AUTO is not a cheat, and on this camera it is genuinely clever — it detects the scene and the subject. There is no SP position: the sixteen scene modes live inside AUTO, chosen with the front command dial. You keep exposure compensation the whole time, which is most of what matters.
front dial = scene rear dial = exp. comp. RAW still available
What AUTO is actually doing
The camera picks shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focus, white balance and flash — and also chooses the scene mode itself. It detects LANDSCAPE, NIGHT, NIGHT (TRIPOD), MACRO, SUNSET, SKY, GREENERY, PORTRAIT, BACKLIT PORTRAIT, MOVING OBJECT and combinations, plus subject types including PORTRAIT, ANIMAL, BIRD, AUTOMOBILE, MOTORCYCLE, AIRPLANE and TRAIN. With FILM SIMULATION set to AUTO it picks the look too, and Clarity is adjusted automatically in this position.
There is no SP position on this dial
The sixteen selectable scenes — AUTO, PORTRAIT, PORTRAIT ENHANCER, LANDSCAPE, SPORT, NIGHT, NIGHT (TRIPOD), FIREWORKS, SUNSET, SNOW, BEACH, UNDERWATER, PARTY, FLOWER, TEXT — are reached with the front command dial while the mode dial is on AUTO, or at SHOOTING SETTING > AUTO MODE SETTING. In FIREWORKS the rear dial chooses a shutter speed instead of exposure compensation.
When to use it, and what it costs
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Use it for | Handing the camera to someone else; your first hour; fast family moments where the shot beats the settings |
| Advantages | Very hard to produce an unusable file in normal light; subject detection does real work; you keep exposure compensation |
| Limitations | The camera decides depth of field — the exact control you bought an interchangeable-lens camera for. Scene guesses can be wrong, some scenes slow saving, and Clarity is forced on. |
The film simulation dial is independent
It works in every mode, including AUTO. Eight named looks sit on it, plus FS1 to FS3 for looks you assign, plus C — and remember the rule from the controls module: menus, the Q menu, function buttons and custom banks can only set the film simulation when the dial is on C.
Day-one setup
Mode dial AUTO, front dial on the AUTO scene, film simulation dial on PROVIA/STANDARD, IMAGE QUALITY FINE+RAW, IS MODE CONTINUOUS, drive on single frame. Then spend the hour learning the rear dial.
Assignment: learn compensation before anything else
In AUTO, photograph one subject three times using the rear dial only: at -1 EV, 0 EV and +1 EV. Compare them on a computer. That single exercise teaches you the most useful control on the camera before you have touched a single other setting.
Then a second exercise, to see the black box for what it is: photograph the same night street in NIGHT and in NIGHT (TRIPOD), both handheld. Look at the shutter speeds afterwards and work out why one is sharp and the other is not.