Digital cameras have a number of modes for use in different situations. These modes are set according to the consumer priority and degree of expertise, with the professional cameras emphasizing on manual modes, point and shoot cameras on automatic modes and amateur cameras on both the modes. Of all the modes, automatic mode is the most useful mode for amateurs since the flash and exposure are completely controlled by the camera itself.
Auto mode is found in most of the cameras which is denoted either as “auto”, “A” or (P)rogram. In this mode, the camera decides several parameters of shooting by itself. These may include exposure, aperture, white balance, focusing, sensitivity and light metering. The mode lets the camera select the best suited parameters and generally gives best results with many shooting conditions.
Since this becomes very generic, there are other supplementary modes that may provide some more clues to the camera about your exact requirements.
Auto without flash – This mode lets the camera make all the decisions and the photographer just needs to point shoot. But the lack of clear instructions results in selection of suboptimal settings for a particular capture and can even result in the occurrence of artifacts. This generally works well with outdoor shooting in ambient light.
Intelligent Auto – This is the improved version of auto which selects a preset program mode that best matches the environment from a list, before capturing. This incorporates features like face detection, improvised auto focus accuracy and exposure algorithms, and generally yield better results.
Scene Program – They are modes that have preprogrammed settings for shooting common situations. There are several of these hinted shooting modes that decide on the shooting parameters according to the scene type. The scene modes vary with the manufacturers and include the following types.
- Portrait Mode – In this mode, the camera selects a wide aperture with a medium focal length and a narrow depth of field to keep the subject in focus against a blurred background. The mode helps in shooting people or animals in well-lit areas and works best when the subject is close enough or sufficiently zoomed. Most of the recent models even turn on face detection, optimal exposure, flash and red-eye reduction when portrait mode is selected.
- Landscape Mode – Landscape mode sets the camera with narrow aperture, wide angle focal length and focus to infinity. This ensures much of the scene is in focus and gives a larger depth of field. The mode works best while shooting wide scenes, nature and cityscapes.
- Macro Mode – It is close-up photography and is similar to portrait mode as it produces the effect of a sharp subject against a relatively blurred background. This is achieved by zooming the lens to its closest focusing ability. The focusing distances vary for different digital cameras and usually range between 2-10 cm for the point and shoot cameras. Macro mode employs narrow depth of field and sets the flash accordingly, to avoid burning out of the subjects. This is ideal while shooting small objects like flowers and insects.
- Sports Mode – It is also known as action mode as it freezes fast moving subjects by increasing the shutter speed. This requires increasing ISO sensitivity and may be accompanied with raised image noise. Some of the advanced cameras even allow for continuous shooting and locking the subject. Sports mode is useful while shooting moving objects or people.
- Night Mode – The mode helps in capturing images in low light by setting the camera on a slow shutter speed for capturing background details illuminating the foreground with flash. The ISO sensitivity is generally set to medium or high and is ideal while shooting night scenes.
- Video Mode – This mode lets you record moving pictures (both audio and video). Most of the advanced cameras include the feature.
Some of the other less common modes that are found in some cameras include fireworks mode, water mode, snow mode, underwater mode, kids and pets mode and indoor mode.