Flash, battery, MF and other K-x experiences

tomtor · 10-30-2009, 10:56 AM

Got my K-X about 4 hours ago, as a second body beside my trusty K10 for high ISO, movies, liveview and to have always with me in my backpack to work.

It's a very nice camera, I've not been able to find a single flaw yet.

First the battery:

The stories here got me a bit worried, so I had 3 sets of batteries ready, Varta 2500 mAh, Varta Hybrid 2100 mAh and Eneloops 2000 mAh.

I started with the 2500mAh, because those are the batteries I would prefer to use. The hybrids are mainly for my flashes, so that they have still full batteries a few months after charging.

I placed the 4 batteries, waited about 30 seconds, took a deep breath and turned the K-x on. I was welcomed with the language selection screen, set the time, took a few images and walked though the various menus till I found the battery type selector. Set it to NiMh, turned the camera off and a few seconds later on again.

Till now I've made 160 images and about 5 30 seconds movies, used lifeview and menus a lot, tested the HiSpeed drive mode and the battery indicator still shows full. I assume the other batteries will also work, I'll test them when these are empty.

Flashes:

Tested my AF540 and Metz58, both in bounce and direct mode, exposure looks ok and consistent, even with white walls, I will post some images later. Wireless flash works ok with the popup as controller.

Manual Focus lenses:

Tested my M50/1.7 and M135/3.5. Although the viewfinder is smaller and slightly less bright than the prism from my K10, I find that manual focus works better than on the K10. It snaps more into focus and I think that perhaps the mirror housing in my K10 was not optimal calibrated.

Auto focus:

My FA77, DA50-135 and DA18-250 are spot on.

I don't miss the AF-indicators in the view finder, I've set the green button to center the focus spot.

Finally, the infrared remote works as well.

I think my opinion is clear, the K-X is highly recommended

blu3ness · 10-30-2009, 11:00 AM

glad to hear another success story.. grats, and I envy your lens collection >.>

Eruditass · 10-30-2009, 11:05 AM

Excellent! Great to hear about MF snapping more into focus - I can't wait. Please post battery impressions here (I link to it on other forums where people are complaining):

K-x owners: NiMH batteries results please

*Ash* · 10-30-2009, 11:39 AM

Good report.
Glad to hear this too - looks like the K-x will be sure to impress the masses...

kent · 10-30-2009, 12:32 PM

hey,what about shutter sound? Is it louder than k10d?

Eruditass · 10-30-2009, 12:34 PM

Reports say definitely louder than K-7, and someone said louder than K-m, possibly due to the microphone opening.

tomtor · 10-30-2009, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by kent

hey,what about shutter sound? Is it louder than k10d?

Hmmm, I would say only the return is slighty louder.

blu3ness · 10-30-2009, 01:03 PM

it's pretty loud, i like it that way tho, my canon buddy didn't think so, but he's just a gear-addict :P, he also tries to impress me with his USM lenses, ah o well

rawr · 10-30-2009, 01:13 PM

Good to hear another positive K-x experience. It's a good little camera.

tomtor · 10-30-2009, 01:19 PM

The first image shows the consistency between exposures with stop down metering of the M50/1.7 at 1.7, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8 and 11. Very consistent!

The second image top row is with the Metz58 (bounce, no bounce, no bounce)
and the second row is with the AF540. The Metz exposes brighter (exactly right I would say), the AF540 could use some consistent +correction in direct mode, but the bounced image is ok.

tomtor · 10-31-2009, 10:01 AM

My vartas 2500 non hybrid and the Eneloops 2000 both work fine,
however, the camera does not seem to like the Varta 2100 mAh hybrids.
These have a black cap at the + pole.

Note that after a battery change the camera is quite critical. The camera battery state was orange after using lifeview the whole afternoon, but turning it off for a few minutes resulted again in the green status.

After trying the Varta 2100s I placed back the used eneloops (which gave green before I removed them) and the camera refused to turn on. I switched it off, did not remove the batteries and turned it on 5 seconds later: orange. I turned it off and a few minutes later on again: green.

So the camera is very critical after the battery compartment has been opened, but once it has succesfully started with a set, it works out ok.

I'll do some more tests.

tomtor · 10-31-2009, 11:12 AM

Recharged the Vartas 2100, they were almost full, took about 15 minutes.
Set the battery detect back from NiMH to the default auto.

Placed the batteries, waited one minute, turned the K-X nothing happened, turned it off, waited 5 seconds, turned it on. It works, I get the green battery status.

LifeView works, it stays green, all seems well...

So if it does not turn on, one should turn it off and try it again about 5 seconds later...