[TeamPentax]

hello everyone, heres a chance to tell me how much of a noob I am.

A huge storm came through Sydney last night and my camera and I were there, I put the camera in M and set the exposure time for 20 seconds, I read somewhere the DFS won't kick in until you hit 30 seconds, will on my ist DS it don't matter even 5 seconds it comes on, no point switching it off, noise is a huge problem even for a 20 second shot, I missed so many shots because of it.

Is there any thing I can do to avoid it and not have noise ?

I compare my Pentax to my Fuji S9500 beause it's the only camera I've had before this one, now that has no DFS once its taken a 30 second shot it writes to memory card then it's back into the action and I get NO noise and NO DFS, so should have I not brought a Pentax ?
Does Canon and Nikon have something similar ? Is there a Pentax Model that doesn't have DFS until the exposure hits 30+ seconds

I missed many good shots due to this and would really like to know my options, I love this camera but it's letting me down, or I'm letting me down by not knowing what I should do, or how to.

I appreciate any help and thank you.

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[sajah]

I think K10D has option to turn off dark frame substraction (DFS), CMIIW.

[Rondec]

The K7 and K20 both allow you to turn off DFS on exposures of under 30 seconds. The K10 and K5 allow you to turn it off completely. Not sure about older cameras.

[Stringmike]

I have used a DS for lightning shots as well as other long exposures at night. For lightning, you don't need high ISO and should be able to do 30 second to 2 minute shots without significant problems. Turn the DFS off! If necessary, you can take one dark frame and subtract the noise, but for lightning I never needed to do that.

Mike

[TeamPentax]

I have used a DS for lightning shots as well as other long exposures at night. For lightning, you don't need high ISO and should be able to do 30 second to 2 minute shots without significant problems. Turn the DFS off! If necessary, you can take one dark frame and subtract the noise, but for lightning I never needed to do that.

Mike

Thanks mate, as you see from the 2 pictures I put up one was with dfs on and the second was with dfs off and it's only a 20 second shot and got a lot of noise, it seems the lightning needs to be a certain brightness for it to work, it's hard enough to get the lightning at all let alone how bright it should be.

I found that Canon also has a similar thing called LENR (Long exposure noise reduction) so it looks as tho I'm doing something wrong.
When your shooting lightning you don't have 30 seconds to wait until the next lightning appears, it's a shame.

You know that feeling when you take some pictures and you get them home and your just blown away by how good you've done, thats how I feel when I get a real good shot of lighting, I missed so many good shots and I'm just trying to get the best I can with what I've got and feel a little let down.

Thank you all for your help, I shall take all your advise and try it all if the skys give me a chance.