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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CAU" data-source="post: 1286459" data-attributes="member: 55324">Like Neil says, if you use the widest possible aperture you'll always maximize the amount of light that will reach the sensor (as the DOF doesn't matter). In full manual mode, you would first need to select maximum aperture and then try to find an appropriate shutter time through trial and error. However, if you use the aperture priority mode, you'll first need to select maximum aperture and then the camera calculates the appropriate shutter time (depending on what kind of light metering you use).When using the aperture priority mode you can fine tune the shutter time instead through the exposure compensation function, e.g. a value of -1 means that the camera uses half of the shutter time that it has calculated (and -2 means one fourth). The range offered by most PS cameras, i.e. -2 to +2, is IMO completely adequate for covering 99% of the different shooting situations, and the exposure compensation function might even be easier to access than the settings of the full manual mode (don't know how it is on P5100). Moreover, if you're familiar with the light metering of your camera, finding a correct exposure compensation for a given shot is often quite straightforward (not that much trial and error there).</blockquote>