Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-14-2010, 02:05 PM
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Good for you...
I guess the answer is "yes" to the title of this thread.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-14-2010, 12:26 PM
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Then there is something wrong with the lens. Maybe something inside is out of alignment.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-14-2010, 11:56 AM
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No, you should be able to focus between 19 inches to infinity.
On the focus ring, there is a distance scale in feet and meter. Why don't you turn the ring to say the 15feet mark and stand about 15 feet away from something and take a picture. Also use F8 and a tripod for this test.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-14-2010, 11:49 AM
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For focal length 18mm:
Use a tripod and 2 sec timer and use f11 and focus on a subject 5 feet away, then everything from about 2.5 feet to infinity will be in acceptable focus.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-14-2010, 11:44 AM
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The minimum focus distance of this lens is about 19 inches (.45 meter).
Just to make sure you know how to use this manual focus lens: Have you tried turning the focusing ring while standing 2 feet or more from the subject?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-14-2010, 11:10 AM
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The backup battery is needed to keep the internal clock running when the AA batteries are drained or when you take them out. With a dead backup battery, the camera will ask you to re-enter the time/date whenever you replace the AA batteries. Looks like the backup battery for the ISTDL can only be replaced by taking the camera apart. You can contact Pentax service to get a quote.
Does the camera still function with the battery warning? If it still works, you could just ignore the warning and continue to use the camera. The warning is probably a warning regarding the backup battery and not the AA batteries. Of course, now you would not have AA batteries warning.
Note that this should not cause the camera to lose its settings because the camera settings are usually stored in non-volatile memory. Warranty and Repairs - Official PENTAX Imaging Web Site |
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-14-2010, 12:04 AM
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Looks like you may have to get Pentax service to replace the backup battery.
The following applies to the ISTD but not ISTDL:
It should have a backup battery. You will find a round cover for it on the bottom of the camera and you can open it with a coin. This battery is supposed to last about 5 years only. Looks like you have to change yours.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-13-2010, 03:43 PM
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I think the simplest solution is to have a square sensor and a square optical viewfinder, 36mmx36mm for full frame or 24mmx24mm for aps-c. And you can choose to crop it horizontally or vertically or not at all.
But it is only a solution if enough people think there is a problem to begin with and willing to pay for the additional cost. The camera height increase would be about 10mm for aps-c.
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
02-13-2010, 03:08 PM
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A bit of related info. There is a free hack called "CHDK" for Canon P&S that would enable the build-in motion detection capability in most Canon P&S cameras. I think any cameras that already have live view could have this motion detection capability implemented in firmware fairly inexpensively. I think this is one feature that Pentax should implement in their cameras that have live view. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFzNQh0mqkQ
The home made solution is based on a heat (infrared) detection sensor which have range limit which I think is normally around 30 feet for large animals. The camera sensor solution would be based on pixels changes. So it does not inherently have any range limit and would work great with long telephoto lens and small animals.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-12-2010, 09:18 AM
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I understand what you mean. In theory, the only rotation that may not be able to be accounted for is a rotation around the lens axis. But in practice, noone will be able to perfectly rotate the camera around the lens axis only while hand holding the camera.
And we agree it would not have problem compensating any other type of rotational or circular movement as these can be translated into vertical and horizontal movements.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-12-2010, 08:46 AM
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Thanks for the info. I think we will have to agree to disagree. You believe a sensor moving in two directions, vertical and horizontal, can not account for rotational movement. I believe a rotational movement is just the sum of a vertical and horizontal movement and thus such SR system can technically account for rotational movement. It does not matter in the end because we seem to agree that however the SR works in the K100D/K10D/K20D, it does work.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-12-2010, 01:02 AM
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One definition of essential is: absolutely necessary; indispensable
I think unless you are making a living with photography, other than a camera and a lens and a good book on photography, there is really not much that is truly essential.
Lets face it, if you are into photography as a hobby for the fun of it, then whatever you buy is because you "wanted" it - not because you needed it. If you want it and you can afford it, then go for it - anything that will give you a smile on your face when you are using it. Anyway it is way better than spending money on something that is illegal or dangerous to your health.
What you have to do is to ask yourself: what is it that I want to do? Do I want to do macro photography? Do I want to learn to do PP? etc. etc.. Once you figure out what you want to do then you will know what equipment you should be looking for.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-11-2010, 02:27 PM
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-11-2010, 01:24 PM
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Thanks for the link. I now see why Thibs made his statement above. All I can say is if we could not trust an article from that website (Imaging Resources) or possibly Pentax back in 2006, how are we supposed to trust them now to be giving us the straight goods regarding their SR.
If there is a new marketing idea that would take the cake, I guess it would be this one - claim that the new buyer will get a new feature by claiming this feature that was supposed to be there with the older product were not there after all due to some interpretation error. If this is true, I could see some lawyers reading this smell a class action suit. These kind of marketing materials generally have to go thru many level of company review and approval for correctness before they are released just so that they don't get sued later for product mis-representation. Are we supposed to believe that Pentax marketing and legal department are that incompetent?
In any case, looking at the design of the original SR used in the K100D, there is no technical reason for it not to be able to account for rotational movement unless Pentax did not implement it. Since the document specifically stated that the SR system uses an "angular" sensor to detect movement. My guess is that it is more likely it was compensating for rotational movement only but not for true lateral only movement. So it is actually more believable that they have fixed this in the K7 by adding lateral only movement compensation. Just like Canon did with their hybrid IS lens announced in July 2009. I can see from a marketing stand point back in 2006, if your camera can account for rotational movement, you could kind of claim that it can account for vertical and horizontal movement because a rotation is a combination of vertical and horizontal movement. However it gets into trouble if it is really an vertical only or horizontal only movement.
Like I said above, I don't see any technical reason why the new SR can not account for rotational movement unless the designer choose not to implement it. A rotational movement is just a combination of vertical and horizontal movement.
I agree the Pentax new SR system is more like an incremental improvement over Sony's SR system. Pentax managed to eliminate a couple of guide rails to make its new SR more compact.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-11-2010, 01:08 PM
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Maybe that's why large format films are generally more "square". Can't imagine turning one of those around 90degree for a portrait shot.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-11-2010, 01:04 PM
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But your optical viewfinder is still "wrong". If they use an EVF, then it would be alot easier to change the view of the viewfinder too. But some people seem to hate EVF.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-11-2010, 12:26 PM
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Having thought it over a bit. I think the new SR system can technically account for rotation along the lens axis as well. All it has to do is shift the sensor so that it is off the lens axis. The rotational movement along the lens axis will then become a circular movement from the point of view of the sensor. Thus the SR system can account for it.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-11-2010, 12:04 PM
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That I agree. Pentax's new SR system may not be able to account for the 2nd type of rotation, a rotation around the lens axis only. Fortunately for Pentax, I think rotating perfectly along the lens axis only is almost impossible to do hand holding the camera.
Thanks for the clarification.
In any case, because of the free floating SR design used starting with the K100D, all Pentax DSLR up to the K7 can account for the both types of rotation movements.
Another interesting thing to note is that the original Canon IS accounts for rotational movement only but the new hybrid system adds lateral movement compensation.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-11-2010, 11:08 AM
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I think you should leave it on.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-11-2010, 10:55 AM
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Can you back up your statement with some external links or official documentation?
According to the Pentax document which you can download from the Pentax site, it clearly states the K100D SR system would compensate for three movements: vertically, horizontally and rotationally. No interpretation required. If Pentax think this is in error, would they not pull this document off their website?
Not true according the this document from the Pentax site. The K100D can do so. Read it to check it. Pentax called it the "FACT SHEET". http://www.pentaximaging.com/files/scms_docs/SHAKE_REDUCTION_FACT_SHEET.pdf
Here is a writeup on the K10D that states it can compensate for rotational movement like the K100D. Pentax K10D full review Cameralabs features: anti-shake and anti-dust
Anyway from a pure technical point of view, a SR system that can move vertically and horizontally can in fact account for rotational movement if you design it to do so. The piston in your car that only travels up and down but it can be converted to rotation movement in the wheels. So technically there is really nothing special about this rotational compensation. All IS system can technically compensate for it if the designer wanted to do so. Canon's Lens IS system CAN account for rotational movement. See below. Canon develops Hybrid image stabilization system: Digital Photography Review How Slow can you HandHold a Camera |
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-11-2010, 10:12 AM
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Could be. But some people believes that SR is not needed for MF - at least for now. Pentax does not need to use it for MF in order to compete with others because no current digital MF has build-in SR. The patent of the new SR design also stresses on its compactness because Pentax manages to eliminate a couple of guide rails like those used in the Sony SR design. Is compactness critical for MF? I guess it could be if Pentax intends to compete with the Leica S2 on compactness.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-11-2010, 09:20 AM
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One advantage I think with the new design is the ability to support a heavier/larger sensor. Pentax would need something like this if they want to go FF. Apparently the Sony SR design that is used on their FF (A900) is similar to Pentax's new SR design. However Pentax managed to eliminate a couple of guide rails from the Sony SR design so that Pentax new SR design is more compact.
I agree that the older design is more elegant.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-11-2010, 09:07 AM
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The two Pentax documents on the two SR designs suggests that the new design is not an incremental improvement over the old one. It is a completely new design. Different enough that Pentax would file a new patent for it.
It is interesting to note the new SR design patent was first filed in Japan in July 2008. That means Pentax must have been doing R&D on the new SR design at least back in 2007. Perhaps Pentax realized back in 2007 or earlier that their original SR design would not cut it if they want to build a FF camera. Their original free floating SR design probably could not support the heavier weight of a larger sensor. If this is true then Pentax could be planning/working on a FF since at least 2007. Now whether they will actually release one for sale is another question.
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