[stevebrot]

I'm using a mechanically decoupled lens

Are you saying that you have a K-mount lens where the aperture actuator has been "snipped"? It makes little difference except that I was curious.

manual mode with the lens setting the aperture (and the camera setting the shutter speed)

Exposure compensation (called EV Compensation on p46 of the user manual) is done by holding down the "+/-" button on the top of the camera while rotating the rear e-dial. Since you are in M mode, your setting for shutter speed should not change.


Steve

[Bob 256]

Are you saying that you have a K-mount lens where the aperture actuator has been "snipped"? It makes little difference except that I was curious.

No, I'm using a 2x teleconverter which doesn't have an autofocus or electronic coupling to the lens in front. I said mechanically uncoupled, but probably should have said electronically uncoupled. In any case, the camera can't see what lens is attached, nor can it read the f-stop the lens is set at.

Exposure compensation (called EV Compensation on p46 of the user manual) is done by holding down the "+/-" button on the top of the camera while rotating the rear e-dial. Since you are in M mode, your setting for shutter speed should not change.


Steve

Thanks for that Steve. Somehow, I was looking for another button and had tried the AE button with no success. I will try the +/- button and see if it works tomorrow. Since the shutter speed won't change, and the f-stop can't change, I should be in good shape if that will dim the LCD to the point where the sunspots become visible - shouldn't take too much since cloud cover brought them out at one point.

[stevebrot]

No, I'm using a 2x teleconverter which doesn't have an autofocus or electronic coupling to the lens in front. I said mechanically uncoupled, but probably should have said electronically uncoupled. In any case, the camera can't see what lens is attached, nor can it read the f-stop the lens is set at.

OK...equivalent to shooting with Pentax-K or Pentax-M lens having no contacts on the base. BTW, this is not related to dimming the display, but you may want to check whether the lens is stopping down for exposure. Some TCs have non-conductive bases. Those are not detected as K-mount by the camera and the aperture actuator will not operate for exposure or green button metering.


Steve

[Bob 256]

OK...equivalent to shooting with Pentax-K or Pentax-M lens having no contacts on the base. BTW, this is not related to dimming the display, but you may want to check whether the lens is stopping down for exposure. Some TCs have non-conductive bases. Those are not detected as K-mount by the camera and the aperture actuator will not operate for exposure or green button metering.


Steve

Oh, now I understand your comment earlier about the conductive base. The TC does have an aluminum mount and a movable post on the camera side which couples to a movable post on the lens side (f-stop indicator or aperture actuator??). Opposite that it has a curved slot that goes clear through from camera side to lens side.

I think the lens was stopping down because I adjusted the exposure to several different f-stops on the lens ring and I believe that was reflected in the exposure but now that you mention it, I would have to check to make sure.

The camera gave a readout of the shutter speed, but the f-stop readout was F--, and didn't indicate the f-stop (which makes sense since the camera has no way of knowing what TC is being used so it has no idea of the true f-stop). I just assumed I was setting that on the lens and the actual f-stop was 2x that value. Will check to see if the lens is stopping down tomorrow also.

Thanks Steve for your input. I had some clues in the old film days but it's a learning curve for the K-1.

[Merv-O]

Tried the AE button and APS-C Mode and no luck - still stuck with washed out sun. Interesting though - some clouds floated over the sun while I was trying these, and they dimmed the sun enough that I could see the sun spots and get a focus. It must be something misleading the K-1 autoexposure system which then tries to emulate the scene on the LCD to appear as it would be shot. In this case, it's boosting the image brightness too much (the actual photo can actually be greatly underexposed and doesn't relate to the LCD preview version relative to exposure. I'll try to play around some more tomorrow before I head off to the great eclipse thing.

I read (DP Photo) a review that indicated the Pentax K-1 will undersaturate by about 8 steps (vs. oversaturation on the Canon/Nikon FF's). If you shoot in RAW you can probably post-bump the color to a more natural tint (I use Lightroom). I wonder if this apparent undersaturation is in the new K-1 Mark ii as well.


Has anyone noticed that?

[SteveinSLC]

I haven't tried this with the sun, but with the moon through a long lens or telescope, one thing that sometimes helps with this is to use movie mode instead of still photo. That lowers the sensitivity, allowing focus. Once you've got focus nailed, then switch back to photo mode.