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03-17-2016, 08:20 AM   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by jackloganbill Quote
When sightseeing, walking around a town, shooting buildings, landscapes, etc., what mode do you generally use?
QuoteOriginally posted by DeadJohn Quote
Av mode for sightseeing. Auto ISO during daylight. At night or indoors I might change to manual ISO with Av, or TAv, or full M.
That's it for me, as well. I think that goes for most photographers. Av mode 90%, Tv and M for the other stuff.
So I'll mention the other mods that are less popular, but can still produce surprisingly good results

Landscape Scene - I like this one because it is like P, but it tries to keep the aperture between f8 and f14. So if you want a wide DoF, this is a decent mode to choose. And you still keep some control, unlike in full Auto mode. Similarly the Sports scene tries to keep a high shutter speed, which can be great in some cases. Sure, Tv or TAv give you some more control, but sometimes you want a little automation to take the work from you.

Night scene HDR - Surprising, but I got some photos that I enjoy. Yes, they contain a little too much noise for my liking and I could probably do a better job if I would take time, use triggers, take multiple photos with custom settings, add dark frame NR, blend the multiple raw exposures in some fancy computer program.. but all of that is a lot of work and kind of annoys me. For my purposes, the Night scene HDR is acceptable, and it is very fast, very easy.
Oh,and this "Night HDR" is much different from the regular HDR, as far as I could tell. The Auto in-cam HDR is fairly bad, quickly becomes a 2D grey mess. But the Night HDR (buried in the SCN Info menu) is different. Still good to use it with a tripod and 2 sec timer, though.

Edit: I should mention my cameras don't really have SV and TAv mode lol not much of a Pentaxian, eh?


Last edited by Na Horuk; 03-17-2016 at 10:31 AM.
03-17-2016, 08:41 AM   #17
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I use mostly Av and TAv, but use M when I work with flashes.
03-17-2016, 08:48 AM - 1 Like   #18
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For sightseeing Av, with ISO set accordingly and keeping an eye on the shutter speed.
03-17-2016, 09:08 AM   #19
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I nearly always use TAv and keep an eye on my sensitivity value. Then, I'm smoother at getting the ISO to change through exposure compensation than in full manual, so I do that when I need to take a bit more control.

03-17-2016, 09:37 AM   #20
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Mostly Av.
Switching to M for panoramas.
03-17-2016, 09:48 AM   #21
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AV for general shooting, TAV for moving subjects, or when I can achieve a slower shutter handheld (which is often with Pentax IBIS). Auto-ISO locked to 100-6400 for all except tripod shots. Exposure lock for panoramas/portraits.
03-17-2016, 10:00 AM   #22
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Av for most, M for the rest

03-17-2016, 10:17 AM   #23
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P with KA (or newer) lenses, good enough light and no external flash. In this case and if needed, my back wheel can adjust between exposure time and aperture within a fraction of a second without changing EV. For me, it makes all other modes obsolete.
M with K lenses and/or external flash. Without flash, because of the stop down measurement this is in fact a kind of "manual" Av.
Av with M42 lenses
Sv with very low light - usually I try to avoid it with my K200D, as any ISO >200 will force me to heavily use Topaz DeNoise. This is really good in removing noise in darker areas up to ISO 800 (sometimes even 1600) without destroying details, but it takes A LOT of time which I prefer to use for other activities.

Camera modes for flash usage are a very different problem:

I experimented using my 2 pTTL capable flashes with camera P mode, but I found I am too often not satisfied with what the camera sets for exposure time and aperture. So with these I now set the camera to either Av, Tv, or even M.

My 7 other flashes are non-pTTL, but thyristor controlled (and all except one TTL capable, only to be used with my *istDS).
Not exactly fitting to this thread, but TTL has the same shortcomings as pTTL, if the distance between subject and background is big. That's why I prefer the old thyristor controlled flashes.
But in any case only M mode makes sense.
03-17-2016, 10:27 AM   #24
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Another 'P' here, but on almost every shot it's actually 'Hyper-AV'. The reason is that if I pull out the camera for a quick impulse short, 'P' usually gives a usable result and with Hyper-AV I don't have to fiddle with the mode dial at all. I do preserve exposure correction when turning off the camera, most times set for -0.3, but it can get in my way as I often adjust it for the shot and forget to set it back.
03-17-2016, 10:57 AM   #25
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M mode. I never understood why to use AV and have to adjust exposure compensation when I can just use M mode and adjust it with the dials. I do use AV though when things are a little more constant. Like at a music festival during the daylight hours. That's when I need to shoot with a little more speed and just adjust my exp comp for the sunlight.
03-17-2016, 11:12 AM   #26
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+1 for Hypermode P.
This Pentax functionality is highly underrated in my view. Really great to be able to change from fixed aperture or fixed shutter at just the turn of a wheel.
03-17-2016, 11:15 AM - 2 Likes   #27
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Relaxed mode.
03-17-2016, 11:35 AM   #28
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TAv almost 90% of time, mainly for action and M for the rest, while no using flash.

With flash can vary depending on situation, if on camera or wireless flash, again could be TAv most of the time, or AV, TV. Studio conditions, or landscapes, always M.
03-17-2016, 11:39 AM   #29
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M+green button for manual glass, else Av or less frequently TAv.

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03-17-2016, 12:00 PM   #30
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QuoteOriginally posted by kiwi_jono Quote
+1 for Hypermode P.
Same here. Sightseeing is much more efficient if you keeping moving, you can ruin your trip and that of your companions if you spend too much time setting up your photo shooting. You should always check f-stop and shutter in your viewfinder regardless, just to make sure you don't waste the moment on badly exposed images, but what you need to adjust isn't the same in every instance. Sometimes there just isn't time to figure out what f-stop and/or shutter speed will best capture your mind's eye view, or your mind gets addled at inopportune times. Hypermode is so simple and effective I don't know how well I would cope with a camera that didn't have this feature.
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