Controlling a camera - Old School or New School?

Red necked grebe and chicks, Edmonton, Alberta

My first SLR was fully manual with an external light meter that only worked outdoors during the day.  Focusing was manually done with a split-finder and depth of field was estimated by using either the depth-of-field preview gizmo on the lens/camera or by looking at the aperture/distance bars inscribed on the prime lens.

There was no such thing as TTL flash metering, and my first automatic camera had only 2 hotshoe pins - the second was so you would know if the flash was properly seated and ready to fire.  Wireless wasn't even a word back then and you had to manually advance film - unless you could afford a motor drive.  Even then, the 3fps rate you could get would eat through a roll of film in mere seconds.

With the merger of computer technology and light-sensitive media, the world of photography has changed.  And every year things become even more user-friendly.  I have a dozen automatic shooting modes I can choose from, at least six different focusing options, and numerous choices on which metering system to employ.  There are remarkedly advanced systems that follow your eye movements to direct which part of the scene to focus on.  

Then there are all the menu choices.  A shooting menu, a play menu, a settings menu, and a functions menu.  All tolled, there are some 50 or 60 choices.  Each one affects the way the camera operates and allows its operator some level of customization.  The funny thing is that most people have no idea about what any of them do and are either too nervous or have no interest in accessing them.

So the truth is that although modern cameras have amazing features, many of them go unused.  I shoot 95% of my stuff on manual exposure mode and base my exposures on experience, the Zone System (Ansel Adams), and my camera's meter.  I teach others how to use their cameras, but really you can do a very good job without using every feature available to you.  

If you want to use all the modern technology - go ahead - but for me, I like the tenents of photography and operate my camera accordingly.  But I do love modern day autofocusing - on single point - and occasionally on the continuous setting.  Most shots are done with drive mode set to single frame, but who doesn't love continuous high-speed drive mode shooting at 10 or 12 fps?  

I really believe in old-school style principles in photography, but do admittedly use a few of the new-school features as it does improve my outcome.  Is it hypocritical?  I don't think so, it is pragmatic.  It's just the way I like to do it.  And that's fine with me.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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