By "Auto", I presume it is referring to Full Auto (green rectangle on canon camera).
If you're going to take a portrait and trust the camera to select the correct AF point under full auto, If you're taking sports and trust the camera to select a sufficiently fast shutter speed, if you're taking landscape and trust the camera to select a small aperture, well, to each his own as you said.
If, the photographer has played a part in deciding any of the exposure parameters such as aperture, shutter speed or ISO, or AF point, then it is strictly not Full auto already.
Are you sure you always let the camera take full decision? if not, then it is not considered "auto" in the context of the poll I guess.
the more i shoot,
the more i trust my expansive camera to be right in most situations,
the more i use auto just not to miss the moments.
every mode has its uses,
to each his own.
hope i'll never live to see "who uses AF when there is MF."
The issue here is that the photographer decides on specific parameters such as aperture, and let the camera do the calculations for the correct exposure for the other parameters. In this case, the photographer has played a part in decision making. That is not Full Auto already.
I believe since camera co has invested so much for metering sys, should use the High tech instead of M mode. If spent so much on tech, but use our eye as metering, must well dun buy hi tech cam with sophisticated meter sys
If Av, Tv, and P (where the PG decides whether to use flash) are all considered "Auto", then there is little meaning to the poll already. As the poll reveals, majority don't use "Auto" modes. I believe not all of them calculate and set all the exposure parameters down to all of aperture And Shutter And ISO. These PGs decide on certain parameters and let the camera calculate the rest.
By Auto it should refer to the case where the camera makes full decision, such as whether to flash, and all parameters of the exposure w/o involvement by the PG other then pressing shutter button. And TS did explicitly state "Full Auto" mode.
How many PGs actually trusts the cameras so much?