[seymop]

Hey everyone. I recently purchased my K100D about 2 weeks ago and have been playing with it a lot. I photographed some rally race photos over the weekend and i had a bit of a problem getting the frame to freeze. I wanted to use a shutter speed between 500 and 1000 with a low aperture but the pictures came out very dark. Now i know i have to decrease the shutter speed but what is the point of the camera having the ability to have such a high shutter speed but the limitations of hardly ever using it? I guess the better question is how do i use a higher shutter speed? I was using a standard 18-55mm Pentax lens that came with the package.

This kind of goes hand in hand with what was posted a few threads down but i am a super newb at this. I have done photography before but I'm trying to inch my way at getting pretty good.

Your help would greatly be appreciated and any extra advice you have would also. thanks, justin

[stewart_photo]

Proper exposure is a balance between shutter speed, aperture, and sensitivity (ISO setting). All three are related and each is dependent on the others. Therefore, if you adjust one, you must also adjust one or both of the others to maintain proper exposure. In the situation you described above, after increasing shutter speed, you likely also needed to adjust both aperture AND sensitivity to obtain proper exposure under the existing lighting conditions.

Since your question suggests very limited knowledge of the subject, I strongly urge you to purchase and carefully read a good book covering the basics of photography. Such a book would explain how to adjust those three things to obtain proper exposure.

You should also read your owners manual carefully to determine how the camera displays proper versus improper exposure settings in the various modes.

In the meantime, I suggest returning the camera to the Auto Picture Mode (a feature of the K100D), which will adjust these things and others for you automatically. The manual will explain how to set the camera to this mode.

stewart

[Ivan Glisin]

I wanted to use a shutter speed between 500 and 1000 with a low aperture but the pictures came out very dark.

If you could share more details on shooting and metering mode, that would help. Better yet, post pictures and EXIF data and describe shooting conditions (indoors vs. outdoors, and what kind of light).

In general fast shutter speed should be OK but would require wide apertures. In case of indoors lighting or cloudy weather your DA 18-55 most likely hit f/5.6 limit in Tv mode (I presume you have used 55mm end) and not enough light has reached the sensor. Your camera should have signaled the error by showing a blinking "F5.6" in the viewfinder (which means: "not enough light and I can't go any wider"). You should have adjusted shutter speed to slower speed.

In general, for anything less then bright light 1/1000 and f/5.6 would not be enough. For those conditions you need f/2.8 of faster lenses. Also, to "freeze" the movement you really do not need anything faster than 1/500s. At that shutter speed you can almost freeze helicopter rotor blades! What else moves much faster? And don't forget panning technique for objects passing fast and close in front of you.

[seymop]

thanks for the help guys!

[UnknownVT]

Hey everyone. I recently purchased my K100D about 2 weeks ago and have been playing with it a lot. I photographed some rally race photos over the weekend and i had a bit of a problem getting the frame to freeze.
i am a super newb at this. I have done photography before but I'm trying to inch my way at getting pretty good.

Justin,

Welcome to the forums - as Stewart tried to explain there is an interrelationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO sensitivity - a basic photography book would help explain it.
eg: (and no insult intended - this is actually a very good series) -
Amazon.com: Digital Photography For Dummies (Digital Photography for Dummies): Books: Julie Adair King


However, in the meantime, try the setting on the dial for -
Moving Object

Lets you take sharp pictures of a quickly moving subject, such as a sporting event. * (Prioritizes faster shutter speeds) (page 50 in the manual)

If your shots are still too blurry and/or dark - then you might want to set the ISO sensitivity range for the AUTO-ISO from 200-3200 - but beware some of your photos may look a bit more "grainy"/noisy
Page 121 in the manual -