Nikon DSLR Point & Shoot Modes
In addition to the «standard» exposure modes
These modes are signified by small pictograms. On the D80 mode wheel shown to the right, they are (clockwise from the one o'clock position): Green Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close up, Sports, Night landscape, and Night portrait. The number and type of point & shoot modes available varies between camera models, but the modes avaialble on the D80 is fairly typical.
Selecting one of these modes activates a set of preset settings that Nikon's engineers thinks is most suitable for a particular type of photography. You can not override the presets in the point & shoot modes.
Not everyone uses point & shoot modes. But they offer a shortcut to common settings that some people find convenient. If you are one of these people, the point & shoot modes are for you.
Some models even have a large selection of additional point & shoot modes you can pick from a menu by setting the mode wheel to «SCENE» or «GUIDE». I am not going to discuss every point & shoot mode you'll find on a Nikon DSLR, but below you will find brief descriptions of the most common modes.
Green Auto
The green Auto mode is a fully automatic mode where the
camera controls everything. That's the whole point of it. It is an
mode designed to prevent the photographer from making any
mistakes.
In green Auto mode, the camera will try to pick a resonable aperture and shutter speed. If the light is so low that the shutter speed for the ambient is 1/60 second or lower, it will set the shutter speed to 1/60 of a second and activate the camera's flash. In this mode, most of the camera's settings and controls are suspended (you are still able to set the ISO and turn on or off the Red-eye Reduction Mode on the flash). Many of the settings in the Custom Setup menu are also overridden.
While green Auto will get you a resonable snapshot in most situations, it is not foolproof. Using it may result in an underexposed photo if whatever you are taking a photograph of is too far away for the flash to have an inpact. Also, if you are shooting with a lens with a long focal length (e.g. 30mm or longer), the 1/60 second shutter time the camera will pick in this mode may be too slow to eliminate motion blur if you have unsteady hands.
You may want to use green Auto mode when you are in a hurry, or just want to snap away without bothering with camera controls.
For example, if you just bought your first DSLR camera and you want to start taking pictures without reading the manual or learning how to use the standard exposure modes, you can select green Auto and let the camera do all the work for you.
Later on, when you've leaned to use the control of the camera, the green Auto may still come handy if you, for instance, are going to hand the camera to a waiter for him to snap a picture of you and your family in a restaurant. Switching the camera to green Auto means that someone unfamiliar with he camera will still be able to take a picture without caring about settings.
Portrait
In Portrait mode, the camera select a large aperture for a
shallow depth of field in order to isolate the subject from the
background. It will use the camera's flash to fill in the
shadows.
The camera will select the focus area containing the closest subject automatically. The rendering will be optimized for soft, natural-looking skin tones.
Landscape
The Landscape mode uses a small aperture for increased
depth of field. It is useful for general scenic travel photography,
for taking a large group of people, and even general purpose picture
taking because the large depth of field will often have everything
from the foreground ro the backround in focus.
In this mode the camera selects the focus area containing the closest subject. The built-in flash and AF-assist illuminator is turned off automatically. The rendering will be optimized for vivid and more saturated colours.
Close up
Unlike compact digicams, the close-up mode on your DSLR will not
allow you focus closer. You still need to be fit a special macro lens
to be able to move very close to your subject.
This mode will make the camera focus on the subject in the center focus area and stop down for maximum depth of field. Use of a tripod is recommended to prevent blur.
Child
Use the Child mode for taking snapshots of children.
It operates as a blend between the Portrait and
Sports modes. The camera will use a fast shutter
speed in an attempt to freeze movement.
The camera selects the focus area containing the closest subject. Clothing and background details are vividly rendered while skin tones are given a soft, natural finish.
Sports
In the Sports mode, the camera will (if necessary) increase
the ISO and set a large aperture in order have the fastest shutter
speed as the ambient light allows in order to freeze motion.
The camera will also focus continuously while the shutter-release button is pressed halfway, tracking the subject in the center focus area. If the subject leaves the center focus area, the camera will continue to focus based on information from the other focus areas. The starting focus area can be selected with the multi selector.
The built-in flash and AF-assist illuminator is automatically turned off.
Night portrait
Use Night Portrait when taking portraits in low light. The
camera will use flash to light up the main subject, and also use a
long shutter time to create a natural balance between the main subject
and the background lit by ambient light.
The camera selects the focus area containing the closest subject.
You need to be careful when using night portrait mode, you will get some blur from the background if you don't hold the camera absolutely still. Using a tripod is recommended.
Night landscape
In the Night Landscape mode, the camera will select a shutter
speed slow enough to produce correctly exposed cityscapes and
landscapes after sundown. The built-in flash and AF-assist
illuminator is automatically turned off. Using a tripod to prevent
blur is recommended.
Flash off
Select this mode to turn the built-in flash turns off. This setting
is intended for use in museums and galleries where flash photography
is prohibited. You may also use this mode when using flash is
pointless (e.g. when photographing a stage show from a further
distance than 6 meters), or if you want to capture natural lighting
under low light.
Auto ISO is switched off. The camera will select the focus area containing the closest subject, and the AF-assist illuminator will light to assist the autofocus when lighting is poor.
Scene
Setting the
mode dial to this position gives access to the even more scene modes
that have been pre-programmed. Once this dial position is selected,
the main command dial lets the photographer cycle through and pick
even more scene modes on the LCD screen on the camera's back.
Please see your camera's manual for descriptions of these additional scene modes.
Guide
On Nikon's newest entry level cameras the «SCENE» setting has been
replaced with a «GUIDE» settings that provides an interactive
alternative to the conventional preset scene modes.
The guide operates in two modes: Easy and advanced. The easy mode work just like the old «SCENE» setting, giving access to more preset scene modes. The advanced mode is actually a guide where inexperienced photographer is given a set of simple to understand choices (e.g. «soften background», or «freeze motion»). The choices are then translated into appropriate camera settings. If the photographer picks «soften background», the camera then shows how this can be accomplished by using a large aperture. Likewise, «freeze motion» will take the photographer to a screen for setting a fast shutter speed.
The advanced mode in the GUIDE setting is giving the photographer back some of the creative control because it actually a wizard driven skin on top of conventional camera controls such as sperture, shutter speeed, ISO and flash.
