I would say that as far as regular work, most pros use manual mode a lot, but a lot of pros use aperture priority automatic, which Canon calls Av, for *A*perture *v*alue. This mode is very fast, and it's easy to look at the settings in the viewfinder, to keep an eye on things. It also works great with +/- Exposure Compensation (also called EC) dialed in.

There's a segment of new pros who rely on the newer cameras that _have superb sensor performance, _and who use AUTO ISO exposure setting combined with +/- EC to get the right exposure parameters for BOTH the shutter, and the f/stop, as well as keeping the image well exposed despite rapidly-changing backgrounds; this is becoming a new way to shoot things like wildlife and action.

There are some times when the specific, exact shutter speed is the number one parameter for successful results, and using Tv or *T*ime *v*alue (Shutter Priority auto) can be a smart option.

The key is to use the RIGHT mode for the task at hand, and not to be too ignorant or stubborn or dumb to be fixated on one,specific way to accomplish the task.


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## Designer (Aug 12, 2015)

Thebigbarkhouski said:


> As a newbie what should I use?


I think you should use all of them.  One at a time, of course.  Learning what each mode does and how your camera does things, and what the results are is very enlightening.  

Here's an exercise for you:  

Shoot the same scene in each of the modes.  Later, look at the images in detail.  Look at the histograms, compare aperture settings, shutter speeds, and ISO (if you've had it on "auto ISO".  

After that exercise you should begin to have a good feel for what mode you want for any given situation.  For instance; if you want to set your camera to auto shutter priority, set the shutter speed to what you think will be optimal, and watch the aperture to monitor your DOF, for instance.  

Or if you decide to set it to auto aperture priority, watch the shutter speed so your hand-held shots will not suffer from camera movement.  

Or get lots of practice in manual mode.


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## astroNikon (Aug 12, 2015)

I'm using the Manual mode for Shutter & Aperture and most of the time have ISO in AUTO as Derrel mentions above.

I find that I"m peculiar on Shutter speed (for the right motion parameter) and Aperture (for the right subject isolation) for most of what I do.  I just let AUTO ISO do the balancing act.

but as long as you get that shot that is what counts.  And as long as you are satisfied with the shutter / aperture results.


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## vfotog (Aug 12, 2015)

I've been shooting for over 30 years, so I'm from back in the day when you had to understand what to set because the camera couldn't do it for you. I never use auto ISO and I want control of everything, so I consistently use manual. Especially since I shoot a lot of live music. There are time when it may suit you better to use more automated modes, but it's great that you are shooting in manual. You'll learn more about how things work and won't regret having that knowledge.


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## runnah (Aug 12, 2015)

M mode also stands for "*M*issed the shot because I was too busy fiddling with dials". 

I only shoot M when I know that the light won't change that much and for video.

The rest of the time I live in Av and Tv. Granted I do a lot more "run and gun" style of photo/video so getting the shot is most important.


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## robbins.photo (Aug 12, 2015)

Thebigbarkhouski said:


> I'm new to photography and have been only shooting in M mode for the last few months, I feel I'm getting the hang of it.....but what about those other modes? I'm reading more and more of people who use A most of the time and some people who only use P. What do you use? What do the "pros" use? As a newbie what should I use?



When I shot the D5100 and later the D5200 I shot in either Shutter priority or aperture priority almost all of the time, depending on which parameter I needed to be able to adjust relatively quickly to get the shot I wanted.  The reason for this that both of these camera had only a single control wheel, and as such I had to choose which of these parameters I would be able to adjust just by spinning the dial.

Now that I shoot a D7100, since it has two command dials, I shoot in manual most of the time, because it's easy for me to adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture on the fly as needed.  I let the camera select the ISO, if I feel the ISO is too high I can adjust either aperture or shutter speed or both to get the best balance depending on my shooting situation.


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## ak_ (Aug 12, 2015)

Manual: Sunny 16 and bracket +/- (usually aperture). Aperture-priority: spot meter off of the middle value of the scene framed in my viewfinder.


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## Thebigbarkhouski (Aug 12, 2015)

Interesting, I wouldn't think to keep ISO on auto I have it in my head to always try and keep it as low as I can for IQ, witch is usually 100-200 for me. I shoot outside in the day alot. I even bought a book about my new camera and the author says first thing take off auto ISO. But I will explore the possibilities of auto ISO and see how it goes. I'm also going to try and shoot the same scean in a all mode and compare more than I have been. I feel like I haf to get M down frist but as a result I delete many photos (all great lessons just not great shots).  This forum site is awesome by the way, thanks guys.


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## ak_ (Aug 12, 2015)

I'm ok with auto/programme modes if i'm sure of what the camera will decide to do. It frees you up to make the pictures. Would auto ISO drop the ISO to keep aperture wide or instead stop down the lens to raise ISO? This is what's to know. Canon's T70 SLR had a programme mode to try to keep the aperture wide, Nikons N90 etc had a programme to do that (and several others). If you know what decisions the camera will make then you can relax with it.


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## JacaRanda (Aug 12, 2015)

runnah said:


> M mode also stands for "*M*issed the shot because I was too busy fiddling with dials".
> 
> I only shoot M when I know that the light won't change that much and for video.
> 
> The rest of the time I live in Av and Tv. Granted I do a lot more "run and gun" style of photo/video so getting the shot is most important.



However, M mode = AV & TV mode when auto iso is applied.  No missing the shot.  Set aperture and shutter speed, no fiddling.

ETA..most often thinking in terms of maintaining a minimum shutter speed of 1250 for birds in flight, minimum shutter speed for focal length of 600mm, and aperture value of f8 or f9 for best sharpness range of the lens I use the most.  I can't have my shutter speed drop drastically so subject movement become a blur in AV.  I can't have my aperture open beyond f8 in most cases because the lens is not as sharp.  M with auto ISO works best for most of my situations.  The only fiddling is dialing in EC when I have a stationary subject.


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## astroNikon (Aug 12, 2015)

Thebigbarkhouski said:


> Interesting, I wouldn't think to keep ISO on auto I have it in my head to always try and keep it as low as I can for IQ, witch is usually 100-200 for me. I shoot outside in the day alot. I even bought a book about my new camera and the author says first thing take off auto ISO. But I will explore the possibilities of auto ISO and see how it goes. I'm also going to try and shoot the same scean in a all mode and compare more than I have been. I feel like I haf to get M down frist but as a result I delete many photos (all great lessons just not great shots).  This forum site is awesome by the way, thanks guys.


If you are in Shutter or Aperture priority, if you are in AUTO ISO then who knows what the camera is going to set for Aperture or Shutter (opposite of the Priority Mode).

When YOU set Aperture and YOU set Shutter in Manual, with the camera in AUTO ISO the ISO it just goes along for the ride because you would set the ISO for about the same setting anyways.  It just saves yourself a step.  Plus, with dual control wheels it's very fast to change Aperture & Shutter.

I also set a MAXimum ISO in the AUTO ISO setting so as not to get to a noisy level.


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## JustJazzie (Aug 12, 2015)

Not a pro here, but 99% of the time I'm in M with auto Iso (capped with an Iso I'm comfortable with) unless shooting flash then I choose to use full M. It's very rare for me to use shutter priority or aperture priority. They never seem to know what I need. ;-)


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## robbins.photo (Aug 12, 2015)

Thebigbarkhouski said:


> Interesting, I wouldn't think to keep ISO on auto I have it in my head to always try and keep it as low as I can for IQ, witch is usually 100-200 for me. I shoot outside in the day alot. I even bought a book about my new camera and the author says first thing take off auto ISO. But I will explore the possibilities of auto ISO and see how it goes. I'm also going to try and shoot the same scean in a all mode and compare more than I have been. I feel like I haf to get M down frist but as a result I delete many photos (all great lessons just not great shots).  This forum site is awesome by the way, thanks guys.



Yup, the fear of high ISO is pretty common when your first getting started, but really you don't need to shoot everything at 100-200 for good image quality.  Sure, it's nice when you can, but depending on your camera you probably won't even start to notice any noise until you gt above at least 800, and even then on most it doesn't become even slightly noticeable until you get well above that., and usually a bit of noise reduction in post will do wonders for the final image.

I find auto ISO extremely useful - I know I'll always be getting a good exposure that way - and if I'm looking through the viewfinder and I think my ISO is too high I can reduce my shutter speed, or open up the lens a bit by decreasing my Aperture setting - or both.  So I still control the ISO by using the other two parameters to get the best results.

Otherwise I'd be having to try and adjust all three for each shot, just wouldn't be very efficient when I can easily and quickly adjust the other two parameters and let the camera set the third accordingly for proper exposure.


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## BrickHouse (Aug 12, 2015)

When I moved to the D750, I stopped thinking about ISO completely.


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## Derrel (Aug 12, 2015)

BrickHouse said:
			
		

> When I moved to the D750, I stopped thinking about ISO completely.


Exactly. On many older-tech cameras, ISO was a hugely important and SIGNIFICANTLY *limiting factor*...this is the thing, with the newer sensors from Sony and Toshiba...the sensors have become basically, ISO-invariant. This was most definitely NOT the case, and is in fact, still not the case with most of the Canon cameras using older sensor tech, or the older, pre-Exmor generation Nikon cameras. With my D2x, AUTO ISO was a recipe for utter disaster in many situations. With the D3x, and all the other, new 14-bit, Sony Exmor generation 1 and II sensors, the ISO capabilities and the dynamic range, and the post-processing adjustment capabilities are hugely, hugely improved.

There are still millions of people who just cannot comprehend life above BASE ISO level. Old, outdated ideas die hard. Very,very hard. What was true with 10 year-old sensor technology is no longer the case.

Most of us are no longer shooting D90's...if you've moved to Nikon full-frame, there's almost no ISO that is unworkable until you get to above 6,400 and ***+ light....


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## Bebulamar (Aug 12, 2015)

Use whatever you want. I think the pro's use whatever mode that can get the job done the easiest way. Being a pro there is no sense to do it the hard way. But remember in many cases the easiest way is using manual mode.


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## EIngerson (Aug 12, 2015)

I use "pro mode". It's the green box. You're technically not allowed to use that until you've become a photography sansei. And besides, my camera takes GREAT photos……or so I've been told.


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## kathyt (Aug 13, 2015)

I shoot in aperture priority a lot. That is just me.


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## JustJazzie (Aug 13, 2015)

EIngerson said:


> I use "pro mode". It's the green box. You're technically not allowed to use that until you've become a photography sansei. And besides, my camera takes GREAT photos……or so I've been told.


Hey! We must have the same camera! I've been told the same thing.


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## The_Traveler (Aug 13, 2015)

Anyone who purports to know what 'all pro's' use is absolutely full of crap.
Do what works for your skills and intent.


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## sm4him (Aug 13, 2015)

Thebigbarkhouski said:


> Interesting, I wouldn't think to keep ISO on auto I have it in my head to always try and keep it as low as I can for IQ, witch is usually 100-200 for me. I shoot outside in the day alot. I even bought a book about my new camera and the author says first thing take off auto ISO. But I will explore the possibilities of auto ISO and see how it goes. I'm also going to try and shoot the same scean in a all mode and compare more than I have been. I feel like I haf to get M down frist but as a result I delete many photos (all great lessons just not great shots).  This forum site is awesome by the way, thanks guys.



Just like whether to use M mode, P mode, etc, using auto-ISO really just depends on the situation. For bird photography, I love using auto-ISO, because if I'm shooting a bird against the trees and then it suddenly flies up into the bright blue sky, I'm going to get blown-out results if my ISO was set for the background of the trees. 
But for most other things, I turn auto-ISO off. 

Personally, I use M most of the time--sometimes with auto-ISO as mentioned above.  I rarely ever use Aperture-priority or Shutter-priority although I certainly see the value in doing so.  For me, I just find that I'm able to make my adjustments on the fly quickly enough in most shooting situations, and I like being the one who decides whether to knock my aperture down a stop or two, or increase my shutter speed. It's such an automatic thing to me, that most of the time, I don't really even think about it, I just adjust on the fly and keep shooting.


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## EIngerson (Aug 13, 2015)

JustJazzie said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> > I use "pro mode". It's the green box. You're technically not allowed to use that until you've become a photography sansei. And besides, my camera takes GREAT photos……or so I've been told.
> ...



Cool!!! We should totally shoot pets and train tracks together.


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## dennybeall (Aug 14, 2015)

I'm usually just wanting to get the shot so the camera sits in Auto with Auto ISO on. When time or in special circumstances then the camera is often set in M (manual) and if I want shutter priority I JUST DON'T change the speed and if I want aperture priority I JUST DON'T change the aperture.
The ISO is also displayed so if the camera can't get the needle centered then the ISO button is pushed and that  single wheel changes the ISO. The wheel changes the shutter normally and if I push one little button the wheel does aperture or another button and it does ISO. Once you get used to it the single wheel is as easy or perhaps even easier than two wheels.


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## Mr. Innuendo (Aug 14, 2015)

I earn every penny I make with my camera, and I often shoot in Program mode when shooting with a flash.

Granted, I'm not shooting high art, but the flash and Program mode get the job done.


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## trailguy (Aug 14, 2015)

Anyone use a "scene" mode such as Landscape, Sunset, etc.? Some may see it as amateurish, but it often gives a nice starting point from which I can finish in LR.
I often use M, Av, and Tv, but really use whatever works for me at the time.
I certainly respect all, but I think continually trying to do it "like the pros" is a bit silly.


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## astroNikon (Aug 15, 2015)

trailguy said:


> Anyone use a "scene" mode such as Landscape, Sunset, etc.? Some may see it as amateurish, but it often gives a nice starting point from which I can finish in LR.
> I often use M, Av, and Tv, but really use whatever works for me at the time.
> I certainly respect all, but I think continually trying to do it "like the pros" is a bit silly.


I used to use the SCENE modes a lot until I learned basically what their settings are and the concepts behind it, now I can easily do them in manual.   I recommend if you need the Scene modes to use them as they are an excellent tool to use.  No sense to restrict yourself.


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## Mattis (Aug 19, 2015)

I'm no pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I am most comfortable with the A mode, as in aperture priority.
I have my aperture set to the front dial and the ISO to the rear dial. I control the shutter speed by manipulating ISO and aperture.
What do you do in full manual mode? You make sure that the needle of the camera meter is in the middle. In aperture priority the camera does that for me and I don't waste any time doing it myself. At the same time I can still have an artistic influence on the image through the exposure triangle by setting two parts of it myself.
That is simply the most effective way that I have found for myself


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## DanOstergren (Aug 19, 2015)

To me what's important is light, not the mode you shoot in.


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## runnah (Aug 19, 2015)

DanOstergren said:


> To me what's important is light, not the mode you shoot in.



Wish more people understood this.


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## DanOstergren (Aug 19, 2015)

runnah said:


> DanOstergren said:
> 
> 
> > To me what's important is light, not the mode you shoot in.
> ...


Either you "get it" from the start (if you're lucky), or the concept eventually comes to you. It took me a couple years to realize that light trumps everything else when it comes to photography; without it there is no photo, so it stands to reason that better light will equate to a better photograph. Of course composition, color, exposure and retouching are important too, but your lighting should be the foundation of every photograph.


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## runnah (Aug 19, 2015)

DanOstergren said:


> runnah said:
> 
> 
> > DanOstergren said:
> ...



We should change the name "camera" to "light collection box".


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