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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-13-2011, 11:25 AM
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The on board flash on my Kx is driving me mad
Problems:
1. The Pre-flash from the pop up triggered my Bower SFD926P prematurely in slave mode, it happened in all PASM modes and I checked all my flash settings and custom functions for a solution but could not find one, I returned the Bower Flash and got some YN460ii's that works awesome but I've read reviews for the Bower that state the slave mode works fine?
2. Even when I'm in full manual mode the pop up flash gives me varied results depending on the ambient lighting. I was taking pictures using a slave triggered strobe set up and a tabletop studio inside my house, it's a very controlled environment (Pic of set up) and I usually shoot stopped way down (f/11-16) and at max X-sync just so the ambient light wont affect the pictures (pictures taken without the strobes just turn out black no matter what ambient light there is), however I still get mixed results some times because even though I'm in full manual mode and choosing the power of the pop up flash it still seems to be making some sort of decisions for me depending on what lights are on in the house
I know I could get some radio triggers but I like having a 3 point lighting system, but only if I have full control over it
Thank you for your time
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Forum: General Talk
09-20-2010, 05:21 PM
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Man I hate lens hoods.
Over the past few days they all came in and I'm currently sitting on a small collection of stupid screw on lens hoods of every size and shape, all factory direct from china and each one is more difficult to deal with than the last
however, I've spent less on all my screw on lens hoods than I would have for one bayonet one (non oem even)
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Forum: Video Recording and Processing
09-20-2010, 05:01 PM
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That's a bummer. I tried to just change the sequence settings too but it screwed things up more
I'm reading a book on FCE and wanted to do a few short projects with it before I got to the real deal so I could make all these mistakes before I put together my real project
trailers and teasers, even if they aren't actually serving a purpose are good things to mess around with while learning, that's what I'm doing
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-20-2010, 04:41 PM
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I redact the 1/20s thing, after reading Jeff's post I picked up my Kx and took a picture of a printed piece of paper that was a few feet away from me at 1/20s, 55mm and the text was tack sharp when zoomed in all the way on the Kx's screen
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-20-2010, 01:49 PM
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It's just about impossible to get sharp shots handheld at 1/20s, even if you were on a tripod your subject would be moving ever so slightly which would introduce blur
if you're having the same problem at 1/400s then it's a focus problem, every camera or lens from a cell phone camera to a Hasslebald could get sharp pictures at 1/400s as long as the focus is correct
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-20-2010, 12:34 PM
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so much so that only like 4 dslr's have it
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Forum: Video Recording and Processing
09-20-2010, 11:00 AM
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oops I actually figured it out, I had my sequence settings set to NTSC 480 or something like that instead of one of the HD settings. I had to redo the entire project but it was a short little thing so it wasn't that big of a deal
This thread can probably just be buried
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-20-2010, 10:14 AM
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That 300mm lens stays at f/4 until about 99mm and f/4.5 until 200mm, those are pretty impressive numbers and will help reduce the grain a tiny little bit so try not to shoot fully zoomed in and fill the frame by moving closer to your boys if possible. That's one of the ways you can reduce the grain with your current equipment
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-20-2010, 09:34 AM
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I thought the reason you want a real 50mm lens is because there's no perspective distortion and not because of the field of view
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-19-2010, 10:58 PM
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geeze, pic number 1 is totally in 3D!
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Forum: Video Recording and Processing
09-19-2010, 08:57 AM
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Oh darn I thought that was the actual intro, I found it on Vimeo. In my mind it's about as epic and powerful as they come
(from 2:45 onward isn't the actual film but everything before it is)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-18-2010, 11:54 PM
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Forum: General Talk
09-18-2010, 11:05 PM
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ha, yesterday I picked up a lens cap too
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-18-2010, 07:51 PM
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Any Canon Body and a 24-105 f/4L
For Pentax though I can't really call anything to mind, it's a gap in the line, and no third party manufacturers fill it in either
The only things that might fit the bill are the DA* 60-250 F/4, DA* 50-135 F/2.8, Tamron 28-75 F/2.8, or a Tamron 17-50 F/2.8
With my personal style of photography I'd probably kill for the 60-250, it all depends on the individual though, those are just some of the few fast lenses that maintain their speed over a large zoom range, you'd be hard pressed to find any more modern lenses like those
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-17-2010, 08:34 PM
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I'm looking for a few MF primes for video work
I'm looking probably at a 28, 50/55, and a 135. All fast, hopefully 2.8 or faster
Now here's what would separate them from normal use primes, I'd like the focus rings to have short throws and loose tolerances, my old M50 1:2 probably wouldn't have been good for my uses because you had to turn the ring a lot to go through the focus range, and also it was really stiff, with my tripod, the resistance from the lens probably would have introduced a lot of shake
I'd also like them to be cheap, since It's just video I've heard that tack sharpness doesn't matter because of the low pixel count, so as long as they aren't noticeably soft I wouldn't mind pinching pennies and sacrificing sharpness. I'd prefer $50 per lens or so....
any suggestions?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-17-2010, 02:08 PM
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I have the DA-L 55-300 pretty much surgically fused to my Kx so maybe it doesn't work with manual lenses, I wouldn't know
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Forum: Video Recording and Processing
09-17-2010, 01:33 PM
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I can't get Final Cut Express to work with my Kx footage correctly, it automatically adds a letterbox to the footage and when I try to export it stretches it and makes it too wide, I've tried exporting to 1080 and 720 16:9
I'm pretty confused, can anyone tell me how to work with the Kx footage? I just want it to be 16:9 without a letterbox
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-17-2010, 01:30 PM
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wait did you mean the flash is compensated automatically?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-17-2010, 11:35 AM
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What camera do you have?
I was referring to the pop up flash and in my experience the Kx and the K7 both don't meter the flash in M, I just tried it on my desk and keeping all variables the same except the flash, the meter didn't budge.
In P and all the priority modes though the meter takes the pop up flash into the account but for M mode I have to rely on GN and and trial and error
.....I just did a small test and took two pictures in M, one with the pop up flash and one without, the meter didn't change and upon checking the EXIF, the exposure didn't change either
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-17-2010, 11:31 AM
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looks like it works in Manual on the Kx
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-17-2010, 10:23 AM
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I was doing a portrait oriented shot with my heavy K7+grip hanging precariously off of 40 dollar tripod, if I let it "set" for a few seconds it would stay still and would have been able to get a good shot, but when I used the shutter button it just shook like crazy so all the pictures came out significantly blurry
I understand the SR, I said that to back up that HDR should only be done on a tripod
I just checked and my new Kx doesn't let you use a self timer either, just single frame HDR and [instant shutter] remote HDR, no delay timers at all in HDR, which I find stupid :hmm:
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-17-2010, 10:15 AM
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Ouch, I just realized that I can't take pictures in the rain anymore now that I switched and sold back to a Kx from my K7
hello washington winter :(
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-17-2010, 10:12 AM
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What I didn't understand about flash when I first started using it is that shutter speed never mattered
Aperture, ISO, and Flash EV comp (should be in the flash menu) control the distance the flash can be seen
Shutter speed controls the ambient light, to balance it with the flash or further isolate your subject, shutter speed has absolutely no affect on the power or the effectiveness of the of the flash because ambient light can be gathered over a long period of time, say 1/30th of a second, but your flash discharges all it's power in a fraction of a second, say maybe 1/10,000th, so no matter how long you open the shutter, the flash won't change
One of the basic ways to use flash is to use manual mode, 1/30th of a second, and then mess with ISO, aperture and flash EV comp until you get a good picture
In manual mode, the camera doesn't meter for the flash, it's meter just as if you were not using flash, it just meters for the ambient light, and then you adjust the flash for the specific subject you're shooting
While I've never heard of or don't understand your particular problem, maybe a basic understanding of flash might help you work through it
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-17-2010, 12:51 AM
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good question, I'd like to know as well
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-16-2010, 09:25 PM
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The not allowing self timer makes no sense to me, the one time I actually wanted to use the HDR I couldn't because I forgot my remote
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