[paulh]

Auto mode will probably give you an ok shot most of the time. Maybe not a great photo, but a decent snapshot. If you want to get the best from your camera, you really need to learn how to use it, otherwise you might be better off with a simple point & shoot or phone cam. Your k-x is capable of some amazing images if used correctly. Read the aforementioned books, and the manual, hang around these forums and ask questions, and above all, take lots of photos!

[jatrax]

If I were to set the camera to Auto would it make the correct choices?

Maybe, maybe not. I suspect most on this forum would not trust the camera to make those choices. But it is certainly worth a try. Take a shot on auto and then look in the EXIF to see what the camera did. In my opinion though, better to buy a book or read up on line about exposure and how it works. Learning rote settings is not going to help in the long run. Learning what the settings do will allow you to take a good shot in any situation.

For the image above you have:
ISO 6400
Shutter 1/6000
Aperture f/13

1) ISO should always be as low as possible. In this case, outside in bright light ISO should be 100. On the k-x I never went over ISO 400. Yes it will go over but the results are not good.
2) Your shutter speed was 1/6000th. That would be fine if you were shooting hummingbirds and trying to stop the wing motion. For a landscape like this 1/250 would be just fine and 1/50th OK if you have steady hands
3) Aperture at f/13 is a little on the high side for that camera but not bad. On the k-x you will start to run into diffraction softening at around f/11 so anything over that will start to decrease image quality.

Settings I would have used for that shot:
ISO 100
Shutter 1/100th
Aperture f/11

[paulh]

Settings I would have used for that shot: ISO 100 Shutter 1/100th Aperture f/11

I suggested ISO 200 since it's the base ISO for that camera, IIRC. But yes, those settings would yield a much better image.

[Wise Owl]

ISO 400 is the lowest setting available

[jatrax]

ISO 400 is the lowest setting available

In what shooting mode?
And check to see if you have highlight / shadow corrections on. I don't remember if that is an option on that camera. I gave mine to my son several years ago.

[Wise Owl]

AV Mode and I set the ISO to 200 ( went to C1 in menu and selected expanded mode )

[jatrax]

And check to see if you have highlight / shadow corrections on. I don't remember if that is an option on that camera. I gave mine to my son several years ago.

Did you check this? If it is on it restricts ISO to 200 not 100.

[Wise Owl]

It is set to "on" I will be going to take some outdoor pictures (winter scenes) this weekend I have set camera to RAW and will us the setting you have recommended, or should I change them?

[normhead]

Always set the lowest ISO you can get away with. At ISO 6400 on this camera your image will be seriously degraded, not to mention that an ISO that high reduces the amount of contrast the camera can capture. I shoot at 100 ISO, with this camera up to 400 ISO should be fine, above that in special situations. I always shoot in AV mode, for a scene like the one you posted you need the aperture set to ƒ5.6 or ƒ8. Dial you ISO up to get your shutter speed up around 1/50s minimum. But even auto should be fine in situations like that.

Here's a few K-x images














And a K-x slide show...click here. We gave this camera to my daughter-in-law and it's still going strong. Several of these images have sold as prints and several are published. Spend a few minutes learning the basics and it should give you years of use.

[Wise Owl]

Wow thanks everyone , my goal will be to take beautiful picture like the ones in this slide show!

[jatrax]

It is set to "on" I will be going to take some outdoor pictures (winter scenes) this weekend I have set camera to RAW and will us the setting you have recommended, or should I change them?

If it is 'on' that is why you cannot find ISO 100. Turn it off and you should now be able to set ISO 100.

I feel like I am not getting through to you. There are NO settings that you just use. Every picture will be different.

You have now set the camera to shoot RAW. Do you know what that means? Do you have software to process those images so you can even see them? Remember you are asking questions on an internet forum. You are going to get answers from various people, with varying experience. Those answers might technically be the right answer but if you do not have the basics of photography well learned they may not be best for you. Shooting in RAW is a good thing, I always shoot in RAW. But unless you have the proper software, computer skills and the time to work up the images then RAW is not for you.

Photography is a journey. You do not get to your destination at once. Pick out small goals and learn to achieve that then build on that for the next goal. I would recommend you NOT shoot in RAW until you have learned how to use your camera. Once you are comfortable with that and are getting good images, THEN you can go on to learn RAW.

---------- Post added 03-03-16 at 06:00 PM ----------

my goal will be to take beautiful picture like the ones in this slide show!

If that is your goal may I respectfully suggest you will fail. That is a huge goal, and the photographer has decades of experience.

Please, please, set small goals. Like: my goal this week is to learn how to use Av mode on the camera. Next week something else, but small steps. There is no reason you cannot learn to take images like Norm's but if you go out expecting that to happen quickly you will be disappointed.

Have you considered getting the book I mentioned before? It is available at most libraries, used book stores and of course new. It is I think about $20. Do yourself and your goals a favor and buy it. Read it. Twice. Then you will be able to ask good questions.

[Wise Owl]

If it is 'on' that is why you cannot find ISO 100. Turn it off and you should now be able to set ISO 100.

I feel like I am not getting through to you. There are NO settings that you just use. Every picture will be different.

You have now set the camera to shoot RAW. Do you know what that means? Do you have software to process those images so you can even see them? Remember you are asking questions on an internet forum. You are going to get answers from various people, with varying experience. Those answers might technically be the right answer but if you do not have the basics of photography well learned they may not be best for you. Shooting in RAW is a good thing, I always shoot in RAW. But unless you have the proper software, computer skills and the time to work up the images then RAW is not for you.

Photography is a journey. You do not get to your destination at once. Pick out small goals and learn to achieve that then build on that for the next goal. I would recommend you NOT shoot in RAW until you have learned how to use your camera. Once you are comfortable with that and are getting good images, THEN you can go on to learn RAW.

Ok maybe I am trying to go too fast Ha-ha (sorry) I understand now that I will need to change setting most every time I go out depending on the condition, now I will need to learn what each condition settings will need to be.

---------- Post added 03-03-16 at 07:11 PM ----------

Right now my goal would be to learn how to take winter scenes, Yes I will be ordering the book you recommend this week.

[normhead]

Sounds like plan. I posted to show you what the camera is capable of, your mission should you choose to accept it, is t e=learn who it was done. Many of these were taken by my wife, the K-x was her first real camera, before that she was using a tiny point and shoot. She had my help, but she was also pretty determined to master things.

SO as advised, plan to master one or two things. I would suggest learning how to get the histogram turned on and leaning what it means, and learning to use the EV dial to adjust your exposure to different conditions, using the histogram as your guide. That's great start.

Doing that will be a great help in making sure you don't over-expose your snow.

[Paleo Pete]

OK I agree with basically all of the above. The K-x does not do well at ISO6400, I got the best results at ISO400 and under.
There is a setting to allow it to go down to ISO 100 I'm pretty sure, but I can't remember what it is. (and mine is no longer working) Expanded ISO I think, maybe someone who has one can look for it.

I agree with Paul about the settings, go for ISO200, f8, and whatever shutter speed you need for a good exposure. My K-x didn't do a great job at setting the exposure, I always took a test shot and adjusted as necessary. The K30 does a lot better but I still do the same thing.

Look up the settings, I'm almost positive I was getting ISO100 with the K-x, and I kept it set to manual ISO, never auto. I never used anything auto though, I'm a manual guy from way back.

One thing I thought of when you mentioned auto focus, plenty people have found that their lenses didn't focus properly on auto, and had to use the fine tuning option built into the camera. I think the K-x can only handle one lens setting. But you can fine tune the focus to get better results.

For landscapes like the one you posted, try to fix your focus about 2/3 of the way tot he horizon or a little more, and depend on depth of field to help keep things nominally in focus. At f8 it should do a good job. Also once you find the spot where you want to focus, keep holding the shutter button halfway down so it will not change, and if you need to recompose, you'll still stay focused at the same spot. The focus confirmation shoud show when you have good focus, I kept mine set to center weighted, so whatever was at the center of the shot was my focal point. I used the method described above for a lot of my sunsets, with good results.

Do a little looking online, (I'm repeating myself here) and find out the relationship between Aperture, ISO and shutter speed, and how each affects the others. Also look up depth of field. Briefly, the smaller your aperture, the more depth of field, which is one of the reasons f8 or f11 is beneficial for landscapes.

Since you are dealing with landscapes, I'll stick to mostly landscapes, with manual lenses though.

This one was at ISO200, f8, 1/350 with a 28mm lens. (aperture does not show in EXIF with manual lenses, they don't have contacts to communicate that info with the camera.



This was with a 50mm lens, ISO200, f8, 1/90.



This is a crop from a picture my sister took while I was driving, I preset the focus to infinity and made sure the exposure was already right, ISO 200, f8, 1/750. All she had to do was point it out the window and shoot.

Looking through the few I still have from the K-x, I'm realizing I may have been wrong above, the K-x might limit you to a minimum of ISO 200. Otherwise I would have been using ISO 100 for some of these.



And just for fun, an action shot taken with a 200mm M42 lens, ISO200, f11, 1/750 in very good light.



That and the shots already posted should give you an idea what the K-x can do, I wish mine was still working, I'd still be using it a lot.

[jatrax]

Right now my goal would be to learn how to take winter scenes,

Winter Landscape Photos | How to Photograph Winter Shots from Nikon
Nick?s Photography Tips: 13 tips for photographing snow Particularly read #3!!!