Pentax K-5 Modes & Menus

Pentax K-5 Modes and Menus

Capture Modes

 Green mode: In this mode, almost all settings are controlled automatically, including the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO sensitivity. Auto-exposure lock, exposure compensation and bracketing, multiple exposures, and flash compensation cannot be set in Green mode. Nor can you shoot in Raw or Raw+JPEG formats, although there is a way around this for the last frame captured: you can visit playback mode before capturing another image or powering off the camera, and press the AE-L button to save a copy of the Raw data for the last frame, which is still resident in the camera's buffer.

The only options remaining under user control in Green mode are image resolution and quality, live view autofocus method, self-timer and remote control, whether the flash is disabled or fires automatically (as it must be manually raised), whether red-eye reduction should be used, and whether to use Single-servo AF or focus manually. Regardless of external control positions and settings made in other modes, Green mode exposures always use the auto program line, JPEG file format, auto sensitivity, multi-segment metering, single-servo automatic AF point selection across all 11 points if autofocus is enabled, single-frame drive mode, automatic white balance, the Bright custom image setting, automatic high ISO and slow shutter noise reduction, shake reduction, and an sRGB color space. It's also only possible to use the optical depth-of-field preview function, not the digital preview.

 Program mode (P): Dubbed Hyper-program mode by Pentax, in this mode the K-5 automatically selects shutter speed, aperture, and (optionally) ISO sensitivity, while you control all other exposure variables. The Hyper-program functionality is reminiscent of a feature called Program Shift or Flexible Program that's available in many competing DSLRs, but with an important difference. Where Program Shift only allows you to bias the exposure towards either a wider aperture / faster shutter speed (or vice versa), with the camera itself still retaining control over both aperture and shutter speed, Hyper-program gives you complete control over one or other variable as soon as you turn either e-dial. Turning the front e-dial immediately switches the K-5 to Tv-Hyper mode, and the camera provides direct control over the shutter speed, just as it would in Shutter Priority mode. Likewise, turning the rear e-dial switches the camera to Av-Hyper mode, with direct control over the aperture. To return to Hyper-program, you simply press the Green button on the K-5's rear panel, restoring the Program mode's default choice for shutter speed and aperture.

The Pentax K-5 also allows you to select, via an option in the Record menu, which program line the camera should use in Hyper-program mode. The selected program line tells the camera either to use the default (normal) program line, or to prioritize for higher shutter speeds, shallow or deep depth-of-field, or at the best best aperture setting for image quality (based on the MTF curve of the attached lens, so long as you're using a relatively recent lens model). Alternatively, the K-5 can be set to automatically choose between the program line choices as it deems appropriate.

 Sensitivity Priority mode (Sv): While a couple of cameras can now achieve something similar with a little careful configuration, Pentax's Sv mode is still pretty uncommon as a standalone mode, meriting its own position on the Mode dial. As the name would suggest, you set the ISO sensitivity manually, by turning the rear e-dial. The camera then picks the appropriate combination of aperture and shutter speed, so as to obtain the metered exposure. As in Program mode, you can select which program line the K-5 should abide by when determining these variables: normal, higher shutter speeds, shallow or deep depth of field, best MTF value, or an automatic selection between these types. If you're already in Hyper-program mode, you can achieve the same thing as Sv mode by hitting the Green button to clear Av-Hyper or Tv-Hyper modes if active, then pressing the ISO button and simply dialing in a manual ISO sensitivity.

 Shutter Priority mode (Tv): Marked with the letters "Tv," for Time value, this mode allows the user to control the shutter speed, from 30 seconds to 1/8,000 second. The shutter speed can be adjusted in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps. ISO sensitivity can be controlled automatically or manually.

 Aperture Priority mode (Av): Marked with an "Av," this mode gives the user control of aperture within the range offered by the currently attached lens, while the camera selects the corresponding shutter speed. ISO sensitivity can be controlled automatically or manually.

 Shutter and Aperture Priority mode (TAv): Another mode that's pretty much unique to Pentax cameras, this is the opposite of the Sv mode described previously. You specify both the aperture and shutter speed, and then the camera adjusts the ISO sensitivity as necessary to achieve the metered exposure. To achieve finer-grained control over the exposure level, the K-5 will ignore the Sensitivity Steps setting in the custom menu, and will instead match the EV step size configured for exposure compensation -- either 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps. You can press the Green button to have the K-5 suggest an appropriate shutter speed and aperture, and if you make adjustments beyond the ability of the camera to gain a metered exposure with ISO sensitivity alone, the sensitivity value will flash in the viewfinder, top panel, and (if active) rear panel displays. If you use the autoexposure lock function, then when you adjust the shutter speed, the aperture will be automatically adjusted correspondingly, and vice versa.

 Manual mode (M): Dubbed Hyper-manual mode, this setting provides complete control over the exposure, with independent settings for aperture and shutter speed. Shutter speeds range from 1/8,000 to 30 seconds, and the full range of apertures available depends upon the attached lens. There are two main differences between this mode and the previous TAv mode. In Manual mode, the K-5 only allows manual ISO sensitivity, while TAv mode requires ISO sensitivity be controlled automatically. Also, since the exposure is controlled entirely automatically in Manual mode, the EV bar indicates how your configured exposure compares to that recommended by the camera's metering system.

 Bulb mode (B): Marked with a "B" on the Mode dial, this mode offers unlimited exposure times, holding the shutter open for as long as the Shutter button is held down (and the batteries last, unless you're using the optional K-AC50 AC adapter kit). Since it's a fairly logical assumption that you're using a tripod, Shake Reduction is automatically disabled in this mode. As with Manual mode, ISO sensitivity must be controlled manually. However, in Bulb mode it is also limited to a maximum of ISO 1,600 equivalent. Use of an optional infrared remote control or cable release is recommended, and to further minimize camera shake, you can couple these with either a self-timer or mirror lockup.

 Flash X-sync mode (X): Sets shutter speed to 1/180 second, for use with manual strobes that can't automatically set the X-sync speed. ISO sensitivity must be set manually in this mode, and although page 117 of the user manual states that pressing the green button will automatically reset the aperture value to that recommended by the camera, we found that not to be the case with our production-level camera running firmware version 1.03 (the current release at the time of this writing.)

 User mode (USER): This mode lets the user quickly recall sets of favorite settings including exposure mode, drive mode, flash mode, flash exposure compensation value, white balance, sensitivity or ISO auto setting, exposure compensation value, program line, exposure bracketing, extended bracketing amount and type, JPEG resolution and quality, file format, AUTO AF point setting, high ISO and slow shutter noise reduction, D-Range setting, HDR capture, custom image mode, cross processing, digital filters, shake reduction, horizon correction, lens correction, color space, e-dial programming, button customization, and all custom menu settings.

Where the Pentax K-7 offered only one User mode position, the K-5 provides access to five separate groups of settings. They're saved by configuring the camera appropriately, including placing the Mode dial in your chosen position, and then accessing the Save USER Mode option in the Record menu. You can rename each of the five modes using an on-screen keyboard, controlled with the arrow buttons, OK button, and rear e-dial. Each User mode can comprise 18 characters from a selection of upper and lower case letters, numbers, plus a space, and 26 different punctuation marks. This name is then used everywhere the User mode is referenced, with the exception of the Save Settings confirmation dialog. To activate a stored User mode, you turn the Mode dial to the User position, and then use the left and right arrow keys to browse between available modes, while the up and down arrow keys switch between two pages of information on the settings saved in the currently selected user mode. Pressing the OK button or half-pressing the shutter button selects the currently displayed user mode for use.

It's not possible to create a user mode that saves only certain settings, but you can make changes to settings as desired after recalling your chosen user mode (and if desired, you can then resave these new settings -- either over the top of the current mode, or in one of the other four available mode positions.) Since the Mode dial position is one of the settings stored in a User mode profile, the K-5 adds an extra item to the Record menu when the mode dial is set to User. This allows you to change the exposure mode to anything except User or Movie. An additional item added to the Record menu allows you to switch between stored user modes without needing to first switch the mode dial out of, and then back to, the user mode position.

 Movie mode: This mode allows the user to record videos with sound. Resolution options consist of 1,920 x 1,080 (16:9 aspect, 25 frames per second), 1,280 x 720 (16:9 aspect, 30 or 25 fps) or 640x480 (4:3 aspect, 30 or 25 fps) pixels, all with monaural sound if using the internal microphone, or stereo sound when using an external stereo mic. There are three quality (compression ratio) options available, and you can choose to have the aperture fixed, or under automatic control. You can also enable or disable shake reduction and / or sound recording if desired, and use a subset of the digital filter and cross processing functionality that's available for still images. The nonstandard 3:2 aspect, 1,536 x 1,024 pixel and 640 x 480 pixel movie modes from the K-7 have both been dropped from the K-5. See the Video tab for more details as well as sample videos.

Playback Mode

Playback mode is entered by pressing the Playback button on the camera's rear panel. In this mode, you can scroll through captured images, delete them, write-protect them, and set them up for printing on devices capable of recognizing DPOF print orders specified on the flash card. Like the K-7 before it, the Pentax K-5 is not PictBridge compatible, so the printer and camera can't be directly attached, however. You can also process Raw files, apply digital filters for creative effects, and watch or perform basic processing on movie clips.

When in Playback mode, the rear e-dial is used to zoom into and out of images, and to switch from viewing a single image to either thumbnails or a calendar view. When viewing a single image, the left and right arrow keys scroll forward and backward one image or movie at a time, and turning the front e-dial has the same effect. Pressing the down arrow key calls up the Playback Mode Palette, from which you can perform basic image processing functions such as rotation, cropping, resizing, and digital filters, process Raw images, start an image slideshow, compare images side by side, trim movies, protect images and movies, set up print orders, create index images, and save a manual white balance preset from an image.

When playback zoom is active, the arrow keys pan around the zoomed image, and the front e-dial switches between images while maintaining the playback zoom level. In thumbnail and folder views, the arrow keys are used to move around the columns and rows to make a selection, while the front e-dial steps backwards or forwards through pages of thumbnails or folders. In Calendar view, the up and down arrow keys select from available dates, while the left and right arrow keys step between images from any specific date, and the front e-dial has no effect.

Pentax K-5 Menu Details

Below are Pentax K-5 menu options and their descriptions. Pressing the Menu button provides access to the camera's full menu system. The arrow pad is used to navigate between menu tabs and options, and to make selections. In the main menu system, the rear e-dial can be used to switch between menu tabs one at a time, and the front e-dial to switch between the four main tab groups. In the Control Panel menu, the same dials are used to quickly make adjustments to the currently selected item. Neither dial has any effect in the Playback Mode Palette menu. Although the Pentax K-5 doesn't immediately return to the last selected item when the Menu button is first pressed, it can at least be configured to start off at the top of the most recently used tab, potentially saving a few button presses for frequently used options. (The K-7, by contrast, always started on the first tab of the menu system.)

Record Menu 1:

Record Menu 2:

Record Menu 3:

Record Menu 4:

Record Menu 5:

Playback Menu:

Setup Menu 1:

Setup Menu 2:

Setup Menu 3:

Setup Menu 4:

Custom Menu 1:

Custom Menu 2:

Custom Menu 3:

Custom Menu 4: