I haven’t used Program-line (”P”) mode on an SLR since 3 weeks after buying my *istDS, well over 2 years ago. I quickly found that Aperture priority (Av), and to a lesser extent, Shutter priotiry (Tv), allowed me to control the camera in a much more desirable way. Lately for more contemplative images I’ve been using the Zone system - shooting in Manual with spot metering - and using Av for quicker, kid-chasing type shots. The Pentax-specific TAv mode has been invaluable in variable, low light situations.
But today I was messing around with settings and remembered reading something about the K10D’s P mode being referred to as “hyper-program” mode. Not remembering exactly what that meant, I played around for a bit. And then BAM! Suddenly I was loving shooting in P mode.
Hyper-program mode works just like any other program line mode - it best guesses at the Av, Tv (and optionally ISO) level, changing all variables to get the right exposure You can set biases so it will, for example, go for a short a depth of field as possible. All normal so far.
Until you hit one of the e-dials. Moving the rear e-dial allows you to set the aperture, which stays set until you hit the little green ‘program line’ button. The front e-dial controls the shutter speed in a similar way.
So essentially you can move from P to Av, P to Tv, Av to Tv and Tv to Av by just moving an e-dial. That’s much quicker and easier than moving the mode-selection dial.
To be honest, it’s not that often that I want to switch from Av to Tv. In fact I rarely use Tv at all unless I’m trying to shoot a moving object. But it does happen from time to time. What happens more often is handing the camera to my wife, which usually involves fiddling with a few dials to put it back into ‘green’ mode. Being able to just hit the green dot button to move back to full P mode will make that at least slightly quicker.
Despite the stigma, I think I’ll be shooting in P rather than Av from now on. I just hope noone is looking at my EXIF.
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Hey Ben,
Good read. I’ll be checking your exif data a little closer from now on. :p
I’m sure you know but in addition to the above you can also set P(rogram) mode to different program lines within the custom settings. ie. hi-speed proity, dof priority or MTF priority.
MTF Priority is an interesting one as it interrogates the lens for information on the best MTF data and favours those apertures. Handy feature if you’re looking for max performance from a given lens.