Photographers - How often do you use these?

I'm an advanced amateur I guess. 1. Never used this. Useful for... capturing motion, especially in sports, but I'm not really into that. Also I rarely pay attention to it anyway, I tend to focus on changing aperture moreso, such that I can influence the depth of field. I don't often work in bright light either unfortunately, so I can't even take advantage of shutter speeds like 1/400 unless I use a flash... 2. High ISOs tend to lead to grainier images, so I avoid it like the plague. I keep my ISO range at around 200-800, 800 being the ULTIMATE-MAX-do-not-want-to-exceed. 3. I use that maximum aperture pretty often, as I'm really fond of the effect a shallow depth of field creates, you know, bokeh and such. 4. I don't own a tripod. I'm the kind of person who wanders around and snaps pictures left and right, I don't have the wherewithal nor the desire to lunk around a tripod all the time. 5. I've only recently come into possession of an external flash, as of yet I've failed to make it work. Once it does, I don't anticipate using it all too much unless I'm charged with taking photos of family at gatherings or something. 6. I do not own a polariser. 7. Very, very often! It's probably the most useful source of information for my camera. I'll keep it forever. 8. I don't change very often, I tend to stick with the 50mm lens I've got attached. Also I'm pretty lazy so I can't really be bothered to continuously change. Nevertheless, I'm also packing a 135mm and a 28mm (not taking into account crop factor). 9. Hell to the yes! It's the most important compositional rule I've acquired to date, I suppose. That, and always endeavour to keep your horizons perfectly horizontal. 10. Pretty much always aperture priority for me. back when I used a plain old SLR I got used to using pure manual, but it's just too fiddly for me right now, unless I have a decent amount of time and I'm really pushing for the perfect shot. Shutter priority just doesn't.. come to me intuitively.

I am not a professional.. but a serious amateur. Here's my bit: 1. How often do I use even a 1/1000 sec. shutter speed? Very less often unless am shooting high speed photography and have enough of light source. 2. How often do I use an ISO as high as 800? So very true.. I dont seem to remember having gone above 1000 ISO 3. How often do I actually use that maximum aperture? I use 35mm f1.8. Yes, I do shoot at 1.8 and have used a lot of it.. However, my favorite in that lens is f/2.8 and I shoot the most at that aperture. 4. How often do I use tripods? I got three tripods.. one 055xproB for my cam, one simpex for my speedlight and a slik for macro. I do use them a lot unless am into street photography. 5. How often do I use external flash? My external flash also does have a lot of use.. indoors, almost always. I even use in outdoors for fill flash option.. 6. How often do I use polarizers? Polarizing filters find their major use in landscapes. I love using them. I also use sometimes for portraits if the subject wears glasses. In all other cases I put it off. 7. How often do I refer to the Owner's Manual for my camera? I must admit.. I havent completed reading the owner's manual of any of my gears. Whenever required, I surf the web to find answers. 8. How often do I change lenses when out for a day of photography? Well, it irritates me, but I do change my lenses very often; sometimes even 20 times a day on a outing. 9. Do I always use the Rule of Thirds? 99% of the time Yes. 10. Do I always shoot in: A) Manual Mode? No.. only when using strobes; low light conditions; special techniques B) Aperture Priority? Majorly C) Shutter Priority? in specific cases like light trails, light painting, panning, milky waterfall etc. @ EDWIN indeed nice to see opinions of fellow photographers. lot of learnings. Thanks for your question.. and I wish to see your views too.

Hi Edwin! Interesting question - here's my answers... 1. Pretty much never - I use speedlights to freeze motion & don't regularly shoot sports. 2. Camera is almost always at its base ISO (200) - occasionally ramp it up to around 800 but only if necessary. Much higher than that & I'm getting unacceptable (to me) noise. 3. I own a 50mm f1.8 and an 85mm f1.8 and yes I do shoot them both wide open (the 85mm especially is tack sharp wide open), but often a stop down. 4. Use it for landscapes and table top stuff, that's all. 5. Frequently - I'm an avid user of off camera flash! 6. Rarely - I'm not much of a landscape photographer. I do have one & will use it if I'm going out with the intention of shooting a landscape. 7. Not that often now - did read it thoroughly when I got the camera though! 8. Change maybe 2-3 times on occasions (if I just have primes with me.). Sometimes though I'll take only one prime lens & challenge myself to shoot only with that for the day. 9. No - I pay heed to it to frame up a shot - then decide if I want to break the rule or not!! Some of my work is 'record' photography (ie. not for artistic merit) so ROT is not really relevant. 10. I shoot in manual 95% of the time & aperture priority about 5% of the time.

1. Every time I use my camera as I photograph high speed trains where shutter speed is normally 10 x train speed thus train at 100 mph = shutter speed 1/1000. 2. Frequently as I use Nikon 24-120 f3.5/5.6 for most work; the sweet spot of f11 means high ISO at ISO 1000 is regular ISO and ISO 2000 on dull days 3. Whenever I do photography in stations at night - or in underground stations 4. Infrequently but it's a tool worth having; best to have it and not use it rather than need it and not have it 5. Never - prefer natural light 6. Don't own one 7. Every time my settings are chenged by my son when he "borrows" the Coolpix 8. Depends on location and weather. On a day's full shoot I can expect to use at least 2 lenses and often 3 to cover different locatiuons / light conditions 9. Not deliberately; I tend to compose using shapes [i.e. abstract] which sometimes co-incides with the Rule of Thirds 10 Always use Manual as I prefer to be in complete control of exposures PLUS my subject matter is best handled manually Happy to satisfy your curiousity but do remember that since photography is a personal matter you should use other people's methods as a guide to select the options which suit you - and your subject - best.

I'm an advanced amateur. 1: I rarely use 1/1000 of a second (usually 1/640). I only use 1/1000 or faster if I'm using my Opa's EF300mm for taking pictures of birds and have the f/stop at 2.8 (so it's brighter) 2:I use 800 and 1600ISO when indoors but almost never use 6400 and above as there gets lots of noise. 3:N/A 4:I mainly use my tripod for night photos (streaks of light, stars, or other non moving items) or in low light (when the sun is almost set). Or you can have a ND filter and use it for streams with running water. 5:N/A 6:I barely use my polarizer (for complicated reasons I don't want to get into) 7:When I first got my camera I would read the manual all the time. Now I have it with me in case I need it but rarely do. 8:I pretty much only keep on one lens because my others can not focus to infinity. 9:I do not always use the rule of thirds (It depends on how your subject works in your picture or just how you would like the picture to be taken. You don't need to always use the rule of thirds) 10:I always use Manual unless I'm at a friends house and taking snapshots of whatever's going on.

I am an ex-professional photographer. I qualified back in 1978 and worked full time for a number of years as a scientific photographer. Now I am strictly amateur. I use up to 1/4000th fairly regularly for sports and nature Never higher than 400 ASA because of resulution/graininess problems (although when I was working, I used up to 1600ASA to photograph theatre using available light. Use wide apertures most the time to reduce depth of field. Use tripod and several external flash units when required (always in my photo bag) Polarising filter fairly often to reduce reflection. Don't know where any of the manuals are.... Don't change lenses that often, tend to use more than one camera. The rule of thirds.....probably goes out of the window when you learn how to frame your shots the way you like them. 70% of the time, manual, the rest shutter priority for sports stuff.

1. Rarely, but i've used them when circumstances dictated - usually when using film too fast for the time of day (out of 100 speed.) I always keep some 1000 or higher in the bag to make the TSA wonks search the bag rather than put the film thru the scanner. Sometimes I need the film. 2. Rarely, but again, when necessary. Eclipse shots, last minute of the day shots, when working without a tripod (very rare.) 3. Not often. Once in a very great while. Don't use the lens much either as I don't like the look. 4. Almost always. Only if I"m shooting people at a wedding (notice I didn't say shooting the wedding). When I don't take the tripod I always find myself needing it. 5. Rarely - depends on circumstances. Generally take it everywhere I go, use it once in a while. I shoot landscape, botany, doesn't really call for the flash, but it does come in handy now and again. 6. Almost always. It cleans up the light very nicely. 7. On occasion I still check this or that. Never possible to know everything. It lives in my camera bag. 8. Hard to say - depends on the light, what I"m shooting - can be quite often, but can't think of a day when I didn't change them at least a few times. 9. No. And find the droning on about it tiresome. My motto, "Big sky, little sky, NO middle sky" i.e. don't put the horizon in the middle of the shot unless ya can't help it. 10. Mainly manual, but use priority when necessary. Shot some butterflies a while back and put it in shutter priority for that. It was a focus test so I wanted to freeze action as much as possible.

1) With cameras having a 1/4000 sec. or even 1/8000 sec. shutter speed how often do you use even a 1/1000 sec. shutter speed? Almost never. 2) With cameras having astronomical ISO capabilities - 6,400, 12,800, 25,600 - how often do you use an ISO as high as 800? 800 a lot. I shoot weddings, so I will use 12,800 fairly often as well. 3) If you own a 50mm f1.4 lens or a 35mm f1.8 lens how often do you actually use that maximum aperture? I have a 50mm 1.2 lens. I do use the 1.2 occasionally when I want a really out of focus background. The main advantage of the 1.2 is that is makes focusing in low light easier. 4) If you own a tripod how often do you use it? 100% of the time for landscapes. Not for anything else. 5) If you own an external flash unit how often do you use it? Often for weddings and portraits. Rarely in landscape photography, but it is useful. 6) If you own a polarizing filter how often do you use it? Often in landscapes. 7) How often do you refer to the Owner's Manual for your camera? Once, when I first get the camera. 8) If you own more than one lens how often do you change lenses when out for a day of photography? Dozens of times. I own over 10 lenses. 9) Do you always use the Rule of Thirds? No, but I always think about it. 10) Do you always shoot in: A) Manual Mode? Always for landscapes or studio shots B) Aperture Priority? Always for weddings C) Shutter Priority? Only for action photography

I am probably atypical, as I shoot film using 35mm slr's, but: 1. Fastest shutter speed available on my cameras: 1/2000th. Never used. I doubt its accuracy anyway. Most frequently used speeds: 1/250, 1/500. I shoot objects moving at moderate to fast velocities. occasionally 1/1000th. 2: Not applicable. For the record, I will occasionally push XP2-Super 2 stops to 1600. This is about the limit of its capabilities. 3: Max aperture available: 50mm f/1.7. Rarely use wider than f/2.8 4: As often as I use a lens longer than 135mm. Perhaps 10% of shots. 5: n/a 6: n/a 7: Never. Owned both bodies for 15-20 years. If I ever need to look at the manual that will be a sign of advancing Alzheimer's. Actually, I've forgotten where it is. Or what it looks like. 8: Frequently; I use prime lenses mainly. Sometimes use zooms for more precise framing with transparencies. 9: Only when I want to. 10: Manual. Not that I have any choice. Two fully-manual, all mechanical camera bodies with no other modes of exposure. I even need to focus manually. God, what a chore. Reading this lot over makes me realise what a dinosaur I am. Hey there, puny digi-folk. If you're out there in digi-land all on your own in the deep dark jungle, and your coffee cup spills for no reason, that's me, COMING TO GET YOU.