its sunny?


at night?


:cheer:

Do you mean completely manual?? Or Shutter/Aperture priority modes?
My camera is about99% of time is in Aperture priority mode. I believe that depth of field is one of the most expressive tools available to photographer that is camera dependant. So I always choose that manually depending on the shot and see what shutter speed I get, if that is too low for either stability or to capture some very fast moment then I increase ISO. Of course there are situations where shutter speed may be more important, but for me those rather exceptional.
So my Cameras are most of the time on A – Nikon’s setting for aperture priority.
I also almost always keep White Balance on A – automatic as I always take pictures in NEF (Nikon RAW format). That allows not just to fine-tune WB, but to totally decide on it later on. It also allows significant latitude in exposure correction.
Same principal applies to both day and night shots.

I use almost exclusively AV. Of course sometimes M is the only possible choice if I need to make a very unusual exposure. (> +/-2 EV)

Whenever my gf borrows my camera I just set it on green rectangle though. :D

Aperture priority for most daytime stuff. For extreme contrast situations where a camera meter can't cope (eg into the sun or off glarey surfaces): Manual, ISO 200, f/8, 1/1250s or faster, shade WB).

For handheld night work under lights: Aperture priority, smallest (ie higher f/) aperture I can get away with, lowest ISO I can get away with after adjusting aperture, tungsten/fluoro WB.

For urban night work on a tripod: Manual, ISO 200, f/5.6-8 (larger if going for DoF effects), shutter usually between 6-20s, tungsten/fluoro WB if the scene is dominated by streetlights, sunny WB if there's a lot of night sky. Like SimFox I change the WB if necessary at the raw editing stage, but it's good to adjust it while shooting to see how colour and composition are working together.

I use almost exclusively AV. Of course sometimes M is the only possible choice if I need to make a very unusual exposure. (> +/-2 EV)

And AV is??

Mugley:
Actually another very handy tool for those challenging situations is Spot metering. Given you've mentioned ISO200 I think you have Nikon as well. IMHO Nikon's metering system is superior to that of comparably priced Canon, plus spot in Nikon can be adjusted to suit your needs.

Av in daytime (50%)
Tv in afternoon/night (20%)
M all arounder (30%)

And AV is??

Mugley:
Actually another very handy tool for those challenging situations is Spot metering. Given you've mentioned ISO200 I think you have Nikon as well. IMHO Nikon's metering system is superior to that of comparably priced Canon, plus spot in Nikon can be adjusted to suit your needs.

apature priority

Actually another very handy tool for those challenging situations is Spot metering. Given you've mentioned ISO200 I think you have Nikon as well. IMHO Nikon's metering system is superior to that of comparably priced Canon, plus spot in Nikon can be adjusted to suit your needs.Yeah, using a D70. Used to spot meter absolutely everything, still do it on the little digicam where manual settings are a pain.

For stuff like morning street photography into the sun off a glarey road though, I prefer to make my own call on what to under-and over-expose, and a chimp-and-reshoot in manual is often easier than finding the right area to spot meter off. This is the sort of thing I'm talking about:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/147/434833262_a5ee8d1faa.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mugley/434833262/)

"Av" is Canonese for aperture priority BTW, and "Tv" is shutter priority.

"Av" is Canonese for aperture priority BTW, and "Tv" is shutter priority.

Shame on me!!
I used to have a Canon, G3 that is...
And shame on me 2nd time as I first red you post as "Av" is CANTONESE for aperture priority...:lol:

^^ didn't you know, it IS!