The screen display in the Automatic record mode. Icons across the top and left indicate that metering is Evaluative, single frame drive, auto red-eye reduction flash, Auto exposure mode. The image size is Large, quality is Superfine and there's space left on the SD card to take 178 more pictures.

When the color LCD is turned on and you half-press the shutter you will see which of the nine AF points (green rectangles) were used for the focus lock.

Press the FUNCT./SET button to select the desired capture mode (other than Movie) from: Automatic, Manual, Digital Macro, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Underwater or My Colors.

Manual exposure mode is like Auto in that the camera selects both the shutter speed and aperture for a correct exposure but you now have access to a multitude of Function and Menu options and color effects. Icons on the left here indicate +1/3EV exposure compensation, white balance is fluorescentH, ISO speed is 50, color effect is Vivid.

Manual mode Function options:

Mode - Automatic, Manual, Digital Macro, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Underwater or My Colors
Exposure Compensation - Override the metering +/- 2.0EV in 1/3 steps
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom one-push WB set
ISO Sensitivity Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400
Effect - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, B&W
Image Compression Superfine, Fine, Normal
Image Resolution 2592×1944, 2048×1536, 1600×1200, 640×480, Postcard(1600×1200) this is a special 3:2 ratio mode for making 4×6 in. prints.

My Colors options

Positive Film - intensifies Red, Green and Blue colors
Lighter Skin Tone - makes skin tones lighter
Darker Skin Tone - makes skin tones darker
Vivid Blue - emphasize blue tints
Vivid Green - emphasize green tints
Vivid Red - emphasize red tints
Color Accent - preserve selected color, rest of image black and white
Color Swap - transform the selected color to another
Custom Color - adjust color balance of red, green, blue and skin tone

Manual mode MENU options:

AiAF - Multi-point auto focus: On or Off= Center only
Self-timer - 10 or 2 seconds, or custom delay time and number of shots
AF Assist Illuminator - On or Off
Digital Zoom - On or Off
Review Time - Off, Hold or 2 - 10 secs
Date Stamp - Off, date, or date&time (only works in 3:2 Postcard mode)
Long Shutter - allows selection of a long shutter speed
Stitch Assist - Help shooting overlapping images to comprise a panorama

To set long shutter speeds, first set Long Shutter to ON in the main menu. In the Function menu, highlight exposure compensation then press the Menu button. The shutter speed is displayed at the bottom of the LCD; select a value from 1 to 15 seconds using the left and right buttons of the 4-way controller. Depress the FUNC./SET button to return to shooting mode. The LCD viewfinder's live image provides a preview of the exposure; adjust the shutter speed for the exposure you want. Noise Reduction is applied for exposures of 1.3 seconds or longer.

In shooting mode the 4-way controller is used to toggle the camera's focusing mode, flash mode, drive mode and metering mode. The changes will be indicated by icons on the LCD screen as shown above.

The camera has a very respectable macro focusing mode with coverage from 1.2 inches to 1.6 feet in wide angle and 1 to 1.6 feet in telephoto. There is also a digital macro mode but it tends to degrade image quality.

The StitchAssist Panorama mode aids you via on-screen prompts to achieve the proper overlap of sequential photos for later "stitching" with the PhotoStitch program. You can capture up to 26 images in either left-to-right or right-to-left orientation. After the first picture is taken the white balance and exposure is locked until you exit the StitchAssist mode. The use of a tripod and a bubble level is recommended.

You can record movie clips with audio at a variety of resolutions and frame rates. Standard movies can be recorded at resolutions of 640×480 or 320×240 at frame rates of 30 or 15 fps; the size of a single movie is limited to 1 gigabyte.

Fast Frame Rate is used to record fast moving subjects; frame rate is 60 fps and resolution limited to 320×240; clip length is limited to 1 minute. Compact movies are recorded at a resolution of 160×120 with a frame rate of 15 fps.

My Colors mode can be used to enhance colors or for special effects; resolutions of 640×480 or 320×240, and frame rates of 15 or 30 fps can be selected. Movie clips are recorded in Motion JPEG format and saved as AVI files.

Both the video and audio portion of movies can be replayed on the camera thanks to the built-in speaker. Full audio-video playback is also possible when connected to a TV monitor or a compatible PC after downloading.

Movie mode recording options:

Mode - Standard, Fast Frame Rate, Compact, My Colors
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom one-push WB set
Effect - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, B&W
Frame Rate: 30 or 15 fps
Movie Size: 640×480 or 320×240

The use of Self-Timer, AF Assist beam and Digital Zoom can be chosen from the main menu.