Pentax K30 P-line

So I'm starting to experiment with the modes and the P setting is great. I love having AV and TV at my finger tips without turning the dial.

I understand that the K5 has settings to change the P-line but the K30 doesn't for some reason.

So my question is, what is the P mode's priority? It seems to try and use the lowest ISO and the aperture is generally always wide open but in bright light it stops down instead of using a quicker shutter speed. As a lover of Bokeh, this will not do! But on a serious note, is there a way to have more control of this?

The way to have more control is to use Av and define your desired aperture from the start.

There are only three variables.

Given a fixed ISO, if you widen the aperture the shutter speed becomes faster. If you close down the aperture the shutter speed becomes slower. There's no advantage to using Tv instead, unless for some reason the shutter speed needs to be the fixed value. Even for sport you can use Av, because it doesn't really matter whether the camera delivers 1/350s or 1/360s...as long as it's fast enough. If it isn't, open the aperture. If you don't want to, then increase the ISO.

But whichever mode you do use, you can use it for virtually everything after that. I only change to M when using studion flash, otherwise everything else is shot in Av.

if DoF is your thing and you are not using M then Av is where you should be as aperture is your priority

I know, I was just kidding when I said that. I'll probably swap back to Av but I was really keen on giving Hyper-P a shot because sometimes I need that quick control of shutter speed. Shame there isn't as much control of it as there is on the K5.

I don't know about the K5, but P mode on the K30 works the same way as it does on the GX-20 (K20).

When you switch the camera on, the chosen aperture and shutter speed are seldom what you want. Just jog the rear wheel in either direction and the aperture will be underlined. Turn the wheel further to set the stop you want and the shutter speed will vary to accommodate it. If you jog the front wheel in either direction, the shutter speed will be underlined and you can adjust it similarly. You're now is shutter priority.

The only downside is that it resets to the normal program line when you turn the camera off, so you have to pick the aperture or shutter speed at each switch-on, unlike in AV, where the setting is retained. In practice, P can be used in the same way as AV, with the benefit of being able switch to shutter priority almost instantly. The e-dials can be configured to swap the functions of the front and back wheels.

Al