K-7 metering in A-mode wildly off?

alan_smithee_photos · 12-22-2010, 02:29 PM

I did a shoot yesterday and had some weird (and frustrating) behavior with my K-7. I set up to take my first shot (had a 55 Nokton mounted) in A-mode and looked at the metering info. I was set to f4 but, despite the bright overcast day, the shutter speed was showing something like 1/8th (ISO was probably 200). "Wtf?" I flipped it to Green mode and while the f-stop stayed at 4 the shutter speed shot up to something like 1/200th. "Wtf - again?!" I had the same wild meter readings using the green button. Put on another lens, same problem.

It was a booked shoot so I had to make the best of it. I ended up shooting everything in M, eyeballing the shutter speed for my aperture and then reviewing it periodically to make sure I was good. It worked (I'm actually super happy with a lot of the shots) but it was a huge pain in the ass. I'm going to break all the gear out later today and see if the problem is still there or what, but I'm wondering 1) if anyone else has had a similar experience, and 2) if anyone has any suggestions on where to look/what to do to get things back on track.

Last time I had some weirdness (desaturation) I ended up flashing the firmware, zeroing everything to the factory settings.

enoeske · 12-22-2010, 03:15 PM

What do you mean by A-mode? Aperture priority? or the lens was in the A position?

Anyway, lenses without the aperture contact (M and K series) will shoot wide open if in Av mode. So, even if you have the lens set to f/4, it wont use it. When way over exposed, the camera will default to something like 1/3 or 1/8 which makes sense if the lens was stuck wide open.

alan_smithee_photos · 12-22-2010, 05:34 PM

Yeah, "A" as in "aperture priority". All my "A" lenses were set to "A"; one "M" lens was metered with the green button while in "M(anual)" mode.

If the "A" lenses weren't set to "A" why would they default to something like 1/8? There was plenty of light (but not an overabundance) - I'd think they'd just select an appropriate (faster) shutter speed?

But maybe it's academic: I checked out all the lenses today and everything seems to be metering accurately. I'd still like to know what the heck was going on, especially if it was some stupid error (fat finger or otherwise) on my part.

**Lowell Goudge** · 12-23-2010, 06:33 AM

Sounds like operator error but I can't figure out what you did wrong

It almOst seems like you were trying to follow some kind of weird program line

12-22-2010, 02:29 PM	#1
alan_smithee_photos Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 844	K-7 metering in A-mode wildly off? I did a shoot yesterday and had some weird (and frustrating) behavior with my K-7. I set up to take my first shot (had a 55 Nokton mounted) in A-mode and looked at the metering info. I was set to f4 but, despite the bright overcast day, the shutter speed was showing something like 1/8th (ISO was probably 200). "Wtf?" I flipped it to Green mode and while the f-stop stayed at 4 the shutter speed shot up to something like 1/200th. "Wtf - again?!" I had the same wild meter readings using the green button. Put on another lens, same problem. It was a booked shoot so I had to make the best of it. I ended up shooting everything in M, eyeballing the shutter speed for my aperture and then reviewing it periodically to make sure I was good. It worked (I'm actually super happy with a lot of the shots) but it was a huge pain in the ass. I'm going to break all the gear out later today and see if the problem is still there or what, but I'm wondering 1) if anyone else has had a similar experience, and 2) if anyone has any suggestions on where to look/what to do to get things back on track. Last time I had some weirdness (desaturation) I ended up flashing the firmware, zeroing everything to the factory settings.

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12-22-2010, 03:15 PM	#2
enoeske Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Surprise, Az Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,136	What do you mean by A-mode? Aperture priority? or the lens was in the A position? Anyway, lenses without the aperture contact (M and K series) will shoot wide open if in Av mode. So, even if you have the lens set to f/4, it wont use it. When way over exposed, the camera will default to something like 1/3 or 1/8 which makes sense if the lens was stuck wide open.

12-22-2010, 05:34 PM	#3
alan_smithee_photos Veteran Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 844 Original Poster	Yeah, "A" as in "aperture priority". All my "A" lenses were set to "A"; one "M" lens was metered with the green button while in "M(anual)" mode. If the "A" lenses weren't set to "A" why would they default to something like 1/8? There was plenty of light (but not an overabundance) - I'd think they'd just select an appropriate (faster) shutter speed? But maybe it's academic: I checked out all the lenses today and everything seems to be metering accurately. I'd still like to know what the heck was going on, especially if it was some stupid error (fat finger or otherwise) on my part.

12-23-2010, 06:33 AM	#4
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,886	Sounds like operator error but I can't figure out what you did wrong It almOst seems like you were trying to follow some kind of weird program line