Creative Auto mode is indicated by a new “CA” icon on the camera’s exposure mode dial, immediately adjacent to the familiar full-auto green zone icon. And that’s appropriate, because it’s the link between totally automatic operation and creative zone operation, where the user makes his or her own settings to get the photographic effects they desire. Again, the Creative Auto mode — as the name suggests — lets the photographer apply the creative effects he or she wants, but in a friendly, automatic way that doesn’t force them to get into aperture numbers, exposure compensation numbers and so on.

Once a user turns the Mode Dial to the “CA” setting, a screen appears on the LCD monitor with a variety of controls that can be set by the photographer.

The available settings on the Creative Auto mode screen are accompanied by a line of text at the base of the LCD monitor, which in plain English dictates what each setting will do. To change from one setting to the next, first press the SET button on the rear of the camera, and then navigate using any of the four cross-key buttons surrounding the SET button. Each setting is highlighted on-screen as it becomes active. Click the main dial left or right to make changes to the settings.

The available settings:

• Flash Control
  Quickly set the built-in flash to Auto flash (fires when needed), Flash On (always fires; ideal for outdoor fill-in flash), or Flash Off (prevents flash from firing, such as in museums, etc). Please note: this is for the built-in flash only, and isn’t applicable if
  

  Using the Main Dial on the top of the camera, you can make adjustments to settings such Depth of Field (seen above), Exposure Compensation, Picture Styles, Flash settings, and more.
  you’re using an external Speedlite.


• Background: Blurred <--> Sharp
  This is depth-of-field control, but without requiring an understanding of apertures. When highlighted, a horizontal scale is on-screen with an indicator mark that starts in the center. Turn the Main Dial (next to the shutter button) to move it toward the left and an icon that indicates a blurred background; moving the indicator mark to the right means a smaller lens aperture and a sharper background. Users now have depth-of-field control, without needing a full understanding of how depth-of-field actually works in a digital SLR.


• Exposure: Darker <--> Brighter
  Exposure Compensation, pure and simple. But now, the Creative Auto mode lets the first-time user simply tell the camera “darker” or “brighter” (using the same horizontal scale, with a distinct central marking and two settings on each side). Again, no having to worry about what the numbers mean. And unlike the camera’s normal Exposure Compensation, this does apply both to flash exposure, as well as conventional ambient light exposure.


• Picture Style
  Creative Auto mode simplifies Canon’s Picture Style settings. In fact, you don’t even see the words “Picture Style”. It describes the four available settings as
  

  One of the added benefits of using Creative Auto (CA) Mode is that it briefly describes the purpose/intended effect of each setting at the bottom of each screen.
  “Standard”, “Smooth skin tones”, “Vivid blues and greens”, and “Monochrome image”. The selections are simplified (the Neutral and Faithful settings are not available here; users must switch to the Creative Zone exposure modes to access them). Additionally, there are no further fine-tuning adjustments within each Picture Style when they’re set with the Creative Auto mode. But it’s a quick and easy way for the casual user who wants to take that next step in their photography to choose settings for the “look” they want.


• Image Quality
  No real changes, but users can now make these settings here, without a separate trip to the camera’s menu. Choose any of the available JPEG quality settings (Large/Fine, Large/Normal, etc.), RAW, or RAW plus a Large/Fine JPEG.


• Drive Mode
  Unlike the full-auto Green Zone, the Creative Auto mode again lets users take that next step. They can freely choose between single-frame advance, continuous advance at up to 3.4 fps, or use their choice of two self-timer options. Again, it’s in one centralized location, and the photographer is free to change it at any time.

As mentioned, a strong point of the Creative Auto mode to many SLR users is that the available settings are all accompanied by written terms in plain English, right on the bottom of the LCD monitor. This makes it even easier to decide what settings to use, without the angst of worrying about what a particular icon means. Creative Auto mode is just the thing for the SLR user who wants to break out of the full-auto shell, but who doesn’t yet feel comfortable with all the traditional photographic terms and lingo.

And that really sums up the benefit of Canon’s Creative Auto mode. We’ve seen it before in cameras like the EOS 50D and the high-end EOS 5D Mark II. But it’s found a home with the new EOS Rebel T1i, in a camera that from the get-go targets the casual photographer who still wants the quality and versatility of a modern, high-resolution digital SLR. For the first time, this customer no longer has to make the operational choice between a full-auto mode that limits his or her ability to make any corrective settings, or creative zone settings that really require photographic knowledge to achieve the results wanted. Six important settings are now possible, providing the newcomer to SLR photography a method to see a scene, and set the camera to capture it the way they want — quickly, easily, and in plain everyday English.