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12-31-2007, 10:54 AM   #1
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newbie question

Got my new K100 . been playing around with it for a few weeks. Have gotten some basics from instruction manual, but need answers to more direct questions.
Say I want to set the ISO ( higher or lower ) AND go for some HIGH SPEED / ACTION shooting ( think that's TVA on the dial : can that be done in a AUTO FOCUS mode ? If so, what would be the steps ?


Thanks for any help,

Marty

12-31-2007, 05:26 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by voicelit Quote
Got my new K100 . been playing around with it for a few weeks. Have gotten some basics from instruction manual, but need answers to more direct questions.
Say I want to set the ISO ( higher or lower ) AND go for some HIGH SPEED / ACTION shooting ( think that's TVA on the dial : can that be done in a AUTO FOCUS mode ? If so, what would be the steps ?


Thanks for any help,

Marty
Yes AF can be done here.

If you want to do TVa, then set the iso so you can get a high shutter speed, say 100-1000.

If your talking about TV, which i think you are, again set an ISO that will give you a decent enough shutter to do what you want.

BTW, what is it that you want to shoot, and what lighting conditions.

Dave
12-31-2007, 08:45 PM   #3
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THANKS - so far, Dave

I shoot dogs at our dogpark. Now, especially with the early winter sun in the New York , usa region, it gets dark early so I'm dealing with lots of near dusk twilight conditions.
I had mis-stated my camera : it's a Pentax K10d dslr.
You're right : it's TV that I'm interested in at the moment .
Can't remember now how I get to the area where the LCD PANEL shows me the ISO changing with one of the front or back dials. AV ? SV? Can't remember. I set the ISO but seem to go to another setting, say TV and -as I recall - I no longer see ISO info displayed. This could be wrong, my camera is flat out of battery at the moment, and I'm replying with info from memory. Maybe ISO info is displayed in TV , and I'm thinking of another setting : AV or SV or TAV.
Seems like you're saying that no matter what once I access the ability to change the ISO , it stays at that ISO no matter what setting I go to on the dial other than something fully automatic like that green rectangle or something in the FN menu ?

Thanks ,

Marty
01-01-2008, 01:45 PM   #4
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Marty,

You may want to check out my thread "First day out with the new K10D" in this forum. Also pictures in the "post your photos" forum in thread of same title.

Anyway, to see the ISO in the viewfinder at any time in any mode just press the OK button.
In Sv mode it's always shown and controlled by the rear e-dial.
In TAv mode it is always shown and changes as you adjust shutter with the front e-dial and aperature with the rear e-dial.

I'm leaning towards using Sv or TAv for my action photos.

01-02-2008, 10:43 AM   #5
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Thanks Workingdog, still confused

Why SV or Tav for action photos when manual recommends TV ? Also, it seems you can't just set ISO - say in the SV dial mode - then go to other dial mode like AV and keep the same ISO setting ?
Auto focus seems to struggle at night even with flash ? Too dark to focus ? I'll learn.

Thanks again,

Marty
01-02-2008, 06:41 PM   #6
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Marty,
If you want to set a specific ISO and have it stay there in Tv or Av, you have to set it in the function menu (get off of AUTO). You can set a high shutter speed in Tv for action as long as you don't mind the camera sacrificing aperature (depth of field) and ISO (which you can't see unless you press the OK buttom). If high shutter speed at the expense of all else is what you're after, then this is the mode for you.
In Sv you choose the ISO while being able to see the aperature and shutter speed the camera is picking. The point being you can see all three and choose based on what you want.
In TAv the ISO on the function menu is set to AUTO and the camera is free to choose within your preset limits while you set both aperature and shutter speed. Again, you see all three in the viewfinder and can juggle as you see fit.
Sv or TAv are better for me because ISO is shown in the viewfinder and I like to be able to see what the camera is thinking so I can overrule if necessary.
01-04-2008, 11:39 AM   #7
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Thanks. By Function MENU youmean FN button ?

Thanks Pentkon, Workingdog...

By " FUNCTION MENU " do you mean that FN button. On left side : awb, daylight, cloudy etc... On right side : ISO ? What's left side, is it " white balance ? " . Right side I quess is ISO.
Is it that whatever I set on left side ( icons, white balance) locks that in no matter where I turn top of camera left side dial: TV, SV, AV, etc ? Does right side FN button (ISO) lock in the iso ( or parameters ) no matter what ?

Thanks again - any help,

Marty

01-04-2008, 12:49 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by voicelit Quote
Why SV or Tav for action photos when manual recommends TV ? Also, it seems you can't just set ISO - say in the SV dial mode - then go to other dial mode like AV and keep the same ISO setting ?



Marty,

TAv (shutter AND aperture priority) mode is one of the K10D's peculiar excellences. I am extremely fond of this feature.

When should you use TAv rather than simply Tv (shutter priority) or Av (aperture priority)? When you want to set BOTH the shutter speed and the aperture -- and you want the camera to give you a technically correct exposure by adjusting only the ISO. And you would want to set both the aperture and the shutter speed manually when both of them matter to you.

If you're shooting action in bright sunlight, and your main concern simply is to freeze the action, you could use Tv mode and set the shutter speed to, say, 1/1000th sec. The camera will then adjust the aperture to give you a good exposure. The ISO in this case probably gets left alone, unless it's absolutely needed.

If you're shooting, say, a portrait, with your subject sitting still, and you care most about depth of field, you might use Av (shutter priority) mode to set a wide aperture like f/4, and let the camera calculate the right shutter speed for a correct exposure.

But sometimes, especially if the light isn't good, you want to manually set the aperture wide open AND you don't want the shutter speed to go below a certain speed, so you use TAv and set 'em both manually; and the K10D will do its best to give you a correct exposure by adjusting the ISO. Note that you can set the range within which the ISO is adjustable and if the camera can't get a good exposure in that range, well, you're out of luck. I use TAv quite a bit when shooting indoor school sports, because the lighting in the gyms is bad and quite variable. If it weren't variable, I'd just use M mode, which is where I shoot almost all the rest of the time. But if I'm shooting volleyball, simply changing the direction my camera is pointing from here to there may cause me to move from a relatively bright spot in the gym to a relatively dark spot (or vice versa). In TAv mode, the camera will instantly adjust the ISO for me.

NOTE: NOTHING solves the problem of shooting in the dark. You could try getting a faster lens (one with an aperture that goes to f/2.8 or f/2 or f/1.4). Or you could buy a Nikon D3 which seems to able to produce good captures at spectacularly high ISO settings like 30,000 (seriously) -- but note that the Nikon D3 goes for $5000 and there's a very long wait. ;-)


QuoteQuote:
Auto focus seems to struggle at night even with flash ? Too dark to focus ? I'll learn.
How well do you see in the dark? Auto-focus depends on contrast. As the scene gets darker and darker, contrast drops, and when contrast drops to a certain level, the camera's auto-focus starts to struggle -- or fails completely. Using flash doesn't automatically make auto-focus any easier, as the flash fires when the shutter is tripped, but the camera needs to focus before the shutter is tripped. Some flash units have a focus-assist lamp that shines a little bit of light before the actual exposure, to help enhance the contrast. I shoot so seldom with the K10D's built-in flash that I can't remember if it has this feature or not, and it's bright afternoon here so hard for me to test. My Pentax AF 540 FGZ detachable flash unit does have focus adjust that works tolerably well.

But as I said, cameras just don't work too well in the dark!

Will
01-04-2008, 12:57 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by voicelit Quote
By " FUNCTION MENU " do you mean that FN button. On left side : awb, daylight, cloudy etc... On right side : ISO ? What's left side, is it " white balance ? " . Right side I quess is ISO.
Yes, the function menu is accessed by clicking the Fn button on the back of the camera. This is where you set 4 different things. Starting on the left (at 9 o'clock) and working clockwise, those 4 menus are:
  1. White balance
  2. Shooting mode (single exposure, continuous, timed, remote)
  3. ISO
  4. Flash mode
QuoteQuote:
Is it that whatever I set on left side ( icons, white balance) locks that in no matter where I turn top of camera left side dial: TV, SV, AV, etc ? Does right side FN button (ISO) lock in the iso ( or parameters ) no matter what ?
I could answer this question, but forgive me if I suggest that you experiment -- it's not hard to do, and you'll learn more from it. Set the mode dial to M, set the ISO to something distinctive like 640 or 1100, then adjust the mode dial and see what happens.

In the end, you'll save yourself some grief by learning to shoot in M mode as much as possible. Things stay put, and you can put your mental energy into worrying about the photo, rather than worrying about how the camera responds when you change the mode dial. I shoot almost entirely in either M or TAv. If I'm using flash and want to make things easy on myself, I will set it to P, but only when I'm using flash. I never use Tv or Av any more, and have never used Sv at all. For a given shoot, I invariably set the mode dial ONCE and after that I don't touch it.

Will
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