[hjoseph7]

On the Pentax K-5 IIs you can shoot in Sv(Sensitivity mode) and TAv(Auto sensitivity mode) as well as the other modes AV, TV, P, B & M. When I first got my camera about a year ago I didn't even bother learning how to use these modes. I just bypassed them and went directly to P or AV. The only time I used Sv was when I accidently turned the dial to this mode thinking I was on Av.


The other day I decided to read the manual to find out how these work(Sv & TAv) . I could understand TAv which is just another way of using Auto ISO. I worked at some shoots where the aperture and shutter speed were fixed, so Auto ISO was used due to the changing light conditions. Unfortunately, I was using a Canon camera and the Auto ISO was just horrible on those cameras. It seems to work a lot better on Pentax cameras, at least on my K-5 II, but I'm not sure .


What I'm trying to figure out, is why would anybody want to use Sv mode ? I'm guessing that under certain "creative" circumstances someone might want noise in the picture to get a certain look ? I try to keep my ISO at 800 or below so this mode is totally useless to me unless I'm missing something ?

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Last edited by hjoseph7; 09-07-2015 at 06:35 AM.

[Outis]

I've used Sv mode to see the best results the camera could get automatically for a given ISO. Also useful for low-light situations like museums for some kind of ISO bracketing-- you'd like to use the lowest ISO you can reasonably get away with, and adjusting the ISO in Sv might be more convenient.

[boriscleto]

I haven't ever used Sv mode on my K-5 or K-3. I used it once on my K-x

TAv on the other hand is my primary shooting mode.

[Sandy Hancock]

I use TAv quite a lot for my concert work.
I have never even considered Sv (or Tv for that matter).

[tapiolan]

On my K20, I used Sv mode quite a lot when shooting indoors (church, museum etc.). I found it very convenient over M for example.
Other times I use M, 90% of the time, both on K20 and K01.

[patrick9]

I use Tav most of the time as well . With M and Av next in line.

[simon_199]

With the degree of control offered by customizable dual control wheels, probably some exposures mode are redundant and/or overlapping, for example sometimes i used TAv sometimes to ensure the camera selected a fast enough shutter speed. In most situations Av is fine, but for example for macro with a 100mm lens the camera in Av with auto ISO would be content with 1/160s whereas to even have a chance of freezing movement i might need say 1/400s. However...i have set the second wheel in Av mode to directly control the ISO , so in the same situation i would just bump up the ISO as needed in Av mode. Personally, i like the freedom of choice given by the abundance of modes and settings

[IchabodCrane]

Sv mode is simply P mode with a user-defined ISO setting. All it really does is allow you to bypass the ISO button for changing the ISO setting (defaults to rear wheel ISO adjustment). This can be handy but you lose your A and T hyper-program wheels.

[stevebrot]

Sv mode? Never...

TAv mode? Only when needed, meaning almost never...

I like having the options, but as noted above Sv mode is just P with easily changed fixed ISO. I seldom change ISO for my style of shooting* and tend to eschew auto-ISO unless doing snapshots. TAv is basically M mode with auto-ISO, so I guess that explains why it is seldom used too.


Steve

* typically 100 or 200 on tripod...

[Basie]

Sv Mode? Never I rather change ISO directly ( it is easy on the K5 ) and use program to play with aperture and speed

[derekkite]

TV, TAv, Bulb and X. The others rarely if at all. I don't think I've ever shot in Sv mode.

[mechmike10]

I use TAv most of the time. Unless you need a small aperture for depth of field or a large one for lack thereof, or an especially fast or slow shutter speed, set your lens to its sharpest aperture and your shutter speed to the slowest that will allow hand holding the lens effectively and let the camera choose the ISO, with an upper limit of 1600. Great for taking photos quickly.

[PKMike]

When shooting with the camera handheld I usually default to TAv and select my desired aperture and shutter speed. If the lighting becomes so bright that ISO begins to drop below 100 I switch to Av, set ISO to 100 and let the camera set the shutter speed. I sometimes think I should go back to metered manual, but the K-3 is pretty accurate. So I have become complacent using the exposure compensation as needed. It still holds true though that no AE system can evaluate as well as a trained photographer's mind.

[Venom3300]

I tried both. But I've shot full manual for so long that I actually find anything else harder to adjust exposure on.

[Not a Number]

I don't think I've ever shot in either mode other than to see how they work.