I have a Pentax K5. Recently, in a difficult shooting situation, I wanted to shoot a leopard cub obscured by foliage in green mode. I switched from autofocus auto select to select and attempted to change the focus point. The display remained indicating auto 11 point selection. In fact, changing the autofocus selection knob has no effect on switching focus point selection.
Hardware problem, firmware problem or my understanding f functionality?
By the way, I switched to manual focus, focused on leopard and got the shot.

[Adam]

Were you in green mode perhaps?

In select mode all the points are available and you need to use the directional buttons to select which one you want to be active. It will be highlighted in the viewfinder.

alas, it is much more complicated than I thought. First, in Green mode, only auto selection is available. In the lettered modes (P, SV,Av etc.) it is available but is not as described on Pg 127 of user manual. To enter focus point selection mode, one must first be in a lettered mode, then one must shift the lever from auto to center point select (i. e. upper point of selection) then back down to SEL. At this point, the Four Way controller will then operate to select the focus point, and the display in the information display shows both the current selected focus point and will contain the box with arrows indicating selection is available.
If one moves the selector from the auto to SEL, the four way controller functions remain their Green mode assigned functions, WB etc.
I don't know if this discrepancy is part of the designed functionality but is a bit complicated to enter into. It works well when activated.

[zekewhipper]

alas, it is much more complicated than I thought. First, in Green mode, only auto selection is available. In the lettered modes (P, SV,Av etc.) it is available but is not as described on Pg 127 of user manual. To enter focus point selection mode, one must first be in a lettered mode, then one must shift the lever from auto to center point select (i. e. upper point of selection) then back down to SEL. At this point, the Four Way controller will then operate to select the focus point, and the display in the information display shows both the current selected focus point and will contain the box with arrows indicating selection is available.
If one moves the selector from the auto to SEL, the four way controller functions remain their Green mode assigned functions, WB etc.
I don't know if this discrepancy is part of the designed functionality but is a bit complicated to enter into. It works well when activated.

Norman: It is very easy to understand. In Green Mode, the camera is fully automatic with no input possible by the operator. It is the mode you use when you basically want to hand the camera over to someone else to use who is clueless about photography. It turns your camera into a big point & shoot one. In P/Program mode, again the camera is basically fully automatic, BUT the operator can make manual override adjustments.

If you have a K-5, then there really is no reason for you to ever need to shoot in Green Mode. If the shooting situation was a difficult one like you say, then putting the camera in Green Mode was actually the worst thing you could have done, as the camera will simply do what -it- wants to do.


So in a nutshell, use Green Mode if you actually want to increase your chances of taking a botched up photo.

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Last edited by zekewhipper; 04-11-2014 at 09:09 PM.

[TER-OR]

Most often with my K5 I'm in TAv mode, center metering and center focus selection. It's quick enough to switch modes depending on the conditions. P is useful, though, to see what the camera thinks is best - which often isn't.