Shoot using Auto or Manual on a 60D
 

Hello,

We are shooting our first event (baptism) tommorrow using our new DSLR's. It is a no pressure shoot, just for practice for the upcoming wedding season. I thought about maybe just shooting it using the Auto feature on the Movie Exposure setting given that this our first time using a DSLR and maybe until we get a better feel/grasp we can move on to using the Manual. Is this the best way to learn? What was your experience?

Thanks,

The only thing you'll learn is never to shoot on auto again.

Always Manual Kren.

So you have full control over Exposure, Shutter, WB and ISO.

Jason, do you ever shoot Auto ISO? or Av?

Michael, writing my response above, I was trying to recall a single situation where I shot auto ISO.

I'm pretty sure I haven't. Force of habit. =) Always M for me.

Thanks Jason. Sometimes things happen so fast at a wedding, that it can be difficult for me to make all those adjustments so quickly. (aperture, shutter and ISO).

Michael, set ISO first, then shutter. Your first recourse of adjustment should be the aperture.

I cheat and keep the WB on auto sometimes. =)

You should always rock your DSLR in manual for video.

For those transitioning from traditional cameras to DSLR's its important to remember one of the differences between them is how they handle exposure changes.

You can get away with auto on a traditional vid camera because when it changes the exposure via the iris it's typically a smooth change. With DSLR's the lenses were never designed for this and change with a sudden jolt. So as it opens and closes the aperture in auto mode it will be quite an odd thing to watch.

The best thing we ever did was to go full manual some years ago and its just allowed us to push our art further than we could have ever hoped.

You hardly need to change shutter. I'm on 50 most of the time.

I always seek the lowest aperture & ISO. It's an experience that you need to get used to especially if you've been using video camera for so long.

I cheat on WB too.. I only set it manually when footage became too 'blue' or 'yellow', which could happen in some cases (usually in outdoor or in a room with yellow lights).

Gun Slinger
 

If it's just for practice then why shoot in auto? You will learn nothing. Practice in M mode. I too sometimes set my WB to auto but I like adjusting it myself for really yellow rooms or blue days outside.

Shoot in M and learn to do it the right way. Once you have the settings you shouldn't need to change them very much.

You will become a "Gunslinger" from the West once you know how to work your controls manually. Im so fast, I don't even think about when doing the changes. I love Manual and never use any other settings cause I trusted myself to learn them with trial and error. It has payed off.

Bang! Bang!

Just an update that we shot the baptism with using the manual exposure setting on the 60Ds.. man that was a bit disconcerting at first ! but given that it was a pretty static event (and a no pressure shoot) we just programmed both cams with the same setting...24p, f 2.8, 1/50 ,ISO 640..oh i should mention the other fun things we encountered while shooting..

1. 12 minute auto shut off
2. Forgot to turn on the shotgun mics
3. lots of zooming with our feet
4. No handheld shots
5. People posing (for pictures) even after we tell them its a video
6. The priest wondering why its taking so long to take their picture :)

Cheers!

Kren
Vertical Video Works* Winnipeg Videography

Good to learn all those during a small event.. Wouldn't be as 'fun' on a wedding, especially the shotgun mic issue :P

Kren, no one said it was going to be easy. You want easy, buy a camcorder.

Ah... let me think Michael..no..
that's why we sold our videocameras so we can learn to shoot DSLR but thanks for your advice anyways

Auto exposure or no
 

I have had past experience with old-fashioned manual photography and Video cam-corders, so I learned pretty quickly how to adapt to manually adjust DSLR's for video. Here's my method: I lock in my shutter-speed (double my frame-rate) and I lock in my f/stop to wide open (unless I need some depth of field for fly-cam shots or processional) and I adjust my exposure manually by changing the ISO. My college aged son is my 2nd camera at weddings and sometimes I'll have him go to auto ISO. It seems to change quickly and gradually but will make all the same mistakes any autoexposure system will.

Try locking in your exposure and vary your ISO to see how that works for you.