Camera Modes

Question 1

Program Mode

Answer 1

camera automatically chooses the Aperture and the Shutter Speed for you, based on the amount of light that passes through the lens

How it Works:

If you point the camera to a bright area, the aperture will automatically increase to a bigger number, while keeping the shutter speed reasonably fast.

Pointing the camera to a darker area will decrease the aperture to a lower number, in order to maintain a reasonably fast shutter speed.

If there is not enough light, the lens aperture will stay at the lowest number (maximum aperture), while the shutter speed will keep on decreasing until it reaches proper exposure.

Use When:

“point and shoot” moments when you just need to quickly snap a picture

Risks:

does not give you much control over the exposure

Question 2

Shutter-Priority Mode

Answer 2

you manually set the camera’s shutter speed and the camera automatically picks the right aperture for you, based on the amount of light that passes through the lens

How it Works:

If there is too much light, the camera will increase the lens aperture to a higher number, which decreases the amount of light that passes through the lens.

If there is not enough light, the camera will decrease the aperture to the lowest number, so that more light passes through the lens.

In addition, there is no control over subject isolation, because you are letting the camera control the depth of field.

Use When:

This mode is intended to be used when motion needs to be frozen or intentionally blurred.

Risks:

there is a risk of getting an overexposed or underexposed image because if the amount of ambient light is not sufficient and the shutter speed is set to a really high number, my exposure will be limited to the aperture/speed of my lens.

Example:

if the maximum aperture of my lens is f/4.0, the camera will not be able to use a lower aperture than f/4.0 and will still shoot at the fast shutter speed that I manually set. The result will be an underexposed image. At the same time, if I use a very slow shutter speed when there is plenty of light, the image will be overexposed and blown out.

Question 3

Aperture Priority

Answer 3

you manually set the lens aperture, while the camera automatically picks the right shutter speed to properly expose the image

How it Works:

If there is too much light, the camera will automatically increase the shutter speed

if there is not enough light then the camera will decrease the shutter speed.

You have full control over subject isolation and you can play with the depth of field because you can increase or decrease the lens aperture and let the camera do the math on measuring the right shutter speed.

When to Use It:

• Shooting Portraits in Natural, Continous or Low Light
• Shooting Landscapes that don’t require motion

Question 4

Manual Mode

Answer 4

you can manually set both the aperture and the shutter speed to any value you want – the camera lets you fully take over the exposure controls

Use When:

where the camera has a hard time figuring out the correct exposure in extreme lighting situations

if you need to make sure that both shutter speed and aperture stay the same across multiple exposures (properly stitching a panorama)

Example:

if you are photographing a scene with a very bright area, the camera might incorrectly guess the exposure and either overexpose or underexpose the rest of the image. In those cases, you can set your camera to manual mode, then evaluate the amount of light in darker and brighter areas and override the exposure with your own settings.

properly stitch a panorama, all shots that you are trying to put together need to have the same shutter speed and aperture. Otherwise, some images will be darker, while others are lighter. Once you set the shutter speed and aperture to the values of your choice in manual mode, your images will all have consistent exposures.

Question 5

Camera Setup

Answer 5

Image Quality: RAW

RAW Recording: Lossless Compressed (if available)

White Balance: Auto

Picture Control / Picture Style / Creative Style / Film Simulation: Standard

Color Space: sRGB

Long Exposure Noise Reduction: On

High ISO Noise Reduction: Off

Active D-Lighting / DRO, HDR, Lens Corrections (Vignette Control, Chromatic Aberration Control, Distortion Control, etc): Off