Trick # 1: Switching from ES to SR in Live View mode without leaving LV mode , by pressing 4 ways controller button two times.
SR and ES are mutually exclusive, so it is not possible to have SR and ES both enabled at the same time. Practically, when the light is good enough, for a static subject, you want to use ES for best sharpness. When the light isn't good enough, shutter speed getting too slow you want to enable SR to avoid the blur that occurs with ES enabled. The trouble is, enabling or disabling ES isn't directly available via smart dial, isn't available via 4 ways controller, isn't available via customizable button on the left side of the camera, isn't available in Info tile menu is LV is disabled. So, it is only possible to enable ES via Menu or Info tile only if LV is already enabled, exit LV mode and re-enter LV mode again.
But there is a direct way not planned by Pentax engineers:
- Preset camera menu to have SR enabled by default
- Preset camera menu to have ES enable by default
- Enter LV mode, ES is enabled by default (SR is automatically disabled).
- If shutter speed is too low (lower than reciprocal of FL), toggle drive mode from single shot to burst L using 4 ways controller automatically switches from ES to SR. You can now switch from ES to SR or SR to ES just by using two buttons of the 4 ways controller.
Trick # 2:
Want to do a 4 frames composite bokeh stitch ("brenizer" composite)? Notice it's not so easy to make sure each of the 4 frames overlap each frame by about 30% , especially when the camera position isn't fixed on a the tripod. When trying to frame through the OVF so that frames overlap, sometimes the overlap is 50% sometimes 10%, 50% waste a lot of frame area, 10% risk to be insufficient for good stitching of frames.
But there is a no-brainer method for effortless action:
- Turn the smart dial function button to "
grid"
- Turn the smart dial wheel to enable
"rule of third" (with diagonal cross) overlay in the OVF
- Frame the shot as you wish it to be
- Notice what element of the scene fall under the center of the frame, this will be the center of the stitched image result
- Now, align that element under each cross of the rule of third grid, take a shot each time
- You got 4 frames, overlapping each other by 30%. The rule of cross of the rule of third grid ensure that overlap is the same between each exposure
- Stitch the 4 frames, you get medium format result frame the way you wished it to be framed
Alternative for different frame overlap: use live view mode, select 4x4 grid, use outside grid corner crossing for framing 4 overlapping exposures.
Last edited by biz-engineer; 04-01-2020 at 01:28 PM.