3. Shooting Modes

• NV10 Black Digital...
• • Tech for Less Store
  • $137.25
• • Tech for Less Store
  • $137.25

The NV10 has six still shooting modes and a movie mode. These modes - which are selectable by using the mode selection knob on the top of the camera - provide different shooting options that will produce good results for virtually all levels of photographers. Only the true photo enthusiast or "prosumer" would want more options. Let’s look at them in more detail.

As you turn the mode selector knob, an animated display appears briefly on the LCD that corresponds to the selector knob. After it disappears, your operating mode is indicated by an icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

Auto

The Auto mode will appeal to the photographer who just wants to turn on the camera and take a picture. Most of the settings are preconfigured for you, so you don’t have to worry about things like aperture, shutter speed and so on. You can control brightness and color balance, while your only choices for flash in this mode are off or red-eye. In this mode, you can also change autofocus and resolution.

Program

Turning the selector knob clockwise brings you to Program mode, my favorite for this camera as it gives you a significant amount of control. Using the buttons on the right side of the screen, you can change white balance (auto plus six options including custom), ISO speed (Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, & 1000), exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 EV steps). In this mode, the controls across the bottom of the screen allow you to control sharpness, metering (spot, center, multi), shooting modes (single, continuous, high speed, M. capture and auto exposure bracketing), resolution and flash modes (off, slow sync, fill, red eye and auto). There are enough configurable features in the program mode that there’s a second menu with options for setting color effects (normal, B&W, Green, Red, Blue, Sepia and Negative), a self timer (2 sec, 10 sec or both) and access to recording a voice memo.

Manual

Manual mode has most of the features that you will find in program mode. However, instead of exposure compensation, you can manually select the aperture and shutter speeds. For aperture, you only have the choice of f/2.8 or f/7.1 at wide angle, and f/5.1 or f/13.1 at maximum zoom. To set the shutter speed, you select the current speed; a bar that ranges from slow to fast appears on the screen. To change the shutter speed, you slide your finger across the row of buttons below the screen. The shutter speed, along with the exposure value, appears on the screen, and you merely adjust the shutter speed until the EV is 0. Surprisingly, a few options were missing. In manual mode, you only have the choice of flash off or fill in. Similarly, you lose the option for automatic exposure bracketing.