When using a digital camera, especially a modern DSLR or mirrorless camera, you will usually find the various settings on a spinning dial somewhere on the top of the device. Depending on the manufacturer, the markings for these different settings may vary.
All of these different settings tell the camera which exposure settings should be prioritized to help you compose the best photo, and we’ll give a little more clarity on what these settings mean in today’s article.
Various shooting modes
Some of the different shooting modes that you can find in a digital camera are:
- Auto mode (usually green with A or Auto indicator)
- Program mode (usually white with P indicator)
- Aperture priority mode (usually white with A or Av indicator)
- Shutter priority mode (usually white with S or Tv indicator)
- Flexible priority mode (usually white with Fv indicator)
- Manual mode (usually white with M indicator)
As you might expect, each shooting mode has advantages that can enhance your photography experience in certain conditions. Understanding how these modes work and when to use them is vital if you want your photos to be the best they can be.
And one more thing… don’t believe the elitist misconception that professional photographers only shoot in manual mode. This is complete bullshit.
Below we will tell you how the different shooting modes described above differ from each other.
Explanation of the differences
Auto mode
The first shooting mode you can use when you’re new to photography is the automatic mode, usually indicated by the green letter A or Auto on the camera’s shooting mode dial. After all, who doesn’t love the idea of letting your camera make all the best decisions for you so you don’t have to worry about the guess work involved in getting your photo properly exposed? Well…let’s get to that…
Auto mode, as the name suggests, automatically selects the best exposure settings for your camera to create what it thinks will be the highest quality image for your current environment. This means that it controls your aperture, shutter speed and ISO without any input from you in order to create a correctly exposed image.
Sounds great, right? While auto mode takes the guesswork out of self-calibrating exposure settings, you lose some of the fine-grained control over creatively increasing the shutter speed or adjusting the aperture yourself. You’ll find that auto mode will activate the camera’s built-in flash (if applicable) in low light conditions even if you don’t want to use it, which can ruin some photos when you’re trying to use low light creatively.
Another downside to auto mode is that you can’t change any of your camera’s exposure settings while you’re in auto mode. This is because the camera is in complete control of your exposure; think of it as complete autopilot.
This does not mean that you should not use automatic mode at all. This is obviously a starting point for beginner photographers, but it can also be useful for professional photographers when there isn’t enough time to calibrate the camera’s exposure settings before taking a picture.
Auto mode works best in daylight, as you usually don’t want to use the camera’s built-in flash. It also works best when your subject isn’t moving too fast, as the camera adjusts the exposure based on the ambient light, not the speed of the objects you want to photograph.
For the most part, you’ll get better photos by adjusting your camera’s exposure settings yourself, but knowing how to do this comes with experience and patience. There is no shame in using the auto mode if you don’t already know how to use the other shooting modes, but hopefully today’s article will give you more information about these other modes and when to use them.
Program mode
The camera’s programmed mode, often denoted by the letter P on the shooting mode dial, is similar to the automatic mode, with one important difference: using this mode, you can override the camera’s automatic exposure settings.
Like Auto mode, Program mode automatically selects the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings that your camera thinks will be optimal for composing your photo. However, if you don’t like something about the exposure for whatever reason, you can freely and quickly change one or more of these elements on the fly. You can think of this mode as assisted autopilot rather than full autopilot.
Both amateur and professional photographers use Program Mode, but beginners are more likely to use this feature because it’s a more affordable way to fiddle with camera exposure settings when you’re not used to doing it all the time.
Program mode is a great way for beginners to loosen up their training wheels when auto mode is off, and from a professional photography standpoint, it’s very handy for those occasional moments where there isn’t always enough time to adjust exposure settings manually while you’re working. while still retaining the flexibility of manual settings where and when needed.
Aperture priority mode
Aperture priority mode is probably my favorite and most used shooting mode, and it may be listed as A or Av on your camera’s shooting mode dial. Not to be confused with auto mode, which is usually displayed in green on the dial, A or Av for aperture priority mode is usually displayed in white font on the dial.
You can think of aperture priority mode as a hybrid of auto and manual shooting modes. This is because while aperture priority mode allows you to manually set your preferred aperture setting, your camera then compensates for exposure by setting the shutter speed automatically to ensure the photo is properly exposed.
As for ISO, you can also manually change the ISO setting in Aperture Priority mode, and while your manual aperture setting will remain the same after changing the ISO, you will notice that your camera adjusts the shutter speed when you change the ISO setting, just like it does when you change the aperture setting.
Many professional photographers use aperture priority, and that’s because aperture is probably one of the most important elements of the exposure triangle for many people in their workflows. It’s a great setting because it cuts in half the amount of data you enter before you take a picture, and yet the hybrid auto/manual mode is flexible enough to keep you in control of your camera, not the other way around.
If you’re a beginner photographer and ready to move from fully automatic or program mode to something more practical without resorting to full manual mode, aperture priority mode is a great place to start. You get full control over at least two of the three exposure elements, with the camera helping you select the third one automatically.
I find Aperture Priority to be great for almost all kinds of photography and I probably use it 90% of the time. The only time I usually get out of aperture priority mode is when I need to manually adjust the shutter speed for a longer shutter speed shot, which we’ll talk about later.
Shutter priority mode
Shutter priority mode is another setting you’ll find on your camera, usually labeled as S or Tv on the shooting mode dial. And we know what you’re thinking… why TV? This is because some camera manufacturers refer to this mode as Shutter Priority, while others refer to it as Time Value Mode. I used to call this shutter priority mode, so I will refer to it as such throughout this article.
Like aperture priority mode discussed above, shutter priority mode is a hybrid of automatic and manual shooting modes. In this setting, you can manually set the camera’s shutter speed, and then it will compensate for the exposure by automatically adjusting the aperture value to ensure the photo is properly exposed.
ISO can also be changed manually in shutter priority mode, and as you might expect, this will affect the choice of camera aperture. Changing the ISO in shutter priority mode will not affect the shutter speed since you are also setting it manually.
Beginning photographers rarely, if ever, touch this mode, but you can often see professional photographers using it to take photos at slower shutter speeds. It can be used to capture beautiful silky-smooth photos of waterfalls in nature, or amazing light streaks from passing cars on a city street at night.
I don’t use shutter priority very often, but it has its uses. It is generally ideal for adding noticeable motion blur to photos when it makes sense, such as the use cases mentioned above.
Flexible priority mode
Flexible priority mode is a setting found only on Canon brand cameras and is usually indicated by the letter Fv on the shooting mode dial. This is typically a new setting introduced in just the last few years that allows users to tell the camera which exposure element they want to focus on the most, while still being able to quickly switch to another element on the fly without switching shooting modes.
The best way to describe flexible priority mode is to say that it is aperture and shutter priority mode in a single shooting mode. In this scenario, it’s faster to choose which settings are right for you in any photography situation, which will help you be more prepared for any photography opportunity that may come your way.
Depending on which setting you decide to change manually in flexible priority mode, the camera will automatically determine the rest of the settings. For example, if you tell the camera that you want to manually control the aperture, it automatically sets the shutter speed, and vice versa.
There is nothing more to say here…
Manual mode
And finally, we come to manual mode… the best option for professional photographers who like to have full control over their camera settings… or so they say. Manual mode is usually indicated by the letter M on your camera’s shooting mode dial.
In manual mode, you can set all three of your camera’s individual exposure settings yourself, without your camera automatically calculating the values. In this mode, you are effectively on your own, which means you can think of it like a car without cruise control; there is no question of any autopilot.
When you decide to switch to manual mode, you can change the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO values independently and then take the picture. This is one of the best ways to get creative, as your camera doesn’t automatically determine exposure, which means you can intentionally (or accidentally) overexpose or underexpose photos.
I myself rarely shoot in full manual mode, but I do dabble in it from time to time. It’s a learning curve when you get used to letting your camera choose the settings for you, but that’s why you should be eager to try it out. Manual mode helps teach you how to best use your camera’s manual settings, while learning more about how they work so you can make better shooting decisions.
Manual mode works great in all situations, but it really lags behind if you’re in a dynamic shooting environment and don’t have time for manual settings. With that in mind, even some professional photographers don’t mess with manual mode most of the time, and it’s easy to see why. Photo opportunities don’t last forever… blink and you might miss it.
Summarizing
This concludes our article explaining some of the most popular shooting modes on modern DSLR and mirrorless cameras. As we said, some modes are fully automatic, some are semi-automatic, and still others are fully manual. Also, each mode has its uses depending on the situation, so don’t discount one setting over another just because some snobbish “professional”photographer belittled you by forcing you to use manual mode.
Did this part help you better understand the different shooting modes on the dedicated camera body? Let us know in the comments section below.