Just wanted to get some opinions on which mode you use and why. Most of my shooting is dance recitals so I am leaning more towards shooting in TV mode so the shutter doesn't top too low in dark situations. Am I thinking about this correctly? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have the exposure compensation setting set to the custom button so I can lock or adult exposure if needed.

On a side note, I am guessing that the exposure compensation will raise the gain to the level that I set in the manual gain setting. Is this correct. Open to any thoughts....

In a controlled shooting, why not go full manual? Then you know exactly what the camera is doing.

I use Program AE a lot when out and about, simply because it's quick and convenient. But if you are doing a planned shooting with more locked down shots, or in constant lighting, I'd go full manual.

I use Tv when I'm recording sports like cycling because I want to freeze the action but lighting may change. If I can't man the camera indoors the whole time I may use Av and set the max gain to 18. Otherwise I like manual most of the time. GL

... or adult exposure if needed.

Thought that would be more likely in the French Quarter than along the MS Gulf Coast <g>.

Tv lets you set a shutter speed, and the aperture, ND filter, and gain will adjust according to the exposure program. That will work to avoid slow shutter speeds. How well this work all depends on the venue lighting.

If you can and feel comfortable, manual is the better way to go, but it takes a bit of practice to become efficient at it, and can be a bit of an issue if there are unexpected lighting changes during the show

Don, why do you say that how well the Tv setting works depends on the venue lighting? I just purchased an XA10 and am trying to figure out which setting I want to do Wedding Videography with.

why do you say that how well the Tv setting works depends on the venue lighting?

With a fixed shutter speed you have somewhat less latitude to play with aperture and gain while still maintaining a resonable image brightness and thus are more at the mercy of the lighting. This can impact image attributes such as DOF and visible noise as lighting changes. On the other hand using a fixed shutter speed keeps motion blur effects consistent.