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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
04-17-2010, 12:42 PM
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YIKES!!! I am real glad I asked your advice before trying. I would be a read sad puppy right now otherwise. I checked out those trigger voltages. That flash is listed and recommended NO DON'T USE!!!
Boy, it was so tempting to try. Sure glad I did not.
Thanks for the info guys. It is very very much appreciated.
I will probably buy a proper one at a later time.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
04-16-2010, 12:44 PM
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Hi all,
I just got back from my sisters house. After discussing cameras, she gave me this old K1000 & accessories. There are 2 zoom lenses & External flash. Today I am curious about the external flash. it is a Vivitar Auto 215. That's all the info i have. It uses 2 AA batteries. Interesting, since it was on an older Pentax it fits my K-x!!! I noticed though, only 1 center contact on the flash surface area. my K-x has a center contact surrounded by 3 smaller contacts.
I am not knowledgeable about this. I want to try it, but don't want to damage my K-x.
What do you think??? What should I do???
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-14-2010, 12:43 PM
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I had a problem like this about a month ago. No matter how many installs & reinstalls of Pentax Utility 4 I tried, it just would not work.
I set a system restore point weekly as a matter of routine. Going back in system restore a couple weeks, i found a point where everything worked!!!
I have no idea what was wrong, but everything works fine now.
It has been working for over a month.
good luck.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-09-2010, 01:00 PM
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I did follow up on the suggestions for verification. Here are the results.
I did if fact use manual popped up flash for both photos. The reason was to maintain control of the photos and to avoid the undesirability of long exposure time.
This was in the photos above. Those who saw this were correct.
I tried a custom 4 reset and setup 3 reset. After doing both, there was no change in performance at all. I thought I did that when I put in firmware 1.01. Apparently my memory was correct because there was no difference due to that.
I repeated the experiment without the flash as asked. The results were predictable as some of you senior members anticipated. Unfortunately, the LV display indicates about 6 seconds will be required!!! I did complete the experiment anyway. What i found was interesting. When turning off LV & taking the photo thru the view finder, it took 5 seconds, not 6. This was @ EV = +3. Reducing Ev to 0 now took 1/2 second instead of 5. Most of that is reasonable.
YES, there was a noticeable difference between the 2 photos this time. And
it was somewhat as predicted.
However, this is unusable by me for general purpose photos in the near future. I expect to be taking photos of people indoors. Asking them to remain motionless for 5 seconds is unreasonable.
This technique (1/2 second exposure) is probably good for photos of non moving objects & things. So it is good to know.
Conclusion: The flash does disable the EV comp control even though the LV indicated otherwise.
At least this is true @ distances of about 15ft, which was my focus point distance.
I am preparing for some photos next Wednesday. I want to control the results with reasonable predictability. The distances & controls that I am experimenting with here is what I want to have available for next week. I consider this experiment & all the comments to be very useful. They will help me to avoid surprises next week.
I did not say much about it because it was not a problem area, but, there is an
alternative to increasing the brightness under these circumstances. Simply it is,
adjust the High/Low control under the Image Tone section. I did in fact do that.
If more brightness is needed, it works just fine. Flash does not interfere with this.
So, that is the technique I will use for increasing brightness if/when flash is needed.
I can not say for sure that this technique is what I will use next week. I am experimenting now with things to avoid last minute surprises next week. I am very happy with the results so far.
I very much appreciate all your comments.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-08-2010, 07:53 PM
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I checked Custom Menu 3 #17. It was set to #1 = ON = Fires built-in-flash as master in the wirelss mode.
I also checked the flash setting. It was set to Manual Flash discharge.
I will try the Custom 4 reset and Setup 3 reset tomorrow and let you know the results.
I will also try tomorrow repeating the experiment without flash as suggested.
However, the reason for this setup was to find a common usable mode that I could control with predictable results.
I was concerned @ Christmas when several photos did/did-not use flash unpredictably. Of course at that time I was using Auto mode until I got more familiar with the controls. Small unpredictable movements of people caused unanticipated blurs. That defeats the purpose of a camera like this.
I am trying to find common setups to control depth of in focus, flash = yes/no, and minimize blurs due to people moving unexpectedly.
I want to also point out that dramatic improvements were observed on the LV display and histogram prior to taking picture. It is very confusing to observe apparent dramatic improvements, yet they don't show up in the picture.
It kind of defeats the purpose of the LV preview.
Anyway, I will perform all these suggestions and return tomorrow with results.
All suggestions received are very much appreciated.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-08-2010, 03:41 PM
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OK,
Here are the 2 images I use for reference. Please keep in mind, these were for gaining experience in controls only. I simply wanted a reference so that I could see the improvement. I included the actual exif data from the Pentax Utility so that you can see it.
83.jpg is the original reference. 88.jpg, I expected to see the actual improvement.
When using AV mode the camera decides the shutter speed. It decided 1/25th for both.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-08-2010, 02:41 PM
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Here is some more info. Lense came with K-x kit, 18-55mm.
Reference photo 1, Mode Av, F#13, ISO=800, EV=0, H/L=0, Custom image = Natural, Dr = on, shadow = middle.
Reference photo 2, Mode Av, F#13, ISO=800, EV=+3.0, H/L=0, Custom image = Natural, Dr = on, shadow = middle.
All parameters are verified as correctly recorded in EXIF data for photo as displayed by Pentax Utility supplied with camera to view PEF images.
Specifically, I mean the recorded exif for reference photo 2 show EV is now +3.0 and NOT 0.0!!! Yet the images are identical!!!
So, the taken photos record the data i entered, BUT, the images are identical, including recorded histograms.
This is NOT TRUE if i adjust H/L to say +4 instead of 0.0. The taken photos then are obviously brighter as I expect.
I am some what lost.
What U think??
Need yet more info???
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-08-2010, 01:56 PM
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Hi all.
It,s been awhile now since i got my new K-x for Christmas. I am trying to get more control of the photos. When i try a photo in Av mode, the EV adjust shows a hugh improvement in the preview histogram. However, after taking photo and reviewing there is absolutely NO difference whatever in taken photo. I repeated this several times and can't make EV comp show any difference. My technique is:
Take a photo with EV comp @ 0.0.
Retake photo with EV comp set to 3.0.
The preview histogram show big difference, but, both photos are identical.
Am i missing something?
Any help, suggestions, condolences?
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