What are the other settings on the dial for?

DammitJanet

DammitJanet

Well-known member
I'm sure we're all familiar with A for Auto, M for Manual and VCR for watching footage, but what are all those other shooting modes on the round side dial for? I couldn't find an explanation in the manual. Any ideas?
 
From pg. 52-53 of the manual

Easy Recording (rectangle): Full auto without the ability to change settings.
Auto (A): Full auto with ability to change settings
Shutter Priority (TV): Favors shutter speed at the expense of auto aperture control
Aperture Priority (AV): Allows aperture control at the expense of automatic shutter speed
Spotlight: For brightly lit subject
Night: Automatic low shutter speed
 
Alright, wiseguy...now give me a situation for each in which the given setting would be very useful.

Also, thanks for pointing out the manual pages. :)
 
I never understand why Canon gives you so many options. To be honest I don't even know which does what off the top of my head; never used them, never needed them. The full manual mode is flexible enough for pretty much any situations and I don't trust the auto setting on the A1 anyway. The autofocus for example is pretty bad in low light, even with the sensor. I was filming a show and had AF on, but it couldn't distinguish between the singers on stage and the background, so I ended up with a lot of unwanted DOF where the singers are out of focus and the background in focus :(.
 
Tv mode is pretty useful. Since shutter speed affects how the motion is captured, it's not really an exposure control. You would normally want to fix the shutter speed rather than let the camera change it unpredictably. Tv mode lets you do that and still have auto exposure when you need it. And you can quickly override the auto part by pressing exposure lock, which apart from locking the exposure (duh) also lets you adjust both shutter speed and aperture.

Av is not so useful in my opinion. I think it is probably carried over from Canon still cameras, where it is good for DOF control. I don't see the sense in it in a video camera since a shifting shutter speed is not a very good effect.

Spotlight and night settings? I've never used these at all, but I expect doing it manually or in Tv mode is going to be better in most cases.
 
I tried to use spotlight mode for a stage production and found that I just couldn't depend on it and there's no way to adjust it because AE shift is disabled. So I use mostly manual mode. I really wish that when in one of the auto modes that the camera would display the setting that it's controlling. For example, Tv mode does not display the f/stop that the camera is using. In auto focus, it does not display the distance. Etc. In the right situations it would be nice to let the camera help out but I would like to know what it's doing.

-Dan
 
TeleDan said:
I tried to use spotlight mode for a stage production and found that I just couldn't depend on it and there's no way to adjust it because AE shift is disabled. So I use mostly manual mode. I really wish that when in one of the auto modes that the camera would display the setting that it's controlling. For example, Tv mode does not display the f/stop that the camera is using. In auto focus, it does not display the distance. Etc. In the right situations it would be nice to let the camera help out but I would like to know what it's doing.

-Dan
Click to expand...

Hi Dan. Totally agree with you. I tend to use Tv mode and then push Exposure Lock to display the settings. That also lets me adjust the aperture ring of course.
 
the dial setttings are shared across their line of pro slr and dslr still cameras. easy, auto, spotlight and night modes are either fully-auto or semi-auto modes geared toward the general consumer crowd. if you want control of your image, they should probably be avoided. tv, av, and manual modes are referred to as "creative modes" in their slr line, as they give you a little more control of the manual settings. i can't really think of a use for av mode on a video camera (tho it comes in quite handy on their still cameras) -- nobody would want their shutter speed jumping around while they shoot. tv is far more useful. it's just like full manual mode with the added benefit of being able to toggle auto or manual control (with the exposure lock button) of your aperture setting, which comes in very handy, especially for run-and-gun and event type work.
 
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