[Roscoe]

This might take a while, so please bear with me.
I'm coming from Nikon film SLR and want to buy the K100D I'm not brand fixated and can look beyond the 'big' 2. As a complete novice I will most likely be using the cameras default scene modes to start off with; Portrait, Landscape etc. and believe that the 'bright' mode cannot be substituted for 'natural' which brings me to my point:

If I shoot RAW and use the scene modes does that meen I can then change just this setting? and

Are the options under the 'function button' still available in the scene modes ie to change the white balance or ISO for example.

I really want this camera, I just need a push.

[Sluggo]

My camera is the DL, not the K100D, so I'm not 100% sure this will apply, but:

The camera will lock certain settings when you have certain scene modes engaged. For instance I'm pretty sure I remember finding that white balance can't be moved from 'auto' when you're in portrait mode. If you're like me you will probably use the scene modes for a fairly short time when you get the camera; despite what some purists might say, they're valuable for novices because they really do take pretty good pictures, plus you can look afterwards at the exif info and see what choices the camera made. After a while I was ready to mostly use aperture priority or manual mode.

Shooting RAW, since you mention it, does mean you have lots of latitude for fixing things after the fact. You can take care of almost everything except misfocus, or having had the camera pointed at the wrong thing. Well that's an exaggeration. But even significant exposure problems can often be effectively fixed in RAW where it would have been unrecoverable in JPG.

I'm quite happy with my DL, and the K100D is better in every way. IMO, you can't go wrong with it.

[arbutusq]

Roscoe, get the camera. I just did and I already own a D70 which I love, but the K100 is rapidly taking its place in my heart (okay that's a bit too dramatic, but you get the idea)

[roscot]

Hi Roscoe,
When you shoot in RAW, the parameters the camera chooses (Contrast, sharpness,saturation) are saved but not applied. If you use the Pentax Software to convert the raw files, the initial settings the converter uses are the camera parameters (other converters ignore them). The advantage of RAW is that you don't have to use those settings, you can easily change them with a great deal more latitude than a jpeg.

Hope this helps a bit.
-Alan

[slip]

Hi Roscoe,
When you shoot in RAW, the parameters the camera chooses (Contrast, sharpness,saturation) are saved but not applied. If you use the Pentax Software to convert the raw files, the initial settings the converter uses are the camera parameters (other converters ignore them). The advantage of RAW is that you don't have to use those settings, you can easily change them with a great deal more latitude than a jpeg.

Hope this helps a bit.
-Alan

to add to this great explaination, if you use adobe photoshop cs2 with raw, and it is set to have the adjustments (saturation, etc) on automatic, the when the photo opens, Photoshop reads the "saved" settings that Alan explains and applies it to the photo. this way you get a "preview" of what the photo would have looked like if the camera used one of the scene modes, for example kids.
All you would have to do in Photoshop cs2 is uncheck the boxes for automatic settings, and then you get to customize the output of your photo

As far as getting the k100 goes, my wife just got one and it is so simple to use that even she can get off of fully automatic. If you turn the dial to, for instance macro, then on the viewing screen it shows you exactly what that setting is for.

don't let the ease of use fool you, as far as what I have read, Pentax makes products that are easy to use...... just think of pentax being the "Mac" in a PC world.
I have played with it and it takes really good pictures

hope this helps

randy

[SpecialK]

Coming in a bit late to the discussion. I only recently decided to shoot a "roll' in RAW to check out the possibilities.

The quick answer is yes, you can just change the bright (AKA "Vivid") /natural setting if that is all you want to tweak.

I have mixed emotions about RAW. It certainly makes fixing the "oops" shots easier, and can make some nice effects if you just change the tone curves at about 4 points, but it also might make us sloppier "arteests" (not that I'm an arteest or not already sloppy)..

However, instead of the usual 2+ meg JPGS when shot at "Best" mode, I am getting 6 meg jpg files from RAW processed into best quality (least compressed). Besides the extra time in writing the shot to the camera, and time to process it thorough Photo Laboratory or other software, now the storage issue starts to become... an issue, both on the card and on the hard drive/DVDs.

Is it me, or is the 6 meg jpg a normal result?

[roscot]

Is it me, or is the 6 meg jpg a normal result?

Mine average anywhere from 3.5MBs to over 6MB depending on the amount of detail in the image.

-Alan