Dark Photos with K10D - Page 3

RiceHigh · 01-06-2009, 01:12 AM

Originally Posted by Amydaveg

Any help would be appreciated before I put this camera on ebay in exchange for a Canon.

I'm afraid what you intended to do is the final solution as it's a typical problem for Pentax DSLRs to underexposue and have inconsistency and worse metering/exposure.

Read my homepage and my blog for more detailed info about the exposure problems, where I have documented all those problems as reported with some systematic analyses. Unfortunately, there is no real solution to the problem except fiddling around with the EV compensation values and look at the histogram closely, after each shot.

*cardinal43* · 01-06-2009, 05:12 AM

RH, didn't take you long to find this thread -- like a shark smelling blood in the water. If you had bothered to read the entire thread, you would have found (as clearly pointed out by the other posters), that most of the problems discussed here were "operator errors". Now, I don't have a dog in this fight, but it does get tiresome to see you continually circling around taking shots at the information posted by others. Get a life, dude.

RiceHigh · 01-06-2009, 06:12 AM

Originally Posted by cardinal43

RH, didn't take you long to find this thread -- like a shark smelling blood in the water. If you had bothered to read the entire thread, you would have found (as clearly pointed out by the other posters), that most of the problems discussed here were "operator errors". Now, I don't have a dog in this fight, but it does get tiresome to see you continually circling around taking shots at the information posted by others. Get a life, dude.

Yes, our Pentax DSLRs do no wrong and everytime it must be the "users' errors"!

*Wheatfield* · 01-06-2009, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by RiceHigh

Yes, our Pentax DSLRs do no wrong and everytime it must be the "users' errors"!

In this case it is Ricey my boy. Spot metering of bright clouds, programmed exposure with no operator intervention regarding exposure comp.
What part of this looks like good user technique guaranteed to give correct exposure to you?

Ben_Edict · 01-06-2009, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by explr1

Um, no, I used evaluate. If your going to post about my old thread, down load the pics and look at the exif info. Examples of why the K10d sucks once again.

I'm sure that I'll be banned after this post.

I am sorry, I remember this thread very vividly. All of the underexposures could be explained easily by anybody with at least some photographic knowledge. You simply ignored all the explanations and kept rambling on about the poor k10-experience. All the images you posted in that thread were simply ruined through user error.

Ben

*Wheatfield* · 01-06-2009, 09:14 AM

Originally Posted by Ben_Edict

I am sorry, I remember this thread very vividly. All of the underexposures could be explained easily by anybody with at least some photographic knowledge. You simply ignored all the explanations and kept rambling on about the poor k10-experience. All the images you posted in that thread were simply ruined through user error.

Ben

Don't be sorry Ben, It isn't your fault he doesn't have a good grasp of how to use a camera.

.

jamonation · 01-06-2009, 10:42 AM

I'm of two minds about posting to this thread. The OP has a legitimate question and problem. Most of that is due to the onboard flash I expect, I don't know many people using any brand that would unequivocally recommend using that versus an external unit on the hotshoe or off camera. That'll make a 110% difference.

I really do think it comes down to the differing mindsets of photographers. I learned photography with film and can generally figure out exposure and aperture without metering, and I am completely content to use my K10/K20 on full manual mode with and without a flash. I expect that for any decent picture, just as it would have been in the darkroom, it will take some work to maximize the quality of the final image. Postprocessing is a must for anyone who takes photography seriously, doesn't matter what brand you use. That's one mindset.

The other is that a DSLR, for whatever price, should not only take a perfect picture every time, it should also make your breakfast and do the dishes afterward for you as well, and all in an instant. Not trying to be an elitist, it's just that for some folks (as demonstrated in the *other* flogged to death thread), a dslr just isn't an appropriate tool for what they are after. It's like trying to use a ball peen, framing, rubber mallet etc. hammer when what you really need is a generic claw hammer that'll do for most generic things that need hammering.

And that's the main gist of my argument, the camera is just a tool, it is a digital recording device. It captures data about light that can be manipulated afterwards by a competent user. To expect the camera's firmware and image processing engine to churn out perfect shots every time is just unreasonable considering the infinite number of subjects and lighting conditions they're built to encounter, nevermind the range of EV values in a particular scene that in many instances is greater than the capabilities of a sensor to record.

Pentax, and I commend them for it, take a conservative approach and try to interfere as little as possible when shooting RAW. Even default jpeg settings are pretty conservative. If there's a tendency to underexpose, then so be it, that's one of the characteristics of the particular digital capturing tool being used. There are easy ways to mitigate against that, and it only represents a particular design choice on the part of Pentax. It's just different. Part of what we each paid for in our cameras is the freedom to not have to be bound by that choice if we so desire. Indeed, even if you're under by a stop and choose to go with the recommended settings, the data is there unless it's off the left of the histogram.

I constantly refer friends to these 2 very helpful posts on luminous-landscape.com:
Understanding Histograms
Expose Right

Bottom line, it takes practise. We're spoiled with digital, but somehow people managed to learn and take excellent pictures with fully manual cameras and no light meters for years. We'd all do well to step back a little and examine our expectations when using whatever brand of digital light capturing box.