[voles]

Brilliant introduction. I have just picked up the K10 again after a gap of some 6/7 years having been tempted away with the convenience of the Canon SX230 HS around 2011. I have been surprised how much more intuitive and easy to remember the controls are on the K10 are but you can't exactly attach it to your belt with a 250mm zoom attached. The K10 still works perfectly in every aspect btw. When I used the K10, I admit that I didn't stray far away from the Program Line, but I have now I have decided to get to grips with all that it can do. This 'club' seems to be just the place for the help I need.

Pictures tend to come out on the dark side whatever the lens. Does anyone have a default setting for EV perhaps on a lens by lens basis? O alternatively does anyone perhaps use the 'bright' setting in the menu? Live View would make life easier and of course there is preview but I would be grateful for any tips in this respect or any others come to that...

[rogerstg]

Pictures tend to come out on the dark side whatever the lens. Does anyone have a default setting for EV perhaps on a lens by lens basis? O alternatively does anyone perhaps use the 'bright' setting in the menu? Live View would make life easier and of course there is preview but I would be grateful for any tips in this respect or any others come to that...

Depending on sources and intensity of lighting, it's common to set EV to compensate for it, ensuring good exposure of the subject. Simply press the +/- button and the e-dial to make the required change. IIRC, I used to focus and compose, center weighted exposure, center focus point and AE Lock often. See pages 161 and 162 in the manual.

[voles]

Depending on sources and intensity of lighting, it's common to set EV to compensate for it, ensuring good exposure of the subject. Simply press the +/- button and the e-dial to make the required change. IIRC, I used to focus and compose, center weighted exposure, center focus point and AE Lock often. See pages 161 and 162 in the manual.

Thanks - yes I know how to adjust EV. What I was wondering was if there were default starting points in their normal use for the camera.

---------- Post added 08-02-18 at 07:18 AM ----------

OK, you guys made me do it. I put the SMC Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL on the K10D today. Hard to go wrong with that combination.

Creek Reflection.




Agave.


Agave Flower.


Hibiscus.

Wow. I just bought the very same lens for my K10. Any chance of the settings used?

[paulh]

Fillmore, Calif - DA18-55:

[wtlwdwgn]

I start with the "Sunny 16" rule and keep an eye on the histogram. I leave the EV on 0 unless there's bright snow or a dark subject.

[wtlwdwgn]

K10D and A 20mm f/2.8.

[wtlwdwgn]

A little sprinkler rainbow. K10D and A 20mm f/2,.8.

[rayallen]

Wow. I just bought the very same lens for my K10. Any chance of the settings used?

Just click on the first image and that will take you to Flickr and all the images and setting details are there. I hope that helps.

[voles]

Just click on the first image and that will take you to Flickr and all the images and setting details are there. I hope that helps.

yes it did, thanks...

---------- Post added 08-03-18 at 12:20 AM ----------

I start with the "Sunny 16" rule and keep an eye on the histogram. I leave the EV on 0 unless there's bright snow or a dark subject.

Ok - what is the 'sunny 16' rule? I'm new around here.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Ok - what is the 'sunny 16' rule? I'm new around here.

Okay, so here's the basic principle: direct sunlight never changes in intensity. The sun is always the same brightness at any time of the day, on any day of the year (except sunrise and sunset). Remember that one stop of exposure is a doubling or halving of light, and common sense is enough to tell us that the sun never doubles or halves in power. If it ever did, we'd have much more important things than photographic exposure to worry about - such as surviving an extinction level catastrophe.

This means that for any camera there will be a "Sunny 16" exposure that will always be correct in direct sunlight. The classic rule is to match the shutter speed to the ISO and use f/16, so 1/125 at ISO 100 at f/16 is a good place to start.

An easy way to establish the Sunny 16 exposure for your camera in your part of the world is to take some test shots on a nice sunny day with some fluffy white clouds in the sky. Set up on a tripod with the sun out of the frame, but with the brightest highlights of the clouds easy to see. Start at f/22 at 1/125 at ISO 100 and then take a series of shots opening the aperture by a half or a third of a stop each time. You only need to go as far as f/8. And shoot raw files.

Now look at the raw files on your computer. completely unprocessed, and look for the frame where detail is still just visible in the brightest parts of the clouds. That's Sunny 16 for your sensor at your latitude. For me it's f/11 at 1/125 at ISO 100, or any reciprocal of that. f/8 at 1/250 or f/5.6 at 1/500 are exactly the same amount of exposure. Using this baseline exposure guarantees that I will always get the clouds right on the very edge of blowing out to white at the edges, which is exactly where I want them.

So now that you know where you're starting from with Sunny 16, you can use it as the basis for exposures in other light too. This is turning into a long post, so I won't go into detail about the adjustments for cloudy light as there are plenty of websites that explain it.

As Steve (Wtlwdwgn) says above, starting with Sunny 16 and checking the histogram on the playback screen is a great method to work with. It's about using your own eyes as your main exposure meter, with the camera's meter as an aid rather than a master. This is really only scratching the surface, but I hope it helps as a starter.

[rayallen]

Okay, so here's the basic principle: direct sunlight never changes in intensity. The sun is always the same brightness at any time of the day, on any day of the year (except sunrise and sunset). Remember that one stop of exposure is a doubling or halving of light, and common sense is enough to tell us that the sun never doubles or halves in power. If it ever did, we'd have much more important things than photographic exposure to worry about - such as surviving an extinction level catastrophe.

This means that for any camera there will be a "Sunny 16" exposure that will always be correct in direct sunlight. The classic rule is to match the shutter speed to the ISO and use f/16, so 1/125 at ISO 100 at f/16 is a good place to start.

An easy way to establish the Sunny 16 exposure for your camera in your part of the world is to take some test shots on a nice sunny day with some fluffy white clouds in the sky. Set up on a tripod with the sun out of the frame, but with the brightest highlights of the clouds easy to see. Start at f/22 at 1/125 at ISO 100 and then take a series of shots opening the aperture by a half or a third of a stop each time. You only need to go as far as f/8. And shoot raw files.

Now look at the raw files on your computer. completely unprocessed, and look for the frame where detail is still just visible in the brightest parts of the clouds. That's Sunny 16 for your sensor at your latitude. For me it's f/11 at 1/125 at ISO 100, or any reciprocal of that. f/8 at 1/250 or f/5.6 at 1/500 are exactly the same amount of exposure. Using this baseline exposure guarantees that I will always get the clouds right on the very edge of blowing out to white at the edges, which is exactly where I want them.

So now that you know where you're starting from with Sunny 16, you can use it as the basis for exposures in other light too. This is turning into a long post, so I won't go into detail about the adjustments for cloudy light as there are plenty of websites that explain it.

As Steve (Wtlwdwgn) says above, starting with Sunny 16 and checking the histogram on the playback screen is a great method to work with. It's about using your own eyes as your main exposure meter, with the camera's meter as an aid rather than a master. This is really only scratching the surface, but I hope it helps as a starter.

That is a great description and advice from Dave. The "Sunny f16" rule has been around for ages. I found that it worked really well for film but not with digital in its purest form.
If you do the experimental exposures as described by Dave you will arrive at the "Sunny f-number" rule for your camera and your sensor. Then go to, say, AV and set the aperture to that f-number and see if the camera takes a similar image with the same shutter speed. It should.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Up at Rundlestone last night with the Tak 20. I'm still planning to do that churches project that I mentioned a while ago, but that'll probably be in the autumn after this glorious summer weather has gone and normal gloominess has been resumed.

[paulh]

Up at Rundlestone last night with the Tak 20.

Lovely light, Dave.

At Fillmore CA city hall with the DA18-55 again:

[dbs]

Up at Rundlestone last night with the Tak 20. I'm still planning to do that churches project that I mentioned a while ago, but that'll probably be in the autumn after this glorious summer weather has gone and normal gloominess has been resumed.

Hi Dave

A nice shot there

How come he's not using the zebra crossing to cross the road ?

Dave

[rayallen]

Hi Dave

A nice shot there

How come he's not using the zebra crossing to cross the road ?

Dave

Because he is not a zebra.

---------- Post added 04-08-18 at 09:00 AM ----------

Lovely light, Dave.

At Fillmore CA city hall with the DA18-55 again:

A very nice image, Paul. Good light, nicely framed and a fine old building.