Is getting maximum OoF areas/bokeh the reason people overwhelmingly prefer aperture priority bodies?

[Dan Fromm]

Another use for aperture preferred. I'm digitizing slides, using a D810 with a manual focus 55/2.8 MicroNikkor AIS. I took test shots using aperture priority to find the aperture that gave the results I liked best, now set that aperture and let the camera choose shutter speed. It works well. Sorry for mentioning digital, but I'm afraid it won't go away.

 

[Huss]

Let’s be honest: Isn’t the main reason most people almost to a fault prefer aperture priority, so they can set the aperture ring at max hole and shoot away, getting all that “bokey” they paid for?

1. It was easier to make an aperture priority than shutter priority camera.
2. You usually have more shutter speeds than aperture settings, so by having an aperture priority camera there is less chance to have mismatched exposure settings.

 

[Chan Tran]

Isn't that with digital cameras? Hmmm. That brings up an interesting question. When shooting a typical film camera where you're adjusting against a pointer in a built-in meter, what settings are available for shutter and aperture? Do you in-between stop settings?

I do that both for film and digital when I use the aperture priority mode. For the film cameras since many of them only have full stop increments for the shutter speed I do set the aperture to in between stops when doing it in manual mode.

 

[StepheKoontz]

Let’s be honest: Isn’t the main reason most people almost to a fault prefer aperture priority, so they can set the aperture ring at max hole and shoot away, getting all that “bokey” they paid for?

Uh, no. Aperture has a huge impact on an image, so I want to control this. I almost exclusively use A mode but live in the f5.6-f8 75% of the time. Even when I am shooting portraits with an 85mm f1.4 ,wanting to separate them from the background, I'm shooing at f2.2-2.8. I sure don't want the camera choosing either f1.4 or f5.6 in a situation like this just so it nails a shutter speed.

 

[George Mann]

Early (er, early 1980's) automatic exposure was all shutter priority. Lenses at the time could let the body sense the aperture but not set it. If a camera had an electronic shutter then adding aperture priority auto-exposure was a no-brainer.

Starting in the late 70's through the early 80's Nikon introduced aperture priority bodies with electronic shutters such as the FE & F3.

You completely missed the Nikkormat EL series ('72 - '78), which was Nikons first aperture priority camera.

 

[George Mann]

For me, aperture priority gives me the ability to stay in a lenses optimal performance range (sharpness vs resolution).

I could care less about bokeh!

 

[George Mann]

I've never seen a camera that offered aperture priority but not shutter priority, manual and auto mode as well.

The EL/FE series is aperture priority + manual only.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Example: Nikonos V depth of field is important in underwater photography

You just reminded me that the Nikonos IVa that I own is aperture priority only. The shutter adjusts based on that setting and the internal meter and film speed. Unless you're using a strobe on manual, Then, the shutter is set for 1/90 sec.

 

[Wallendo]

I shoot mostly still objects so aperture priority lets me pick the look I want - usually around f8. On those occasions where I am shooting fast movement, such as sports, I tend to use shutter priority. I also will sometime use shutter priority when light is sparse to avoid excessively slow shutter speeds while hand halding the camera.

 

[Chan Tran]

I'm only familiar with Nikons so that's all I can really speak to.

Early (er, early 1980's) automatic exposure was all shutter priority. Lenses at the time could let the body sense the aperture but not set it. If a camera had an electronic shutter then adding aperture priority auto-exposure was a no-brainer.

Starting in the late 70's through the early 80's Nikon introduced aperture priority bodies with electronic shutters such as the FE & F3. Their only mechanical camera at the time was the FM. Nikon offered program and shutter priority on some bodies such as the FG & FA but the customer had to buy new AIS lenses to take advantage of it.

Nikon owners with a lot of AI & AI'ed lenses stuck with aperture priority (if they used autoexposure at all) without thinking about it. Older lenses can not be converted to AIS.

I rarely use automatic exposure, but when I do, it is usually program (snapshot) mode.

I'm such a Luddite that I like stop-down metering - it forces me to be cognizant of depth of field issues.

List cameras with shutter priority introduced in the early 80's except the Canon. From late 70's to early 80's before multi mode cameras became the norm most cameras are aperture priority. I can list a bunch of them.
Minolta XK, XE-7, XD-11
Pentax K2, ME, LX
Olympus OM-2, OM-4
Nikon Nikkormat EL, FE, F3
Contax RTS
Leica R3

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I've never seen a camera that offered aperture priority but not shutter priority, manual and auto mode as well.

My Yashica Electro 35CC is aperture priority, and its shutter will automatically open for up to about 14 or 15 seconds.

 

[wiltw]

Let’s be honest: Isn’t the main reason most people almost to a fault prefer aperture priority, so they can set the aperture ring at max hole and shoot away, getting all that “bokey” they paid for?
Most often people will just either want as much DoF as possible or as little as possible.

I feel myself learning to appreciate shutter priority more and more, to the point that I will avoid a body if it only offers aperture, and no manual and/or shutter priority.

Of course it does happen that I want exactly the DoF that I imagine f8 or f5.6 will give in a given situation. But those occasions are rare and often I’m forced to chose something else due to the lighting conditions.

Let us first begin with a correct understanding of what is controlled by the aperture:

1. First, the aperture (f/stop) controls DEPTH of FIELD and has NOTHING to do with the amount of backgroud blur.
2. And amount of background blur (how blurry is the background) is NOT 'bokeh'...the misuse of the term is all too commonly spread by the internet folks who do not understand what 'bokeh' really means! "Bokeh' is the 'quality' of the blur . (BTW, a Zeiss article mentions the definition, and it does not match what is commonly misused on the web.)
3. Physical diameter of the aperture (diameter in millimeters) is what controls the amount of blurriness of the background blur. Period!
   A 200mm lens at f/4 has an aperture diameter of 50mm, while a 300mm lens at f/4 has an aperture diameter of 75mm. The 300mm f/4 image will have a 50% blurrier background than the 200mm f/4 lens, even though the DOF is identical... when the 300mm lens is shot at 150' vs. the 200mm lens is shot at 100' to get the identical subject framing in both shots.

Now as for the creative considerations of aperture, it is not merely the two extremes (super shallow DOF vs. super deep DOF) that photographers want. There are times when they do want something IN BETWEEN! For example, a portrait photographer wants the clients entire head to be fully in focus, but he also does not want the background located 5' behind the client to be perfectly focused and distract the attention of the viewer...a middle aperture like f/4 or f/5.6 is what would be useful to accomplish that!

But there are other times when it is most important to the photographer for the right amount of motion blur to be captured, and neither perfect frozen image (with no hint of motion) is wanted, nor a totally blurred subject. And DOF might be a secondary consideration.

Or BOTH the DOF and the degree of motion blur are desired, so auto ISO permits the photographer to control both aperture and shutter speed, and the light sensitivity of the camera is adjusted to suit.

 

[wiltw]

Isn't that with digital cameras? Hmmm. That brings up an interesting question. When shooting a typical film camera where you're adjusting against a pointer in a built-in meter, what settings are available for shutter and aperture? Do you in-between stop settings?

SOME cameras have 'in-between' apertures, and SOME cameras (like Bronica) have 'in-between' shutter speeds but only when the light meter in the camera controls the speeds. If using manual shutter speed selection, film cameras had no speeds available in between the detents. The Bronica has 1/60, 1/125, or 1/250 on the shutter speed dial, but the Bronica AE-III metering prism can set shutter speed to 1/6 EV when aperture priority metering is used!

Back in the 1960s to late 1970's, most film cameras were EITHER aperture priority OR shutter priority; aperture priority out numbered shutter priority. The ability to have EITHER shutter priority or aperture priority arose in the 1980's IIRC, when introduced in a Canon camera.

And if using a film camera with a match-needle meter, most only permitted aperture positions with detents or shutter speeds with detents, but not 'in between' detents. But 'it depends' once again applies.

 

[NB23]

Please tell me which film is “auto-iso”.

 

[Paul Howell]

In the 60s and early 70s almost all auto exposure was shutter preferred, Konica, Miranda EE, Petri, Topcon auto 100. Aperture preferred came into it's own with electronic shutters.

 

[Pieter12]

Aperture-priority is simpler to manufacture for an interchangeable lens camera, since only the body needs automation control. I think it may be more of a cost-driven factor than user preference.

 

[cramej]

Let’s be honest: Isn’t the main reason most people almost to a fault prefer aperture priority, so they can set the aperture ring at max hole and shoot away, getting all that “bokey” they paid for?

It’s almost impossible to visualize how slightly different apertures will look, even (especially, perhaps) when stopping down, while it’s quite easy imagining what different shutter speeds will do at a given focal length.

With experience comes the ability to visualize. With 35mm, I know how much or how little DOF I have at a given aperture. With medium format, I'm not quite there, but working on it.

Most often people will just either want as much DoF as possible or as little as possible.
And that is actually easier to control by adjusting the shutter to as little as you dare/can manage to stabilize, to have it as open as possible. Or selecting the highest possible speed to get as much depth as possible.
And of course just a medium speed for something you can hold still, enough or the appropriate amount of motion blur.

Aperture is more limiting than shutter speed. If I run out of aperture, I'm underexposing. It takes a lot to run out of time.

When subjects are static, such as (most) portraits or landscape I want a specific aperture and, to a certain extent, don't care about shutter speed. Plus, when I delegate metering and shutter speed to the camera, I only have to think about half the equation.

 

[JBrunner]

Horses for courses. Those who favor AP have their reasons, but that is a subset of photography. FWIW I almost always shoot M no matter what I'm doing. I'm a control freak maybe. Or maybe I just like making decisions. There are as many reasons for settings as there are settings, or photographers for that matter - YMMV.

 

[wiltw]

Aperture is more limiting than shutter speed. If I run out of aperture, I'm underexposing. It takes a lot to run out of time.

Shutter priority is not as useful because lots of lenses do not offer many usable apertures for camera's automation to pick from. Quite a few are only usable from f/4 to f/8 and that's just 3 stops.

Puzzled by that comment by both:

• 1/1000, 1/500, 1/250/ 1/125. 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8...8EV range
• f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22...8EV range

 

[Paul Howell]

Shutter priority is not as useful because lots of lenses do not offer many usable apertures for camera's automation to pick from. Quite a few are only usable from f/4 to f/8 and that's just 3 stops.

Really? I have Konica, Topcon and Miranda, all worked at every aperture setting available for a given lens. The fastest lens Topcon auto 100 made was the 50mm F2, I've owned the Konica 57mm 1.2 and the 1.4, and a 1.4 for both Miranda and Petri.

 

[wiltw]

I don't know about others but for me I never use the maximum aperture even in low light but I do use aperture priority mode often. Besides from manual I use aperture priority because there are many more shutter speeds for the camera to use. In shutter priority the camera only has about 5 or 6 stops the most. For me shutter speed from highest shutter speed of 1/8000 or 1/1000 down to 1/125 or so is irrelevant in most cases. So in aperture priority the camera can adjust the exposure without changing my pictures.

Back in the days of ISO 400 max sensitivity film, you learned to use max aperture plenty!

 

[JBrunner]

A lot of lenses aren't at their best WFO as well. Even a stop can make a big difference, while still delivering bokeh, and as DOF perception is also influenced by focal length, not just aperture, WFO needn't be a forgone conclusion, and much depends on the intent and knowledge of the photographer. GWC's as the OP posits, do in fact exist but as I opined earlier, that's a narrow subset, and most working or serious photographers are way beyond that.

 

[film_man]

Shutter priority is not as useful because lots of lenses do not offer many usable apertures for camera's automation to pick from. Quite a few are only usable from f/4 to f/8 and that's just 3 stops.

How old are we talking about there? What are the "lots of lenses"? I am genuinely curious. Canon and Nikon have been cranking stuff out by the truck loads since the early 80s that works without such limitations, that's 40 years worth of gear that just works.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Shutter priority is not as useful because lots of lenses do not offer many usable apertures for camera's automation to pick from. Quite a few are only usable from f/4 to f/8 and that's just 3 stops.

That is not only not true, it also violates the laws of physics. If the shutter speed does not allow the depth of field needed then change the shutter speed. I choose the EV value for the exposure and then I select the depth of field that I want, as long as there is enough light so that I can still hand hold the camera. Further, if you are as limited as you claim, then the fault is entirely yours because you choose too slow a film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Diffraction becomes visible at f/11.
f/2.8 performance is almost always an intentional compromise, and sometimes not even available.

So yeah, f/4, f/5.6 and maybe f/8 are the only "speeds" I'd let my camera pick without my input. @Sirius Glass of course it's true. And has nothing to do with the speed of the film. If a range of available EV values is just 3 stops, it can be limiting in both directions. I'm Old Gregg.

Actually for 35mm the diffraction started to become more dominant around f/16, for 120 film around f/22 and large format smaller than f/32.