Originally posted by Marc Sabatella Scene modes are mostly owrthless. You get results just as good with less effort by using the fully automatic "P" mode
Not really -- that's why I said they were useful as quick presets.
Normally for P mode I run with Auto ISO and either Bright or a tweaked Natural image tone, Matrix metering, AF-S.
Landscape mode forces ISO 100 and F8-ish, getting me slower shutter speeds, plus the Landscape image tone. I can do that in P mode if I first use the menu to select ISO 100 and Landscape tone, then use the dial to Shift aperture into the F8 range while keeping an eye on it. Av mode would mean I keep less of an eye on it, but I still have to menu dive. If you don't like the image tones or are shooting RAW, that's one step you can leave out, but the others remain.
[K20D: use Hyper Program to get to Av without taking the dial off P, and the hold-OK-and-turn-front-dial method to change ISO. There's still the image tone, but getting set up to take the picture should be quick, and you can always shoot RAW and apply the image tone later either in-camera or with the Pentax software.]
Moving Object mode prefers higher shutter speeds and gets me AF-C, without babysitting Program Shift or switching to Tv and menu diving again.
[K20D: Again, Hyper Program gets you to Tv easily, and AF-C is a switch; no menu diving. More importantly, it's got TAv mode, which I'd absolutely love for these kinds of scenes.]
Candlelight mode uses either center-weighted or spot metering to capture the scene instead of the flame.
[K20D: Metering is a switch too.]
Night Portrait mode drags the shutter with a toned-down flash -- just plain not happening in P mode, even with negative Flash compensation.
[K20D: Not aware of anything that will make this quicker. These shots take some planning.]
Can you get the same results with other modes? Absolutely. With less effort? Not a chance on the K200D.
It might be fair to say: if you know what's needed to get the desired result, the K200D requires Scene modes to compensate for the rapid control methods of the K20D, but isn't as flexible because of it. If you don't know what's needed, the K200D is friendlier.
kenhreed, do you use all the scene modes of your current camera? That's probably a pretty good measure of how often you'd use them on a K200D. I personally use the various standard modes more often than I do the scene modes. Yes, there are things to learn about a DSLR, but the curve is really not that steep -- it just requires some experimentation and time to get familiar. Based on what you've said so far, I doubt you'd regret getting a K20D because of missing scene modes.