K5 shooting modes

[Ron Kruger]

Did some test shots with the various modes on the K5 this morning and believe Landscape will fit most of my needs, but am really excited about the Film mode for those soft light, evening and morning shots. What are the rest of you using, and why?

[blackcloudbrew]

I have yet to settle on any one setting. The same was true for my K20d. I did prefer vibrant on my K20d but I do change that often. On the K5, presuming that it would be similar, I went right to vibrant on the K5. However, for several reasons, one being my upgrade to Lightroom 3, I find that neutral works as my general purpose setting more often or not. Given that this setting affects only the jpeg images both displayed on the LCD screen and the initial view of the RAW file data, if you process in RAW it really doesn't matter what this setting is. However, for me it gives me a good look on the LCD how - typically - the finished image will look. For the K10/K20 the bright / vibrant settings always seemed to give me that. On the K5 neutral (natural?) does this better.

I will and do use other modes though. B&W is useful for visualizing a scene's potential as a B&W image.

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks Timbo. Does anyone know what paramaters change with various settings. I know that Landscape bumps the contrast, but that about all I know. Where's that IT guy?

[blackcloudbrew]

Well, if you just look at the sliders below each setting it will show you what's being done to the jpeg (it's all changeable of course too).

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks Tim, but I don't think that is the whole story. Vibrant, Protrait and Natural show no changes in the sliders, but I did notice a difference in my test.

[blackcloudbrew]

Ok, so I was doing it from memory. I just had another look at them. In each of those three cases, the color space is different (the hexagon on the right). The K5 manual references this on p. 222 but makes this seem like it's more that you customize these settings to suit than the camera's presets do. Yuon Bourque's http://www.alettaphoto.co...mple-available%29%29.html ebook on the K5 mentions this a bit more but really doesn't discuss it in any more detail.

So, I'm guessing that some testing is required to select, or tweak, the settings to your desire. On the K10d you had just natural and bright. I'm beginning to think that was all I needed in the first place.

[Ron Kruger]

By "color space," I presume you mean the Kelvin number, not aRGB/sRGB.
I tested the Film mode on Crane Lake in evening light yesterday and it looks like K64.

[blackcloudbrew]

No I actually meant the 'radar' plot to the right of the sliders on the LCD screen with each of the custom image profile selections (bright, natural, etc.). You can see how this changes when you move the sliders around and also how each of the default profiles is different from each other.

I really haven't played much with things like the film mode. Been meaning to.

[Ron Kruger]

I don't really understand that plot graphic.
I think I'll find the Film mode very useful for the low light conditions of morning and evening to capture the warm glow of light that you just can't quite do justice to with other digital modes. May be good for shooting fog too.
Set your camera on a tripod sometime when the evening light is good and take one shot in Vibrant and one in Film to compare. I'm just beginning to get to know the K5, but I'm starting to be impressed.

[blackcloudbrew]

This isn't the week for testing of such things for me. The radar plot...yes it's a bit on the odd side. When you have time - should you want to - look at the natural plot - all the sliders are at 0 and the plot around the color space is a simple (green) hexagon. Now look at the bleach bypass plot - it's greatly tweaked and reduced color. Vibrant shows an expanded color space with strong magenta, red, cyan, and greens.

I think Pentax's intention was to load an image, then tweak it with the sliders until you are happy with it. It's similar to the WB settings. That's it.

[Ron Kruger]

There are nine program modes. I just took some test shots in each mode of my neighbor's house in early light, converted with Utility 4 and resized for posting. No other processing.

[Ron Kruger]

Three more

[Ron Kruger]

Three more

[Ron Kruger]

The differences are more dramatic and obvious when I view the full-res JPEGs full screen on my computer, but they are fairly obvious with these dummed down version when you click on them to enlarge. Since my goal is always to get my images as close as possible at time of capture and keep PP to a minimum, I love these options.
Though I can imagine no personal use for Monochrome, Muted or Bleach Bypass, I plan to experiment with the other modes for different lighting conditions and subjects.
For early light shots like this, I like Landscape and Reversal Film best. Which one I would choose would depend upon how much color/detail I would want: Landscape for more detail, Reversal Film for richer colors and deeper shadows.
Your tastes may vary, but I see these Program Modes as the very foundation of using a K5.

[Ron Kruger]

For easier comparisons, here are the Landscape and Reversal Film versons together.