[Steve Beswick]

I have serious problems with the shutter blur and the k-x. I would like to know the actual numbers where the problem starts and stops. And how big a blur in Mp there is.
I started another thread but i have yet to see the numbers. It is hard to blame it on the mashed shutter thing. If you hold down the button for a second or 5 and every pic is the same.

Well if your issue is with blur on 1 second plus exposures I'd have to say you should buy a tripod. No SR/VR/whatever system on earth can eliminate blur from a 1 second exposure.

[Wordslinger]

I've had my KX for a couple of days and I haven't noticed any double imaging, and the only blurring I get is operator induced. I also tend to turn SR off if I'm shooting in good lighting, as there's no need for it up around 1/100th shutter speed, and it's only going to serve to drain your batteries a little faster.

As far as the mirror noise, it's really not that bad. I was out shooting with a buddy of mine who has a Canon Rebel XSI. The volume was comparable between the two cameras, it just happens that the KX makes a more clacky sound, so it is perceived as louder.

[bnorikane]

I have serious problems with the shutter blur and the k-x. I would like to know the actual numbers where the problem starts and stops. And how big a blur in Mp there is.
I started another thread but i have yet to see the numbers. It is hard to blame it on the mashed shutter thing. If you hold down the button for a second or 5 and every pic is the same.

1/60 - 1/120 seems to be the peak. Test with SR on and off. It's a good idea to use manual focus, so focus changes don't affect the images. When SR is on, make sure you get the SR lock confirmation before fully pressing the shutter. Take a series of images at each shutter speed. If you can get a better image consistently at 1/30 than at 1/80, then you may have the shutter blur problem.

Every camera will be blurry hand held at 1 second, so that is not a reasonable test. My Kx does not have any problems in the suspect range.

Your other thread may not get answers, because there are dozens of threads and hundreds of posts that cover this subject in minute detail.

[akpch]

Mashed shutter - the classic photographic mistake - pressing the shutter button entirely too hard. If the bluring is at it's worst in the 1/60th to 1/100th range that is usually the tell tale sign. The only thing that is throwing me off with this one is that M.S.S. usually presents as rotational blur, not lateral. Still, it is more likely to happen in vertical shots, so that would support my theory. Also, the lighter the camera, the more careful one must be to prevent M.S.S.

It certainly does look like mashed shutter esp. considering it is not observed when camera is on tripod. I been told many time before by other people on the forum and Pentax repair crew that it is indeed a user error.

On the other hand my handholding technique is quite good, I been doing photography over 20 years now starting from all-manual range-finder so I should be able to tell. In addition I am not getting anything like that with my Canon and now I am not getting anything like that with another K-x camera.

If it is mashed shutter then mash is introduced by the camera which is understandable considering how strong mirror slaps and that CCD is not actually attached to anything.

[garyk]

Well i re-read my post and i agree 1-5 sec exposures are not good... but I use the hi speed shutter about 95% with all my pics. I shoot at least 3-6 photos in rapid consession. That is what i meant by the 1-5 sec. Sorry, I was confused when i read my on post...

Anyway with a few tests i have ruled out almost everything but shutter blure on many photos.
I think????? I know my glass is very good. no question there.
I try to keep my exposures up as high as i can. usually between 100 and 5-700. It happens when i shoot low shutter speeds. more than high shutter speeds.

I am glad the OP started this thread. It has me thinking again about shooting skills. Something i take for granted some time. And should NOT.

I have a k-7 i never use. I will check it tomorrow.

[firefly]

I have been using the k-x now for several months, and I definitely do not have the issue. It may be showing in some copies, but thankfully mine is not affected. I run my batteries through the camera until they are spent, and even on weak batteries, I do not get any blur.

When I do get the occasional blur, it's from insanely low shutter speeds.

I started this poll when I was first got the k-x (or maybe just before buying, I can't remember). Since then it seems to be very reliable. I'm actually quite surprised that this is still a worry for this little camera, as I would expect such concerns to fade into the sunset once people really started using the camera in numbers.

I must admit once having received my k-x, I was certain the whole thing was overblown since mine worked so well. I'm sorry to see so many of you still dealing with this.

[papillon_65]

I recently bought a K-x and don't have any mirror slap issues, everything seems to work fine. I initially suffered from soft images but replacing the 18-55mm with the 16-45mm changed that. Maybe Pentax improved the build on later models? I can comfortably handhold this camera at 1/5th second and I'm very happy with that performance.

[hassan987]

Im facing the SR blur issue with my K-x. I took a large number of pictures at 100sec shutter (holding the camera in vertical/portrait orientation) and about 40-50% are blurred. After collecting all the blurred ones in a separate folder, I noticed something interesting. If you view their EXIF data (by pressing cmd+i on Preview for Mac), they all say "129" in the "_ImageStabilization" field.
All the non-double-image pictures have the value "5" in that field.

I still haven't figured out whether that value represents the amount of shake correction applied or something else..

can someone please confirm this correlation?

[piesforyou]

Im facing the SR blur issue with my K-x. I took a large number of pictures at 100sec shutter (holding the camera in vertical/portrait orientation) and about 40-50% are blurred. After collecting all the blurred ones in a separate folder, I noticed something interesting. If you view their EXIF data (by pressing cmd+i on Preview for Mac), they all say "129" in the "_ImageStabilization" field.
All the non-double-image pictures have the value "5" in that field.

I still haven't figured out whether that value represents the amount of shake correction applied or something else..

can someone please confirm this correlation?

Well I havn't done an extensive search but I looked at one image, which had the following in the exif:

Code:

SR Result                       : Stabilized
Shake Reduction                 : On (7)
SR Half Press Time              : 0.67 s
SR Focal Length                 : 50 mm

Clearly here the probable culprit is the SR Half press time being too short. I don't see an _ImageStabilization field, but would it be equivalent to my "Shake Reduction" field? which is 7.

Maybe I need to find an image which shows the blur but has an acceptable half-press time...

[er1kksen]

I haven't really followed this thread at all, but as one of the earliest reporters of the 1/100th range blur issue, who originally had to get pretty defensive here on PF (and I did keep my camera, after all!), I've been shooting for months since then and you know what? It still blurs a little at those speeds. And what's more? I don't care. If you absolutely HAVE to use problematic shutter speeds, for some bizarre reason, just turn the SR off. Otherwise, just shift the program line or shoot in Tv or whatever.

Go take pictures. No camera is perfect. Worrying about little technical imperfections that are easy to work around is just a recipe for stress and means less energy for creative expression.

And those speculating about "mashed shutter." Ha. If that were the case, why would I not have observed the same problem with the previous 4 DSLRs I owned? Why can I handhold just fine at lower shutter speeds? Just saying, it seems like a bit of a stretch... fact is, some K-x's have a minor flaw. No big deal.

[Cannikin]

There seems to be some of confusion over the difference between the appearance of the "shutter blur/mirror slap" problem and normal motion blur. The first clue is the conditions: the 1/100s region should not cause motion blur with wide angle lenses. Then, the appearance of this problem is very distinctive, and hard to mistake for anything else.

Here is the clearest example I can give from my own K-x and DA 15 ltd (100% crop). Notice the distinct "doubling" of the roof and the bricks, almost as if it were a double exposure.

1/40 s (unblurred):



1/100 s:



If your conditions don't match (~1/80-1/125 s, wide angle lens), and it doesn't look like this, then it is most likely not the shutter blur/mirror slap problem.

Btw, I have difficulty reproducing the problem indoors at close focus distances. All my shots that display this problem are outside and infinity focus. Don't know if this is a relevant clue.