Exposure Mode Dial
The exposure mode dial is the creative heart of your camera. The dial has letters and icons to represent the different exposure modes available on your camera.
These modes allow the user to have varying control of the exposure from full automatic to Manual.
Advanced Exposure Modes
| Function | Does This |
| M – Manual | You have to set both the aperture and the shutter speed. |
| A or Av – Aperture Priority | You set the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed. |
| S or Tv – Shutter Priority | You set the shutter speed, and the camera sets the aperture. |
| P – Program | The cameras sets both the aperture and the shutter speed. |
| Auto (Often green colored word or icon) | The Auto exposure mode sets every setting on the camera to factory defaults, and then selects both the lens opening and shutter speed. |
Your camera may also have some factory optimized scene settings represented by an Icon on the Exposure mode dial.
Automatic Exposure Modes
| Icon | Good For |
| Face | Portrait mode widens the aperture to throw the background out of focus. The camera may recognize and focus on a human face. Defaults to the portrait picture style for better skin tones. |
| Mountain | Landscape mode uses a small aperture to gain depth of field. Defaults to the landscape picture style for more saturated blues and greens along with higher contrast to give your images more punch. |
| Flower | Close-ups or Macro; Optimizes camera settings for use with a macro lens. |
| Jogger | Action or sport mode increases ISO and uses a fast shutter speed to capture action. |
| Figure with a crescent moon or a star | Night portrait mode uses an exposure long enough to capture background detail, with fill-in flash to illuminate a nearby subject. |
You may not have all these icons on the dial. Some cameras have the scene modes or additional scene modes located elsewhere. Look for a label on the dial such as ‘Scene’ or ‘SCN’ to access these extra functions. Other scene modes found on many cameras include Fireworks, Snow, Natural light, Night landscape, beach and Movie mode. Consult your manual for a a full description of scene modes on your camera.
More advanced cameras may also have user customizable functions usually identified on the exposure mode dial with a C ( C1, C2, C3) or U (U1, U2).
