Did photographer John Free use aperture priority mode?

[Certain Exposures]

Did John Free use aperture priority mode or did he stick with manual mode when he was out doing street photography? I am just curious.

I have a feeling someone here was lucky enough to take one of his workshops or classes while he was alive. Maybe he discussed his preference and why.

John appeared with a Nikon F3 in most of his video lessons. He mentioned he liked the F3 because it has a 100% viewfinder and he did not crop.

EDIT: See Posts 17 and 18 for the answer!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

From what I read, he shot manually and focused or zone focused manually as well.

 

[Certain Exposures]

Thank you. Where did you read that? Would you mind sharing?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Thank you. Where did you read that? Would you mind sharing?

Start here, there are various links at the bottom there too.

The Work and Advice of John Free - Manila Functional

 

[Certain Exposures]

From what I read, he shot manually and focused or zone focused manually as well.

Start here, there are various links at the bottom there too.

The Work and Advice of John Free - Manila Functional

Unfortunately, the contents of the article you linked do not support your claim.

I found contact information for a student of his. I will share their response, if any.

 

[reneboehmer]

John used mainly a Nikon F2 with an eye level viewfinder. No automatic system. He describes in his interviews that he has learned exposure and focus by experience. He presets the settings based on the scene that he might anticipate to come up, as many old school photo reporters were known to do.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Unfortunately, the contents of the article you linked do not support your claim.

I found contact information for a student of his. I will share their response, if any.

There were additional links at the bottom of the article. Did you check those out? Google Gemini AI summed those articles, providing the points I made.

 

[Certain Exposures]

John used mainly a Nikon F2 with an eye level viewfinder. No automatic system. He describes in his interviews that he has learned exposure and focus by experience. He presets the settings based on the scene that he might anticipate to come up, as many old school photo reporters were known to do.

Ok, do you recall which interview? The F2 does have the DP-1 meter option although he may not have used that.

His student has not replied yet.

There were additional links at the bottom of the article. Did you check those out? Google Gemini AI summed those articles, providing the points I made.

Link 4 was blocked on my PC. The rest were videos. I recall watching each of them. I do not recall them answering the question. However, I could try transcription.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Ok, do you recall which interview? The F2 does have the DP-1 meter option although he may not have used that.

His student has not replied yet.



Link 4 was blocked on my PC. The rest were videos. I recall watching each of them. I do not recall them answering the question. However, I could try transcription.

AI explained that he used experience to determine exposure. MAybe they are wrong but from what I read, he did use experience to select different settings if not specifically exposure. Why is it so important what he did? Why not use what you find comfortable? Cameras today are so advanced that exposure and focus could mainly be left on auto. That gives us more time on the subject and composition, which are not automatic and require our involvement.

 

[wiltw]

The Nikon F3 is inherently aperture-preferred automation.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Google Gemini AI lied to me. It made conclusions about using manual aperture cotrol that I could not confirm. I searched the various sources it gave to no avail. I think AI is a con. Sorry if I misled you however my suggestion to use your best judgment is still a good one.

 

[Dr. no]

All Nikons with any coupled meter had "A" ("many said it was 'automatic', but it stood for f-stop, or as some would say, 'aperture'") until the FA. So, unless he was using a meterless F or F2 the Nikon body had aperture-priority mode. What I like to do with my favorite FE2 (and Nikormat EL, etc) is use the "match needle" method, where I set the settings but the suggested setting is right there, it's very good for "on-the-fly" shooting, as you can sweep across the scene to see how much the needle moves instead of just letting the camera meter for a bright background (if my digital camera could be set to show needles instead of numbers in the VF I would enjoy using it more).

I just checked, and the FG came out the year before the FA (1982) and had "program" which was apparently shutter-priority. FGs were fine little bodies, and though not "pro-grade" many pros carried them for backup bodies (I had an EM for backup to an FE2, a step down from having an FG to back up a F3 , and an FG20 was my "travel camera" for a long time, they are very light, esp compared to a F4.)

 

[Certain Exposures]

Google Gemini AI lied to me. It made conclusions about using manual aperture cotrol that I could not confirm. I searched the various sources it gave to no avail. I think AI is a con. Sorry if I misled you however my suggestion to use your best judgment is still a good one.

It is alright - you would not be the first person AI deceived.

I only asked this question to satisfy my curiosity about his process. I do not wish to copy him. I am a geek.

By the way, I always read through all comments. Apologies to anyone who I have not directly replied to yet

 

[Lachlan Young]

Did John Free use aperture priority mode or did he stick with manual mode when he was out doing street photography? I am just curious.

I have a feeling someone here was lucky enough to take one of his workshops or classes while he was alive. Maybe he discussed his preference and why.

John appeared with a Nikon F3 in most of his video lessons. He mentioned he liked the F3 because it has a 100% viewfinder and he did not crop.

The answer is on his Instagram, not far from the top.

You can clearly see what the F3 is set to.

Not that it matters, unless you are trying to paint-by-numbers.

 

[Certain Exposures]

Oh, I do not have Instagram. What does it say @Lachlan Young ?

 

[Certain Exposures]

Does anybody know what John Free's IG says/said? I do not have one so I cannot see.

 

[Certain Exposures]

I found the answer while rewatching one of his old videos. The source was John himself commenting through his YouTube channel. Coincidentally, his response also answers my follow-up question:

 

[Certain Exposures]

@koraks / @MattKing Is it possible to edit my initial comment (#1) in this thread to include the answer, "Answer: John did not use aperture priority mode. Instead he thought in shutter priority mode and manually prioritized 1/500th second to freeze motion. He explained this in a YouTube comment on his video Viewfinder Coverage Street Photography Tip John Free."

 

[MattKing]

@koraks / @MattKing Is it possible to edit my initial comment (#1) in this thread to include the answer, "Answer: John did not use aperture priority mode. Instead he thought in shutter priority mode and manually prioritized 1/500th second to freeze motion. He explained this in a YouTube comment on his video Viewfinder Coverage Street Photography Tip John Free."

Well, we have added an edit to the first post, but people may still decide to read through the thread

 

[Certain Exposures]

Thank you!

 

[Laurent]

Google Gemini AI lied to me. It made conclusions about using manual aperture cotrol that I could not confirm. I searched the various sources it gave to no avail. I think AI is a con. Sorry if I misled you however my suggestion to use your best judgment is still a good one.

AI does not lie. It doesn't have a concept for truth. All it does is generate a plausible answer to your question .

AI IS a con. it makes sources up, invents citations , etc...

Going back to the topic: I 'm not sure what "manual aperture control" if vs "aperture priority ". In both cases, the photographer chooses aperture and the camera sets the speed.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

AI does not lie. It doesn't have a concept for truth. All it does is generate a plausible answer to your question .

AI IS a con. it makes sources up, invents citations , etc...

Going back to the topic: I 'm not sure what "manual aperture control" if vs "aperture priority ". In both cases, the photographer chooses aperture and the camera sets the speed.

Frankly, Free's answer is confusing. It's not clear if he used aperture priority or manual mode. Free said, " I try to keep the camera's speed at 1/500 by adjusting the F stops. I do not know what you mean by exposure lock." That could be aperture priority mode or manual. If he wants the shutter to always be at 1/500, he should select shutter priority set at 1/500 and let the aperture adjust itself automatically. Or leave it in manual mode, set 1/500 and then manually select the F stop. Using the aperture priority setting to get the camera to 1/500 is a hard way of doing it. He did not know that the camera has exposure lock. His exposure procedures don't seem like a very easy way of doing it. But it worked for him. Fortunately, he had a good eye for composition.

 

[Laurent]

Frankly, Free's answer is confusing. It's not clear if he used aperture priority or manual mode. Free said, " I try to keep the camera's speed at 1/500 by adjusting the F stops. I do not know what you mean by exposure lock." That could be aperture priority mode or manual. If he wants the shutter to always be at 1/500, he should select shutter priority set at 1/500 and let the aperture adjust itself automatically. Or leave it in manual mode, set 1/500 and then manually select the F stop. Using the aperture priority setting to get the camera to 1/500 is a hard way of doing it. He did not know that the camera has exposure lock. His exposure procedures don't seem like a very easy way of doing it. But it worked for him. Fortunately, he had a good eye for composition.

I was to add "whatever floats your boat..." but did not. In street photography , I found I don't need to messie lights very often and, at least in BW, it works like a charm.

 

[wiltw]

Frankly, Free's answer is confusing. It's not clear if he used aperture priority or manual mode. Free said, " I try to keep the camera's speed at 1/500 by adjusting the F stops. I do not know what you mean by exposure lock." That could be aperture priority mode or manual. If he wants the shutter to always be at 1/500, he should select shutter priority set at 1/500 and let the aperture adjust itself automatically. Or leave it in manual mode, set 1/500 and then manually select the F stop. Using the aperture priority setting to get the camera to 1/500 is a hard way of doing it. He did not know that the camera has exposure lock. His exposure procedures don't seem like a very easy way of doing it. But it worked for him. Fortunately, he had a good eye for composition.

'figuratively stated' by Free...he could have meant literally either

1. "I select 1/500, use the built-in meter and change the selected aperture appropriately until the meter is 'centered' (i.e., both - and + are displayed)
2. "I select the Aperture, and with the shutter speed set to A, I then change selected aperture until 1/500 is the automatically selected speed that is indicated by the meter

The F3 supporting both scenarios of usage.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

'figuratively stated' by Free...he could have meant literally either

1. "I select 1/500, use the built-in meter and change the selected aperture appropriately until the meter is 'centered' (i.e., both - and + are displayed)
2. "I select the Aperture, and with the shutter speed set to A, I then change selected aperture until 1/500 is the automatically selected speed that is indicated by the meter

The F3 supporting both scenarios of usage.

Procedure 2) is the long way and more operations required. He's making the shutter speed the priority, but using aperture priority afterwards to get to that setting. He should set it on shutter priority at a 1/500. And then the aperture automatically sets to the correct exposure with no further adjustments.