DaveAndHolly219
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This is one question I have always had. How does one decide when to use one mode vs the other?
M/S/A/P modes - when to use which?
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Subject matter and desired results.
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When the right situation calls for the mode of course, and this varies from person to person.
M - manual mode - you control everything. Great for if you want to use specific settings, such as when you're using flash dominated lighting where the cameras meter can't factor in the flash affecting the scene. Or if you're in tricky lighting or variable lighting that would otherwise confuse the meter; or where you want a specific effect that the camera otherwise, wouldn't give you.
Good when you want to under/over exposse from the meter reading; beyond 3 stops (because that's the limit of display most cameras use in exposure compensation).
P - program mode - kind of like a smart auto mode with some control over the settings. Essentially its auto, but you can vary the settings between a selection of combinations. Nice if you want that, though if you're able to balance an exposure yourself you might find this mode just a bit slow.
Av - Aperture priority mode - you control the aperture and the ISO and the camera then uses its built in meter to read the light and set the shutterspeed. If you're picking the aperture (depth of field) then just balancing the shutterspeed off that then this is essentially the same as using manual mode; only quicker. Great for a generalist mode and this is generally the most popular mode used today.
Exposure compensation allows you to tell the camera to over or under expose the shot using the setting it controls.
Tv - Shutter priority mode - like aperture priority only this time you control the shutterspeed. Great for getting specific speeds in situations where you need that (eg blurring propeller blades on aircraft).
I'll use manual when shooting macro with a flash because the flash is providing most of the light; I'll shoot indoor spots when the light is bad with manual because I'm at the limits of my settings so its far easier to use manual than priority modes and exposure compensation.
Aperture priority I use most of the time as my default mode. I control the aperture and keep an eye on the shutterspeed - exposure compensation for small adjustments to the meter reading; shifting into manual if I'm way beyond that.
Shutter priority I mostly use in aviation photography where I want speeds that will render blur on the moving parts; and where aperture [depth of field] is secondary to that goal
I don't use program mode.
M - manual mode - you control everything. Great for if you want to use specific settings, such as when you're using flash dominated lighting where the cameras meter can't factor in the flash affecting the scene. Or if you're in tricky lighting or variable lighting that would otherwise confuse the meter; or where you want a specific effect that the camera otherwise, wouldn't give you.
Good when you want to under/over exposse from the meter reading; beyond 3 stops (because that's the limit of display most cameras use in exposure compensation).
P - program mode - kind of like a smart auto mode with some control over the settings. Essentially its auto, but you can vary the settings between a selection of combinations. Nice if you want that, though if you're able to balance an exposure yourself you might find this mode just a bit slow.
Av - Aperture priority mode - you control the aperture and the ISO and the camera then uses its built in meter to read the light and set the shutterspeed. If you're picking the aperture (depth of field) then just balancing the shutterspeed off that then this is essentially the same as using manual mode; only quicker. Great for a generalist mode and this is generally the most popular mode used today.
Exposure compensation allows you to tell the camera to over or under expose the shot using the setting it controls.
Tv - Shutter priority mode - like aperture priority only this time you control the shutterspeed. Great for getting specific speeds in situations where you need that (eg blurring propeller blades on aircraft).
I'll use manual when shooting macro with a flash because the flash is providing most of the light; I'll shoot indoor spots when the light is bad with manual because I'm at the limits of my settings so its far easier to use manual than priority modes and exposure compensation.
Aperture priority I use most of the time as my default mode. I control the aperture and keep an eye on the shutterspeed - exposure compensation for small adjustments to the meter reading; shifting into manual if I'm way beyond that.
Shutter priority I mostly use in aviation photography where I want speeds that will render blur on the moving parts; and where aperture [depth of field] is secondary to that goal
I don't use program mode.
Derrel
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I typically use just Aperture Priority and Manual modes 99.9% of the time, maybe more. I have not used Programmed very often, since I learned photography before P mode was common. Here's how I see things, from my old-fashioned POV:
Aperture Priority makes a lot of sense with new, modern digitial cameras that have wide dynamic range, and 3-D, RGB color-aware metering, and distance-sensing metering tied to the AF system. This means that Nikons made since the mid-1980's can sense the color of objects,their distance, and their reflectivity levels. Using the matrix metering concept, which Nikon invented in the Nikon FA film camera, NEWER digitial SLRs have one only type of "film" in them, color positive, and thus exposure is best tuned to keep the highlights from blowing out, and then processing the image so the lowest tones, the shadows, and the lower mid-tones, look darkish, yet detailed. Using Sony sensors, and scene-aware dynamic range enhancement techniques when processing in-camera JPEGs, the new Nikon cameras (and other brands) can produce a Matrix-metered, Aperture-priority auto shot that can look quite good, right out of the camera. This is NOT the way early digital cameras worked!
I like A mode for a lot of shooting. It is versatile,and it works well with Matrix metering pattern. With 3-D Matrix metering, a modern Nikon will usually give a pretty good exposure, and will pick the right shutter speed for the Aperture value you've selected. Aperture controls the "type"of picture we want: closeups often at f/16 to f/8; portraits often at f/8 to f/4.5; shallow DOF shots at f/2.8 to f/4, and so on. Also, depends on the lens: some lenses, some scenarios, will almost ALL be shot at say, f/4, or f/3.5, all day long. So A mode works well for those. A mode and Matrix metering can work wonderfully for fast shooting.
One trick with A mode in Center-weighted metering mode is to press and hold the thumb EV Lock button in, and lock in a desired exposure. If you keep the EV lock and the AF lock separated, one control on the thumb button (EV Lock) and the focusing on a separate button (shutter release) then you can use the A mode and Center-weighted metering to increase or decrease exposure by pointing the center circle at brighter or darker areas, and once the desired exposure correction is achieved, you can press the thumb button to lock-in the exposure. Want a faster speed? Swing the camera up toward the sky; want a darker exposure, swing the camera down toward a darker area, and in both cases, press the EV lock button to hold the "compensated" speed value. This method works extremely well using Center-weighted Metering, and Nikon's traditional 60/40 light meter pattern, in which 60% of the meter's area of emphasis is located inside that scribed 12mm center circle on the viewfinder screen. This is an old, old way of using A-mode center-weighted metering.
Manual mode: I do not like to use Matrix metering when using manual exposure control. Instead, I prefer to use Nikon's center-weighted metering. One can adjust this now, to very strongly-center weighted, less strong, and regular. (It's in the set-up menu for the camera.) Manual exposure control mode will work well with Spot Metering as well. 100 percent of my flash shots are made in Manual mode. In controlled, static settings, Manual mode keeps shots consistent. When shooting flash shots and changing lenses, the speed stays the same, and the Aperture value set on the body changes to the same f/stop the previous lens was set to: a very valuable feature when using studio flash units!
P mode is useful when you want to be able to SHIFT the f/stop and the shutter speed together, in lock step, to experiment with DOF effects, or motion effects, as you shoot quickly. This is, as I see it, the best use of P mode: moving from say wide-open at 1/1000 second, and then down, to slower speeds, or to smaller f/stops, like say f/4,then f/5.6 then f/8 then f/11. With motorized cameras and no film costs, this is more useful than it used to be. P mode can be used to great advantage by just rolling your thumb along the control wheel while shooting a sequence, and you can move from frozen motion, down to slightly blurred movement, and at the very far end, to blurry, panning-speed type shutter spoeeds and f/stop pairings. P mode allows you to experiment with DOF effects on individual scenes, and to do it very rapidly, and to come up with a variety of looks on things like floral close-ups, or scenic shots, or shots in the mid-distance with a long zoom, where the DOF can really affect how the foreground appears. P can be a good "experimental" mode.
S-Mode: only when the speed is **the** most critical parameter. Helicopters, propeller aircraft, and panning shots, and striving for specific motion-stopping ability, this is where S-mode becomes useful.
*******
You can now add Automatic ISO adjustment to the above ways of metering and exposing.
Aperture Priority makes a lot of sense with new, modern digitial cameras that have wide dynamic range, and 3-D, RGB color-aware metering, and distance-sensing metering tied to the AF system. This means that Nikons made since the mid-1980's can sense the color of objects,their distance, and their reflectivity levels. Using the matrix metering concept, which Nikon invented in the Nikon FA film camera, NEWER digitial SLRs have one only type of "film" in them, color positive, and thus exposure is best tuned to keep the highlights from blowing out, and then processing the image so the lowest tones, the shadows, and the lower mid-tones, look darkish, yet detailed. Using Sony sensors, and scene-aware dynamic range enhancement techniques when processing in-camera JPEGs, the new Nikon cameras (and other brands) can produce a Matrix-metered, Aperture-priority auto shot that can look quite good, right out of the camera. This is NOT the way early digital cameras worked!
I like A mode for a lot of shooting. It is versatile,and it works well with Matrix metering pattern. With 3-D Matrix metering, a modern Nikon will usually give a pretty good exposure, and will pick the right shutter speed for the Aperture value you've selected. Aperture controls the "type"of picture we want: closeups often at f/16 to f/8; portraits often at f/8 to f/4.5; shallow DOF shots at f/2.8 to f/4, and so on. Also, depends on the lens: some lenses, some scenarios, will almost ALL be shot at say, f/4, or f/3.5, all day long. So A mode works well for those. A mode and Matrix metering can work wonderfully for fast shooting.
One trick with A mode in Center-weighted metering mode is to press and hold the thumb EV Lock button in, and lock in a desired exposure. If you keep the EV lock and the AF lock separated, one control on the thumb button (EV Lock) and the focusing on a separate button (shutter release) then you can use the A mode and Center-weighted metering to increase or decrease exposure by pointing the center circle at brighter or darker areas, and once the desired exposure correction is achieved, you can press the thumb button to lock-in the exposure. Want a faster speed? Swing the camera up toward the sky; want a darker exposure, swing the camera down toward a darker area, and in both cases, press the EV lock button to hold the "compensated" speed value. This method works extremely well using Center-weighted Metering, and Nikon's traditional 60/40 light meter pattern, in which 60% of the meter's area of emphasis is located inside that scribed 12mm center circle on the viewfinder screen. This is an old, old way of using A-mode center-weighted metering.
Manual mode: I do not like to use Matrix metering when using manual exposure control. Instead, I prefer to use Nikon's center-weighted metering. One can adjust this now, to very strongly-center weighted, less strong, and regular. (It's in the set-up menu for the camera.) Manual exposure control mode will work well with Spot Metering as well. 100 percent of my flash shots are made in Manual mode. In controlled, static settings, Manual mode keeps shots consistent. When shooting flash shots and changing lenses, the speed stays the same, and the Aperture value set on the body changes to the same f/stop the previous lens was set to: a very valuable feature when using studio flash units!
P mode is useful when you want to be able to SHIFT the f/stop and the shutter speed together, in lock step, to experiment with DOF effects, or motion effects, as you shoot quickly. This is, as I see it, the best use of P mode: moving from say wide-open at 1/1000 second, and then down, to slower speeds, or to smaller f/stops, like say f/4,then f/5.6 then f/8 then f/11. With motorized cameras and no film costs, this is more useful than it used to be. P mode can be used to great advantage by just rolling your thumb along the control wheel while shooting a sequence, and you can move from frozen motion, down to slightly blurred movement, and at the very far end, to blurry, panning-speed type shutter spoeeds and f/stop pairings. P mode allows you to experiment with DOF effects on individual scenes, and to do it very rapidly, and to come up with a variety of looks on things like floral close-ups, or scenic shots, or shots in the mid-distance with a long zoom, where the DOF can really affect how the foreground appears. P can be a good "experimental" mode.
S-Mode: only when the speed is **the** most critical parameter. Helicopters, propeller aircraft, and panning shots, and striving for specific motion-stopping ability, this is where S-mode becomes useful.
*******
You can now add Automatic ISO adjustment to the above ways of metering and exposing.
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As Derrel points out you also have to consider the light metering mode each shooting mode is going to use.
M mode gives the photographer the most control.
A and S are in between. I rarely use S but I used A often for shooting action sports.
Like Derrel I can't remember ever using P mode, but I have recommended P mode to those learning to use M so they can see what the program in the camera chooses for shutter speed and aperture.
The trouble with in-the-camera programs is they can't think-on-their-feet - like a human can, making them often deliver inconsistent results.
M mode gives the photographer the most control.
A and S are in between. I rarely use S but I used A often for shooting action sports.
Like Derrel I can't remember ever using P mode, but I have recommended P mode to those learning to use M so they can see what the program in the camera chooses for shutter speed and aperture.
The trouble with in-the-camera programs is they can't think-on-their-feet - like a human can, making them often deliver inconsistent results.
Trever1t
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It may seem complicated, all those buttons, so many options. ... trust me, after a while you will be wishing there was more options 
As already stated. When you want to control Aperture use A, shutter use S, when you want full control use M. I have almost never used P (one time at night with flash to see what happens way back when)
As already stated. When you want to control Aperture use A, shutter use S, when you want full control use M. I have almost never used P (one time at night with flash to see what happens way back when)
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While the guys above are pretty smart and generally provide good information, they continue to mis-reference "P" mode. It stands for PARTY mode. It's when you don't really care about the photography that much, you're at a party and maybe not all that clear-thinking about settings, and you're just trying to grab "interesting" pictures as things get crazy.
Just Kidding... They're actually right.
Just Kidding... They're actually right.
Bebulamar
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I am sorry but this is the decision you should make for yourself. I think you should ask how each of the mode works rather than when to use them. You should know exactly how each mode works then decide for yourself when you want to use them.
Bebulamar
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While the guys above are pretty smart and generally provide good information, they continue to mis-reference "P" mode. It stands for PARTY mode. It's when you don't really care about the photography that much, you're at a party and maybe not all that clear-thinking about settings, and you're just trying to grab "interesting" pictures as things get crazy.
Just Kidding... They're actually right.
P is for Professional or at least someone who knows exactly how it works. It's definitely not for beginner.
jcdeboever
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Some good information in this thread. When I shoot film, I primarily shoot with 3 cameras that are pretty old and all manual. With my digital (Fujifilm X-T2), I tend to use it the same way because of expected results. I hardly ever shoot outside of manual because frankly, I do not have enough experience to know what the others offer in terms of expected results. I could probably be a better photographer if I practiced aperture, and shutter priority but I am not a pro so I just do what works for me at this time. Photography is hard enough, I just try to keep it simple.
Derrel
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P mode was considered pretty cool when it first hit the market. Canon's 35mm SLR, the Canon A-1, was the first five-mode 35mm SLR, back in the late 1970's or very early 1980's. Now we have well,well more than just five exposure modes on a dial on some cameras, with the various "Scene" modes.
Programmed mode used to be linked to lens focal length, so that longer lenses were given faster shutter speeds to counteract shake and their increased magnification. Graphs showing the exposure programming values used to be common back in the 1980's. And let's be totally honest: if you use Av or A mode or M-mode, and always shoot at the meter's recommended 0.0 value, Programmed mode will do the same thing, only faster. Seriously. Shocker!
Green Box or "Giant AUTO" mode does not allow RAW+JPEG shooting in many cameras, so using Programmed mode can get around that. In some cameras, Giant AUTO mode will not allow even RAW, will not allow custom white balance, and so on, so Programmed mode does open up a number of camera setings that some of the dummy modes do not allow the user to select. Custom White Balance, or pre-set White Balance for example, is usually not settable in Giant AUTO mode.
I did a search yesterday, "When should I use Programmed exposure on my camera?" and it turned up a number of good articles.
Programmed mode used to be linked to lens focal length, so that longer lenses were given faster shutter speeds to counteract shake and their increased magnification. Graphs showing the exposure programming values used to be common back in the 1980's. And let's be totally honest: if you use Av or A mode or M-mode, and always shoot at the meter's recommended 0.0 value, Programmed mode will do the same thing, only faster. Seriously. Shocker!
Green Box or "Giant AUTO" mode does not allow RAW+JPEG shooting in many cameras, so using Programmed mode can get around that. In some cameras, Giant AUTO mode will not allow even RAW, will not allow custom white balance, and so on, so Programmed mode does open up a number of camera setings that some of the dummy modes do not allow the user to select. Custom White Balance, or pre-set White Balance for example, is usually not settable in Giant AUTO mode.
I did a search yesterday, "When should I use Programmed exposure on my camera?" and it turned up a number of good articles.
petrochemist
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In P mode my camera allows adjusting one wheel to set the shutter speed in Tv (or S) mode using the other wheel sets the aperture as in Av. A quick way of using either, but I never really got used to it, each time the power was switched off the camera reset to what it thought would be the right settings for the shot.
I use Av for ~90% of my shots using EC as required. My first SLR only had this plus flash & bulb modes so I find it far more natural. In Av my last aperture choice remains active if the cameras powered off which tends to fit well with what I'm shooting.
I switch to Tv for propeller aircraft and occasionally for other panning shots, and manual for shots where full control is needed, stars (below the reliable metering level of the camera), shooting panoramas etc.
There have been a few occasions where I've decided to use just manual for the entire session (manual focus as well as manual speed/aperture/iso) It's rewarding to be able to do it, but not something I'd do regularly.
Green / Auto mode is IMO a complete waste. It refuses to let you override the camera in any way. My full spectrum converted camera has a little button that selects this mode which sometimes gets pressed by mistake - when this happens none of the shots are ever usable.
Perhaps I should tape a plate over the top...
I use Av for ~90% of my shots using EC as required. My first SLR only had this plus flash & bulb modes so I find it far more natural. In Av my last aperture choice remains active if the cameras powered off which tends to fit well with what I'm shooting.
I switch to Tv for propeller aircraft and occasionally for other panning shots, and manual for shots where full control is needed, stars (below the reliable metering level of the camera), shooting panoramas etc.
There have been a few occasions where I've decided to use just manual for the entire session (manual focus as well as manual speed/aperture/iso) It's rewarding to be able to do it, but not something I'd do regularly.
Green / Auto mode is IMO a complete waste. It refuses to let you override the camera in any way. My full spectrum converted camera has a little button that selects this mode which sometimes gets pressed by mistake - when this happens none of the shots are ever usable.
Perhaps I should tape a plate over the top...
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Green/Auto mode will allow you to "override" or control two things: what direction the camera is pointed, and (approximately) when to take the picture! 
greybeard
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I personally need 1) a shutter speed fast enough for whatever I'm doing and 2) an aperture that will give me the DoF or lack thereof for my subject. So for general walking around I set the mode to (A)perture priority, the ISO to (A)uto with the minimum shutter speed set to 1/125. This gives me control over the aperture without any worry about shutter speed. For action I use the same settings with the minimum shutter speed set to 1/500-1/1000. For anything else like flash etc. I use (M)anual.
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