Lesson 1 · Week 1 · 2–8 Sep

The mode dial

Know what every position on the dial does and which dial changes what in each — then forget most of them and live in two.

One dial, nine positions

The mode dial chooses who decides what. In Auto the camera decides everything. In M you decide everything. The positions in between split the work, and the useful ones split it the same way every time: you make the one creative decision, the camera does the arithmetic.

The four positions you'll actually use are marked. The rest exist; you can ignore them.

A+

Scene Intelligent Auto

The camera decides everything. Use it when you hand the camera to someone else, or when you panic.

▶A

Hybrid Auto

Auto, but it also records a short video clip before every photo. Eats battery. Leave it alone.

SCN

Special Scene

Presets like Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Panning, Handheld Night. Occasionally handy, mostly a crutch.

✦

Creative Filters

Effects baked into the photo — grainy black-and-white, toy camera, miniature. Fun once. Not for the trip.

Program

The camera picks aperture and shutter; you can nudge the pair with the dial. A stepping stone we skip.

Shutter priority

You set the shutter speed, the camera sets the aperture. For anything that moves: dolphins, birds, kids.

Aperture priority

You set the aperture (how much is in focus), the camera sets the shutter. Your home mode.

Manual

You set both. Only for the tripod: long exposures, night sky, waterfalls.

🎥

Movie

Video. A separate module, whenever you want it.

What the main dial does in each mode

Av — the dial changes the aperture (the f-number). The camera sets the shutter speed to match.
Tv — the dial changes the shutter speed. The camera sets the aperture.
P — the dial slides both together along a line of equivalent pairs. Rarely useful.
M — the dial changes the shutter speed. Press the Up key and it changes the aperture instead. Press again to go back.
A+ — the dial does nothing. Everything is decided.

The main dial and the Up key — between them they cover every mode.

Where you'll live

Av at f/8 is home. Sharp front to back, forgiving, and the camera handles a light level that changes every minute at the coast.
Tv when things move: dolphins, birds, running children. You set 1/500 or 1/1600 and stop worrying.
M only on the tripod: the lighthouse at dawn, waterfalls, the night sky. When nothing moves and you have time.
A+ when you hand the camera to someone, or when you panic.

Reading what the camera chose

Take a photo. Press Playback.
Press INFO until you see the screen with the numbers: shutter speed (like 1/250), aperture (f/8), ISO, and a small mountain-shaped graph — the histogram.
Those numbers are what the camera decided on your behalf. This is how you learn what it does with the decisions you didn't make — and later, how I'll tell you exactly why a photo went wrong.

Your dial drill: the same subject in A+, Av and TvDrop it in the photos folder and it appears here.

Assignment

The dial drill

One subject, same framing: a mug by a window, a tree, a parked car. Something that doesn't move.
Shoot it in A+. Then Av f/8. Then Tv 1/500. Then Tv 1/15. Then M — turn the dial and press Up a few times just to feel the switch, then shoot whatever it gives you.
Playback → INFO on each. Notice which numbers changed and which stayed. In Av, the shutter moved. In Tv, the aperture moved. In A+, both.
Do the whole set three times in different light: indoors, outside in shade, outside in sun. About 30 photos.

Send me

Three photos with the numbers you read off the INFO screen, and one sentence on what surprised you. The Tv 1/15 one will probably be blurred — that's the point.