5 USER modes - how do you use them?

elho_cid · 11-22-2010, 09:16 AM

Hi all,
I just thought it could be interesting to share ideas on use of the K-5 user mode slots.
I personally like that idea a lot. I always wanted to have advanced camera with scene modes that would actually make sense. K10D didn't have any and EOS 30D had them dumbed down so much that even RAW shooting was not possible in scene modes.

So I named the 5 user modes on my K-5 as follows: Portrait, scenic, macro, wildlife, sports.

For example portrait is x-sync with flash WB and ISO 80, macro has AF activation moved to Af button, scenic has composition adjustment under fx button and sports have high ISO and 6meg jpg as output.

I feel like I'm not ever going to use the exposure mode selection dial...

What are your user modes?
Do you store settings for street photo, pets, family, architecture or other specific genre?

**Lowell Goudge** · 11-22-2010, 09:26 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by elho_cid

Hi all,
I just thought it could be interesting to share ideas on use of the K-5 user mode slots.
I personally like that idea a lot. I always wanted to have advanced camera with scene modes that would actually make sense. K10D didn't have any and EOS 30D had them dumbed down so much that even RAW shooting was not possible in scene modes.

So I named the 5 user modes on my K-5 as follows: Portrait, scenic, macro, wildlife, sports.

For example portrait is x-sync with flash WB and ISO 80, macro has AF activation moved to Af button, scenic has composition adjustment under fx button and sports have high ISO and 6meg jpg as output.

I feel like I'm not ever going to use the exposure mode selection dial...

What are your user modes?
Do you store settings for street photo, pets, family, architecture or other specific genre?

I would use them the same way as I have used User modes on other bodies. Let's imagine for example, you are doing a wedding. You may or may not attend the rehersal, but you have approached th epriest to be able to check ouot the natural lighting inthe church in advance. Same with the banquet hall or where ever the reception is being held. Same for the greenhouse or garden where you will be taking shots.

You have, in each of these locations the ability to set in advance for natural/artificial lighting purposes, the white balance and limits of ISO and shutter speeds you wish to use. so you set up user modes for them. Or simply you set up these modes yourself for specific types of lighting and subjects that you shoot which may differ from the preprogrammed scene modes.

nulla · 11-22-2010, 11:24 AM

Originally posted by Lowell Goudge

I would use them the same way as I have used User modes on other bodies. Let's imagine for example, you are doing a wedding. You may or may not attend the rehersal, but you have approached th epriest to be able to check ouot the natural lighting inthe church in advance. Same with the banquet hall or where ever the reception is being held. Same for the greenhouse or garden where you will be taking shots.

You have, in each of these locations the ability to set in advance for natural/artificial lighting purposes, the white balance and limits of ISO and shutter speeds you wish to use. so you set up user modes for them. Or simply you set up these modes yourself for specific types of lighting and subjects that you shoot which may differ from the preprogrammed scene modes.

Well said Lowell... its how I am using mine

Neil

elho_cid · 11-22-2010, 11:34 AM

I'm not a frequent wedding shooter but to me it also seems like a very clever use.
It could be even interesting to have a possibility to store "user" mode presets to the hard drive and load back to camera when appropriate.

RonHendriks1966 · 11-22-2010, 11:47 AM

I have set user 1 the same as I had in my K-7. In Av mode as a presetting in B+W to quickly shift to movie-mode and thus being ablke for handling manual controlled settings in moviemode (true the backdoor).

d.bradley · 11-22-2010, 12:34 PM

Does the SR focal length stick in the user mode? If so I'll be setting up user modes for each of my takumar lenses, from 17mm to 500mm! (No I have not finished reading the manual!)

WerTicus · 11-22-2010, 01:33 PM

scene modes is a good idea for the non wedding photog, be the first scene modes that were not crap too

Hrmmm awesome now just need a K-5 :P

**Ash** · 04-01-2011, 11:00 PM

Good application of this feature Lowell.
Similarly, customised settings for non-wedding situations such as BIF, catch in focus, sports, etc. are very practical.

Nothing stopping you from getting it now, WerT.

30v iPentax · 04-02-2011, 12:26 AM

Meilläpäin tuli käyttöohjeet kaupanpäälle, kun osti K-5.

panoguy · 04-02-2011, 07:09 AM

So far (2 weeks), I've only set 3 of them. The functions are obvious by the names:

"5-shotHDR_tripod"
"ManVideoHack" (same as RonHendriks1966 mentioned)
"AutoHDRjpeg"

Hound Tooth · 04-03-2011, 12:44 PM

My main gripe about the user modes is they reset back to the saved settings when the camera goes to sleep. So if I made some tweaks to suit the situation at hand, and don't take any pictures for a while, the camera turns itself off, then my tweaks are gone. This doesn't happen with the standard modes. Very simple and crucial things like ISO, exposure compensation, white balance... *poof*, all gone the moment the camera turns itself off. They revert back to whatever was initially saved in that user mode.

I wish I could set the camera to Av mode (or whatever) and just load up the settings from one of my saved user modes. That way any tweaks I make would remain even after I turn the camera off. That would be very useful.

dreamfoto · 04-03-2011, 01:31 PM

only M
and TAv

or Av for old lenses, but that's just M

that all...

**Ron Boggs** · 04-03-2011, 01:35 PM

Always considered the User Mode(s) to be a great feature...just never got around to setting them on any camera body...maybe someday on the K5? Nah...

Glad to hear about others actually realizing the User Mode setting dream!

testdasi · 04-03-2011, 02:31 PM

It's funny I was wondering the same thing a while back.

Long exposure (Av, Auto ISO 80-100, SR off, 2-second timer)
Action (TAv, Auto ISO 160 - 12800, highlight protection, Burst on)
<slot still available>
Low Light (P, Auto ISO 80 - 51200)
JPEG Positive film (P, JPEG, Direct Positive, ISO 160-12800, highlight protection, shadow boost, Custom NR) - this is mainly for those "OOC JPEG" contests

Please can someone give me a suggestion to the empty slot still available? Rack my brain and can't seem to think of any.

jamescp · 04-03-2011, 03:11 PM

The only user mode I have used so far is for hdr. saves changing to j peg from raw.

11-22-2010, 09:16 AM	#1
elho_cid Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Prague Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,199	5 USER modes - how do you use them? Hi all, I just thought it could be interesting to share ideas on use of the K-5 user mode slots. I personally like that idea a lot. I always wanted to have advanced camera with scene modes that would actually make sense. K10D didn't have any and EOS 30D had them dumbed down so much that even RAW shooting was not possible in scene modes. So I named the 5 user modes on my K-5 as follows: Portrait, scenic, macro, wildlife, sports. For example portrait is x-sync with flash WB and ISO 80, macro has AF activation moved to Af button, scenic has composition adjustment under fx button and sports have high ISO and 6meg jpg as output. I feel like I'm not ever going to use the exposure mode selection dial... What are your user modes? Do you store settings for street photo, pets, family, architecture or other specific genre?

04-03-2011, 02:31 PM	#14
testdasi Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: London Posts: 35	It's funny I was wondering the same thing a while back. Long exposure (Av, Auto ISO 80-100, SR off, 2-second timer) Action (TAv, Auto ISO 160 - 12800, highlight protection, Burst on) <slot still available> Low Light (P, Auto ISO 80 - 51200) JPEG Positive film (P, JPEG, Direct Positive, ISO 160-12800, highlight protection, shadow boost, Custom NR) - this is mainly for those "OOC JPEG" contests Please can someone give me a suggestion to the empty slot still available? Rack my brain and can't seem to think of any.

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11-22-2010, 09:26 AM - 1 Like	#2
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,886	Originally posted by elho_cid Hi all, I just thought it could be interesting to share ideas on use of the K-5 user mode slots. I personally like that idea a lot. I always wanted to have advanced camera with scene modes that would actually make sense. K10D didn't have any and EOS 30D had them dumbed down so much that even RAW shooting was not possible in scene modes. So I named the 5 user modes on my K-5 as follows: Portrait, scenic, macro, wildlife, sports. For example portrait is x-sync with flash WB and ISO 80, macro has AF activation moved to Af button, scenic has composition adjustment under fx button and sports have high ISO and 6meg jpg as output. I feel like I'm not ever going to use the exposure mode selection dial... What are your user modes? Do you store settings for street photo, pets, family, architecture or other specific genre? I would use them the same way as I have used User modes on other bodies. Let's imagine for example, you are doing a wedding. You may or may not attend the rehersal, but you have approached th epriest to be able to check ouot the natural lighting inthe church in advance. Same with the banquet hall or where ever the reception is being held. Same for the greenhouse or garden where you will be taking shots. You have, in each of these locations the ability to set in advance for natural/artificial lighting purposes, the white balance and limits of ISO and shutter speeds you wish to use. so you set up user modes for them. Or simply you set up these modes yourself for specific types of lighting and subjects that you shoot which may differ from the preprogrammed scene modes.

11-22-2010, 11:24 AM	#3
nulla Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 1,560	Originally posted by Lowell Goudge I would use them the same way as I have used User modes on other bodies. Let's imagine for example, you are doing a wedding. You may or may not attend the rehersal, but you have approached th epriest to be able to check ouot the natural lighting inthe church in advance. Same with the banquet hall or where ever the reception is being held. Same for the greenhouse or garden where you will be taking shots. You have, in each of these locations the ability to set in advance for natural/artificial lighting purposes, the white balance and limits of ISO and shutter speeds you wish to use. so you set up user modes for them. Or simply you set up these modes yourself for specific types of lighting and subjects that you shoot which may differ from the preprogrammed scene modes. Well said Lowell... its how I am using mine Neil

11-22-2010, 11:34 AM	#4
elho_cid Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Prague Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,199 Original Poster	I'm not a frequent wedding shooter but to me it also seems like a very clever use. It could be even interesting to have a possibility to store "user" mode presets to the hard drive and load back to camera when appropriate.

11-22-2010, 11:47 AM	#5
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	I have set user 1 the same as I had in my K-7. In Av mode as a presetting in B+W to quickly shift to movie-mode and thus being ablke for handling manual controlled settings in moviemode (true the backdoor).

11-22-2010, 12:34 PM	#6
d.bradley Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Ontario Photos: Gallery Posts: 631	Does the SR focal length stick in the user mode? If so I'll be setting up user modes for each of my takumar lenses, from 17mm to 500mm! (No I have not finished reading the manual!)

11-22-2010, 01:33 PM	#7
WerTicus Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Perth Australia Photos: Albums Posts: 1,514	scene modes is a good idea for the non wedding photog, be the first scene modes that were not crap too Hrmmm awesome now just need a K-5 :P

04-01-2011, 11:00 PM	#8
Ash Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toowoomba, Queensland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,920	Good application of this feature Lowell. Similarly, customised settings for non-wedding situations such as BIF, catch in focus, sports, etc. are very practical. Nothing stopping you from getting it now, WerT.

04-02-2011, 12:26 AM	#9
30v iPentax Inactive Account Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Suomi , Finland Posts: 368	Meilläpäin tuli käyttöohjeet kaupanpäälle, kun osti K-5.

04-02-2011, 07:09 AM	#10
panoguy Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Washington, D.C. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,327	So far (2 weeks), I've only set 3 of them. The functions are obvious by the names: "5-shotHDR_tripod" "ManVideoHack" (same as RonHendriks1966 mentioned) "AutoHDRjpeg"

04-03-2011, 12:44 PM	#11
Hound Tooth Banned Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Williston, VT Posts: 268	My main gripe about the user modes is they reset back to the saved settings when the camera goes to sleep. So if I made some tweaks to suit the situation at hand, and don't take any pictures for a while, the camera turns itself off, then my tweaks are gone. This doesn't happen with the standard modes. Very simple and crucial things like ISO, exposure compensation, white balance... poof, all gone the moment the camera turns itself off. They revert back to whatever was initially saved in that user mode. I wish I could set the camera to Av mode (or whatever) and just load up the settings from one of my saved user modes. That way any tweaks I make would remain even after I turn the camera off. That would be very useful.

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04-03-2011, 01:31 PM	#12
dreamfoto Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: france Photos: Albums Posts: 163	only M and TAv or Av for old lenses, but that's just M that all...

04-03-2011, 01:35 PM	#13
Ron Boggs Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: MT Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,349	Always considered the User Mode(s) to be a great feature...just never got around to setting them on any camera body...maybe someday on the K5? Nah... Glad to hear about others actually realizing the User Mode setting dream!

04-03-2011, 03:11 PM	#15
jamescp Inactive Account Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: victoria bc canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 100	The only user mode I have used so far is for hdr. saves changing to j peg from raw.