When does it help to use scene modes?

Question

I use a Sony NEX-5R, which I'm generally comfortable with -- I generally know what ISO and shutter speed to use, that I should shoot portraits wide open, and I shoot landscapes at the aperture at which my lens is sharpest, etc. I use a tripod with a remote control for low-light landscapes, along with manual focus.

Given that I'm not a beginner, does it help to use one of the scene modes the camera supports? Note that I shoot in RAW.

Unfortunately, what each of the modes does it not precisely defined (such as: "Portrait mode uses the widest aperture available, and focuses on a nearby object").

Pasting from the manual:

• Portrait: Blurs away backgrounds and sharpens the subject. Accentuate skin tones softly.
• Landscape: Shoots the entire range of scenery in sharp focus with vivid colors.
• Macro: Shoots close-ups of the subjects such as flowers, insects, food, or small items.
• Sports Action: Shoots a moving subject at a fast shutter speed so that the subject looks as if it is standing still. The camera shoots images continuously while the shutter button is pressed. When using the touch shutter, the camera shoots images continuously while you are touching the screen.
• Sunset: Shoots the red of the sunset beautifully.
• Night Portrait: Shoots portraits in night scenes. Raise the flash to use this mode.
• Night Scene: Shoots night scenes without losing the dark atmosphere.
• Hand-held Twilight: Shoots night scenes with less noise and blur without using a tripod. A burst of shots are taken, and image processing is applied to reduce subject blur, camera-shake, and noise.
• Anti Motion Blur: Allows you to shoot indoor shots without using the flash and reduces subject blur. The camera shoots burst images and combines them to create the image, reducing subject blur and noise.

Answer 1

In most cameras the scene modes automatically set the file type to JPEG and apply different processing settings to those files (Landscape mode often boosts greens and blues, sunset mode boosts reds, for example). They also prioritise aperture and/or shutter speed appropriately. However, this comes at the cost of creative freedom - the camera is making all the choices for you. Scene modes are really just narrowed-down Auto, and are similarly aimed at beginners.

Long story short, if you know what you're doing in terms of camera settings, shoot raw and are happy post processing, scene modes are effectively redundant.

Answer 2

The scene modes are simply collections of settings to make 'auto mode' work in a way suited to particular subjects (e.g. the 'portrait' mode will prefer large apertures, the 'landscape' mode will prefer small apertures - to give a simple example). If you're comfortable setting aperture / shutter speed / ISO yourself (and know what to use for different situations) then there's no benefit (other than convenience) of having the camera do it for you.

Also, the output of the Scene mode is usually JPEG-only (because one of the ways the desired effect is achieved is with JPEG processing settings). Some cameras will automatically shoot RAW + JPEG (if you have the camera set to RAW) when you engage Scene mode, but others will only shoot JPEG (so you end up without a RAW file for that shot).

Answer 3

• Two of those scene modes combine photo bursts in-camera for greater dynamic range, noise reduction, or (in other cameras) zoom range, shallow depth of field, etc. Although you can post-process your own bracketed or burst of photos, the camera might make you trade off pixel depth (in RAW mode) vs. burst speed (in JPEG mode), and you'll need image stacking software. (Lightroom won't do it.)

• Some cameras put other nifty tricks under "scene modes" like sweep panorama (which could take advantage of continuous accelerometer data), starting image capture then recording video or a burst starting a short time before you pressed the shutter button, smile detection, etc.

Indeed, we could use camera manuals that explain more!