[brothereye]

I'm not entirely sure what's going on with my K10D's rear e-dial, and after searching on the forums, I didn't come up with anything that matched the "symptoms" so I thought I would post a question and see if it's
- Something that someone else has noticed and found an explanation(that they're willing to share)
or
- Something that someone else has noticed but hasn't found an explanation for
or
- If I alone have noticed this weird "problem" and I'm the only one affected

The basic symptom is that in A or M(I haven't tried other exposure modes yet), if I'm stopping down using the rear e-dial and then reverse direction to open up a stop, sometimes the aperture setting doesn't change, despite the fact that the rear e-dial clicks. It's weird, and as I fiddled with it last night while I was photographing a local concert, I discovered that it was pretty repeatable and happened about two or three stops down from wide open. That is I could open up to maximum aperture, start stopping down and then reverse the e-dial direction after stopping down a couple of stops and the dial wouldn't respond to the initial click to open up. It worked ok after the first click after changing it's rotation direction, but almost 100% of the time it didn't respond initially to the change in direction. Just weird. I can't say I'm too freaked out about it(mostly just curious), since:
-It's not a BIG deal, and it doesn't stop me from using it, it's mostly just weird.
-the camera is still under warranty(though that won't last forever and if someone can confirm that a trip to the service center pre-warranty expiration is the way to go). I still have my K100D as a backup, and can always use it 'til the K10D gets back.

I just noticed this last night, and I'm not sure if it's been the norm since I got my K10D (a couple of months ago) and I just didn't notice before, or if it's something new.

[joefru]

I just tried with my K10D, and I can't say that I'm seeing the same problem. I was initially thinking that maybe there was a built-in delay to avoid up-down-up-down repeats, but I can't see one on mine.

Something that I've run into is, I take a shot then try to adjust the aperture, and it does nothing. Turns out it's because I'm just zooming in and out on the chimp pic. Ha!

Joe

[brothereye]

I've done that before, so alot of the time I just turn off review unless I really need it.

[flyer]

I've heard that, in some situation, the camera will stop the rear e-dial to keep the shutter speed from getting too slow to be hand holdable. I also think there is something in the menus to override this (not sure, my book and cameras aren't with me). It would be about allowing the camera to override whatever adjustment you have done to keep the image properly exposed.

[deludel]

This has happened to me, too - but only when I was using AV or TAV ... basically the camera was telling me that it could not maintain exposure if I opened the aperture any wider ... it's an issue where the camera is trying to protect your exposure.

However ... it should not be happening in M mode, that's when you should be in complete control. What type of lens are you using when this happens?

[brothereye]

I could've gotten behind the "AE" preventing me from making a setting that would result in exposure problems, except sure enough it was happening in Manual.

I've tried two lenses, a Sigma and a Tamron and the same thing happened with both, and like I said the rear e-dial seems to work ok, except for this little weird hiccup. If I have a chance tonight I'll try some other lenses to see if makes any difference.

[deludel]

I could've gotten behind the "AE" preventing me from making a setting that would result in exposure problems, except sure enough it was happening in Manual.

I've tried two lenses, a Sigma and a Tamron and the same thing happened with both, and like I said the rear e-dial seems to work ok, except for this little weird hiccup. If I have a chance tonight I'll try some other lenses to see if makes any difference.

Make sure your lens supports the aperture setting you are asking for ... I was so frustrated when my K10 would not go any wider than f/4 ... then I learned that the kit lens does not go any wider! DUH!

Hey, we all gotta learn sometime, no??

[brothereye]

Both the lenses should support the aperture I'm trying to set, afaik. One was an f4-5.6 and the other was an f3.5-5.6. The "behavior" occurs like this with a lens with a maximum aperture of say, f4.

1)Dial in a setting of f4
2)Dial four clicks on the e-dial to an aperture of f8(with 1/2 stops the sequence is f4, f4.5, f5.6, f6.7, f8)
3)Without touching any other control, reverse the e-dial one click to open-up to what should be a setting of f6.7(the last setting passed on the way to f8)
4)Nothing happens, the Aperture setting doesn't change from f8
5)Without touching anything else continue to dial one more click to open up to f6.7
6)Aperture changes and is set at f6.7

I also tried this on a lens that has a max aperture of f3.5, and the same thing happened(although it may have occurred at a different aperture like f5.6 or f11, I don't remember). At first I thought I wasn't paying attention and I changed the zoom setting(both are zooms obviously), but then I tried the above procedure with both lenses locked at the shortest focal length, and the behavior repeated itself. I'm gonna test with a couple of other lenses tonight(if I have time). Again, I'm not freaked out about it, but I am curious about it.

[Eduardo Aigner]

This happens to me only when the battery grip is ON . . .

[brothereye]

I found a thread that described some e-dial weirdness when using the D-BG2. Apparently the on-off switch for the grip controls can get bumped to somewhere between on and off and cause some strange behavior. Unfortunately, I don't have D-BG2(or any other bg) for this camera, it's never had one on it (and the way my luck's going it will be awhile before I can buy one for it).

[Workingdog]

Brothereye,
Mine acts somewhat as you describe but with a different twist. I have the Tamron 18-250 f3.5-6.3.
With lens locked at 18mm in Av mode drop down from f8 (or whatever) to f3.5
Now reverse direction and nothing happens with the first click
With second click f-stop number goes up and continues to f22
Now reverse direction and with first click f-stop numbers go down all the way back to f3.5
Now reverse direction and nothing happens with first click

It is very repeatable, mildly annoying, and I have no explanation.
I just live with it.

[brothereye]

I don't think I tried the other way 'round. I tried this out with a different lens though, and I didn't see the behavior. My guess is if I fiddled with it enough I could probably find some way to make it happen again, but I agree with you dog, it's not a big deal, just a little annoying, and I'm not going to have any trouble living with it. I was mostly curious if it was just me, mostly...

[Zilla]

Has anyone writtten Pentax about this? I know it takes luck to get a response from them, but hey, I've been lucky in that respect.

[brothereye]

I haven't and I wasn't really planning on it. Like WorkingDog said, it's mostly just mildly annoying. Which is why I described it as weirdness rather than brokeness.
It's something I think I had noticed on the eos 10d(bought it used, sold it to buy a sony, sold that to buy a pentax) occasionally, I had just never noticed it on my K10D
Like I said, I don't really regard it as a PROBLEM, I was mostly just curious if anyone else had noticed it at some point.

[deaner]

Brother-Eye: I had a similar, but not exactly the same problem. I would find the ideal exposure for a shot, then notice that the e-dial wasn't doing what I thought it should. It would change my settings by a stop.

It sounds obvious now, I know, but for a time, I was cornfuzled. All that was wrong was I had Exposure Bracketing on without knowing it. I felt stupid when someone pointed it out, but it fixed my problems.

Page 163 of the manual.