Why is Aperture Priority Better Than Manual Mode?
And is it right for you?
Better may not be the best word, but in almost all cases, aperture priority is at least as good as manual mode. The only time that manual is a must is when you are using strobes to light the scene. Even if you prefer total control over your exposure settings, leaving your camera in aperture mode is an excellent idea. This article discusses reasons aperture priority is better than manual mode.
The first thing that beginner photographers have to understand is that there is no magic to shooting manual. There is advice floating around out there that to be a professional, shoot manual, as if shooting manual adds some value to the image. An image shot at an aperture of f8 and a shutter speed of 1/250th will look exactly the same whether I shot it in manual mode, aperture or shutter priority, or even full auto mode.
Many photographers who shoot in manual mode are actually shooting in a manual version of aperture priority, anyway. If they are walking around a city taking pictures, unless there is a major lighting change or they want to increase or decrease depth-of-field, they probably set the aperture to f8 or f11 and leave it there. So why not use aperture priority with the same setting? You can change it to manual just as easy as modifying a manual setting.
