[dlacouture]

Hello!

Well, as Pentax seems to be currently working on a firmware for the K7 (see the "silent" v1.02 firmwares recently released), this would be the right time to list bugs lurking in this nice camera and send the list to Pentax Japan...

Here are those I found:

• In liveview mode, after a pic is taken, the SR is still engaged during the pic instant review...
• the wireless flash in controller mode is too strong (way stronger than the k20), and so is useless indoor if you want to balance flash with ambient light...
• Tv control in P mode is faulty with Auto-iso : it doesn't allow slower shutter speeds by closing the aperture once the iso reached its lowest setting (but it will select a smaller aperture if the scene becomes brighter!).
• the info screen lacks a memory setting, so it's always on after a power up (as it's available in the K-x, I list this as a bug).
• in video mode with a non-A manual lens, AE-L does not work properly before a recording (the recording is overexposed), even when used wide open! Solution: a manual lens should be always stopped-down by the camera in movie mode, even when idle.
• In M mode, Liveview is not accurate : it does not reflect the current settings, and so the histogram and highlight/shadow warnings are not accurate.

Now, some easy improvements:

• in focus point selection mode, when the info screen is disabled, a press on OK should display it anyway to show in which mode we are (focus point selection or custom functions), as an indicator is available in the viewfinder but not on the LCD.
• The video mode should be available in USER, or have its own picture parameters (WB, custom settings, etc).
• enable P-TTL with manual non-A lenses by stopping down the lens first, then fire the metering flash (it works great with stop-down lenses).
• enable trap focus with AF lenses : with the lever in MF position and the AF button set to "Enable AF", trap focus should be allowed.

Anything else?

[GoremanX]

[*]enable trap focus with AF lenses : with the lever in MF position and the AF button set to "Enable AF", trap focus should be allowed.[/LIST]

I agree with most of your suggestions except for this one. The whole point of manual focus mode is to be able to shoot whether or not you have a focus lock. This allows de-focusing on purpose, shooting faster from the hip, and other things. The whole point of AF-x modes is to only allow shooting when focus is achieved. What you're proposing would essentially dis-allow shooting in Manual mode unless a focus lock has been achieved as long as Custom Option 35 is enabled.

Maybe a better way to provide this kind of functionality would be to add it as a new drive mode. Something like "Catch-In Focus Single" and "Catch-In Focus Multiple" that's only available when the focus switch is set to "MF" and an AF lens is attached, where the camera would take either a single picture or multiple pictures when a subject falls into the focus trap. Then at least a user would be able to turn off that feature easily, rather than have to wade through the Custom menu.

Either way, I think new features can wait until the bugs have been quashed.

[dlacouture]

Well, maybe I wasn't clear enough, but what I proposed was to enable trap focus in MF when pressing the AF button (which, by default, would automatically revert to "Enable AF" when in MF mode, regardless to what you set it to for AF modes), as it's not used anyway in MF...
This has less impact on the current handling of the camera.

But your proposals are interesting, too, in the way they allow for "staged" shoots, where you are not necessarily next to your camera...