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06-01-2012, 06:28 PM   #1
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K-5 settings

Hi, and sorry, no time to fuss with the new K-5, or look through the manual, but would appreciate some quick suggestions for basic settings.

My usual philosophy is to keep everything fairly neutral, then make appropriate adjustments on the DNG in ACR. This is especially true with image sharpness and noise reduction options. I'm suspecting it might also extend to lens corrections and CA elimination, since ACR 7.1 has that very function available as well. Am I correct?

Also wondering if the custom settings for image control, specifically sharpness, actually effect RAW images or are these just to optimize jpegs?

What about the extended DR -- anyone find it useful? Does this adjustment change the RAW image?

Thanks much for your time. I'll go through the more important points in the manual in a week or so. Flat out at this time of year.

Thanks again,
BAB

06-01-2012, 06:53 PM   #2
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Shooting in RAW will always give you the most latitude in post processing. The one camera setting is to choose 14 bit RAW over 12 bit. The rest of the settings shouldn't make any difference in your RAW files. I always import my PEFs as DNGs when importing into Lightroom, but that's just because I have an older version of Photoshop that can't read the K-5s files. Something to think about if you don't always want to pay for the latest software but get a new camera.

You can pull more DR out of RAW files than you'll get from the JPEG setting. I don't think it's worth shooting JPEGs when the K-5 produces such versatile RAW files.
06-01-2012, 07:02 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by BAB Quote

What about the extended DR -- anyone find it useful? Does this adjustment change the RAW image?
The extended ISO enables ISO 80 as well as ISO 52000 - I am just interested in the ISO 80....

06-01-2012, 07:12 PM   #4
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I'm also interested in what everybody else uses for their basic settings (just recieved my K-5 yesterday).

Besides "allow aperture ring", what other necessities should I "tick" in the menu?

Thanks as always,
Ray

06-01-2012, 08:10 PM   #5
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So what you're saying is the "custom" settings modify the jpeg image only. I suspected as much. I always shoot in RAW so have never bothered with any of those settings, either in the K200 or K20.

I understand the reason for converting to DNG on download, as I so the same. And I use CS6 with ACR7.1. The reason for this seeming circuitous route is probably not obvious to everyone: PEFs take up less space on the camera card, and the converted DNGs take up less space on my computer's hard drive. I agree there is no reason to shoot in jpg when one can shoot in RAW. Unless one is a war journalist. DNGs are also so much more practical as there's no sidecar file.

Is there really a choice between 12bit and 14bit RAW in the K-5? How strange. If one is shooting in RAW why would there be a choice?



QuoteOriginally posted by mysticcowboy Quote
Shooting in RAW will always give you the most latitude in post processing. The one camera setting is to choose 14 bit RAW over 12 bit. The rest of the settings shouldn't make any difference in your RAW files. I always import my PEFs as DNGs when importing into Lightroom, but that's just because I have an older version of Photoshop that can't read the K-5s files. Something to think about if you don't always want to pay for the latest software but get a new camera.

You can pull more DR out of RAW files than you'll get from the JPEG setting. I don't think it's worth shooting JPEGs when the K-5 produces such versatile RAW files.
06-01-2012, 08:12 PM   #6
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If you've experienced any increase in image quality using 80 kindly let me know. Frankly I very seldom shoot below ISO200. I don't see any difference in the results.

Thanks,
BAB

QuoteOriginally posted by interested_observer Quote
The extended ISO enables ISO 80 as well as ISO 52000 - I am just interested in the ISO 80....

06-01-2012, 08:18 PM   #7
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Congrats on the new camera. I'm enjoying the sensor on the K-5, the soft shutter, and the internal level. Other than using bracketing (including HDR type) and exposure compensation, I've not delved into the mysteries of all those memu options, even on the K20. Oh, not quite. I do like to be able to take a photo if it's not quite in focus. There are a lot of bells and whistles on the K-5 that don't ring my bell. I bought one because it has a better sensor than just about everything besides digital medium format.

QuoteOriginally posted by Raybo Quote
I'm also interested in what everybody else uses for their basic settings (just recieved my K-5 yesterday).

Besides "allow aperture ring", what other necessities should I "tick" in the menu?

Thanks as always,
Ray


06-01-2012, 08:36 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by BAB Quote
Congrats on the new camera. I'm enjoying the sensor on the K-5, the soft shutter, and the internal level. Other than using bracketing (including HDR type) and exposure compensation, I've not delved into the mysteries of all those memu options, even on the K20. Oh, not quite. I do like to be able to take a photo if it's not quite in focus. There are a lot of bells and whistles on the K-5 that don't ring my bell. I bought one because it has a better sensor than just about everything besides digital medium format.
I'm asking because I don't want to dive into the huge instruction manual.
The sensor along with the (better?) AF was the main reason for my purchase (ALONG with the smaller size).
I guess i'll just have to hunker down and get down and dirty with my new camera!

Thanks again,
Ray
06-01-2012, 11:08 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Raybo Quote
I'm also interested in what everybody else uses for their basic settings (just recieved my K-5 yesterday).

Besides "allow aperture ring", what other necessities should I "tick" in the menu?
Depends on what you want. Resolution? Bracketing features? Catch-in-focus? Preview method? Read through the Menus/Settings appendix -- are many gems hidden there.

QuoteOriginally posted by BAB Quote
So what you're saying is the "custom" settings modify the jpeg image only. I suspected as much. I always shoot in RAW so have never bothered with any of those settings, either in the K200 or K20.
Almost all custom settings on my K20D affect everything, whether RAW or JPG. Maybe you're thinking of USER -- some of those settings are JPG-specific, but most aren't. I mainly use USER to set the Drive Mode to Continuous (Lo).

QuoteOriginally posted by Raybo Quote
I'm asking because I don't want to dive into the huge instruction manual.
At the risk of seeming rude: RTFM. All those settings are available because they're useful -- to somebody, anyway.
06-02-2012, 04:43 AM   #10
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I think it's always worth looking through the manual if you can.
I got a Japanese manual with mine and my Japanese is nowhere near the level it takes to read and understand this camera jargon.
So, this thread is quite useful for me too.
I was hoping magic lantern would produce a guide like I got for the k10, but looks doubtful now.
06-02-2012, 05:05 AM   #11
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Glad there are others scratching their heads .

However, and not to be rude in the slightest, you're not answering my question. Which was: "Do custom setting such as contrast, brightness, dynamic range extension, etc. affect the RAW image."

It seems to me that a RAW image starts with all the info the sensor is capable of producing, and changes to that image are wrought in post-processing. The in-camera capture menus modifications would then seem to be aimed at in-camera processing, i.e., jpeg images.

Is this the case?

I can, and have, read the manual concerning these areas of operation and this question is not precisely answered. I'm not concerned here with aperture rings and bracketing. I can do bracketing and didn't need the manual to show me how. I only wish to learn if in-camera capture mode settings affect the RAW image.

That is all,
Radar

BAB
06-02-2012, 06:41 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by BAB Quote
However, and not to be rude in the slightest, you're not answering my question. Which was: "Do custom setting such as contrast, brightness, dynamic range extension, etc. affect the RAW image."

It seems to me that a RAW image starts with all the info the sensor is capable of producing, and changes to that image are wrought in post-processing. The in-camera capture menus modifications would then seem to be aimed at in-camera processing, i.e., jpeg images.

Is this the case?
The in-camera JPG settings carry over into the RAW developers I use (Silkypix) as defaults. I can then leave them be, or tweak them as needed. So these settings don't directly affect RAW images, but provide a starting-point for tweaking. Your question I quoted previously asked about custom settings; these mostly affect all images, not just JPGs. So I find it prudent to study all available settings.
06-02-2012, 06:44 AM   #13
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Well, I made time to try to sort this out. After all, it is the weekend .

Here's a quote from the DPR review on the K-5 regarding the highlight correction.

"The K-5 features a highlight expansion function which applies to both JPEG and RAW; shadow expansion can also be applied to the camera's JPEG output....(my note....so there's no reason to use it if one shoots in RAW.) With Highlight correction activated ISO 160 becomes the minimum sensitivity setting, and the tone curve is flatter in the highlights giving an extra stop or so of highlight range. If you compare the K-5's dynamic range curve with highlight correction turned on against the Nikon D7000's default output, you can see that they match almost exactly. Since the two cameras share closely-related sensors, this strongly suggests that the Nikon is essentially performing an equivalent to highlight correction by default. The noise floor of both cameras is low enough to do so without any serious penalty in noise levels, and for this reason we'd recommending keeping highlight protection activated on the K-5."

One can see the graph of the response curve here:
Pentax K-5 In-depth Review: Digital Photography Review

That said, I strongly suspect most of the other image capture parameters (sharpness, noise reduction, etc.) are only used with in-camera processing, i.e., jpeg images. I can't at the moment find anywhere that states this specifically, but here's a statement from the same DPR review that strongly indicates this is the case.

"The K-5 has a very similar sensor inside it to the Nikon D7000's, and like the Nikon, the K-5 displays excellent image quality across almost its entire ISO span. Things fall apart a bit above ISO 6400, but careful tweaking of the NR settings (or even better, shooting in RAW mode) will enable you to get acceptable results out of the K-5 even up to ISO 25,600. The ability to fine-tune noise reduction to every ISO setting is very valuable here....(my note...but only in jpeg.)"

I could be wrong, and absolutely no offense meant to anyone. Just scratching my head out loud.

And I've set the extended ISO range to ON as well as the highlight expansion function.

Hope this helps anyone else experiencing some confusion about this issue. Set the custom image capture modes, including NR, only if you shoot jpeg images. Which means maybe everyone, at least occasionally, especially when shooting action photos. But don't expect those settings (other than highlight expansion) to modify the RAW image. Modifications to the latter are made in post-processing.

Thanks to all responders,
BAB
06-02-2012, 06:53 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by BAB Quote
Hope this helps anyone else experiencing some confusion about this issue. Set the custom image capture modes, including NR, only if you shoot jpeg images. Which means maybe everyone, at least occasionally, especially when shooting action photos. But don't expect those settings (other than highlight expansion) to modify the RAW image. Modifications to the latter are made in post-processing.
As I said, the JPG settings may carry-over into your RAW developer as defaults. So while they don't directly modify the RAW data, they provide a starting point for development tweaks.
06-02-2012, 01:12 PM   #15
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Thank you. Does that also apply to ACR?

QuoteOriginally posted by RioRico Quote
As I said, the JPG settings may carry-over into your RAW developer as defaults. So while they don't directly modify the RAW data, they provide a starting point for development tweaks.
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