Originally posted by JimJohnson the camera is going to provide the same EV in every semi-automatic and automatic setting.
Yep. ...and you're right, I bet if I were shooting RAW I would have seen less variation in what the camera was choosing to do. But then, as a complete newbie, learning all the nuances of RAW processing is quite intimidating and time consuming. I realize that once you know what you like and have figured out how to achieve it, most RAW processing programs just use your defaults as a starting point but it still takes time, effort and learning to get to the point where your RAW processing is automated.
I guess what I didn't like about true green AUTO on the Kr was that in a given scene, it would choose Portrait one second, Macro another and other scene modes at will. I guess I felt like P gave me consistent results that I could count on even though all the modes would yield a similar EV, they can arrive at that EV in very different ways. That's also why I will set the Kr in TV for my son when he's likely to be shooting action, so that the camera can handle exposure but won't slow the shutter speed down to do it.
I guess at the end of the day, the best advice for the OP is to start with [Auto Pict] but perhaps limit the ISO so that it doesn't wander too high and go from there. If they're happy with the results, job's done. If not, explore the other scene modes and things.