The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D Companion

Summing Up Program Mode

Program mode is probably the mode you'll use most often on the XS, and the reasons why should be becoming clear to you. Like Full Auto mode, Program mode can automatically focus and choose an exposure, white balance, and ISO for you. But, unlike Full Auto mode, you can take some control yourself and override the camera's decisions to choose a shutter speed or aperture that's better suited to your creative goals and adjust ISO if you need more latitude for your exposure settings.

You can override the camera's autofocus mechanism to ensure that the subject you want is in focus and even tell the camera to track moving objects.

You can control white balance to a very refined degree, allowing you to shoot better, more accurate color in a broader range of lighting conditions, and you can maximize the use of your storage card by adjusting image size and compression settings.

As you've been playing with the camera, you've probably begun to get a better feel for the XS's interface and for Canon's clever design. In Program mode, using just the Main dial and ISO button, you can easily select a shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, all without ever taking your eye from the viewfinder.

We'll be staying in Program mode for another couple of chapters, because there are still more features for you to learn about. However, with what we've covered here, you should now have a little more creative latitude, and so you should experiment with shutter speed, aperture, and ISO control, ...