High F-stop numbers...

P mode? Whassat?

According to one well-known Internet blatherskate it stands for "Professional" mode (LOL!). Then I can't be professional 'cos I like to have some degree of control over the aperture and/or shutter speed.

Anyways. I might force the knob on my D7200 to point to P (if that position still works) and try it out. I'm skeptical that it chooses a small aperture by default, but I suspect there are sub-dial options that can select a 'depth' or 'sport' setting, or the like.

I am guessing high ISO, since the program usually defaults to larger apertures until the shutter speed increases. On page 298 of the user manual is a chart showing how the program works on a 50/1.8 lens at ISO 100. The aperture closes down as the shutter speed increases. If you are using a high iso in bright light, the shutter speed will tend to be higher, and the aperture smaller. And don't forget that "flexible" program allows you to use the rear wheel to favor shutter speed or aperture, within the range of correct exposure.

Just to be sure, I did switch my D7100 to P mode, and at least indoors, pointed to things like computer screens and lamps, it still tends toward the larger apertures at normal ISO.

If you bias the program towards larger or smaller apertures, does it keep that setting?

With Pentax cameras you can do this, also the shutter speed, but I don't see anything in the Menu for this camera to do this, which is why I ask ?

In P mode the camera decides aperture & shutter speed to give good exposures according to parameters the manufacturer set.If the light is sufficient to achieve reasonable shutter speeds the aperture will often be closed to increase DOF.

Like Joe I don't use P mode, I usually fix the aperture & let the camera sort out shutter speed to match, so I've not become familiar with how my different cameras tend to behave when left to their own devices.

Like Joe I don't use P mode, I usually fix the aperture & let the camera sort out shutter speed to match,

I'm a M fan. I normally know what aperture I want and what shutter speed and just let Auto ISO sort the rest.

Exp. Comp. allows me to 'correct' any predictable metering issues.

My better half uses P on her D5300, it drives me nuts what it chooses sometimes....:confused:

In P mode the camera decides aperture & shutter speed to give good exposures according to parameters the manufacturer set.If the light is sufficient to achieve reasonable shutter speeds the aperture will often be closed to increase DOF.

 

Like Joe I don't use P mode, I usually fix the aperture & let the camera sort out shutter speed to match, so I've not become familiar with how my different cameras tend to behave when left to their own devices.

The 'P' mode comes in handy when you don't have time to make calculations in your head and just want to get the shot. The good thing about is that you can choose various alternatives to what the camera chose which saves you some time. For example if the camera chose 1/60 @ f8, by turning the control ring you can choose, 1/30@ f11, or 1/125@ f4 etc.

I have to use manual focus on my job, but in my opinion/experience, Aperture Priority gives me the best exposures. No blown out skies, or blown out anything, no dark dead spots, 99% of the time ! at least on my camera...

With Pentax cameras you can do this, also the shutter speed, but I don't see anything in the Menu for this camera to do this, which is why I ask ?

Check the manual for "flexible program." I'm pretty sure this exists on the D7000, as it certainly does on the D7100 and the D3200. Or just go out and try it. In P mode, if you rotate the rear wheel, it will cycle through all the shutter/aperture combinations that your current ISO allows for that exposure value. It does not change the EV the meter determines. If your camera is set up normally, going left will slow down the shutter and close down the lens, and going right will speed up the shutter and open up the lens. If none of those combinations suits you, change the ISO and try again.

e.t.a. your resetting with flexible program will be undone and revert to the default when you switch out of P mode, or turn the camera off.

Although I don't use this mode, it works pretty well, especially if you have "easy ISO" enabled. In this case, the rear wheel controls the flexible program and the front controls ISO. I don't find P mode the most intuitive way to get the settings I want, but set up this way, if you're trusting the meter, it gets you all the settings possible.

Check the manual for "flexible program." I'm pretty sure this exists on the D7000, as it certainly does on the D7100 and the D3200. Or just go out and try it. In P mode, if you rotate the rear wheel, it will cycle through all the shutter/aperture combinations that your current ISO allows for that exposure value. It does not change the EV the meter determines. If your camera is set up normally, going left will slow down the shutter and close down the lens, and going right will speed up the shutter and open up the lens. If none of those combinations suits you, change the ISO and try again.

 

e.t.a. your resetting with flexible program will be undone and revert to the default when you switch out of P mode, or turn the camera off.

 

Although I don't use this mode, it works pretty well, especially if you have "easy ISO" enabled. In this case, the rear wheel controls the flexible program and the front controls ISO. I don't find P mode the most intuitive way to get the settings I want, but set up this way, if you're trusting the meter, it gets you all the settings possible.

I'll take a look thanks...

Yikes! Seems like P mode, meant to make things simple, is actually more complicated than A or S modes. What's wrong with just setting the desired aperture or shutter speed, and letting the camera do the rest?

Well, the thing is that sometimes lighting conditions change quickly and to reduce reaction time, an automatic and hopefully sensible change to the conditions is warranted.

One might want to shoot wide open for shallow depth of field but then in full sun it might be too bright to get correct exposure. Or one might be looking out to photograph animals in brightly lit open areas and then they move into the forest. In that case one might want to reduce the required shutter speed requirement to keep ISO low enough in the darkest parts. Such things should be fairly easy to program into an automated algorithm. Having Auto ISO settings does bring one closer but user-programmable shutter speed - aperture - ISO graphs would be ideal.

What I do typically is shoot in aperture priority most of the time (sometimes in manual) and set an auto ISO max ISO limit and then a minimum shutter speed which can be set manually if I think I can get away with it or one of the auto options (usually "faster" by 1 or 2 clicks). Finally I program recall shooting functions to ease the shutter speed temporarily (e.g. to 1/200 s) if I have set it normally to fast action (which might be 1/500 s to 1/1600 s). This way I can make the tradeoff between movement blur and noise as the situation requires. Might be seen as complicated, yes. Some use auto ISO in manual mode but this means easy exposure compensation is not available which is why I generally stick to aperture priority.

Automation can be a helpful tool, but in some cases it can make things more complicated. If I have been shooting in auto ISO and then go to use flash for some shots, I generally dial off the automation and select manual mode, manual ISO and do a test shot with the ambient light. Then I do a test with flash and see where that leads to. I was photographing a couple at the altar last month and noticed that the chuch was too dark and shadows were present near the altar so a formal portrait with the couple in front of the glass painted windows required flash. I used a remote flash on TTL and the shots came out nicely with no adjustment (auto ISO notwithstanding ;)). Now as I am not a frequent user of TTL remote flash, I would need to go into the camera's menu to adjust the flash output and then use +/- to adjust the ambient if I were to make adjustments to the ambient and flash, but I didn't need to do that. I should have gone to manual mode and turned off auto ISO to reduce the number of automatic variables but it turned out OK as it was. I guess it was a good use of automation. Anyway afterwards I felt I could have done a few shots with darker ambient settings for more drama but from the automated position it was too complicated and I just went on to do other shots as I didn't want to interrupt the process with technicalities. I am more used to flash in the studio where I have everything manual and the camera is dedicated for that purpose so the settings are always correct to begin with. In the field things are more complicated and I notice that although the gear has the capability to adjust for the situations automatically, familiarity with specific gear and application is important to get the best results.

Yikes! Seems like P mode, meant to make things simple, is actually more complicated than A or S modes. What's wrong with just setting the desired aperture or shutter speed, and letting the camera do the rest?

Oh automation is always more complicated than manual. The advantage is that they are faster. Your hands can't move that fast otherwise if you have the time manual is much easier. To use automation effectively you must know how they work.

To use automation effectively you must know how they work.

Absolute truth there, but lost on many people.

To use automation effectively you must know how they work.

True, but there's automation that's pretty transparent and instantaneous, such as Auto-ISO, and Aperture and Shutter priority; then there's P mode, operating to some obscure algorithm that's only understandable by visualising a truncated triangle of a graph and never revealed in the camera manual.

that's pretty transparent and instantaneous

Bit like Auto Exposure using Matrix Metering....Not!

:D

True, but there's automation that's pretty transparent and instantaneous, such as Auto-ISO, and Aperture and Shutter priority; then there's P mode, operating to some obscure algorithm that's only understandable by visualising a truncated triangle of a graph and never revealed in the camera manual.

Actually auto ISO isn't very simple if you also enable another auto mode which I do often use A with auto ISO. A and S mode are simpler because they have less automation. So the more automation the more complex. They are good but you need to understand how they do it to use it well. I know the P mode algorithm and I know I don't like it. The matrix metering system I don't know all of it. I know a little about it not all of it. I use it and it works fine most of the time but when it doesn't I may not know why.

Check the manual for "flexible program." I'm pretty sure this exists on the D7000, as it certainly does on the D7100 and the D3200. Or just go out and try it. In P mode, if you rotate the rear wheel, it will cycle through all the shutter/aperture combinations that your current ISO allows for that exposure value. It does not change the EV the meter determines. If your camera is set up normally, going left will slow down the shutter and close down the lens, and going right will speed up the shutter and open up the lens. If none of those combinations suits you, change the ISO and try again.

 

e.t.a. your resetting with flexible program will be undone and revert to the default when you switch out of P mode, or turn the camera off.

 

Although I don't use this mode, it works pretty well, especially if you have "easy ISO" enabled. In this case, the rear wheel controls the flexible program and the front controls ISO. I don't find P mode the most intuitive way to get the settings I want, but set up this way, if you're trusting the meter, it gets you all the settings possible.

You were right. Apparently 'The Flexible Program' feature was engaged and I had the wheel set to

Check the manual for "flexible program." I'm pretty sure this exists on the D7000, as it certainly does on the D7100 and the D3200. Or just go out and try it. In P mode, if you rotate the rear wheel, it will cycle through all the shutter/aperture combinations that your current ISO allows for that exposure value. It does not change the EV the meter determines. If your camera is set up normally, going left will slow down the shutter and close down the lens, and going right will speed up the shutter and open up the lens. If none of those combinations suits you, change the ISO and try again.

 

e.t.a. your resetting with flexible program will be undone and revert to the default when you switch out of P mode, or turn the camera off.

 

Although I don't use this mode, it works pretty well, especially if you have "easy ISO" enabled. In this case, the rear wheel controls the flexible program and the front controls ISO. I don't find P mode the most intuitive way to get the settings I want, but set up this way, if you're trusting the meter, it gets you all the settings possible.

You were right ! Apparently I was in "Flexible Program" mode without realizing it and had the control wheel turned to the Left for Higher F numbers. If I disengage from the "Flexible Program" mode, I get 'f ' numbers somewhere in the middle, like f5.6, f7 and f8. This actually simpler than on my Pentax camera, although Pentax allows you to vary the 'f' numbers and the shutter speeds and it's done through the Menu instead of the camera dials...

I played around a bit with my D7100.

Adding a bit to various things above, if you are in P mode with Auto ISO also on, and move from bright to dark, you can see more or less what happens. The relation between aperture and shutter speed remains a bit hard to follow, but it appears the camera first changes apertures or a combination of aperture and speed, continuing with shutter speeds down to the minimum you have set in the Auto ISO menu. Only when it hits that minimum will it begin to raise ISO. If it hits the maximum ISO set in the menu, it will then override the shutter speed minimum. The minimum shutter speed set for Auto ISO is not absolute, but the maximum ISO is, and the camera will not go above it even with the lens cap on. When aperture and ISO are exhausted, the shutter speed will go down to about 5 seconds, after which it gives up.

This latter limitation appears to be connected with Auto ISO rather than program mode. With manual ISO, shutter speed will drop further.

The relation between aperture and shutter speed remains a bit hard to follow,

Doesn't all this depend on the focal length reported by the lens? Long lenses need a faster shutter speed to avoid camera shake when hand held. If you turn VR OFF on the lens, does the P chosen shutter speed go up?