[Canada_Rockies]

7) I love the bracketing on one shutter press. Should be implemented in a firmware upgrade for the K10D. Thing that did not improve: the bracketing is still limited to +/- 2 stops. They don’t have HDR in mind.

For HDR, I set my bracket to 2 stop intervals and take 5. This gives me -4, -2, 0, +2 and +4.

[Stratario]

Re interval shooting, Stratario asks,



Not sure whether you're asking how you set it up; or what you'd use if for. So I'll explain both.

Setup is easy. On the second page of the Rec Mode menus, there's a menu named Interval Shooting. You select that, then enter your options. If you enable interval shooting, you can select the interval in seconds, minutes and/or hours; the number of shots you want to take (up to 99, apparently); and when to start shooting (now or at a later time you specify).

What would you use it for? Anything you can think of. Say you're decorating your living room for a big party. Set the camera up and turn interval shooting on to take a shot every five minutes (or whatever). When you're done, you'll have a record of the transformation of your living room. Say you want to take photos of yourself dancing with your wife. Set interval shooting to every 2 seconds. Lots of uses.

I haven't used it a lot but occasionally it's a fun thing to have.

Will

Nice explanation. Thanks.

[Arpe]

7) I love the bracketing on one shutter press.

Crikey - my old istDs did this! Does the K10D not do it?

[ManuH]

Crikey - my old istDs did this! Does the K10D not do it?

No it does not and it was a disapointment.

[audiobomber]

Here are my quick first impressions coming from a K100D Super.

I bought a battery grip for my K100D because it was unbalanced with anything larger than the kit lens. I was hoping the K20D would have room for my baby finger, but no, it's still just a bit too small. Without a grip and with a larger lens, the K20 feels better balanced than the K100, but it's noticeably heavier around my neck. Unfortunately I'll need to add the cost, bulk and extra weight of the BG2.

I miss my Rayovac Hybrid AA batteries. I always had two backup sets in the bag. I'll have to buy a pricier K20 backup battery along with the grip, because I won't always have the grip with me.

Love all the buttons.

Love the increased firing capacity and Burst is a useful feature.

Love the adjustability.

Love the colour depth in Natural tone. The default Bright setting is not doing the camera any favours. Too punchy. Oh well, no biggie, it's there if I need it.

Love the detail, especially when cropped heavily.

The K20D files are too too big, it's ridiculous. They slow my laptop's RAM and they'll quickly fill the hard drive. I'm going to need some outboard memory.

My 4G card is not going to cut it any more. I'm thinking 16G minimum.

I haven't been able to figure out how to use Wireless Flash.

MTF mode is an interesting feature, but you have to watch it. It kept the 55-300mm stopped down to f8 even when ISO climbed to 1600 and shutter speed dropped ridiculously low. From now on I'll use it more selectively.

I decided to get the K20D because I was obsessing about a longer lens. I thought the 55-300mm with K20's extra cropping capability would provide somewhat equivalent reach to a longer lens on the K100DS. Cost would be similar, but the K20D+55-300 would be a smaller, lighter package. Also, the K20 would add to all my images, not just the long telephotos. I think I've achieved my goal somewhat. I don't actually know how a heavily cropped 55-300mm compares to a K100D + long Sigma, but it's probably in the same ballpark. OTOH I'm not convinced that all my mages benefitted from the upgraded body. Images that benefit from extreme detail (nature shots and macros) are clearly better. Artistic images or portraits, I don't see a benefit. The K100DS produces beautiful images too, if it's not cropped too hard or enlarged to extreme sizes.

All in all, I got my money's worth, and now I have a second DSLR. My wife is using the K100D Super with the grip and my DA 18-250mm as a big point & shoot. :~)

[Isaac314]

audiobomber, if the files are too big take the quality or size down. i shoot on 10 megapixels all the time unless i am doing professional work. Especially as i am not using especially high quality glass yet.

I'm thinking of using the 21fps burst mode and then compiling them in imagej or windows movie maker. that means my pentax now has a manual focus movie mode! With no sound, but i dont really care. Artistic video does not need sound, i might add a soundtrack even. And i think i can only do 5 seconds. Either way its a bit of fun thats not to be missed. Especially if you have a fisheye or something like this.

I feel like i have overlooked the usefulness of many features of the camera. I ought to put a day aside to sit down with the manual ;p

such a feature packed camera, its amazing!

[ManuH]

I'm thinking of using the 21fps burst mode and then compiling them in imagej or windows movie maker. that means my pentax now has a manual focus movie mode! With no sound, but i dont really care. Artistic video does not need sound, i might add a soundtrack even. And i think i can only do 5 seconds.

I tried this, the quality is OK, not more. And 5 seconds? well... They could have beat Nikon to the punch of having the first DSLR with movie move. Instead we get this weird 21fps with limited usefulness and a liveview that sucks... They still can fix some of this in a firmware upgrade but I'm not holding my breath giving their recent records with the K10D. I may sound negative but I think the full potential of the K20D is not yet realized.

[Isaac314]

I may sound negative but I think the full potential of the K20D is not yet realized.

nowhere close

i tried compiling them, and the quality is good, it looks nice, after a while the frame rate drops until its unuseable. but the quality is still good. And i agree, its likely they would prefer to release a new k30d with movie mode than update the firmware to enable movie capture. Maybe because its too hard, or maybe because they want to make more money.

[audiobomber]

audiobomber, if the files are too big take the quality or size down. i shoot on 10 megapixels all the time unless i am doing professional work. Especially as i am not using especially high quality glass yet.

What's the point of having all that resolution if I don't use it?
I should turn it down when I'm just fooling around. I took about twenty mediocre shots of a common grasshopper the other day, in glorious high resolution. What a waste of horsepower.

I'm thinking of using the 21fps burst mode and then compiling them in imagej or windows movie maker. that means my pentax now has a manual focus movie mode! With no sound, but i dont really care. Artistic video does not need sound, i might add a soundtrack even. And i think i can only do 5 seconds. Either way its a bit of fun thats not to be missed. Especially if you have a fisheye or something like this.

Sounds like a lot of effort for not much payoff. I'll use my p&s for movies. It has sound too.

I feel like i have overlooked the usefulness of many features of the camera. I ought to put a day aside to sit down with the manual ;p

such a feature packed camera, its amazing!

Yeah, I will never use all its capabilities. There are pages and pages of menus in that operating system. I think I'd be more likely to use some of the interesting stuff like computer synch if I could see someone do it.