Your Digital SLR - Using Manual Mode

Ok, I am showing my age a bit, but way back in 1980 something, I bought my first SLR camera with a range of lenses and a hand held light meter.

This lihgt meter was your key to taking good photographs or excelent photographs. There where other models of cameras that had TTL metering, that let me explain meant it measured the light as the film would see, taking an average, through the lens,

These where the good old days.

Modern technology has all the features built in, readily available for us, never mind the weather.

All you have to do is compose, half depress your shutter button, hold your breath and then prees it all the way, a click and it is captured.

A quick look at the preview screen and discard what you dont like.

Way back when it was a more hands aproach, although the end result was the same, I feel that the photographer had to work a bit harder for it, put a bit more of himself into it, get closer to the subject.

In a way like a sculptor now turning to machines especially crafted to speed up his output.

No Pain No Gain

You will have seen what each and every one of those buttons do.how to use itand it is mostly covered in a fair bit of detail!

Whenever the MF function is mentioned it is only very briefly and is there to sort out, a minor prblem, like Self FoFocusing, or something or other, as a way to bypass that difficult situation.

With every newer model of the camera these "glitches" may become less an fewew needs for them will exist for the majority of the camera users. The day that that happens i will make sure that I still have a model with MF function, hopefully 2 or 3, of them just in case, I need a back up.

Firstly working on manual mode does use up a fair amount of battery power, so have to carry a couple charged batteries with you in your bag. no biggie.

Now if you are wondering whats the big deal about this, that an entire hub needs to be written about it.

Well it is was news to me when I stumbled upon it will doing my Werewolf changing trick, taking photos of the the moon.

Working in the dark I accidently switched from TV to AV. I srarted to talk to the wife and the moon was now peering out of the clouds, so I switched it over TV to AV, yet again, and only a faint glimmer was on my display scree. WT? had I done, started to fiddle with Main Dial, and things got a bit brighter, looked at the menu display and saw this "M", pressed the AV exposure compensation button and fiddled with this. the balance and everything was correct, Then I noticed the Grid and did my "third " positioning, hit my 5X button and fine tuned my focus. Clicked away and "WISIGIG"

What I Saw Is What I Got" a bonus.

I now use this exclusively.

Yes I know you dou, but in the Manual mode it is so much simpler and easier to handle, It mskes you feaal that once again you are driving the car, not just that passange along for the ride.

Which ever eay you use you SLR, I hope you have as much fun with it, store up those memories and do not run out of storage space.

Remember it does not take long to reach 100GB's of photos.