[enyaw]

Hi, I went to caribana last yr with my nikon. 70-210mm push/pull zoom. It's a yearly parade across the lakeshore. What settings should I use to get the best results with my K-50? I'm planning on taking the smc 50-200mm DA with me.

piggy back, what settings do you guys use for shooting winter/snow pictures. 18-55mm wr kit lens, ie white balance etc

thanks in advance, I'm hanging up the m42 screwmount stuff til spring.

[AquaDome]

For snow, center-weighted metering in AV mode with +2 stops exposure compensation.

[Just1MoreDave]

...piggy back, what settings do you guys use for shooting winter/snow pictures. 18-55mm wr kit lens, ie white balance etc

thanks in advance, I'm hanging up the m42 screwmount stuff til spring.

Snow seems easy. Snow is white of course. But it's also a great reflector, so it picks up tints from everything else. The sun is also low in the winter, creating shadows everywhere. On a sunny afternoon, you can easily take a shot of a pile of snow with one side lit by sun and the other in shadow. One side will have a warm daylight look and the other will be cool shade. At night, snow will reflect any artificial light - Christmas lights, street lights, headlights etc.

You should always be aware of the light source that is coloring the snow, and how you want the picture to look. For white snow, during the day, you can choose a preset based on the sky color and whether your shot is in sun or shade. At night, choose a WB for the brightest artificial light. The camera should not have trouble setting a custom white balance on snow, but if you are close to the snow and wearing an orange coat, the reflection off you will ruin the setting.

You can also choose the "wrong" white balance to give the viewer the impression of warmth or coolness. It's easier to do this if you shoot RAW, because WB is easy to change later. For example, I like to go out when it's snowing. I can give these shots an extra-cold look by making the snow more blue than reality.

[Alex645]

What settings should I use to get the best results with my K-50? I'm planning on taking the smc 50-200mm DA with me.

What are you going to shoot? At night, interiors, wildlife, portraits, sports, landscapes, etc? Are you going to print your work or is it just for the internet? Do you use a post-processing software like Lightroom or Photoshop? Based on the very limited info you wrote, here are some very basic guidelines:

a) Shoot in RAW DNG format if youʻre using a serious post processing software and intend to print your work. Or shoot RAW PEF if youʻre going to use Pentaxʻ Silkypix app. Change your Color Space to AdobeRGB.
or
If you want to use your photos straight out of the camera with no ability or intent to post process on a computer, then shoot jpegs with the "best" quality setting. Use the default Color Space of sRGB.

b) What is your level of knowledge in terms of the relationship of ISO, shutter speed, and aperture?
If the answer is low, then just use the green AUTO setting on your mode dial on the top right of the camera.
If the answer is medium, then use the TV mode with a telephoto zoom like the 50-200mm and use a minimum shutter speed that matches or exceeds the focal length of the lens. So if youʻre zoomed out to 50mm, use at least 1/50"; if zoomed in to 200mm, use at least 1/200" or faster. Variables include camera movement, subject movement, subject speed-direction-distance, and as previously mentioned the focal length of the lens. Turn off SR (shake reduction in the menu) unless you do not have a tripod and need to handhold shots with slow shutter speeds of static subjects without increasing ISO.

c) Use the lowest possible ISO that allows you for a normal exposure with your chosen shutter speed, and only increase the ISO if your images are too dark, or you need a faster shutter speed or smaller aperture (bigger f/stop number).

piggy back, what settings do you guys use for shooting winter/snow pictures. 18-55mm wr kit lens, ie white balance etc

Cameras tend to under expose bright white landscapes such as snow or beach scenes. Therefore if youʻre shooting RAW, use around 1.5+ EV exposure compensation. If youʻre shooting jpeg, then you use the SCN mode and set it to the Surf & Snow.

I generally leave white balance on AWB (auto white balance) but if you want to create a panorama by stitching images together, set it to Daylight or even Cloudy to increase the color temperature a bit for the bluer high altitude light.

I apologize in advance if this is way too basic advice, but assuming youʻre new to your K-50 and photography in general, hope this helps. Note that the S mode on a Nikon (Shutter Priority) is the same as the TV mode on a Pentax (Time Value).

[enyaw]

specifically outdoors and landscape. Like snow covered trees landscape. Maybe even falling snow. I thought you would want to under expose because the snow is so reflective. Thanks for the responses. What about the caribana question Level intermediate I will shoot manual with raw/dng setting, auto iso. I know the basics. Not posting photos anywhere, just a hobby

[Just1MoreDave]

The meter sees all the snow as too bright and suggests exposure numbers that will turn it into a middle gray tone. The K50 probably has a snow scene mode that will overexpose a stop or two.

If Google is right, a caribana is a Toronto Caribbean festival/parade. I bet 98% of my shots with the DA 50-200 are at f8 to f11 because the lens is pretty good there. All you need to do then is have a shutter speed that won't show camera movement at 200mm. After I take a lot of those shots, I might try some slow shutter speed shots. Panning at 1/30 sec. might be interesting. Or maybe zooming while the shutter is open. You'll need a shutter speed of something like 1-2 sec., which in daytime means fixed ISO at 100 and the highest f number you can choose. A third type of long shutter speed shot is "trailing curtain sync" flash - a longer natural light exposure with a flash at the very end. You'll see trails of motion leading up to a moving subject, then the flash will freeze motion at the end. I am not sure whether the K50 onboard flash does this by itself, but an external flash might.

[Canada_Rockies]

My preferred setting for snowy scenes, shooting RAW, is 1.5 stops over, metered in manual and the camera used in manual mode. With a Pentax digital DSLR, you can set the lens to perhaps f/8 or f/11, set the camera to M, point the camera at a pile of brightly lit snow, and set the shutter speed with the green button. Check that the speed is high/low enough for your liking and tweak the ISO to get the speed you want. Piece of cake.

In my opinion using a camera in any auto exposure mode causes nothing but headaches in snowy conditions. Every time you change your point of view your exposure changes, and the image cannot be compared to another taken a second earlier. You want a fixed ISO, a fixed aperture and a fixed shutter speed to get consistent shots.

You DO need to change things to suit a major change in the lighting angle.

[enyaw]

thx guys, I'm good to go

[enyaw]

Hi went out today to shoot some snow/outdoor pics. They mostly turned out good could use some pp. I guess the way I phrased/asked the question about snow is correct. But when I wanted to shoot some ducks should I have changed the ev from +2 back to normal. I'm thinking yeah. I just went from snow to ducks or trees. I did change the iso sometimes and the shutter but I kept the ev at +2 and used the 18-55mm wr aka kit lens. Pentax K50, mostly shot at f10

btw Happy New Year, and it's not a new question

Also, there looks like small hair and dust particle when I look through the viewfinder and it doesn't show up in the photos. I changed lenses and used the air blower but it's still there, should I ignore it. It's not on the photo's and it's not on the lens because I swapped them out.

thanks,

[Alex645]

Also, there looks like small hair and dust particle when I look through the viewfinder and it doesn't show up in the photos. I changed lenses and used the air blower but it's still there, should I ignore it. It's not on the photo's and it's not on the lens because I swapped them out.

thanks,

It is dust on the focusing screen just above the mirror box; essentially at the bottom of the pentaprism optical finder. You may be able to direct your blower toward the inside top, but sometimes the dust finds its way to areas that require more than just that. Itʻs annoying but it wonʻt affect your shots and you should ignore it.

And yes, Happy New Year!

[enyaw]

Thanks Alex645, do you think I should try the sensor cleaning thingy (in camera)? Otherwise I will ignore. I meant the dust removal/shaking thingy lolz

[Alex645]

Thanks Alex645, do you think I should try the sensor cleaning thingy (in camera)? Otherwise I will ignore. I meant the dust removal/shaking thingy lolz

There is no harm in trying the sensor cleaning in menu, but I am 99% sure it wonʻt help. Dust on your sensor will appear on every shot, but is not visible in the optical view finder. In Live View at f/16, you might see it against a white wall.

What youʻve described is dust or lint in the optical viewfinder, and as the pentaprism is solid glass, itʻs almost always on the focusing screen just below it. The in-camera sensor dust clean wonʻt help. However, you could take something designed to physically swab your sensor to clean the focusing screen.

Photographic Solutions Sensor Swab ULTRA Kit (Type 2) UK2 B&H

or

Lenspen SensorKlear II with Articulated Tip SK-1A B&H Photo

or if you have a good light and good eyes:

Kinetronics SpeckGrabber Pro Cleaning Kit KSSGK B&H Photo Video

Needless to say, do this in the cleanest, dust/pollen free environment possible.

[enyaw]

No way, I'm not going to take a chance and I have nowhere near the experience. Thx

[Alex645]

Unless you are all thumbs, anyone can do it.

You Tube

You Tube

The only things I would do differently than the video:
a) Close the cap on the bottle asap. The cleaning solution is usually methanol and evaporates quickly.
b) After the first swipe, check the viewfinder for dust. All clean? Stop! No reason to do it more times as you can reintroduce dust.
c) You must not touch or accidentally wipe the mirror. If you think that is beyond your coordination skills, then just live with the dust.....although it could eventually end up on your sensor.

[stevebrot]

Unless you are all thumbs, anyone can do it.

DSLR camera focusing screen cleaning using Focusing Screen Swab and Sensor Clean solution - YouTube

The only things I would do differently than the video:
a) Close the cap on the bottle asap. The cleaning solution is usually methanol and evaporates quickly.
b) After the first swipe, check the viewfinder for dust. All clean? Stop! No reason to do it more times as you can reintroduce dust.
c) You must not touch or accidentally wipe the mirror. If you think that is beyond your coordination skills, then just live with the dust.....although it could eventually end up on your sensor.

If if makes any difference, this is not how service techs clean a screen. Before they went out of business, the good people at KatzEye Optics provided cleaning information on their Web site. Fortunately those pages are archived at the "WayBack Machine" for our reference:

cleaning - KatzEye Optics


Steve