"Norm Dresner" wrote:
"Floyd Davidson" wrote:
"Norm Dresner" wrote:
1. In P-mode with both film and digital Nikon SLRs and even
my EVF camera,
I can choose any equivalent exposure (shutter speed/aperture combination)
the camera allows which gives me complete control over motion-stopping and
depth of field. I also apply exposure compensation (+/-) on
top of this to
correct for situations in which the light fools the meter.

That doesn't make sense. In Program Mode the camera chooses
both speed and aperture, and you have *no* control at all. If
you apply exposure compensation, the *camera* decides whether to
change speed, aperture, or both. You have *no* control over
that choice.

Floyd. With Nikon N75, N90, F100, and D70 SLR's in P-mode, the so-called
"command-dial" is used to cycle through all possible equivalent exposures
(shutter-speed/lens aperture combinations). My Nikon 5400 EVF has a similar
capability. I have as much control as I choose to exercise.

Okay. My bad... that is very different from the Nikons that I'm
familiar with.

....

3. If I get into a situation in which there's a high degree of similarity
between shooting conditions from one frame to the next, I'll most likely
switch to either "A" or "S" as appropriate -- e.g. "S" when
shooting from a
moving car or playing grandchildren and "A" when walking around a flower
garden.

I don't see the correlation to "a high degree of similarity".
What you meant, I think, is that in situations where you want
more flexibility because the required exposure does not fit into
the "average" situation where the Program Mode will be
correct, you switch to one or the other of the more flexible
modes.

When I'm walking around, say Venice or New York and taking pictures of
things ranging from buildings to store window displays, there's no way to
predict in advance whether I'll want a S- or A-priority for the next
exposure in advance. When I'm walking around a botanical garden or an
alpine pasture, I pretty well know that each successive shot is very likely
going to be the same kind of subject and that I'll need the same basic
mode -- and probably want to preset a most-likely aperture as well.

That's my point exactly. It is not a "high degree of similarity" in
the images, or even in the settings, but rather in what kind of additional
flexibility you'll need.

Do I recommend that everyone shoot the way I do. Hell, NO! But after
decades of shooting in a large variety of situations on three continents,
I've found that the older I get the more selective I am about what I shoot
and I can take the time to modify each exposure to suit the shot. That
said, I feel that P-mode gets me "close" and I feel comfortable using that
as a starting point.

That sounds very reasonable, and is essentially what I do most
of the time too. Program Mode gets me close, and shows me what
I'm working with. But more often than not, one look at what it
is and I know that I want either Aperture, Shutter, or Manual
mode instead of Program Mode.

Our differences are on how to choose wording that draws an image
in the readers mind of what we are doing; and not so much that
the image itself is any different, just the words.

I certainly do *not* mean to be critical of your photographic
methods, nor of your results. I probably should have made that
more obvious in the previous article.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)