[simico]

You forgot something:



Wear it always, preferably backwards. Noone will ever question your pro status again.

Don't forget the Pentax sandal when you're on the beach:

[Lowell Goudge]

I agree with the comments of using a different lens.

You r lighting dictates perhaps as suggested a tamron 28-75 F2.8 or a 50mm F1.4.

This will let you get 2-4 times the shutter speed.

Also I don't know why you don't push the ISO a little more, the K100 can go to 3200 ISO, and the grain is not all that bad. I have shot a lot with my *istD at ISO 3200. the shots are a little grainy but the ISO lets you boost shutter speed, to cut blurr and also stop down to increase sharpness (but I still shoot with F2.8 or faster lenses because they let more light in for the AF to use.

AF speed is not related at all to ISO capability of the camera, but to maximum apature of the lens and the light that hits the AF sensor.

[kenyee]

I was shooting off the modeling lights in his softbox and the neon lights on bar signs. I had to crank the ISO way up and put my 50mm f/1.7 wide open to get enough life, and it was still challenging to hand hold at those shutter speeds.

A few of my faves from that shoot also just used the modeling lights since there weren't enough transmitters to go around. I showed one of the Canonites what I was getting and he pulled off his transmitter and took a few w/o it too.
Be Different...as the Pentax ads go...

[Erik]

Also I don't know why you don't push the ISO a little more, the K100 can go to 3200 ISO, and the grain is not all that bad.

I have to disagree. The K100D is excellent up to 1600, but disastrous at 3200, which is not even "true" 3200 but 1600 pushed in-camera. Look here to see the dramatic difference between 1600 and 3200.

[MrApollinax]

I will also disagree with the 3200 ISO setting on the K100DS. I find that the most I am willing to go is 1600. Noise and banding become pretty prevalent on my photos at 3200.

[pingflood]

Flash is something I am still working on right now as well. However it just seems that your flash/camera setup just doesn't get enough light towards the back of the formation.

I think the issue is more subject distance than flash output. If you're say 15 feet away from the front row, and the last row is 30 feet away, the last one will receive 1/4 of the light if you're blasting them with on-camera flash.

Solutions to that could be either bouncing the flash or using a remote flash distanced further away so that the difference in light levels is decreased.

[MrApollinax]

Thanks pingflood! that makes a lot of sense. Come to think of it now if you ever watch these types of competitions on TV or even some dance competitions there are sometimes remote flashes positioned at different parts of the stage. I guess it really does make a HUGE difference when you can control the lighting.

[pingflood]

Thanks pingflood! that makes a lot of sense. Come to think of it now if you ever watch these types of competitions on TV or even some dance competitions there are sometimes remote flashes positioned at different parts of the stage. I guess it really does make a HUGE difference when you can control the lighting.

That it does! Remember that the amount of light decreases by the square of the distance. So if you want more 'even' depth lighting, the solution is to move the light further away, so that the difference in distance becomes a lot less. E.g. if your remote flash is 100' away from the first row that 15' difference between two rows will be a LOT less relatively speaking (roughly 1/3 of a stop or so vs the 2 stops if you're merely 15' away from the first row).

Might seem counter-intuitive, but artificial lighting can be.

[rparmar]

Wear it always, preferably backwards. Noone will ever question your pro status again.

[Marc Sabatella]

I will also disagree with the 3200 ISO setting on the K100DS. I find that the most I am willing to go is 1600. Noise and banding become pretty prevalent on my photos at 3200.

I *mostly* had the same experience with my DS (same sensor), but after seeing some pretty amazing ISO 3200 shot from other, I played around with it more, and noticed it really is dependent on the lighting. If you can "expose to the right" at ISO 3200, results can look surprisingly good. But if your still underexposing at ISO 3200, it's probably going to be dismal. BTW, I find the same true of my K200D - if the light is such that underexposing one one stop at ISO 1600 and then pushing it in PP yields a good exposure, noise will be reasonably well-controlled too. But a picture that is dark overall even after a push will be pretty noisy.

[Thumper]

I've been looking at Pentax for a while, but have been a little turned off by the auto focus issues. I've handled the k20d in a store, it feels nice, but didn't focus as fast as the Canon xsi or Nikon D90 I also tried. I then tried an older used Canon 30d and loved the way it felt. I did some research and the 30d seems to have better image quality than Pentax's current dslsr's and even out does the Nikon D200. I may just buy the 30d and invest in good lenses.

[Ben_Edict]

I've been looking at Pentax for a while, but have been a little turned off by the auto focus issues. I've handled the k20d in a store, it feels nice, but didn't focus as fast as the Canon xsi or Nikon D90 I also tried. I then tried an older used Canon 30d and loved the way it felt. I did some research and the 30d seems to have better image quality than Pentax's current dslsr's and even out does the Nikon D200. I may just buy the 30d and invest in good lenses.

I have never heard anybody talking about the D200 or 30D having better image quality than a K20. But image quality is to some extend a subjective thing - so may it be so. The AF "issues" are fairly well understood and there are some applications, where it would indeed be advisable to buy into another system (this advice has been repeatedly given in this forum, where applicable) - but I doubt the really ancient 30D is so much better.

If you really need a top notch AF system, you wouldn't really want to invest in an outdated camera body. And don't forget, top notch AF function needs top notch lenses, too.

Ben

[cardinal43]

You forgot something:



Wear it always, preferably backwards. Noone will ever question your pro status again.

I have this cap and I wore it yesterday to the Caps vs Penguins hockey game. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, but one of the guys sitting in the suite (he was using a Sony) remarked "I thought Pentax went out of business". I told him "nope, still in business making great cameras that accept every Pentax lens ever made." He just smiled and said "OK".

[Ash]

For better low light action results, anyone mentioned moving closer to the action with a wider, faster lens to capture it?

Blur could be due to camera shake, esp at longer focal lengths, or motion. Getting closer would alleviate both these factors...

[legacyb4]

Hate to state the obvious here, but if you are shooting with the 50mm and not having to fiddle with the zoom, why not just go with manual focus? With practice, you can get quite fast with it.

I really do not enjoy my 50mm, it hunts like CRAZY... and I get way more blurry shots than with any other lens I have ever had. When it DOES lock on, the pics are sharp and fantastic!