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When Traveling What Settings Work Best


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I have been traveling a lot recently and in some cities I have done organized tours where you are being taken to various places. I did a fantastic food tour before the hurricane in Puerto Rico, the downside photography becomes run and gun because of time, so do you set your camera to, aperture priority, shutter priority , full manual or fully auto?

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I used to use aperture priority most of the time with ISO on 200 or 400 depending on light and hope shutter speed was OK for subject.

 

Recently I have moved to manual for speed and aperture with ISO on auto 100 to 3600.

 

Seem to be getting less throw aways now.

 

Allan

 

 

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7 minutes ago, ManWay said:

If it's cloudy I put the camera on the 'cloud' symbol and if it's sunny I put it on the 'sunny' symbol. Always seem to work for me.

 

I would have thought you would be using “P” on the dial for professional 

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My cameras allow two lots of settings to be pre-programmed and easily selected at the click of a switch. I tend to have one (default when I'm walking around) with a fast shutter speed and variable ISO - for grabbing shots quickly, and the other set with a smaller aperture and slower shutter speed for more considered shots with more time to think and less camera shake.

It also depends on the lens fitted. Long telephoto - fast speed. Wide-angle - aperture priority, shut down a couple of stops.

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For travel, I tend to also go for first choice shutter priority and, as vpics, dialling exposure compensation up and down, plus a lowish ISO (whatever I can get away with, I used to go as low as I could, but these days, higher ISO is much less of a problem on the better camera models), occasionally variable ISO (bracketed).  On the pre-programmable settings, I have one for unexpected faster sports/moving shots/need to freeze type shots with a 400 or 600th/s, and a second one with f5.6 for shots with several people, with lower shutter speed. I avoid using the pre-settings when I can afford to spend time and go manual, but if not, then they are quite useful. But as Phil said, it depends on the lenses as well, I tend to use a 24-70 F 2.8 as my walk around lens when travelling, with a 70-200 in the bag (F2.8 or F.4 depending on how much walking is involved due to weight), plus a little 50mm or a 100mm macro.

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On these new cameras, Auto ISO is your friend.  In older models, maybe not.  I shoot about 85% of the time in Aperture Priority with auto ISO.  The upper limit on the ISO depends on the camera.  On my Oly OMD E-M1 MkII I will only go to 800 ISO, but on my Fuji and Nikon D500 I'll go to 3200 ISO.

 

In difficult lighting, about 15% of the time, I'll shoot only in Manual and see what works, keeping in mind what my upper limits are on ISO for each camera, still using Auto ISO.  It works well for me. 

 

I think what works best is what you feel the most comfortable with.  Personally I would never use Program mode, but that's just me.  I want a little more control.

 

Rick

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It depends on the subjects and light conditions. 

Also use aperture priority in combination with auto iso  - that is if the expected subjects are more or less still. 

When I expect lots of movement in the scenes I use shutter priority in conjunction with auto ISO. 

 

 

 

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46 minutes ago, hdh said:

It depends on the subjects and light conditions. 

Also use aperture priority in combination with auto iso  - that is if the expected subjects are more or less still. 

When I expect lots of movement in the scenes I use shutter priority in conjunction with auto ISO. 

 

 

 

 +1 

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Most used is aperture priority with auto iso and minimum shutter speed set according to focal length in use. Almost always dial in some adjustment. Generally shoot and check the histogram, adjusting and reshooting if necessary/possible. If speedy subject or require motion blur, speed priority. If external flash, manual. If drunk auto.

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I think the auto ISO is the secret, I have been used to using the lowest manual ISO to control noise, never going above 800 but usually 400 being the maximum. The main reason for the question is not having time to fully think through your shots as you are constantly keeping up with a group of non photographers. Occasionally forgetting to make significant changes to camera settings as photo opportunities appear. Thanks to all the suggestions, I’m going to set up auto ISO with maximum and minimum settings and give that a go.

 

My main travel settings have always been aperture priority and nearly always for general shots an f8 aperture for the sweet spot of most lenses, but moving from full frame to smaller sensor cameras f8 has been too much. 

 

Thanks again for for the great responses.

 

Norman

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2 hours ago, Normspics said:

 

I think the auto ISO is the secret, I have been used to using the lowest manual ISO to control noise, never going above 800 but usually 400 being the maximum.

 

 

 

As far as I am concerned my settings were based on the old film days. (f8 and be there).  It has taken some time for me to come to terms with and to use auto ISO to the extent I now do, and to trust in the inner workings of the camera manufacturers algorithms, that I now do too.

 

Allan

 

 

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