[bvg]

Obviously Edmonton is an extremely remote area of Canada!

[asaru]

Thanks for the further insights.

I'm not sure how "off" the K500 display goes. While you are in shooting mode, you can turn the display off. You can turn off the "guide" display which comes up with information when you've switched modes. Playback mode doesn't seem to have an option for off. Since the LCD is the primary user interface, the designers might not have included an option in other modes to keep the thing off

On the K500, no, you have to change it [metering mode] through the rear LCD interface or a menu.

Also read this for the process of using older lenses. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/5...x-dslrs-f.html

It seems there's a procedure to turn off the LCD screen here by assigning an LCD-less USR mode (which is something I'd want to use in any case to get my default workflow just-so). It's for the K-50, but I guess it should also work on the K500.

Sucks just a little to have to use the LCD occasionally to change metering modes, but I guess I can live with that.

The most helpful part of your post was the link about using the pre-A lenses. It's interesting that the workflow reverts to something similar to the M42 days, because the metering becomes stop-down rather open-aperture. That actually mystifies me a little, because all-mechanical cameras already had open-aperture metering almost a decade before the introduction of the A-series cameras and lenses around 1983.

Three things in favor of the k-50 (or k-30) are weather sealing, the electronic level and the autofocus point indicator. I think it's worth the small amount extra for the K-50. Get a used K-30 if cost is a concern. As for lenses, the DA35/2.4 is a fine "normal" prime. For a wee bit wide, there is no lens finer than the DA21 Ltd. Used around 350, so very sweet!

All that said, the K-500 should be a very nice camera. Same as the K50 except missing those three things.

I can definitely live without the level-adjustment -- I'd really rather not have it, actually -- autofocus is something alien to me for now -- and weather sealing I've always done without. I can use the money saved toward a lens in the 21-22 mm range, though.

[SyncGuy]

Thanks for the further insights.

I can definitely live without the level-adjustment -- I'd really rather not have it, actually -- autofocus is something alien to me for now -- and weather sealing I've always done without. I can use the money saved toward a lens in the 21-22 mm range, though.

Very, VERY smart move on your part there..

Ultimately, the good thing of Pentax is it's small and compact form factor with a big punch! Sadly though, their philosophical lenses are small but no WR.. Err... That's like throwing a sucker punch..

Save the money and get the DA Ltds and then by the time you're comfortable with them, get ready to sell them and get the DA Ltds WR in the near future..

[asaru]

Well, that's it, the purchase of a K500 w/kit 18-55 lens is pending tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who answered my questions. It should be obvious I'm not a gear-head really -- but after my mystification about why manual metering with non-A lenses should be stop-down, I did a bit of searching, and at least I can say I finally understand what this "crippled K-mount" thing is about. But it really doesn't matter. A single stop-down to get the E value and the rest can be adjusted at will.

I do look very much forward to removing the film from the equation. Development, scanning, and post-processing dust/scan artifact cleanup were becoming just too much of a drag, and were beginning to distract from the enjoyment of composition and exposure, then picture. And I had to do all that because getting prints each time is just too expensive these days.

[SyncGuy]

Well, that's it, the purchase of a K500 w/kit 18-55 lens is pending tomorrow.
.....
It should be obvious I'm not a gear-head really --

YET..... Welcome to digital Pentax... Muahahaha!

[Oldbayrunner]

I think BTW for me a nice feature is that exposure compensation work in M (manual mode). It works on the K20d and k-x, and does not on the K10d, and I believe not on the K-30. Not sure/did not look about the newer models.

EV Compensation in M mode works on the K50 and K500.

[tim60]

One fundamental difference between digital and film.

With film the camera body provides the features that can be controlled and the medium of capture provides the quality.

With digital the body has the medium of capture (the sensor) built in as well as the control features.

In choosing a digital body it is important to look at the quality of the image captured, not just the features.

[asaru]

With digital the body has the medium of capture (the sensor) built in as well as the control features.

In choosing a digital body it is important to look at the quality of the image captured, not just the features.

Yes: white balance, for example, immediately becomes a huge concern. I was warned about this, but it became obvious with my first shots.

As for image quality... After making do with scans for a few years, the quality of my first test shots literally blew me away.

I attach a silhouette (in theme this week, it seems) and the 100% small crop:

[kkoether]

Gray card!!!


Amazon.com: DGK Color Tools Optek Premium Reference White Balance Card Set- 3 Card Set- 3 Card Digital Color Correction Tool: Camera & Photo


Great way to get the white balance right. Set it once for the current light conditions and your good to go. Best thing I ever bought for getting the proper colors. Enjoy your new toy!!!

[dms]

About white balance--if you use raw (and you should), then it's easy. As an example in Photoshop (Adobe camera raw "bridge") you click on a white or gray area and it sets the white balance (I presume the other software do the same or similar.)

You can include a white or gray card in a scene, or just look for a neutral color in the photo your working on. I do a lot of theater photography and often use the white of a person's eye if I cannot find anything better in the scene. Camera raw is very powerful--the single most important part of digital workflow IMO.

BTW I find Adobe Photoshop CS2 (from 2005 about)) works fine/has all I need, and you can pick up (for example) a 6 year old Mac laptop for $200-300. Another $70. for an epson reconditioned Clara ink printer--and I have a complete lab. When I need large (e.g., 2'x3' prints) my printer provides a proof and my college does the large prints. Unbelievable!

[asaru]

You can include a white or gray card in a scene, or just look for a neutral color in the photo your working on. I do a lot of theater photography and often use the white of a person's eye if I cannot find anything better in the scene. Camera raw is very powerful--the single most important part of digital workflow IMO.

Actually, I preset the color balance for the above picture in the camera by focusing on a white paper I put on the desk and selecting the area as white (following the instructions in the manual). Strangely enough, doing it in Gimp after the fact gives different results. Somehow I prefer the in-camera balancing, at least here.

[dms]

Someone else can say more--but does Gimp work w/ raw file? And was you shot in Raw? If not the white balance will likely not/cannot be the same.

[asaru]

No, off the jpegs. See, I'm still in the film workflow. Scan, then adjust in software, as a last-ditch editing salvage operation, not as integral workflow. The preliminary in-camera adjustments, on the other hand, are akin to using filters and whatnot.

But thanks for the pointer. I will switch the internal format to raw, and then, perhaps, work my way up to photoshopping as a normal exercise eventually.

For now, the first new parameter I'd really like to come to grips with is instantly-variable light sensitivity,

By the way, that shot was set at asa 1600. That's what blew me away. So little noise!!

[dubiousone]

Film processing these days can be...difficult. I live in a big city; there's a few places that still do their own, just discovered a place very near that does it on-site, $9 per roll of C-41 meaning color or a B&W that can be processed with C-41 like Ilford XP-2. They offer one hour processing versus the place I've been getting it done which sends it to the (regional?) Fuji lab and is a little more expensive. There are mail order places that you can send your film in to and they ship it back to you.

I am a recent convert to DSLR; I put my photography on hold for a long while and when I got tired of the P&S cameras, found a simple DSLR to learn on. You're on the right track; get something simple you can learn on with as little of the 'fluff' as you can. I find shooting film forces me to think about things digital shooters may take for granted; DOF, shadows, exposure, lens speed V aperture and at the slow pace I shoot film, I'm finding that it helps me to think about composition.

More and more I'm running my DSLR's on manual (if my K100DS had a meter needle it'd be PERFECT!) I like to play with vintage glass and with Pentax, it's easy. Nikon it depends on which model you have but Pentax does it better IMO. Forget Canon, I don't think any of their FD lenses fit on DSLR's but I could be wrong. (I'm a Canon fan, just fell in love again with my old A-1 which just saw the light of day today for the first time in a good long while)

I know EXACTLY how you mean; first time I picked up my K100DS I was in love. I got to handle a K-5iis when they came out, same deal. I expect the K03 will be the same and probably will be the next one I get.

[Oldbayrunner]

Forget Canon, I don't think any of their FD lenses fit on DSLR's but I could be wrong. (I'm a Canon fan, just fell in love again with my old A-1 which just saw the light of day today for the first time in a good long while)

Today you can get most any lens adapter even FD to EOS or FD to PK, Fotodiox makes a lot of different ones, with the focal glass. I have a few and recently picked up a Konica AR to PK.