Camera questions - manual controls?

[Geezle]

Ok, I know we've got a few folks on the forum who are very knowledgeable when it comes to photography, so I figured I'd throw up a post about this.

Basically I'm not a huge photography guy...I like taking picsto share, but I've always been a point-and-shooter.

I've got a nice little Sony Cybershot DSC-TX20 waterproof, shock proof compact that comes with me on most of my trips, and I'm quite happy with the pics that it takes.

That said, I just acquired a Samsung WB2100 super zoom (bridge?) camera a couple days ago. I haven't played around with it much yet, but after doing a little reading I understand that it's mainly a point-and-shoot, however it does have *some* manual controls available.

I guess my main question is: if the auto mode is pretty good, which it appears to be...what's the benefit of playing with the manual controls? Typically when I take a picture I'm grabbing the camera and taking a quick shot or two...I don't really see myself having a lot of time to adjust the settings every time I want to snap a quick picture...y'know?

I don't see this new camera replacing my Sony, however I think the big zoom will be great for snapping some wildlife shots while I'm out fishing etc.

[jackrabbit000]

In Manual mode, you have complete control of the exposure. Shutter speed, aperture, ISO, EV etc.

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by jackrabbit000

In Manual mode, you have complete control of the exposure.

Sorry, I couldn't resist

[jackrabbit000]

Where's the face plant smilie? lol.

[whammy]

for your type of shooting, you don't need to know manual controls.
Manual is helpful for certain types of photography when the camera's auto functions can't figure out what to do. A big one is low-light photography where you might not want to use a flash, you can adjust shutter speed slower to allow more natural light in.
Another big one is aperture adjustments. Narrow apertures allow for a larger depth of field in the photograph, where wide apertures have a shallow depth of field.

[Big Bull]

For example, if shooting high speed sports, you would want to go with a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, otherwise you may get blurred photos. If shooting in low light, you might want to use a tripod and go with a slower shutter speed. Picking a higher iso number would also help for low light situations, but the higher iso number, the more grain you will notice in your photos. A wide aperture, like f2.8, will give you a shallow depth of field, meaning the area in the focus point is clear, but the background and foreground would be blurred. A narrow aperture, like f16, would be useful for landscapes, to get all of piture in focus. Have I confused you yet? Manual mode gives you more creative control of your pictures. You will find situations where Auto mode just isn't giving you the picture that you want, this is where you would need to understand exposure, and switch to Manual mode. Basically, exposure is determined by the combination of aperture, shutter speed, and iso. Hope this helps!

[Carson12]

Yep, pretty much agree with everything that has been said. The point and shoots, even my cheapest ones, do a great job of outdoor shots with plenty of light. If that's all you'll ever shoot, then maybe you don't need to go to manual mode.

But are you sure you're never going to want to shoot anything else? The camera assumes a bunch of stuff that won't work well in certain situations. If you're going to use that megazoom indoors, the aperture will shut down on you as you zoom in and you'll find yourself out of light pretty fast.

I would at least learn the presets: portrait, low light, sports, etc. They give the camera more direction and will extend it's usefulness without you having to get too deep into photography.

And if you ever do want to get into it, well it's a lot less complicated than reloading and ballistics (IMO). When I bought my daughter her camera, my only condition was that she never take it off Manual mode. She's a pretty decent photographer now.

[tranq78]

There's one thing that will improve your pics 10-fold, whether you use manual or auto mode...

A tripod!

[winged1]

Not sure about your specific model, but most have preset modes you select, such as action, backlit, etc.. Your camera doesn't know which mode you desire, so already you are exercising manual control. Modern cameras also adjust their settings based on general human perception. If you view things a bit differently, you'll want to set your camera up to reflect that, which typically means deviating from the default group settings.

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by whammy

for your type of shooting, you don't need to know manual controls.
Manual is helpful for certain types of photography when the camera's auto functions can't figure out what to do. A big one is low-light photography where you might not want to use a flash, you can adjust shutter speed slower to allow more natural light in.
Another big one is aperture adjustments. Narrow apertures allow for a larger depth of field in the photograph, where wide apertures have a shallow depth of field.

Originally Posted by Big Bull

For example, if shooting high speed sports, you would want to go with a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, otherwise you may get blurred photos. If shooting in low light, you might want to use a tripod and go with a slower shutter speed. Picking a higher iso number would also help for low light situations, but the higher iso number, the more grain you will notice in your photos. A wide aperture, like f2.8, will give you a shallow depth of field, meaning the area in the focus point is clear, but the background and foreground would be blurred. A narrow aperture, like f16, would be useful for landscapes, to get all of piture in focus. Have I confused you yet? Manual mode gives you more creative control of your pictures. You will find situations where Auto mode just isn't giving you the picture that you want, this is where you would need to understand exposure, and switch to Manual mode. Basically, exposure is determined by the combination of aperture, shutter speed, and iso. Hope this helps!

Thanks guys, this seems to be the kind of explanation I was looking for

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by Carson12

Yep, pretty much agree with everything that has been said. The point and shoots, even my cheapest ones, do a great job of outdoor shots with plenty of light. If that's all you'll ever shoot, then maybe you don't need to go to manual mode.

But are you sure you're never going to want to shoot anything else? The camera assumes a bunch of stuff that won't work well in certain situations. If you're going to use that megazoom indoors, the aperture will shut down on you as you zoom in and you'll find yourself out of light pretty fast.

I would at least learn the presets: portrait, low light, sports, etc. They give the camera more direction and will extend it's usefulness without you having to get too deep into photography.

And if you ever do want to get into it, well it's a lot less complicated than reloading and ballistics (IMO). When I bought my daughter her camera, my only condition was that she never take it off Manual mode. She's a pretty decent photographer now.

Okay, I get what you're saying

Honestly I do expect to mostly be using this camera outdoors in decent light. I'm not even sure how much I'll end up using it just because it's pretty large to lug around compared to my compact, which will likely remain my primary camera.

That being said, once I eventually have some free time I'll take this thing out and mess around with the settings to see just what effect they have on my pictures. I'll likely still use it mainly in auto mode but it'll be good to learn how to use the rest of the functionality of the camera for those 'just in case' times.

For the on-the-go shooting I do I don't think a tripod is in my future

[klink1679]

I am going to give this a shot to explain your camera functions.
In auto mode your camera selects the settings that are most optimal for the lighting you are in. Most cameras today take great photos in "auto" mode. In fact there is little reason to shy away from this function because it will almost always get the picture.
When you talk about manual functions it can be broken down into a few different catagories.
Aperture priority (on point and shoot cameras it may be known as a portrait mode). With this function you adjust the aperture and the camera selects the correct shutter speed to get a correct exposure. The aperture is the size of the hole in the lens that allows light to reach your cameras sensor. The smaller the hole, the less light that reaches the sensor hence the longer the shutter must stay open to properly expose the frame. Aperture values are often rendered to f stops. Depending on the lens your aperture hole may be as large as f1.2 or as small as f22. Smaller the number, the larger the hole. The aperture priority function is most useful to adjust death of field. What I mean by this is having your subject focused and the foreground and background focused or having your foreground or background out of focus. To make your background in focus use a small aperture (large number). To achieve this best you should also use a short lens (35-50mm) and be back from your subject. To blurr out the background use a large aperture (small number). To achieve the best results for this use a longer lens (85-200mm). The closer to your subject the most blurr you will get in the background.
Shutter priority: you adjust the shutter speed and the camera will set the correct aperture based on the light you are shooting in. This feature is often used in sporting events to enable the shooter to set a higher shutter speed to freeze the action of the athlete. Myself I don't use this feature and I think it can be somewha confusing for people who are new to cameras. The reason I say this is because you may want to set your shutter speed to 1/800 of a second to freeze a subjects action but if you don't have the available light it will never work. You are better off to either shoot in auto mode for such a situation as your camera will always give you the fastest possible shutter speed when shooting in low light or shoot in aperture priority and choose the largest aperture (smallest number) to allow the most light to reach your sensor. If your camera allows it when you choose the largest aperture you may be able to. View the available shutter speed to help you determine in you will be able to freeze the action.
Manual mode: you choose the shutter speed and the aperture size. This function is most often reserved for studio work where the photographer chooses a shutter speed, the files his strobes and measures their power with a light meter. The meter then tells him what aperture to set the camera on to get a correct exposure.
As I said in the beginning for almost all instances auto most works perfectly and there is little reason to use any other functions. Myself I always shoot on aperture priority. On the most part in good lighting I don't get any better photos using this function but it has become a habit for me.
The last thing to keep in mind is your camera film speed or camera sensor sensitivity. Most cameras you can set that as auto as well. Where your camera will take many variables into consideration (all to do with lighting) to choose the most optimal ISO.
Photography is all about light.
You change on variable your camera changes another so you photo is properly exposed.
Examples:
ISO 200 shutter speed 1/100 sec aperture f5.6
If I change ISO to 400 it is twice as light sensitive. Shutter speed becomes 1/50 at f5.6
Or I could keep shutter speed at 1/100 and decrease the amount of light entering the lens by half but making my aperture one stop small. f8.

It can take a bit to wrap your mind round it but to be honest there is little reason to understand it unless you plan to use some of the more manual functions and use them properly. But again "auto" modes are so good under there is few situations when using the manual functions will make your photos better.
Hope this helps.

[klink1679]

I hope it made sense. My iPad auto corrects my English a little incorrectly.

[WhistlePig]

One other manual adjustment is exposure which is the +/- symbol. Since a camera doesn't know what you want, it has to pick an exposure that works best for most situations. The camera actually doesn't "see" in color but in black and white or tones. So the middle point between 100% black and 100% white is 18% gray. So actually if you were to take a picture of a white card, then a black card then a %18 gray card; with auto exposure the outcome of all pictures would be 18% gray. In order to compensate you would need to over expose when shooting something white and underexpose when shooting something black to get the true color. (obviously it varies depending on tone and lighting conditions for how much)

Now "auto" has come a long way in the past few years and does an amazing job but it's something to consider if your pictures aren't coming out the same as when you experience them.
Also white balance is another setting which is a similar situation as I just mentioned.

[happy honker]

say your sitting in the house having a coffee when suddenly a rare bird comes and lands on your window sill…" I need to take a picture of this rare bird" says you.

You point the camera from your kitchen table, out side at the bird with the sky in the background…

In "auto" the camera probably exposes for the sky, and your rare bird just looks like a silhouette of a sparrow…( it "auto" closes the iris to compensate for the bright sky )….but….


In "manual exposure" you can open the iris manually, over exposing and blasting out the sky in the background, but the blue and orange feathers and red beak…will no longer be a black silhouette…but a perfectly exposed picture, proof that the blue and orange rare bird landed on your window sill.

There are other combinations of manual and auto, like manual iris, auto shutter that would be pretty handy in the above situation.

hh

[Grizzly Adams]

I think the big zoom will be great for snapping some wildlife shots while I'm out fishing etc. [ quote]

Just got a Nikon L820 for that reason. No optical view finder on these cameras any more and even with the stabilization feature, difficult to get the exact image you want, at high magnification and extreme distances. Hoping practice will improve that.

Grizz

[WhistlePig]

Originally Posted by happy honker

say your sitting in the house having a coffee when suddenly a rare bird comes and lands on your window sill…" I need to take a picture of this rare bird" says you.

You point the camera from your kitchen table, out side at the bird with the sky in the background…

In "auto" the camera probably exposes for the sky, and your rare bird just looks like a silhouette of a sparrow…( it "auto" closes the iris to compensate for the bright sky )….but….


In "manual exposure" you can open the iris manually, over exposing and blasting out the sky in the background, but the blue and orange feathers and red beak…will no longer be a black silhouette…but a perfectly exposed picture, proof that the blue and orange rare bird landed on your window sill.

There are other combinations of manual and auto, like manual iris, auto shutter that would be pretty handy in the above situation.

hh

I'm not sure if you can adjust it with a point and shoot camera but with an SLR that is where metering modes come into play.
metering modes.jpg

[benamen]

I like the manual mode for lower light conditions where the auto focus does not work. When working with a bright background as mentioned above, you can zoom in on the subject and let the auto setting focus and set the apature. Then press the shutter button half way down to hold the settings and zoom back out, then fully depress the shutter button.