Need help with S45 shooting modes...

[Jamie]

I need help with the shooting modes! Can anyone recommend which is the best mode to use for normal shooting, or tell me what mode(s) they normally use?

Here's the problem I'm having...

I normally use "P" mode (programmable) but, because I never use the flash, the shutter speed is often really slow and all my photos are blurry.

The weird thing is that when I change to "AUTO" mode, the shutter speed will always be significantly faster!

Even though the exposure and shutter speed is automatic for both modes.

Is it me or is this a little odd?

For example, yesterday I was taking shots in "P" mode and the shutter speed was automatically setting to 1 second. Then, with the camera in exactly the same position, I changed to "AUTO" mode, and the shutter speed was automatically setting to 1/8th of a second.

This really annoys me, because I want to take my photos in "P" mode. You can't set anything up in AUTO mode like the white balance - it's all locked out. I don't see why "P" mode should give me photos that are inferior to AUTO mode. Surely they should both give exactly the same shutter speed, right?

Can anyone explain why this is occurring, or does anyone have any tips to get the shutter speed up in dark areas. I'm new to photography (but not to digital imaging).

The manual gives pitifully little information about which modes to use and how they work.

[PeterS45]

Hi Jamie,

I think it has something to do with the way you measure the light. In the P-setting you can use Standard-, Spot- en Evaluative Metering while in Auto mode the camera always uses the Evaluative mode. My experience is that this is by far the best mode, except in situations where you want the camera to measure the exposure on a specific point.

So in Macro mode I prefer the Spotmetering and in the same time i set the camera to use the selected focusing point as the area to use for spotmetering.

So my first advice is to switch to evaluative metering in the P-mode and see what the result is. When that helps you can store that setting in your camera (under the 'menu'-button) and you won't ever have to bother looking again ;-).

Regards,

Peter

[cwhitla]

Jamie,
I would guess that the Auto Dial Mode is setting the ISO to go from 50-400 as it deems necessary. See if your ISO is set to 50 while in P mode and that explains the slow shutter speeds. Change it to ISO "Auto" in the P mode and it should behave as when the Auto mode on the dial is set.