[Pantingfish]

Well first off, I've been lurking these forums for the past three months and decided to join because I have a question. I've been taking pictures for about 3 years, but have always been shooting film and had never touched a digital camera until I decided to get my first DSLR a month ago. I got a Pentax K-x and love it. But lately I have been into doing long exposure at night and using bulb and my hands is just not cutting it. So I have been on google looking for a shutter release (Which I know nothing about, just heard about them from a friend) and I can't seem to find one for Pentax K-x. Are most shutter releases universal and are there kinds other then a cable? I feel like I've seen some that sit on the hot shoe.

[xjx]

K-x doesn't support cable release. You need to get an IR remote.

[Pantingfish]

K-x doesn't support cable release. You need to get an IR remote.

Ok, do I need an official Pentax one or does any old IR remote work?

[george_f]

the IR remote needs to be suited for Pentax cameras. you can get cheap 3rd party version though. i had success with dealextreme.com

[Pantingfish]

Ok thank both of you. Lets say I want to do a long exposure, set my camera on bulb, will I have to hold down the button on the remote just like I would with my camera? Or could I press the shutter release button once and then press it again when I want to finish the exposure. I would like to try to do some star trails and I feel like holding a button for 15+ minutes will be tiring.

[Marc Sabatella]

On the K-x (and K-7, I believe), you can press once to open the shutter and again to close. Earlier mdoels didn't have this capability; you'd have to hold the button down.

[hcc]

First welcome to forum. It is indeed a good place to get solid advice from nice people.

Second, for completeness, the K-7 has 3 remote control (RC) release positions (Instructions p. 138): (a) immediate release after RC button pressed, (b) 3s delay after RC button pressed, and (c) Remote continuous shooting. In (c), one button press starts the continuous shooting, and the next press stops it.

In bulb mode, however, you may set the RC operation mode (C3-17): on option sets the start with a press, and stops it with another press (Instructions p. 86) as suggested by Mark.

Hope that the comment will assist some K-7 users...

[rawr]

Or could I press the shutter release button once and then press it again when I want to finish the exposure. I would like to try to do some star trails and I feel like holding a button for 15+ minutes will be tiring.

You can tell the K-x how it should handle bulb exposures via the remote.

One of the options is indeed to have it work as you describe - ie:

press remote control button once > open shutter
press remote control button again > close shutter

Menu > C2 > Item 12: Remote Control Shooting in Bulb Mode > Mode 1

[gramps50]

Check the forums here I got one for like $17, a short wile ago someone here had several of them for sale.

[xjx]

this: DealExtreme: $3.27 InfraRed IR Shutter Remote for Pentax/Nikon/Canon/Sony/Minolta/Konica Digital Cameras (1*CR2025)
or this: DealExtreme: $3.94 Universal Digital SLR Remote for Pentax / Nikon / Canon / Konica Minolta
should work.