Why do many people who own a DSLR use it in auto setting?
they are not confident about getting the right manual settings and therefore missing that one in a million shot
There are many benefits to using a DSLR apart from the greater granularity of manual controls. Better low light performance from larger sensors, faster response times, higher performance auto focus systems, etc. I am personally a big believer in the predictability and repeatability of manual exposure controls, but modern DSLRs have such sophisticated exposure algorithms that their automated capabilities can relieve a lot of the burden of photography. This can make the process a lot more fun for someone who wants high (technical) quality images, without the challenge. A friend of mine locally is an award winning photographer and a skilled composer, but often allows the camera to fully determine exposure. Quite often, being relieved of the technical demands, allows creativity to flow.
Modern day cameras have many automatic features like, Auto focus, Auto Metering, And then the auto modes of exposure for getting a perfect balance between ISO, Aperture, and Shutter speed. Now the thing is, technology has become quite good in Auto-focus and Auto metering, and we as users can rarely do it better than the cameras do. But when it comes to the Auto adjustment of Exposure, with practice one can get better than what cameras do. Moreover, as a photographer, you know better what you wish to expose and what you don’t want to. The only thing camera auto-modes will get a balanced exposure according to the selected metering mode. So there is a very fine line of Photography skills, if you are on one side of that line, your camera’s exposure skills are better than yours. And on the other side of that line, you know it better. I consider auto modes as a way to learn, like they way we have supporting wheels when we learn to ride a bicycle and we get rid of them once we learn to balance. A big bunch of people buying DSLRs these days not because they are really interested in photography, but because they are interested in good photos. So they aren’t ready to invest time in learning that skill. Auto mode comes to their rescue.
