Hi Pentaxian friends.
The (P) mode is not a new mode on the K-7, but because of the information displayed differently on the new 3" LCD monitor, it gives the (P) mode a whole new twist. The (P) Hyper-Program Mode let's you decide if you want to shoot Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Sensitivity Priority, or whatever the camera decides is best using the Program Line. The Program Line has six different choices that can be preset in the Rec Mode. The preset lines are: Auto, Normal, High Speed priority, DOF deep, DOF shallow and MTF.
Once you turn the camera on, while in "P" mode, you will see the following screen:
If you rotate the rear e-dial, the mode becomes Av (Aperture Priority):
If you rotate the front e-dial, the mode becomes Tv (Shutter Priority):
With the new dedicated "ISO" button, you press it and change the ISO using the rear e-dial. Now the camera mode essentially turns to Sv (Sensitivity mode) although the ISO will remain at that setting until you manually change it, even when the green button is pressed.
If you want to come back to the camera (P) settings, just press the green button.
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If that weren't enough, you can change the EV compensation by a factor of +5 or -5, by pressing the dedicated EV Compensation button. All the above changes can be made without going through pages and pages of menu-driven functions.
The (P) Mode could be the only mode available and the K-7 would still be a great camera.
Yvon Bourque
5 comments:
You should set a challenge to take pics only in the P mode Yvon! I often think a similar challenge of only taking pics in the "green" mode will be interesting. It will force us to take and view our shots in a new way, since we will be very limited in the amount of control.
The menu is great isn't it??
-Somanna
Somanna - The menu saves us from surfing through pages of settings. It is very smart of Pentax the way most often used functions have dedicated buttons and the other principal settings are available from the information screen.
As for setting challenges, I don't think I want to venture that way. The K-7 can be used in so many different ways, and as long as the final results meets the requirements, all is good. :) Forums would be a better place for that, don't you think?
To be perfect, I think a hard switch for the program line would be great. If it's there, sorry...
I mean: instead of ev correction, let me assign a dial the switch...
Alessandor - I disagree. The program line is used only when you press the green button, which essentially means that you are letting the camera make all the decisions for you. However, using the (P) mode, without pressing the green button allows you to achieve the same. You want deep DOF, you set the aperture to the smallest opening, You want shallow DOF, you set the aperture to the largest size, you want high speed priority, you set the shutter speed accordingly. MTF of most lenses is about two stops smaller than the maximum aperture.The(P) modes allows you to shoot Aperture priority, Shutter speed priority, Sensitivity priority, all with the hard buttons and without having to change the mode dial. It is undoudebly the most versatile mode, once you understand what it can do.
Thank you. I am a late Pentax user, still finding out bits and pieces.
I agree Pentax has got the smartest exposure controls. I'm not an obsessive perfectionist: just saying that as a point and shoot tool, brain off, they could easily add that, perhaps in the green mode. The ability to change *just* the program line. No, I don't think it's needed. It's a marginal but easily accomplished addition. :-)
Many thanks for the attention and for the article.
Alessandro
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