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07-10-2009, 07:00 PM   #1
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K7 users - exposure comp?

For those shooting with the K7, are you finding you need exposure compensation? I'm finding that with FA ltd lenses 0ev is pretty hot. There is a significant difference when switching to -0.3, then less so (although darker) down to -0.7. It looks to me like -0.7ev is about the same as 0ev on the K20d (all other things being equal.

Or am I just lacking sleep?

07-10-2009, 07:08 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by nostatic Quote
For those shooting with the K7, are you finding you need exposure compensation? I'm finding that with FA ltd lenses 0ev is pretty hot. There is a significant difference when switching to -0.3, then less so (although darker) down to -0.7. It looks to me like -0.7ev is about the same as 0ev on the K20d (all other things being equal.

Or am I just lacking sleep?
That was one of the first things I noticed about my shots compared to the K200D...how they looked like the metering was adding some fraction of a stop to the exposure. I have yet to determine if I will dialing down the EV compensation yet...I don't mind the brighter images but if I start to notice some excessive highlight clipping then I'll waste no time in dialing down the EV 0.3 or 0.7. I'll probably make that call tomorrow...I'll actually be shooting something interesting rather than all the stupid messing around test shots that I've been doing in my spare time the past couple days.
07-10-2009, 10:49 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by nostatic Quote
For those shooting with the K7, are you finding you need exposure compensation? I'm finding that with FA ltd lenses 0ev is pretty hot. There is a significant difference when switching to -0.3, then less so (although darker) down to -0.7. It looks to me like -0.7ev is about the same as 0ev on the K20d (all other things being equal.

Or am I just lacking sleep?
I'm finding that the K-7 is doing a more "technically accurate" exposure in terms of the histogram being filled from end to end; the K10D and K100D always stopped short of the maximum, which often made the shots look a bit underexposed.

I haven't had any over-exposed shots so far, I'm pretty confident the K-7 won't do that, but they certainly meter brighter (maybe a 1/3 f-stop) compared to the K100D.
The new 77-segment exposure metering is pretty awesome, every shot nicely exposed, I'm loving it

Has anyone tried out the Flash ? I used to set +0.5 to +1.0 E/V for P-TTL on the AF360, but I'm finding the K-7's P-TTL exposure is almost spot-on. I have to try out more shots before I'm sure.

Last edited by kittykat46; 07-10-2009 at 11:32 PM.
07-10-2009, 11:01 PM   #4
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The new metering is awesome. No blown out clouds when shooting outside. I tried fooling the flash with a shiny object but it exposed for the rest of the scene spot on. The K10d was completely thrown off in the same situation. And thats just with jpegs

07-10-2009, 11:14 PM   #5
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The K-7 definitely meters brighter. I used to leave the K20 on Ev +.3 and still often adjusted the mid-tones using curves. However, I rarely got blown-out brights. The K-7 seems to meter the mid-tones better/brighter but will blow out the whites more. I haven't decided if I'll use a -Ev on a regular basis or not, but I'm thinking about it.

I'm having more difficulty with the flash. I primarily use flash wirelessly for macro and while the K-7 is consistent, it's consistently different than what the K20 used to be (I'm pretty clueless when it comes to flash - I've always suspected the K20 wasn't right but it worked well for what I was doing). I'm going to have to really adjust how I set things up.
07-10-2009, 11:30 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by mtngal Quote
The K-7 definitely meters brighter. I used to leave the K20 on Ev +.3 and still often adjusted the mid-tones using curves. However, I rarely got blown-out brights. The K-7 seems to meter the mid-tones better/brighter but will blow out the whites more. I haven't decided if I'll use a -Ev on a regular basis or not, but I'm thinking about it.

I'm having more difficulty with the flash. I primarily use flash wirelessly for macro and while the K-7 is consistent, it's consistently different than what the K20 used to be (I'm pretty clueless when it comes to flash - I've always suspected the K20 wasn't right but it worked well for what I was doing). I'm going to have to really adjust how I set things up.
K-7 has highlight correction to minimize blowouts

camera 1/dynamic range setting/highlight correction.

page 199 in the manual.


cheers


Neil
07-11-2009, 01:17 PM   #7
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I tried that today. It changes the ISO to 200, which doesn't bother me. I do think it makes a difference, took a bunch of pictures in difficult lighting conditions and thought the highlights were better. I never liked the extended range on the K20 because it introduced so much noise in the shadows at lower ISO, but this doesn't seem to work the same way. Shadow noise seemed the same and there's more information in the areas that are over-exposed. I'm going to leave it this way for a while and probably chimp a lot, rather than set a -Ev. For the most part, I like the way it exposes.

07-11-2009, 07:42 PM   #8
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K-7 meters like a champ. Did a shoot outside today with a family during mid aft sun - not one damn blow-out.

My wife shot the K10 and the LCD was constantly flashing red bits on her.

The K-7 is a winner in my books.

c[_]
08-04-2009, 05:37 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by nostatic Quote
For those shooting with the K7, are you finding you need exposure compensation? I'm finding that with FA ltd lenses 0ev is pretty hot.
Unless highlights are blown, the new metering should be good for you. The camera is trying to do you a favour by exposing to the right. It is better to dial down the exposure in PP then sometimes needing to dial it up. Since you are shooting RAW -- and hence don't need images to look right of of camera -- that default-dial-down of exposure should add not extra effort to your workflow.

Last edited by Class A; 08-04-2009 at 07:22 PM.
08-04-2009, 05:48 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Class A Quote
Unless highlights are blown, the new metering should be good for your. The camera is trying to do you a favour by exposing to the right. It is better to dial down the exposure in PP then sometimes needing to dial it up. .
Actualy, the K-7 seem to have a meter more suited for a entry level camera than for an advanced one. It will blow out highlights (I understand theres an adjustment to prevent this. Maybe I should try it). This is not a good idea on a digital camera. In fact, the K-7's multipattern meter needs more overiding than any other Pentax I've used. There's nothing wrong with the meter per se. I cannot fault it's logic. It will expose the face of a person in the front of the sun correctly. It will also expose for the foreground in a landscape at the expense of the highligts....
08-04-2009, 06:05 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Class A Quote
Unless highlights are blown, the new metering should be good for your. The camera is trying to do you a favour by exposing to the right. It is better to dial down the exposure in PP then sometimes needing to dial it up. Since you are shooting RAW -- and hence don't need images to look right of of camera -- that default-dial-down of exposure should add not extra effort to your workflow.
Do me a favor? Well, maybe you, not me.

I like the way the K20d meters. I don't like the way the K7 metered, and I also didn't like the way it handled certain lighting conditions. As for workflow, it is my workflow and while I can change it, if I don't have to, then I'd rather not. If I'm not getting a significant bump for the change, then why do it?
08-04-2009, 06:06 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pål Jensen Quote
Actualy, the K-7 seem to have a meter more suited for a entry level camera than for an advanced one. It will blow out highlights (I understand theres an adjustment to prevent this. Maybe I should try it). This is not a good idea on a digital camera. In fact, the K-7's multipattern meter needs more overiding than any other Pentax I've used. There's nothing wrong with the meter per se. I cannot fault it's logic. It will expose the face of a person in the front of the sun correctly. It will also expose for the foreground in a landscape at the expense of the highligts....
My guess is that they are responding to the "Pentax underexposes" claims that many have made over the years, and are trying to make images look more like Canikon right out of the camera. More's the pity imho.
08-04-2009, 06:41 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pål Jensen Quote
Actualy, the K-7 seem to have a meter more suited for a entry level camera than for an advanced one. It will blow out highlights (I understand theres an adjustment to prevent this. Maybe I should try it). This is not a good idea on a digital camera.
I've seen it claimed (on this forum? dpreview? forget...) that shooting raw gives you a lot more headroom in the highlights than jpegs do, but the in-camera displays/histograms etc, all reflect "jpeg" values.

If true, that might mean that the metering is actually targetting this extended headroom.

[and a meter that optimizes for raw is surely more suited for an advanced camera than an entry-level one!]

Whether any of that's true, I dunno.
08-04-2009, 07:21 PM   #14
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K20D and K10D photos often came out dimmer than the actual scene. The advantage was in avoiding blown highlights, but I often ended up doing PP brightening up some 50% of the shots.

The K-7 gets a more accurate exposure almost all the time.
When I shot at a gray wall, the histogram had a peak right in the centre, while the K20D would have gone to the left.
I've hardly needed to brighten up the K-7 photos in PP. At the expense of a few blown highlights.

What's the right answer ?......Having to do less PP certainly saves a lot of my time.
08-04-2009, 07:28 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pål Jensen Quote
Actualy, the K-7 seem to have a meter more suited for a entry level camera than for an advanced one.
I don't think this statement makes much sense.

Do press photographers use advanced cameras? The professional one I recently listened to will consistently blow highlights because underexposed images will look crap on newspaper paper.

QuoteOriginally posted by Pål Jensen Quote
It will blow out highlights
That's what it is supposed to do under certain conditions. The metering/exposure does not work according to a "highlight priority". AFAIK, it is supposed to achieve exposure in accordance with "18% gray" metering. While this will give you blown highlights in some scenes, the important part is that the metering/exposure is reliable and that you can therefore predict what a (constant) exposure compensation will achieve.

Nothing to do with "entry level" vs "advanced level", as far as I understand. I understand that many expensive Canikons also have a "hot exposure" trait. Are these entry level as well?
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