Canon F1 via PhotoKB.com wrote:

Manual might not be as fast as "program" shooting but it would or rather
could be more accurate. I can adjust a stop if I feel I need it as a
critter walks into the shade and I can do it in a hurry.

All the canon cameras I use (dslrs as well as 35mm film) have exposure
compensation dials, so it is a small fraction of a second to do
compensation in aperture and shutter priority modes. So you have
complete control of the system. For example, in aperture priority
mode. you choose the aperture, the camera reads the light and sets
the shutter, and you can over ride with the exposure compensation
dial--all in a fraction of a second. In many situations, in my
experience, you can dial in compensation, e.g. meter -1/3 stop,
and that will work even as light conditions change, thus you concentrate
on the subject, not on your meter. Example: fading light near sunset:
the subject and exposure compensation is constant, but light
is dropping. In manual mode, you would need to constantly adjust
exposure, but in aperture priority mode, you just shoot as desired.
In my experience this situation is more common than the need to
use manual mode. I do use manual mode, but perhaps only 10%
of the time.

I have had the same
cameras hanging around my neck for years and decades and we have a good
relationship. What do you think photographers did before "modes" and
"programs" and auto focus? And they took some mighty fine photos.

I guess, I do what works for me and has worked for 25 years.

Yes. My 25-year old cameras don't meter very well compared to
modern cameras. Even my 15-year old cameras don't. Modern
systems are very impressive.

Roger