[PALADIN85020]

I'm just now experimenting with the user modes on my new K5, and have settled on my choices. Here they are:

1. This is set up for taking pictures of inanimate objects with a tripod. The manual setting is invoked, ISO is set at 100, shake reduction off, color balance set for shade since I usually shoot using the diffused light in shade, capture mode in 2-second delay for mirror-up vibration free shots. Spot focus and metering, single frame, auto focus. Distortion correction and chromatic aberration correction on.

2. This one's set for outdoor action. Continuous autofocus. Tv mode set to 1/1000. Auto ISO from 80 to 6400. Shake reduction on. Center-weighted metering. Single frame shooting. Auto color balance.

3. Portrait mode. Av setting at max aperture. Auto ISO from 80 to 1600. Distortion and chromatic aberration correction on. Shake reduction on, HDR off. Auto color balance.

4. Continuous action. TV mode set to 1/1000. Continuous autofocus. Burst capture mode. Auto ISO set to 80-6400. Shake reduction on. Center-weighted metering. Distortion and chromatic aberration correction on. Auto color balance.

5. 3-pic bracketing. Capture mode set to bracket in .3 EV steps, -.3, 0, +3. Auto ISO 80-6400. Shake reduction on. Distortion and chromatic aberration correction on. Program mode selected. Auto ISO 80-6400, center-weighted metering. Auto color balance.

I think these 5 user modes will pretty much cover the types of shooting I anticipate.

How about you? What are your settings for the 5 user modes?

John

[Canada_Rockies]

I only have one user mode, and I use it for wildlife on tripod with my M 400/5.6. Manual exposure (of course), ISO 100, Single shot. The rest of it is my normal settings repeated, AWB, RAW PEF, etc.

[alexeyga]

As a RAW shooter I still can't figure out what to use it for... K5 is a victim of its own functionality and availability of external controls...

When shooting RAW there are only 3 things to worry about... Aperture, ISO and Shutter speed... SR + Auto ISO brings it down to Aperture only... And when I need to take over control of shutter speed, there's TAv or M+AutoISO...

[Canada_Rockies]

I need to move the camera into M exposure mode when I use the 400. For the rest of my shooting it's either P or A. And I can switch from P to A by turning the e-dial anyway. With M lenses and earlier, the aperture will only stop down in M, and shooting wildlife at 400, 560 or 680mm I need some depth of field.

[BobRad]

I haven't pulled the trigger yet on the K-5 (waiting for those pesky spots to disappear), but that hasn't stopped me from thinking about it. Your list looks similar to what I might do, but it occurred to me that I should make my normal shooting mode one of the user modes. That way I don't have to fiddle with the mode dial/button to make a change. You may have already done that, but I shoot mostly landscape, so none of yours would work as my normal mode.

Bob

[jbinpg]

My USER modes are:

1) HDR - M, ISO80, AEB +-2.0EV x 5, 12 sec delay, M focus, RAW, Fx button = Level

2) MACRO - Av, ISO80, MLU, -0.7 EV, M focus, RAW

3) ACTION - Tv, ISO6400, AFC HI, RAW

4) STREET - Av, ISO3200, AFS, JPG Best, Monochrome filter

5) NORMAL - TAv, Auto ISO80-51200, AFS, RAW

These are just convenient starting points. For example, I can change #3 to JPG when desired.

Jack

[dadipentak]

I really haven't figured out a use for USER modes. I feel the need to think through my settings for each situation.

[G_Money]

Two I can think of would be ETTR (expose to the right) with manual exposure and +2.5 or +3 exposure compensation. I use this in combination with spot metering to meter the brightest part of the image. The other would be for TAv and shake reduction turned off; I'd use this for long lenses mounted to a tripod for birding where I'd select a minimum shutter speed and stop down a bit for some DOF. I only got my K-5 on Friday so I'm still exploring.

One question about USER mode. I wasn't aware that it kept AF.C or AF.S settings, only the focus points. Nor is the metering mode saved—spot,centre weighted or matrix. Is this the case?

[jbinpg]

From the K-5 manual:

==============
You can save the current camera settings in the A mode and easily
retrieve them.

The following settings can be stored:

Exposure Mode (other than B and C)
Drive Mode
Flash Mode/Flash Exposure Compensation
White Balance
Sensitivity/ISO AUTO Setting
EV compensation value
Program Line
Exposure Bracketing
Extended Bracketing (Bracketing Amount/Type)
JPEG Recorded Pixels
JPEG Quality
File Format
RAW File Format
AUTO AF Point Setting
High-ISO NR
Slow Shutter Speed NR
D-Range Setting
HDR Capture
Custom Image
Cross Processing
Digital Filter
Shake Reduction/
Horizon Correction
• Lens Correction
• Color Space
• E-Dial Programming/
Button Customization
• [A Custom Setting 1-4]
menu settings
=========

Seems you are correct about AF mode type not being kept but the point selection setting is.

Jack