Auto mode?

[manaheim]

P or Program mode these days means "shiftable" program mode on basically any camera I am aware of. So when you get right down to it, it's not a whole lot different than Aperture priority automatic operation. P-mode allows the user to shift the speed/aperture pairing to faster or slower speeds, or wider or narrower lens apertures, very rapidly, with just one control wheel's movement. And it gives the novice a more-or-less educated guess of what speed and what aperture the camera makers would consider appropriate. On most cameras, the P mode also factors in the lens focal length as one component, usually favoring higher speeds when the focal length of the lens is longer, which helps eliminate camera shake and helps to stop motion better, which is important when the lens is magnifying things and making them appear larger, as opposed to say an ultra-wide angle lens, which is making everything in the scene appear smaller.

If you need, or want, to use A or AV, or S or Tv, or P, or even the Green Box newbie-mode, go ahead. You can see what the settings are through the viewfinder. JUst kep an eye on how the pics are coming out. If they look 'off', then make some changes to the controls. No big deal.

As ronlane mentioned--when you hand over a fancy d-slr to a newbie and ask him or her to take a shot of you and your s.o., it is usually best to put the camera in a fairly much all-automatic mode, so that they will be less likely to fudge up the shot.

Oh REALLY?!

I totally didn't know you had ANY control over the camera in program mode. I always assumed it just did what it felt it needed to do with app and shutter and that was your lot.

I need to go play.

 

[480sparky]

Oh REALLY?!

I totally didn't know you had ANY control over the camera in program mode. I always assumed it just did what it felt it needed to do with app and shutter and that was your lot.

I need to go play.

I shoot in P far more than A. At least in P I can choose the aperture or shutter speed to match the subject. If, for instance, the camera give me 1/125 at f/11 at a sporting event, I can just turn the command dial and get 1/1000 at f/4 in a heartbeat.