Canon 1DX MKII Shooting Mode Confusion.

[LanceA]

I have not needed the experienced advice of this forum for several months because your previous advice/help was so very useful.  However, I have run into a bit of a issue pertaining to the Shooting Modes of my 1DX MKII.

I have a pretty good working understanding of the Manual Shooting Mode.  I am able / need to manually set the Apature, Shutter Speed and IOS when in Manual Mode Setting.  I am certainly able to do this, but it can be a bit cumbersom and too slow in some shooting settings. 

Setting my camera to, APATURE Priority Mode,  allows/forces me to select and set the desired Apature setting, however, I can find no way to adjust the Shutter Speed on the fly if needed?  Do I need to either switch from Apatre Priority mode to Manual or Shutter Priority Mode to be able to increase the Shutter speed? 

The same issue arrises when I set My camera to Shutter Priority Mode.  I am unable to adjust the Apature Setting on the fly unless I switch Mode to Manual Mode or back to Apature Priority Mode.

I have considered trying PROGRAM Mode, but I am unable to actually highlight and select the "P" in the MODE Menu.   I am only allowed to select C1, C2 and C3 which are highlightable adjacent to the unselectable "P".  

Any advice or clarification will be grately appreciated.   Thankss Again and Happy Hollidays.

Lance A.

[Waddizzle]

Sounds like you are running and gunning.  I do not use that model, but most high end Canon DSLRs work in a similar way.

You mention aperture and shutter speed, but make not mention of ISO.  I typically shoot in Manual mode, using ISO AUTO.  If I need to set a specific ISO, I use one of the buttons near the top LCD.  If I need to change the shutter speed, then I use Main Wheel on the top of the camera.  If I need to change the aperture, then i use the secondary wheel on the back of the camera.

It took some practice to remember what button did what, but after a lot of practice, eventually muscle memory kicked in.

[LanceA]

Thanks for the response.  It appears as though you are useing your camera pretty much as I described, basically manual mode.  I either leave the IOS in AUTO Mode, or adjust it manually also.

It's just that I has read and heard that most photographers use their cameras in Aperature Priority Mode.  So, I thought that I MUST be missing some quick, simple and fast adjustmemt capabilities for Shutter Speed and or IOS.  Maybe it's just not going to be as simple as I thought that it would be?

Lance A.

[kvbarkley]

The whole point is that you set the Aperture for the desired depth of field and the camera sets the shutter speed and ISO to get what the camera thinks is a good exposure. The only way to do a quick adjust of shutterspeed would be to fix the ISO and then use the exposure compensation to bump the shutter speed.

Since the Aperture and ISO are fixed, the camera will have to adjust the shutter speed to get the right compensation.

[diverhank]

What you should do is to use M mode and set everything manually but in situations you need to be fast, just switch ISO to Auto.  You get to set both aperture and shutter speed and let the camera handles the ISO.

In situation that the camera metering is fooled (too bright or too dark background) while on Auto ISO, you need to use exposure compensation to get the desired subject properly exposed.  Just remember if background is too dark compensate to dark and background too bright compensate to bright (dark/dark, bright/bright - very easy to rememeber).

[Ray-uk]

It sounds to me that you have bought a camera with controls that exceed your current photographic knowledge, that is not necessarily meant as a criticism because at least it gives you room to learn.

Although asking questions on here will help you it also means you will get some replies that make things seem even more complicated, you are far better reading an article that covers the complete subject such as :

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/infobank/camera_settings/shooting_modes.do

[LanceA]

Yep, that is how I thought things would word, but with the camera in Apature Priority Mode, I attempted to photograph several large water birds in flight (in the back yard, /central Florida) and there was NO auto shutter speed adjustment.  All photos were blurry.  So I have put the camera on Manual Mode and then leave the Shutter speed between 1/1000-1/1600 to assure that I will freeze birds in flight if needed.  I am still learning all of this so please be patient with me.  I am playing with the correct Shutter speeds to capture a moving target still motion  while the background is appropriately blurred to show movement.

You folks are more help to beginners like me than you probably realize.  Thank you and Happy Hollidays,

Lance A

[LanceA]

I have alreadt gravitated to Manual Mode with ISO in Auto (simply by trial and error).  I will ABSOLUTELY follow your advice. 

Thank You and Happy Hollidays.

Lance A

[LanceA]

I have dozens of magazines, books, etc.........,  .   The problem is, none specifically describe in depth features of my Canon 1DX MKII specifically.  And trust me, this lack of specificity makes a big impact.   But, thanks to informative resposes from this forum, I am able to re-affirm what I am doing correctly and quickly correct my misunderstandings.

Thanks

Lance A 

[cicopo]

To shoot moving targets it's better (in my opinion) to use Tv mode & Exposure Compensation for fine tuning. Use an ISO that puts the Aperture in the f8 to f 11 range when pointed towards the background you'll have in the photos (open sky for planes & birds or forest etc for birds down low).