I just discovered..

... that taking Photos in M Mode is not that difficult I thought and that the result is pretty much I wanna get. Now is time to start the next learning curve - Photographing in M Mode. Now I feel like a photographer who tries to get the picture he wants.

Well done - it is never as hard as people think. I find it slows you down, makes you actually think about what you are trying to photograph rather than just mashing the button and hoping for the best...

Happy practicing!

It will also open up a whole new world of photography because you can manipulate the settings to get certain effects.

For example, this moon lit night is actually the sun. By shooting at a high shutter speed day became night.

One thing I got by my today's M Mode shooting. I got much more emotional involved with my subjects. Is a great feeling.

Now I have set my FN Button to ISO. Man, is this great to find out how ISO, Shutter speed and Aperture works together. Yes, I decided to to all in M.
I also learned that the focal length is a big matter.

Ime sure you will have fun Michael,its not something i want to go back to now for most things,needing reading glasses and the area i take the most pictures in would make it too slow but it is a nice way to work.

I think it is a way to know my camera. I thought to buy a new cam but now I know the D5100 can do a lot more I knew so far and a new cam is not improving my skills now.

The focus is A cos my eyes are not the best anymore.

siamthai1 said:

Now I have set my FN Button to ISO. Man, is this great to find out how ISO, Shutter speed and Aperture works together. Yes, I decided to to all in M.
I also learned that the focal length is a big matter.

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I love it when the lightbulb goes on!!

What I will do if I'm in a pinch and want to control both elements of exposure is to set the camera on Auto ISO and cap it appropriately for the setting (1600-6400). Keeps me from thinking too much. LOL

Manual is quite easy once you get the hang of it. In fact if you master it, at times you can catch metering errors in the camera.

Most of us started with Manual - focus & setting with film. You learn fast, other wise there was a lot of wasted film. My first camera had no meter. Second had an external incidence meter - you lined up ISO, and aperture with the needle to get exposure. Third one had an in built meter, but setting up was same. Now with DSLR, I just set the ISO and aperture and the camera decides the speed. Still with my AIS Macro it is still fully manual, and there is no meter to refer to!

The biggest challenge I found while shooting in manual is needing to read the scenes yourself along with the meter. For instance, while panning with the camera while shooting say a ball game. You'll notice the meter will bounce back and forth either reading over or under exposing but just 1or 2/3 stop. I always tried to correct it. What a pain in the ass. But if the scene is generally the same, leave it alone. It's only when making a dramatic scene change such as more sky or more foreground that you need to adjust. When I first started with manual the images where most times light and dark but not by much because of me correcting the meter reading. So it takes a bit of getting used to knowing when to roll the dial or just leave it alone.

siamthai1 said:

Now I have set my FN Button to ISO. Man, is this great to find out how ISO, Shutter speed and Aperture works together. Yes, I decided to to all in M.
I also learned that the focal length is a big matter.

Click to expand...

Hi I am just like you started using the camera in M mode lol
I can learn from you

I also started to use in M mode the only thing I am using is center focus and trying to get low aperture to get my subject good focus, but sorry I have the lence which is not going lower than 3.5 aperture on wide angle only, it's not that easy to learn, any way trying my best
I have D3100

'M' mode is great when you get the hang of it - I try to always use it, and then dissect my mistakes when I get home. I think the only time I recently used auto was when driving through a safari park.... Manual mode and driving don't mix.

Sohail Gagai said:

I also started to use in M mode the only thing I am using is center focus and trying to get low aperture to get my subject good focus, but sorry I have the lence which is not going lower than 3.5 aperture on wide angle only, it's not that easy to learn, any way trying my best
I have D3100

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When you say you are trying to get the subject in good focus using aperture, do you mean nice and sharp? If so, a wider aperture (Lower F number) will be less sharp on most lenses. Try using F8 - F11. You will need to adjust your shutter speed and ISO to compensate for the reduced light the narrow aperture lets in, but most lenses perform better at the mid-range.

What I learned is the lowest the aperture the more sharper picture of subject

Sohail Gagai said:

What I learned is the lowest the aperture the more sharper picture of subject

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Yes, but the "Lower" aperture, or "Narrowest" is the higher F numbers, the F3.5 you mentioned is wide open, and less sharp than a narrow aperture of say F8

OMG I thought opposite pls help you mean if I do lower aperture I couldn't get the sharpest subject, how does it work pls help

I always shoot in M, with the results pretty evenly split between "Stupid, Stupid, Stupid" and "Hey, not too bad"

Sohail Gagai said:

OMG I thought opposite pls help you mean if I do lower aperture I couldn't get the sharpest subject, how does it work pls help

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The aperture, is basically a hole in the lens, that opens and closes a bit like the iris in your eye. This controls the amount of light that can pass through the lens to the shutter, but also it controls the Depth of field ( which is how much of your picture is in focus, front to back). The aperture is measured in F-Stops, and a wide aperture has a low F number, such as F1.8 and a narrow aperture has a high number - A typical maximum is F22 or F32.

When it comes to sharpness, there is a big range between the wide end F1.8, or for the lens you have, F3.5 and narrow at F22 so there is a certain amount of compromise in the lens construction. Therefore, you will typically find that your pictures will get progressively sharper up to around F8 or F11, after which they may start to get soft again. It is all down to the glass in your lens and its quality.


Have a look at this thread, written recently... I wrote the first reply in the thread which is very relevant to your question here.... http://nikonites.com/d3100/25441-d3100-iso-numbers-f-settings.html#axzz3EFPH4vVn

OK great, one more thing when I asked for the low aperture lence I was told it's very expensive