Program mode is not just for beginners

PBked

I was sitting with a friend viewing his holiday pictures of Marrakesh. Every so often, he would cough and state in an embarrassed way that this picture or that was taken in Program mode. The pictures, by the way, were brilliant. After a while I asked him why he kept apologising for using P mode. He said that he knew he should really be doing his photography in full manual mode. Where did he get this idea from? I think probably from camera magazines or other forums which consider that to be a true photographer you must always use full manual. Rubbish! Photography is about making great pictures and how you go about it is inconsequential.
Sure, if you want to have total control over the output, then full manual is the way to go when you have the time to fiddle with buttons and turnwheels. On holiday, for example, when you want to capture all those different shots, there is nothing wrong with using P mode.
I would not advocate just the use of full auto as you might as well buy a simple point and shoot. So for everyone out there I will repeat PROGRAM MODE IS NOT JUST FOR BEGINNERS.
PBked

bruto

I think some of this is a holdover from times when cameras were less smart than they are now, as well as a tendency to feel that something is lost if you don't do it all yourself.

There are also, of course, some good reasons to recommend manual operation to students who wish to understand shutter speed and aperture - not that this is the only way, but it is a good way to learn by doing. It's a good thing to try when mistakes can be tolerated and you have the time to fiddle.

But there are, as you say, a few people whom I jokingly call the "bondage and discipline" advocates. They simply feel that you must go manually to be genuine or perhaps to call yourself a true photographer.

The first cameras to have through lens meters at all were manual "match needle" exposure systems. You would read the meter, then set the camera to match the reading using your own judgment of aperture and shutter speed. Many such meters were easily fooled by difficult light and needed some second-guessing, which is easy enough in that system. If you're used to that, then of course manual control makes sense. If you expect to override the meter, it can be quicker to use Manual mode than to use automation and exposure compensation. I shot match-needle Nikon F's for over 40 years and still do from time to time, but I don't shoot my D3200 in manual mode when I'm using a lens that meters. If you're going to trust the meter anyway (which these days is right almost all the time), you might as well use one of the automated programs. Between A, S, and P, the choice is largely one of style. I prefer A for various reasons, but P will give the same results most of the time.

Unlike the green "auto mode", A, S, P, and M give you full control of every setting the camera has. Of those, the least convenient is M, which requires pushing the [+/-] button to adjust aperture with the single wheel. This will not give you full manual control anyway unless you also turn off the auto aperture feature in the menu.

I use M a lot because I like to use manual lenses that do not meter at all with the D3200, but if they did I would happily use A mode.

P gets it right most of the time, and it's the quickest.

PBked

Hi Bruto,
I completely agree with all you have said as one who started his photography career with a Kodak box Brownie using 120 roll film 55 years ago. I must admit that at the beginning of the digital age I may also have had some arrogance - "It will never catch on" was a phrase I was known to have uttered. How wrong I was.
I have been amazed at the advance in technology and one needs to go with it. Like you I almost exclusively shoot in Av mode (f/8 is the sweet spot for the lens I use most often), and so does the friend I mentioned in my post. The difference between him and I is that I don't apologise for using P mode. As you said, it does a damn good job most of the time.
I was looking at some reviews for a lens given by a professional photographer. All of his sample pictures were tagged with the shooting info. Did he really manually choose f/6.3 at 1/750th of a second? I don't think so.
As I pointed out and you seconded, it is great to return to grass roots and fiddle with your camera manually when you have got the time to be creative, but at a rock concert or motocross event? Again, I don't think so.
Best regards,
PBked

ohyeahar

I agree that M-mode is not the only mode that we as photographers have to shoot in. Plenty of pros don’t exclusively use M-mode. Technology has made our camera’s metering super reliable so it would be a bit silly to completely disregard it just for nostalgic purposes.

I’ll say this about P-mode. I feel like it’s the safety-net mode. Unless you find shifting the Program to be a convenient way of adjusting your exposure, I don’t feel like it’s a mode for DSLR users to shoot exclusively in. I think it’s more for those instances when something awesome is happening out-of-the-blue and you need to get a shot no matter what. For example, you’re on a boat and someone shouts “There’s a whale on the left!” or you’re on the street and you see Michael Jordan walk by.

bruto

I agree. Program mode and even auto ISO are very useful for spontaneous shooting, for example if you're just carrying the camera on the street.

One thing to remember about M mode is that much of the time it is defeated by auto ISO. If you want to use M to over-expose, it will still work. If you try to use it to under-expose, it will just raise ISO to counteract your decision.

ohyeahar

By the way, I have to admit that I feel quite negatively about P-mode. It bothers me because it reminds me of Ken Rockwell who advocates the use of P-mode exclusively.
He claims that the P stands for “Professional”

I don’t want to waste effort on ranting about him, but just know that the contents of his blog are poisonous to the beginner photographer. I’ve made terrible gear purchases and crippled my camera based on his suggestions. Don’t let it happen to you. If you read his blog, stop. Mentally erase everything you’ve ever read on that site.

bruto

I have to agree with @ohyeahar on this one. No point in going on and on, but even if our DSLR's are near the bottom of Nikon's lineup, they are far more than the fancy point and shoots some people seem to want us to think of them as. @ohyeahar's opinion is shared by many.

Of course there are many ways to do a thing, and many ways for honest people to disagree too, but I'd rather see good suggestions on how to begin here than bad ones on how to end there.

PBked

Hi again to @bruto and @ohyeahar
My final word on the subject. I was in no way advocating using P mode as the best setting. The idea of upgrading to a DSLR is to expand your possibilities in the world of photography. As you will remember, slr's used to have 3 choices (ie. manual focus, aperture and shutter speed). I discount the film speed dial as you set this according to the grade of film you were using. Most of the 'creativity' was accomplished in the darkroom. Nowadays, much of what was achieved in the darkroom can be done in the camera on even 'low end' DSLRs. Exploring the various modes and knowing what your camera can do is all part of the learning curve. Using P mode is part of that learning curve. To me, it's like having cruise control on your car and never using it because it takes some control away from the driver.
Best regards to you both,
PBked

bruto

I'll add to @pbked. I agree that of the four "full control" modes, P is my least favorite. It's important to realize that although it automates exposure it is far less automated than "auto" and some other modes, so it's a useful step in the direction of control.

For many years I shot more slides than anything else, which puts a different spin on creativity. No darkroom work here, and the choices are almost entirely in the camera. For me just being able to vary ISO is like a stocking full of candy at Christmas!