[debkim]

I would suggest you go into the "memory settings" and disable memory for sensitivity, white balance and EV compensation.
By disabling memory on these settings the camera will always start with auto-ISO, auto-WB and zero EV compensation, which is usually better than to risk any of these settings being way off by mistake.

What an excellent tip, I surely will do this. Thanks

[geru2000]

In addition to the recommendations here there are some great videos on you tube for amateurs of all levels.

This guy (Mike) is an accomplished photographer and photography instructor. His videos are great he's one amazing presenter able to break down the needed information in a way that you can understand.

Here's his playlist, most of his videos are camera neutral and are relevant to all cameras. Here's a link to his playlists Photoexposed take a look you won't be disappointed.

[debkim]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for that Youtube link. There is more than enough to keep me educated for a long time here. This is an awesome link, and this Pentax forum is the best!

[coffeebreak]

There's always the manual Deb. Boring I know.

Good book to have for ANY camera is Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera (9780817439392): Bryan Peterson: Books

Edit: haha Paul beat me to it.

Thanks to those who suggested "Understanding Exposure" . I bought the book to start learning how to take photos. In a few pages, my images are already much better!

[SteveB]

My 1st tip is for the LCD colours; i.e. graphic menus and the WB look of images as reproduced by it.........

Menus:- in the spanner 1 menu>LCD Display> Default is 1 blue/turquoise, 9 is red and looks classier I think.

LCD WB:- in the spanner 1 menu>LCD Display Settings> set the top brightness bar to -1, the Blue/Amber slider to +2, and the Green/Magenta slider to -3.
I've set this to look as close as I can to my calibrated 24" LCD, so others may disagree.

2nd tip is for JPG sharpness as it's an easy one to miss completely. There are 2 types of sharpness, the usual sort which is best left alone at default 0, but if you want to get JPGs where hidden detail shows through that needs no tweaking on the PC later then you have to look at the settings for Fine Sharpening. You'll find this under the first menu>Custom Image>select one e.g. Natural>press INFO>scroll to bottom Sharpness slider >rotate rear wheel one click and an F shows up next to the slider's S. You can now adjust Fine Sharpening. Obviously there's always a compromise between noise and detail. Try +2.

[Tord]

My wife's K-30 needed the tweaking you suggested, thanks!