Canon Exposure Mode Dial - photo by Maksim Sidorov

It’s good from time to time to review the basics about your camera.  Unless you’re shooting every day and, sometimes when you are, it’s easy to get stuck in familiar settings and forget the incredible versatility most digital cameras offer.

Today I’d like to review what the dial settings on the knob on top of your camera mean and what they do.  This topic is a little tricky because there’s no real standard for dial settings.  Some cameras have letters, some have little pictures.  I’ll attempt to translate some of the differences, but I’m going to use my Canon 7D as a reference.  The definition of these settings will be pretty much the same across most of the Canon SLR line and I’ll attempt to translate into Nikon when possible.

A Green “A”, Green Square, or Auto

This will be your home setting for most point and shoot cameras.  The “A” stands for “Auto” and leaves all the decisions regarding a picture, except for when to push the button, up to the camera.  It’s also called “Green Mode” in some books.

Professional photographers rarely use Auto settings.  Most times they’ll leave some decisions up to the camera’s computer, but keep the important ones for themselves.  There are exceptions.

When I’m on a job there are usually a couple dozen other photographers around, all jostling and elbowing one another for position.  It’s really easy for the settings knob to get bumped and sometimes looking down can be suicidal.  In extreme situations, I’ll grab a dozen or so shots on the manual settings I work out before the subject shows up, then crank my top dial all the way to the left, which I know is the Auto setting.  While it may not be the perfect selection for the scene, I’ll know I’ve got a good chance of getting some usable backup shots, just in case.

CA

Canon’s Creative Auto setting.  While most settings are still determined by the camera’s internal computer, the back menu and control wheel light up to give the photographer some control over the auto settings.

You can select from different sensor modes, preserve or blur the background and lighten or darken the picture.

P

Program AE mode in Canon.  This mode is actually very similar to the Auto Mode except using the main dial on the back you can adjust the aperture and the camera will adjust the shutter speed to the proper setting.

Tv

Shutter priority.  This gives you control over the shutter speed and the camera picks the best aperture.  Some cameras have a picture of someone running.

Av

Aperture priority.  Allows you to send the lens aperture and the camera selects the most appropriate shutter speed.

M

Manual.  You set the aperture and shutter speed independently.

B

Bulb.  The shutter stays open as long as the button is pressed or the shutter activated by an outside shutter release.  You will use this setting more often than you might imagine.