memobug
November 20th, 2002, 09:16 PM
I have seen some confusion and misinformation recently on other forums concerning the use of Program mode, so I thought I would try to clarify it a bit, and open the discussion up to address all of the exposure modes.
The Shooting Mode dial offers 4 shooting modes M-A-S-P and your ISO and CSM settings.
M - Manual Mode
This shooting mode allows the photographer to adjust exposure and independently set Aperture and Shutter speeds arbitrarily. Using Manual Mode you're in full control, and it's all right at your fingertips.
As to which dial does what, you can borrow my mnemonic device ("Time is on my side") meaning "the shutter is under your thumb (your side of the camera)" and the aperture is away from you, under your fingertip
Manual mode will still allow you to add in TTL flash, and you can adjust its compensation independently.
When to use it - Primarily in studio shots or long exposures, anytime you can control the shooting environment and don't want the camera guessing about the exposure.
notes: Slow sync is unavailable in this mode.
A - Aperture Priority
This shooting mode is one of my favorites. The photographer selects an aperture and the camera compensates by selecting a shutter speed that will produce a metered exposure value. This is great for portrait & landscape photographers because depth of field (DOF) is a function of the shooting aperture. Sometimes you want more, and sometimes you want less.
Slow sync is available in this mode. If it is turned off, the camera will default to a fast shutter (like 1/60th).
How to do it - put the shooting dial in A mode, and roll the fingerwheel to select the aperture. The thumbwheel does nothing.
S - Shutter Priority
This shooting mode is handy for action and sports. If you want to have a specific shutter speed (say slow to smooth out a waterfall or fast to capture a racquetball shot with minimum blur in ambient light, this might be your choice. I personally don't use it much.
How to do it - put the shooting dial in S mode, and roll the thumbwheel to select the shutter duration (Time is on my side!) The camera will select the aperture. Fingerwheel does nothing.
P - Program Mode
This is perhaps the most misunderstood of all the shooting modes. The idea is that the camera will offer up some common shooting options that provide equivalent exposures, and let you scroll through them with your thumb. How's it different than aperture or shutter priority? Try this daytime test. Turn your flash off and Put the camera in P mode indoors and check your aperture and shutter options with your thumb. Now, step outside into the sunshine. The aperture and shutter will both change to give a shootable exposure, where you might get UNDER or OVER problems if you stepped inside or outside with an extreme fixed aperture or shutter setting in either A or S modes.
Some folks have complained that using Program mode with a Flash locks their camera into 1/60 or 1/90 sec exposure modes. To get around this you'd need to put your camera into SLOW SYNC to enable the shutter to drag somewhat.
Program mode is handy when you are going indoors and out with rapidly changing ambient light conditions and need to be ready to shoot in an instant. It's also good for inexperienced photographers too. My stepdaughter was helping me out the other day and I handed her the camera in P mode, and she could just concentrate on framing & zoom.
Hope this summary of shooting modes is helpful. Feel free to add your comments, corrections or questions.
Regards,
Matt
The Shooting Mode dial offers 4 shooting modes M-A-S-P and your ISO and CSM settings.
M - Manual Mode
This shooting mode allows the photographer to adjust exposure and independently set Aperture and Shutter speeds arbitrarily. Using Manual Mode you're in full control, and it's all right at your fingertips.
As to which dial does what, you can borrow my mnemonic device ("Time is on my side") meaning "the shutter is under your thumb (your side of the camera)" and the aperture is away from you, under your fingertip
Manual mode will still allow you to add in TTL flash, and you can adjust its compensation independently.
When to use it - Primarily in studio shots or long exposures, anytime you can control the shooting environment and don't want the camera guessing about the exposure.
notes: Slow sync is unavailable in this mode.
A - Aperture Priority
This shooting mode is one of my favorites. The photographer selects an aperture and the camera compensates by selecting a shutter speed that will produce a metered exposure value. This is great for portrait & landscape photographers because depth of field (DOF) is a function of the shooting aperture. Sometimes you want more, and sometimes you want less.
Slow sync is available in this mode. If it is turned off, the camera will default to a fast shutter (like 1/60th).
How to do it - put the shooting dial in A mode, and roll the fingerwheel to select the aperture. The thumbwheel does nothing.
S - Shutter Priority
This shooting mode is handy for action and sports. If you want to have a specific shutter speed (say slow to smooth out a waterfall or fast to capture a racquetball shot with minimum blur in ambient light, this might be your choice. I personally don't use it much.
How to do it - put the shooting dial in S mode, and roll the thumbwheel to select the shutter duration (Time is on my side!) The camera will select the aperture. Fingerwheel does nothing.
P - Program Mode
This is perhaps the most misunderstood of all the shooting modes. The idea is that the camera will offer up some common shooting options that provide equivalent exposures, and let you scroll through them with your thumb. How's it different than aperture or shutter priority? Try this daytime test. Turn your flash off and Put the camera in P mode indoors and check your aperture and shutter options with your thumb. Now, step outside into the sunshine. The aperture and shutter will both change to give a shootable exposure, where you might get UNDER or OVER problems if you stepped inside or outside with an extreme fixed aperture or shutter setting in either A or S modes.
Some folks have complained that using Program mode with a Flash locks their camera into 1/60 or 1/90 sec exposure modes. To get around this you'd need to put your camera into SLOW SYNC to enable the shutter to drag somewhat.
Program mode is handy when you are going indoors and out with rapidly changing ambient light conditions and need to be ready to shoot in an instant. It's also good for inexperienced photographers too. My stepdaughter was helping me out the other day and I handed her the camera in P mode, and she could just concentrate on framing & zoom.
Hope this summary of shooting modes is helpful. Feel free to add your comments, corrections or questions.
Regards,
Matt