TV / AV / P / M / Auto / B ?

Which shooting mode should I use?

Auto - is the point and shoot setting. The camera’s meter reads the light, chooses the aperture, shutter speed and ISO for you, assuming conditions are just right, attempts to achieve a good exposure.

Manual -You control and select all the camera settings to create your own perfect exposure based on the light and conditions as you see them!

Semi-Auto (AV, TV) - You set one of the elements you want to control, and the camera decides on the rest, based on its reading of the light…

What Are AV & TV? - AV and TV sit somewhere in middle between Manual and Auto.

They’re generally known as partial Manual modes. AV mode stand for Aperture Value, and TV stands for Timer Value. AV controls your aperture, and TV controls your shutter speed.

When to Choose the AV mode - You start by deciding what aperture value to shoot with, then the camera will coose a shutter speed and ISO to go with your chosen aperture value to achieve correct exposure.

The camera will continuously adjust those two setting to compensate as the light changes, or as you or your subject move around AV allows us to select the aperture that best suits your desired shot.

When should you use AV or TV modes? - By choosing AV or TV mode, we can dictate the most important setting for the situation.

When shooting a race or sports in general, shutter speed is important to freeze the motion. Then you can rely on the camera to monitor and adjust the aperture and ISO, in this case, you can just point and shoot, but with a little more control than full Auto.

Likewise, there may be a situation where you want the effect of a specific aperture setting, and shutter speed and ISO isn’t as important. Here, you would choose AV mode, and rely on the camera to adjust the shutter speed and ISO.

So why would you use Manual Mode? - Confused…Whenever your camera’s sensor detects even the most subtle change of light, it assumes it needs to adjust its setting to compensate. Additionally, the sensor will be tricked by things like large expanses of highlight (think bright white sky) or shadows (such as a dense area of foliage or a person wearing all black). In those situations, the camera will also adjust its settings. The result? a series of images with inconsistent exposures, and literally hours in post-processing trying to match them all up.

So, while AV and TV modes are handy when you want good but not perfect or consistent exposure, when you’re creating art or simply want full control of your im ages. Manual is the only way to go!

Program Mode -the camera selects and sets both the shutter speed and the aperture. For any given brightness of light, the camera has been programed to set a specific combination of shutter speed and aperture.

In low light, for example, the camera might set 1/30 second and f4. In bright light it might set 1/500 and f11. At first sight, this appears similar to the basic zone Full Auto setting. However, there are differences.

Unlike Full Auto (green square) mode, program mode lets you set a range of different camera functions, including ISO value, white balance, color space, focus mode, metering mode, exposure compensation and flash control. Bull Auto is a point-and-shoot mode. Program mode is the thinking photographer’s Full Auto.

Program Shift -This is what really moves program mode into the Creative zone. This feature allows to vary the shutter speed and aperture values, whilst keeping the exposure the same.

Bulb Mode - is simply a shutter speed option that you can select in Manual mode on your camera. It allows your shutter speed to be any length you choose: one second, one minute, one hour etc. The key with the bulb mode is that your camera’s shutter stays open for as long as you hold down the shutter release button.