k-7 firmware update wishlist

ogl · 07-10-2009, 05:15 AM

1. All users of K-7 say that AF lamp start to light much later than AF lamp of Nikon,
for example. In very poor illumination. Nikon start to work early.

Need to offer to the users the possibility to turn AF lamp on in any time by some button (to reprogram, for example, ISO button).

mattdm · 07-10-2009, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by ogl

Need to offer to the users the possibility to turn AF lamp on in any time by some button (to reprogram, for example, ISO button).

Or the AF button, which I don't use for anything else. (I know many of you do.)

**Peter Zack** · 07-10-2009, 06:05 AM

Yeah the AF button would make the most sense. You could also program it for 3 settings to suit your tastes. IE Normal (as it is now) Normal + (2 stops brighter) Normal ++ (4 stops brighter). Then those that don't care if the thing is lit all the time can have it that way. For me I'd want it only in the worst conditions and not on for 2 hours as I'm shooting an event.

**Peter Zack** · 07-10-2009, 06:07 AM

I also want the AE-L button setting to hold unless I take the batteries out. I don't think this was addressed but if I want to shoot at a locked setting. I want it to stay even after the 30 second timeout. I know you can do that in manual.

*pxpaulx* · 07-10-2009, 06:25 AM

Originally Posted by Peter Zack

I also want the AE-L button setting to hold unless I take the batteries out. I don't think this was addressed but if I want to shoot at a locked setting. I want it to stay even after the 30 second timeout. I know you can do that in manual.

Couldn't that be solved by using M mode? If you really need it locked for that much of an extended period, that kind of makes more sense to me. Also, you can then get the current program line metering w/the green button, and adjust from there.

mattdm · 07-10-2009, 07:15 AM

Here's an annoyance I've found: I'd like the Natural/Bright/Vivid/etc. setting to be forgotten when I turn the camera off (as white balance, etc., can be). I usually want it in Natural, but occasionally might switch to Portrait or Landscape. It'd be nice if it'd revert to my known state on power-on, so I don't have to spend 30 seconds every time checking all the settings.

I'd still like the individual tuned details of each tone mode to stay as customized, though.

*Wheatfield* · 07-10-2009, 07:29 AM

If this is a wish list...

fix the broken AF point selection.

wolfier · 07-10-2009, 07:45 AM

1. Fix the AF point selection - memorize the OK button state and make it a toggle, like the RAW button. Do NOT automatically revert to a default when we switch to playback mode, power down, etc.

2. Make RAW button and AF button (when trying to perform contrast-detection AF) respond immediately rather than requiring the photographer to hold the button for 1 second. When we press a button, we know what we're doing.

In general, all waits are unreasonable unless imposed by hardware limitation or user-enabed (e.g. timer)

3. Stop automatically lighting up the top status LCD by autodetecting the surrounding LV. Sometimes photographers prefer to work in stealth, and having a green status LCD that lights up automatically is BAD. Please revert to older behaviour that involves pressing the EC button.

Hiding the SR switch is a good thing, though, because it's prone to breaking in the K10/20 bodies, and its automatic SR-off actually makes sense.

The theme is, the K-7 is for *advanced* photographer, so please assume they know what they're doing when a button is pressed. Handholding and forced automatic behaviours is okay and even be desired on K-m level bodies, but on a K-7 they're completely intolerable.

*Wheatfield* · 07-10-2009, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by wolfier

1. Fix the AF point selection - memorize the OK button state and make it a toggle, like the RAW button. Do NOT automatically revert to a default when we switch to playback mode, power down, etc.

Since this is my only real peeve with the camera, I'll expand somewhat on how I would like to see a fix implemented.

The only time the user can access AF point selection is by switching the AF selector switch to SEL.
As soon as the switch is in that position, make the 4 way toggles default to AF point selection, and use the OK button as an ad hoc Fn button.

wolfier · 07-10-2009, 08:40 AM

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

Since this is my only real peeve with the camera, I'll expand somewhat on how I would like to see a fix implemented.

The only time the user can access AF point selection is by switching the AF selector switch to SEL.
As soon as the switch is in that position, make the 4 way toggles default to AF point selection, and use the OK button as an ad hoc Fn button.

If your suggestion means that after the ad hoc OK press in SEL mode, it'll automatically revert to AF selection, it's still too automatic to me. I prefer the button to remember and stay at the state where it's last set, without any automatic revert to a default no matter what.

ogl · 07-10-2009, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by mattdm

Or the AF button, which I don't use for anything else. (I know many of you do.)

Yes. A lot of alternatives.

AF point selection is rather "odd" too.
Need to push OK button and then to choose AF point.
If you forget to set AF point to center and go out from AF point selection mode, you should push OK again and change AF point.
Not efficiently.

Where is quick come back to central AF point?

I'd like Pentax to know our demands.

**Peter Zack** · 07-10-2009, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by pxpaulx

Couldn't that be solved by using M mode? If you really need it locked for that much of an extended period, that kind of makes more sense to me. Also, you can then get the current program line metering w/the green button, and adjust from there.

No this isn't always the solution. I do shoot in Manual more than 50% of the time and almost always with a flash or strobes. But "Hyper" manual is "Hyper" nothing. It's just manual unless the AE-L button is active and the meter doesn't shut down.

So lets say I am shooting portraits. I use a flash meter to set the camera and use the AE-L button to lock the exposure ratios. The first setup I shoot is several frames at 1/180th f2 at ISO100 as an example to limit the DOF. Then I get the subject to move and in the mean time the meter goes to sleep. So I now want the same ratio but at ISO500 f8 1/60th (almost the same ratio). If the meter held the settings as long as I wanted it to, all I'd do is adjust the aperture with the rear wheel and I'm shooting again (Shutter and ISO would change to keep the ratio automatically). So when the meter resets, I either have to know every possible ratio combination in my head or take a new flash meter reading.

I can think of lots of times when this has been a PITA.

wolfier · 07-10-2009, 09:23 AM

I agree that there should be an option to make AE-L effective until the shutter is tripped. Again, automatically reverting after 30 seconds limits the time a picture can be recomposed.

Although I can live with this limitation, this kind of automation is not a hardware limitation, and does not benefit the photographer at all.

*Wheatfield* · 07-10-2009, 09:37 AM

Originally Posted by wolfier

If your suggestion means that after the ad hoc OK press in SEL mode, it'll automatically revert to AF selection, it's still too automatic to me. I prefer the button to remember and stay at the state where it's last set, without any automatic revert to a default no matter what.

I don't see another way to do it and still have access to the functions underneath the 4 way switch.
I want the 4 way to default to AF point selection when I move the AF switch to SEL, but I still want access to the functions below the 4 way switch without having to move the AF switch off of SEL.
Having the AF switch in SEL should tell the camera that I want AF selection of the 4 way as the default operation, with the switches returning to that function.

If I need to get at the lower functions, press the OK button, do what I need to do and press OK again. The 4 way is back to being AF point selection.
This is more or less how it works on the K20, though the first button push is the Fn button, which is now missing.

I don't mind default settings as long as they make sense. When I put the AF switch into SEL, I am telling the camera I want AF point selection as the default operation for the 4 way switch, and that it should revert to that. If I want some other AF point selection method, I'll turn the AF controller to auto or center point.

What I want is a function that will allow me to stay in AF point select with as little fuss and as little button pushing as possible. Having the 4 way default back to AF point selection when that is my indicated preference by AF controller switch position is logical.

What is not logical is the way it is now, where I have to tell the camera I want AF point selection with the controller, then tell it I want AF point selection again with the OK button, and then having to tell it again and again and again that I want AF point selection every time I check my histogram.

**Peter Zack** · 07-10-2009, 09:45 AM

Especially since with a grip the battery drain is nothing. I'd like this with an additional user selection in the menu. AE-L until the camera is turned off and not tied to the meter being active.

Originally Posted by wolfier

I agree that there should be an option to make AE-L effective until the shutter is tripped. Again, automatically reverting after 30 seconds limits the time a picture can be recomposed.

Although I can live with this limitation, this kind of automation is not a hardware limitation, and does not benefit the photographer at all.