[pcarfan]

OK, Av is pretty useless when used with the built-in flash and trying to control background exposurre. The shutter speed pretty much stays the same and exposure compensation has no effect on shutter speed and the only way to get the background better exposed is using slow-sync which does'nt allow for precise control. Granted Flash compensation is pretty useful for proper lighting of the subject, but Av leaves exposing the bg almost impossible. So, I looked into other modes for better control and I really like the hyperprogram (P) mode as it seems to offer everything Av allows and Tv allows. If BG exposure is irrelevent, built-in flash is FANTASTIC with in the Av mode.

P-Hyper program is both Av and Tv in one, why use either Tv or Av when P allows for both. Can someone please tell me why?

In P, I can change the shutter speed either directly (I know usually the aperture will change to keep the exposure the same, but it does'nt do so for several stops with the flash...COOL) OR I can change the exposure compensation to change the shutter speed. More control and easier than having to set slow-sync. So, I am thinking of using P for all my shooting unless I want either M or TAv in certain instances.

Using the built-in flash in Av mode gave me brilliant WB, so much so I was wondering why everyone was complaining about WB as it was a non-issue for me as I always used my flash with indoor lighting. Now, with the background exposure changed with shutter speed, the WB that is auto set to match the WB of the flash is not accurate, but I hope it is easily fixable in the K10D with it's customizable WB and digital pre-view. I have'nt done any testing of this, and I can only hope the P-TTL built in flash does'nt mess up the customized WB by varying the intensity for every shot ?

Any ideas or further elaboration related to this issue? especially why anyone would prefer Av or Tv over P.

Thanks!

[and]

If you are letting in ambient for the background and using flash for the foregound then no WB-present can help you because you have got mixed lighting, the color of the background light and the color of the flash light is different, the flashlight is usually daylight balanced. in order to remedy that you need to put a correction filter on your flash so that it has the same color temperature as the blulbs lighting the background. See this article>
Strobist: Lighting 101: Using Gels to Correct Light

[pcarfan]

Thanks for that link. I only recently got into flash photgraphy and I really should read through those strobist articles.