[consiglieri]

Hi
I'm a proud owner of a K-7 and am happy so far. I have read on differents sites etc that some pentax models have a tendency to under-expose.

Being a newbie it made me wonder are there adjustments that pretty muchy everyone make to the default settings for the K-7. Yes I realize this is very much a matter of taste and that this will often differ. However, that being said, I'd like to start this thread hoping that people with better skills than I have will post what, if any, changes they make to the factory defaults. In other words what are your default settings?.

Thanks.

[Wheatfield]

The K7 is much improved over earlier cameras. I'm generally pretty happy with the default exposure on the k7.

[nulla]

The K7 is much improved over earlier cameras. I'm generally pretty happy with the default exposure on the k7.

Same here and I shoot raw

[hcc]

For what it's worth, a few comments for the first usage:
*The file size (JPEG 16 Mp, 6 Mp, 2 Mp) is one immediate selection to consider as well as the JPEG quality.
*The RAW+ option is another one easy to setup.
*On the typical individual shot mode, I would recommend to switch On Shake Reduction (unless you use a tripod all the time) and Lens Correction especially if you use a Pentax lens.
*In a continuous shooting mode (Hi), on the other hand, you want to remove all post-processing including Lens Correction, and I recommend to choose a JPEG mode that allows you to transfer 5 photo per second to your card without saturating the buffer. For example, with a card Class 10 (30 Mb/s), your JPEG file size should be less than 6 Mb.
*The USER mode is another interesting option to configure. There has been a very recent thread on the topic.
As mentioned by others, the default exposure are good.
Hope that it will help.

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Last edited by hcc; 12-29-2009 at 05:10 AM. Reason: typo

[consiglieri]

Thanks, I've often wondered if people in general feel the need to make adjustments with regards to under- or overexpossure visavi the default settings. I have seen some comments that ( if I remember correctly) states that Pentax default settings tend to underexpose and they recommend to compensate for that in the default settings.

As I said, just curious

[Marc Sabatella]

Exposure is something you deal with on a per shot basis. The meter doens't read minds; it just tries to adhere to standards and avoid blowing out highlights. Sometimes that results in exactly what you want, sometimes in results in something you personall think is too dark, sometimes in soemthign you personally think is too light. It all depends on the scene. Learning about exposure is the most fundamental thing to deal with in photography, so i'd definitely suggestion reading up on the subjec,t but it's *not* the sort of the thing where one magic setting in the camera causes it to suddenly start reading your mind. You still have to anticiapte shot by shot when you will want to override the default.

[consiglieri]

Hi Marc

Thanks, i kind of figured that might be the answer, its just that I read some article where someone had other views.

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

[GoremanX]

One thing I noticed is that the lens being used makes a difference too. With the 18-55mm WR kit lens, I was frequently adding +1 EV comp to most shots. I almost never shot at 0 EV comp. But with the DA* 50-135mm, I seem to be staying closer to 0 EV comp most of the time for the same shots, and sometimes I even have to go into the minus range.

But as Marc mentioned, it's always to be determined on a shot-by-shot basis. When I was shooting outside in a snow storm yesterday, each shot was completely different because there was always a different amount of snow in the scene. I was constantly adjusting the EV comp between 0 and +2, and it would sometimes take me 3-4 tries to get the shot just right.

[consiglieri]

I feel for you, I too have had problems in the snow getting things just right, allthough "shade" settings has worked well for initial white balance and then a tweek or two depending on the situation.