RE: NOW I AM LOOSING IT...what's with my K100D .HELPPPPPPP

cruiserlan2000 · 01-11-2007, 12:05 AM

on the picture above you will notice that there is a white square underneath the flowers. those are windows in the background. now here's my dilemna. remember that i am the one having the focusing issues awhile back with the same subject. but this time i notice something weird with my camera. when i view the above pic in my k100d (on the lcd), the 2 white squares on the picture were flashing white (original color) and black. it's changing colors from white to black....S......T what is happening to my k100d. any knowledgeable person in the forum......WAHHHHHH. if i can't get my act together i think i will do RMA and just settle for P&S. at this time in my life the dslr might be too much for me to handle. just a thought though. still crossing my fingers that everything is ok with my camera. i just got this last dec 27.

sorry for bugging you guys but i have no recourse....

TIA.

cruiserlan2000 · 01-11-2007, 12:05 AM

now i am really loosing it. here's the pic.

Alvin · 01-11-2007, 12:54 AM

cruiser,

Nice picture, but now we see the light from the windows are potentially blowing out (getting overexposed) in your picture (strong backlight) and your camera is giving you a friendly warning through the review or preview by turning on a feature in the playback menu.

The feature is available on almost all digicams, but more commonly used in camcorders. In review mode (also record mode with a camcorder), portions of the picture that the camera determines as overexposed are "highlighted", either by blinking black and white or by using black and white stripes. On my Sony camcorder, it's call it a "Zebra".

Before you panic, the areas that blink will almost always be white (or very close to it) in the final picture on your PC. If there are details in that area that you are trying to get, they will be lost in the blinking areas due to overexposure.

Here's how to turn the feature off.

In menu, go to Playback > Playback display method. Turn off the checkmark on Bright portion and press ok button.

If you have it on in your digital preview mode, go to Playback > Preview Display and uncheck Bright Portion and press ok button.

Cheers!

-=JoN=- · 01-11-2007, 05:19 AM

yeah what alvin said...

no worries man...ur just overwhelmed....keep posting here and we'll all help you straighten it out....

trog100 · 01-11-2007, 06:47 AM

your K100 is a point and shoot if u want it to be..

my advice is to let the camera teach u.. let it take the picture.. look at the picture.. read the exif information.. see how the camera has set itself..

learn what needs adjustment and learn how to make the adjustments..

what i see happening and expect more of it to happen is newbies thinking they can take better pictures than the camera..

dont just blunder in assuming u can take better pictures than the camera.. mostly u wont be able to.. let the camera teach u..

trog

WMBP · 01-11-2007, 08:13 AM

I agree with what Alvin and others have suggested: the flashing on the LCD is a FEATURE, not a problem, and it's designed to tell you that you've "blown out" (that is, overexposed to the point of destroying completely) some area of the picture. But to corroborate this for yourself, look at the histogram. I'm almost certain that this picture's histogram will show at least some info jammed up against the right side - meaning blown-out highlights. That part of the graph that's jammed up at the right side of the photo is telling you the same thing that the "bright portion" flashing was telling you.

I'm going to guess that you're not seeing it already, so, to turn it on in review mode so that it appears floating over the photo, do this:

1. Click Menu button
2. Use right or left arrows on the selector to go to the Playback "tab"
3. Go down to Plybk dsply mthd, then over to the right.
4. Select "Date Style" then go right to see the options list
5. Go down to Histogram and click OK button
6. Hit Menu button again twice to save and exit

By the way, that's the same menu area that Alvin told you to go to to turn BRIGHT PORTION off.

Here's an article on the histogram that's pretty good from Luminous Landscape, one of the excellent photography sites on the web.

Will

cruiserlan2000 · 01-11-2007, 08:30 AM

wow. thanks a lot. what i sigh of relief. i am at work right now and will try this when i get home. but it's great to know that it's the stupid part of me that is overpowering my camera. from now on i will just take it easy and try to digest as much as i can or try to learn it one at a time. as what all of you mentioned - i will let the camera teach me how to take good picture. i am a complete mor...n to think that i am better than my k100d.

thanks again and i hope you guys will be patient enough with me as you will probably see me post more of this user error stuffs.....

cruiserlan2000

Alvin · 01-11-2007, 08:33 AM

More to what WMBP said earlier, if you don't want to turn on the histogram, but still want to see it, simply go into review mode and press the info button once or twice. You should see all the exif data, and a histogram in there.

I'll second what Trog suggested above because I do this a ton still up to this day, use P or Autopict to take your first few shots, review the exif data and histograms, then use the info from that to make your initial settings when having fun with Manual Mode.

Manual mode can be frustrating to learn on any camera (even with the point and shoots that have it) because the learning curve can appear pretty steep. On the other hand it's sorta like learning to skate or bike - when you finally pick up on how to do it, you know it for life.

Happy Shooting!

P.S. You're doing great! Keep posting, I won't hesitate to help you out when I can.

mickeyobe · 01-11-2007, 08:40 AM

Cruiserlan2000,

The previous letters have shown you exactly how to correct your problem.
To further flesh out the details I would suggest going to page 19 of your Operating Manual and follow on from there.
So far any problems I have had with my K100D have been resolved by reading and, sometimes re-reading the manual.

Mickey

WMBP · 01-11-2007, 08:54 AM

cruiserlan2000,

Perhaps it wouldn't be too impertinent here for me to recommend Joe Farace's book on the Pentax K100D/K110D in the Magic Lantern Guides series. Not everybody likes reading books, but I do and I found Farace's book a big improvement on the manual that came with my K100D. It includes pages on the bright portion setting, the histogram, etc. I don't refer to it much now, but when I first got my camera, I simply sat and read the book page after page with my camera in my hands.

Good luck,

Will

Alvin · 01-11-2007, 09:05 AM

WMBP - thanks for the heads up! I'm going to start hunting for that book when I get home and see if there is any feature I haven't messed around with yet.

trog100 · 01-11-2007, 12:15 PM

"i will let the camera teach me how to take good picture. i am a complete mor...n to think that i am better than my k100d"

u have it.. when u get bored with the nice pictures your camera can take then its time for messing with the rest..

get behind the viewfinder.. take lots of pictures.. the more time u spend thinking about manual settings the less time u have for taking nice pictures..

u have a modern piece of technolgy designed to make taking nice pictures easy.. take advantage of it..

trog

01-11-2007, 12:05 AM	#1
cruiserlan2000 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Hercules, CA Posts: 63	RE: NOW I AM LOOSING IT...what's with my K100D .HELPPPPPPP on the picture above you will notice that there is a white square underneath the flowers. those are windows in the background. now here's my dilemna. remember that i am the one having the focusing issues awhile back with the same subject. but this time i notice something weird with my camera. when i view the above pic in my k100d (on the lcd), the 2 white squares on the picture were flashing white (original color) and black. it's changing colors from white to black....S......T what is happening to my k100d. any knowledgeable person in the forum......WAHHHHHH. if i can't get my act together i think i will do RMA and just settle for P&S. at this time in my life the dslr might be too much for me to handle. just a thought though. still crossing my fingers that everything is ok with my camera. i just got this last dec 27. sorry for bugging you guys but i have no recourse.... TIA.

01-11-2007, 12:54 AM	#3
Alvin Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,517	cruiser, Nice picture, but now we see the light from the windows are potentially blowing out (getting overexposed) in your picture (strong backlight) and your camera is giving you a friendly warning through the review or preview by turning on a feature in the playback menu. The feature is available on almost all digicams, but more commonly used in camcorders. In review mode (also record mode with a camcorder), portions of the picture that the camera determines as overexposed are "highlighted", either by blinking black and white or by using black and white stripes. On my Sony camcorder, it's call it a "Zebra". Before you panic, the areas that blink will almost always be white (or very close to it) in the final picture on your PC. If there are details in that area that you are trying to get, they will be lost in the blinking areas due to overexposure. Here's how to turn the feature off. In menu, go to Playback > Playback display method. Turn off the checkmark on Bright portion and press ok button. If you have it on in your digital preview mode, go to Playback > Preview Display and uncheck Bright Portion and press ok button. Cheers! Last edited by Alvin; 01-11-2007 at 01:00 AM.

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01-11-2007, 05:19 AM	#4
-=JoN=- Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: NYC Posts: 999	yeah what alvin said... no worries man...ur just overwhelmed....keep posting here and we'll all help you straighten it out....

01-11-2007, 06:47 AM	#5
trog100 Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: UK Posts: 642	your K100 is a point and shoot if u want it to be.. my advice is to let the camera teach u.. let it take the picture.. look at the picture.. read the exif information.. see how the camera has set itself.. learn what needs adjustment and learn how to make the adjustments.. what i see happening and expect more of it to happen is newbies thinking they can take better pictures than the camera.. dont just blunder in assuming u can take better pictures than the camera.. mostly u wont be able to.. let the camera teach u.. trog

01-11-2007, 08:13 AM	#6
WMBP Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,482	I agree with what Alvin and others have suggested: the flashing on the LCD is a FEATURE, not a problem, and it's designed to tell you that you've "blown out" (that is, overexposed to the point of destroying completely) some area of the picture. But to corroborate this for yourself, look at the histogram. I'm almost certain that this picture's histogram will show at least some info jammed up against the right side - meaning blown-out highlights. That part of the graph that's jammed up at the right side of the photo is telling you the same thing that the "bright portion" flashing was telling you. I'm going to guess that you're not seeing it already, so, to turn it on in review mode so that it appears floating over the photo, do this: 1. Click Menu button 2. Use right or left arrows on the selector to go to the Playback "tab" 3. Go down to Plybk dsply mthd, then over to the right. 4. Select "Date Style" then go right to see the options list 5. Go down to Histogram and click OK button 6. Hit Menu button again twice to save and exit By the way, that's the same menu area that Alvin told you to go to to turn BRIGHT PORTION off. Here's an article on the histogram that's pretty good from Luminous Landscape, one of the excellent photography sites on the web. Will

01-11-2007, 08:30 AM	#7
cruiserlan2000 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Hercules, CA Posts: 63 Original Poster	wow. thanks a lot. what i sigh of relief. i am at work right now and will try this when i get home. but it's great to know that it's the stupid part of me that is overpowering my camera. from now on i will just take it easy and try to digest as much as i can or try to learn it one at a time. as what all of you mentioned - i will let the camera teach me how to take good picture. i am a complete mor...n to think that i am better than my k100d. thanks again and i hope you guys will be patient enough with me as you will probably see me post more of this user error stuffs..... cruiserlan2000

01-11-2007, 08:33 AM	#8
Alvin Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,517	More to what WMBP said earlier, if you don't want to turn on the histogram, but still want to see it, simply go into review mode and press the info button once or twice. You should see all the exif data, and a histogram in there. I'll second what Trog suggested above because I do this a ton still up to this day, use P or Autopict to take your first few shots, review the exif data and histograms, then use the info from that to make your initial settings when having fun with Manual Mode. Manual mode can be frustrating to learn on any camera (even with the point and shoots that have it) because the learning curve can appear pretty steep. On the other hand it's sorta like learning to skate or bike - when you finally pick up on how to do it, you know it for life. Happy Shooting! P.S. You're doing great! Keep posting, I won't hesitate to help you out when I can.

01-11-2007, 08:40 AM	#9
mickeyobe Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,759	Cruiserlan2000, The previous letters have shown you exactly how to correct your problem. To further flesh out the details I would suggest going to page 19 of your Operating Manual and follow on from there. So far any problems I have had with my K100D have been resolved by reading and, sometimes re-reading the manual. Mickey

01-11-2007, 08:54 AM	#10
WMBP Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,482	cruiserlan2000, Perhaps it wouldn't be too impertinent here for me to recommend Joe Farace's book on the Pentax K100D/K110D in the Magic Lantern Guides series. Not everybody likes reading books, but I do and I found Farace's book a big improvement on the manual that came with my K100D. It includes pages on the bright portion setting, the histogram, etc. I don't refer to it much now, but when I first got my camera, I simply sat and read the book page after page with my camera in my hands. Good luck, Will

01-11-2007, 09:05 AM	#11
Alvin Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,517	WMBP - thanks for the heads up! I'm going to start hunting for that book when I get home and see if there is any feature I haven't messed around with yet.

01-11-2007, 12:15 PM	#12
trog100 Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: UK Posts: 642	"i will let the camera teach me how to take good picture. i am a complete mor...n to think that i am better than my k100d" u have it.. when u get bored with the nice pictures your camera can take then its time for messing with the rest.. get behind the viewfinder.. take lots of pictures.. the more time u spend thinking about manual settings the less time u have for taking nice pictures.. u have a modern piece of technolgy designed to make taking nice pictures easy.. take advantage of it.. trog