Program AE This mode is the most versatile of the four main shooting modes. Yes, it may not be ideal in certain situations but the Program Shift function allows you to alter the camera's chosen aperture and shutter speed settings by using the Main Dial of your EOS camera. It may be tedious to do so but it works very well if you can live with it. During its early days (created by Canon with the Canon A-1 in 1978), the Program AE mode was often ridiculed by veterans and professional photographers alike. You can't really blame them for thinking this way since the exposure metering of 35mm SLR cameras in those days was not that versatile to cope with complicated lighting situations unlike now. But with the built-in exposure metering of modern 35mm AF SLR cameras now utilizing state-of-the-art technology, opting for Program AE mode is no longer confined to beginners and amateurs. The professionals love it and prefer to refer the P mode as "Perfect" or "Professional" instead. These four photos below are some examples that were shot with the Program AE mode. An urban landscape scene Workers painting a wall fencing     Rooftop of a bungalow Miss Malaysia/Chinese International 2001 being styled up Perhaps the greatest example of using the Program AE mode is in covering news and other high-profile events, like the Miss Malaysia/Chinese International 2001 beauty pageant, of which Canon Malaysia was one of the co-sponsors. Tv or Av mode may be fine to use in covering this event provided if your EOS camera has a Safety Shift feature built-in when your own settings do not match the lighting situation and may result in wrong exposures. How about Manual exposure mode? The contestants were moving and turning around faster than you could calculate the exposure settings or move either the Main Dial or Quick Control Dial around to get the right shutter speed and f-stop settings. You have to be fast to capture the event Constantly changing lighting conditions     P mode was all that was needed This is what you will get in Manual mode Since the event was also a live feed to other countries, flash photography was not allowed. With the constantly changing available light conditions, there was no time whatsoever in calculating the precise exposure settings manually, let alone settings in Tv or Av mode. At the end of the day, it will be the number of great shots you have that counts, not how you fumbled the whole process trying to calculate the correct exposure settings MANUALLY. Try telling that to your client or photo editor of how you messed up and you will know the consequences. Text and photos by Philip Chong. Copyright 2000 by Canon Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd << Back to Main . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 .