Originally posted by Urkeldaedalus Actually, I just tried it out to see if I was indeed crazy/mistaken. The camera does seem to be able to guess a ballpark correct shutter speed (not just wide open) in AV mode, but like aleyga was saying it does take some fiddling with the EV to get consistent results. Even then, in testing it now I can see how the results aren't as consistent as metering with an "A" lens would be. In all honesty, I hadn't noticed this discrepancy before, as I had used the lens in AV mode to take photos of people during meetings and it had worked fine. Good to know.
Wowww... didn't know that was a feature of the K-7. Hmmm. I'm going to take a look at it's ISO 1600 performance ( I rarely use this on the old K100DS- way too noisy) since my current lens lineup would let me use that ISO fairly well indoors. Seeing K-7 bodies pop up around here at ~750.00, and that wouldn't be a bad upgrade (although I'm seriously considering the K-r). Imagine price will drop a bit more next spring when the K-5 hits the market.
I'm all for fiddling with EV comp- just stuck an old Industar 50-2 f/3.5 on that I found in a box of throw away bodies an acquaintance of mine was getting rid of- that requires +2 EV wide open, hehe- but very happy with the results.
But back to topic- sheesh, when I realize what Nikon did, I think they've responded so well to their user base with the inclusion of the Ai tab. Yep, I know that Pentax needs to build market share by bringing new customers into the fold, but like Urkeldaedalus was doing with his convincing of friends and colleagues to give Pentax a try, imagine what kind of enthused referrals Nikon users are going to give, and to boot there sits Nikon with so much market share!
Kills me the way everyone thinks there is this formula to marketing that will be ever so effective- reading posts here, so many opinions flying about and I have a feeling that every company out there is 1/2 the time snowballing it!
Think about the penetration of Pentax in the 70's and 80's- I'm an American living here in Canada now, but from what I've been told, almost every school had K1000's in the photography classes here in the Montreal area. Now, here you are with that name in the minds of the class of consumer that is in a position to have some disposable income available, and yet they're not buying your gear? What if you did a nostalgia-to-now campaign, and threw in a bit where "those classic lenses you loved when first loved photography- use them again like you never thought you could"- well, just ranting, but really, here's a scenerio:
20-something: "Hey dad, I noticed your camera stuff in the closet the other day. What kind of camera do you have?"
Dad: "Oh, yeah, those were the days- great Pentax camera and lenses, man, that camera really was a tank and did I ever get some great pictures with it! Look in that album over there..."
20-something: "Oh, yeah?? Pentax, huh. Looks like you had a few lenses in there, hang on, I'm going to Google Pentax lenses.."
(20-something pulls out his iPhone and scratches around for a minute or two..)
20-something: "Oh, cool! The new Pentax digital SLR- it can use all those lenses and everything is automatic! Well, you can't focus automatically, but- hey, let's take a look at those pictures- hmm- oh, and it says that you can use any of the old lenses in low-light, it can help reduce shake when you're using them!"
Dad: " Now that's interesting... maybe I should look at using that old gear again.."
Possible two sales of a new body?
I know- weird little brain of mine, but to me, that's marketing....