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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-23-2015, 10:00 AM
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My K-r did the same... drove me nuts. I hated working with K-r video anyway due to file sizes. Now that I have the K-3, all is good.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-08-2015, 08:56 AM
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When going on an outdoor outing with the kids or my Beaver Scout Colony this is my main go-to. WR, great quality and a fairly decent zoom range. The only time I wouldn't use it is when the light starts to drop. Then I have to switch to my 17-50 Tamron 2.8 or my 70-200 Tamron 2.8.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
05-06-2015, 07:16 AM
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I use Linux for my storage servers and backup solutions but Win 7 for my main working PC. Two reasons mostly. Firstly is and most importantly is the ability to run VBA Macros in MS Office products. My work uses Windows and MS Office and many of the spreadsheets written use VBA. As far as I know there is no Linux product that supports VBA.
Secondly is Lightroom... I'm not sure if there are any Linux programs that have all the capabilities and features as Lightroom.... however, I've only spent a little time searching mostly since I know I'm stuck to Windows for the 1st reason.
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Forum: General Photography
05-04-2015, 08:50 AM
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-Do you have an external hard drive or NAS?
I have a Linux Ubuntu server set up with a 4 TB HDD and a 2TB backup drive (both internal). I only have about 1 TB of data I'm backup up. The 4TB drive contains my photos that I copy from the SD. Every night it backs up whatever has changed on the 4TB drive to the 2TB drive. It then sends me an email letting me know if the backup was successful. The Linux server is an old desktop (~9 years old).
-Do you bother with off-site copies?
I have an old laptop (9-10 years old) set up at my parents house with a 2TB external drive connected. The laptop is running Linux Ubuntu Server. I have a software VPN tunnel created between my house and my parents house. Everything the home server backups up whatever has changed to the offsite server. Again I get an email telling me if it was successful.
My backup system was basically free with the exception of the drives. The computers were old 2nd hand ones. Ubuntu is free.
-Do you print your digital for archive or viewing?
I print only when I want to hang something or the kids need something for a school project.
-Do you use "cloud storage"?
Not for my photos.
-How brutal are you after your session, do you delete a rough % of photos JPG/RAW (which).
I never delete. I use Lightroom which is non destructive (I shoot RAW).
-Do you ever go back to old photos/RAW to fiddle?
Frequently visit old RAW photos and fiddle.
AB
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
01-16-2015, 10:57 AM
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Hi all,
Noticed something interesting with my K3 that didn't happen with my Kr.
When I use my Metz 50 AF-1 flash with the K3 the first shot is overexposed. Subsequent shots are fine but the first one after a power up is overexposed. Almost like the Metz overcharged and it needs to dissipate that charge or it doesn't recognize the P-TTL mode for the first shot.
I shoot in manual mode. P-TTL mode.
This didn't happen with my Kr.
Any thoughts?
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Forum: General Photography
12-15-2014, 09:49 AM
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I just built a system for my parents for about $650 Canadian using a Canadian computer parts supplier (they price match so if you find the same component cheaper somewhere else, they will match). I built it myself (takes a couple of hours).
Take off $100 for Windows makes it a $550 system. 1 TB WD Blue HDD. 128 GB Crucial SSD. i3 4160 processor. ASRock MB. 8 GB GSkill RAM. DVD writer (for the odd DVD/CD) that still exists. Corsair 430 Watt PS. Fractal Design Mid Tower Case. It's a pretty fast system with room for expansion. It uses an onboard graphics but I think for LR that is probably fine. You may wish to have a larger HDD if you are storing mass quantities of Photos (especially RAW files). Try without a dedicated video card first. If it is too slow, it is easy to add one.
I would also recommend some form of backup. A NAS with mirrored drives is nice. I personally use a nightly backup system to an onsite storage system and to an offsite storage system.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-20-2014, 06:55 AM
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There is a small delay when using P-TTL flash (probably in the range of 0.2 seconds - see other threads on the subject) but I doubt if that is it.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-27-2014, 12:14 PM
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I'm in the habit of turning it off.... I use a black rapid strap so the camera hangs at my hip. If I don't turn it off then I can trigging a number of unintentional shots.
Same goes for the grip. If I don't turn the grip off then many times the heel of my hand will accidentally touch the grip shutter button when working holding in landscape mode. I've therefore gotten into the habit of turning that off as well.
I shoot mainly in M mode and I find it usually keeps the settings I want between power ups.
AB
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-22-2014, 07:50 PM
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I tried this Dot Tune method tonight... unfortunately my room was too dark to get a reliable focus with LV. I tried anyway. With my Tamron 70-200 2.8 I was getting the focus dot to show up at -10 to +3. Unfortunately with -10 still showing in focus you really don't know where the bottom end is. Too bad Pentax didn't offer a bigger range on the focus calibration values.
That FoCal tool seems neat... unfortunately they don't support Pentax (which I guess is due to Pentax's lack of tethering support).
AB
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
09-22-2014, 06:58 AM
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I use the Metz 50 AF-1 with my K-3 with no troubles at all (other than the P-TTL shutter lag - but that is typical for all flashes as far as I know).
With my K-r I used the Metz as a slave, never tried as a master. I used the pop up flash as the master then. I've since switched to a set of Cactus V5s for wireless triggering.
AB
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-22-2014, 03:32 AM
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This sounds like it could also work and wouldn't be that hard to implement.
I'm not quite sure though that an automatic process would be that complicated. For PDAF I assume the camera must keep track of the screw/HSM motor as PDAF is a predictive AF system (from what I understand). PDAF attempts to guestimate how much out of focus an image is and then sends the signal to the AF motors to operate for a certain amount of time or rotations to attempt to achieve focus. Once the motors finishes it checks again and then if any minute adjustments are needed and then (if needed) sends the signal to the motors again. That's why there is always one or two stages to PDAF focus. (Again I could be wrong here).
So if the camera is able to keep track of the position of the motor for focus then the process could work like this. Human sets camera to Focus Calibration mode. The camera focuses on an object using PDAF. The camera then switches to Live View. The camera then increases focus by a fixed amount and then decreases by a fixed amount constantly reviewing the contrast of the image. It then can determine where the contrast is the sharpest and then makes note of the position of the motors relative to where they were during the PDAF. If they are different then adjust the calibration and repeat until there is no difference in the position of the motors.
I wouldn't think this would be a complicated program especially for Pentax. I would think the programming required to shift the sensor for Astrophotography would be equally as complex.
Alternatively another method would be for it to simply step through the 20 levels of calibration one at a time and determine which works best. The camera would start at -10, use PDAF capture the image. Then switch to -9, use PDAF and again capture. Repeat until +10. Then review all of the images using the CDAF engine to see which one is sharpest and there you go. It is more of a trial and error approach but would also work with much simpler programming.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-19-2014, 06:09 AM
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I was responding to another thread about a wish list of improvements for the K-3 and I stared wondering about focus calibration.
Would it be possible to (it would obviously have to be a firmware update) to get the camera automatically calibrate the Phase Detection AF system using the Contrast Detection system (i.e. Live View). From my understanding, Contrast Detection AF is usually pretty accurate and the calibration settings only adjust the phase detection (from what I understand - please correct me if I'm wrong).
I would see it working like this:- Set the camera up on a tripod
- Set up a fixed focus object (flat so that there is no error introduced by curves/angles)
- Set the camera to "Automatic Calibration Mode"
- The camera would switch to Phase Detection attempt to focus.
- When focus is achieved it would automatically switch to Contrast Detection and check to see if moving the focus ring decreases focus. If it does, it would automatically adjust the calibration.
- Repeat until the focus achieved in Phase Detection requires no adjustment in Contrast Detection.
Would this work or am I off my rocker?
AB
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-19-2014, 05:54 AM
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I've only had my K-3 for a few weeks but love the operation and feel of the camera so far.
I'd like to see them add Newfoundland as a time zone. I've been looking for this since I bought my K-r 4 years ago. I'm stuck with having to set it to Halifax, NS which is 30 minutes behind us.
There is also this issue with the increased shutter lag when using P-TTL flash. There is much more of a delay than with my K-r. I'm hoping a firmware will fix this in the future (unless the issue has been solved and I've missed it).
AB
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-17-2014, 03:43 AM
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Has there been any updates or new developments on the P-TTL Flash lag that was discussed here a few months back? As soon as I got my K-3 I noticed this issue (as it was not present on my K-r).
Only occurs in P-TTL. With manual setting, the lag doesn't occur.
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Forum: Sold Items
05-08-2014, 04:58 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-r
03-26-2013, 07:00 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-r
10-10-2012, 04:03 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-r
08-02-2012, 05:15 AM
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I was pretty nervous when I first attempted it as well. If it hadn't been for the shimming....it would have been a whole lot easier. Trying to stack 3 thin plastic shims on top of each other was quite the challenge!
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Forum: Pentax K-r
06-19-2012, 04:15 PM
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I got mine the same day as you and started having problems within 2 months. Like you I was afraid to try the contact cleaner so I sent it for service. I also wanted to get the lens focus calibrated. Since sending it in in February 2011, I've had no issues.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-15-2012, 06:53 PM
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I got mine four days ago and so far I am very pleased as well. Great build as you say. Love the feel. Looks great on my K-r.
I have noticed that I sometimes miss focus. Not sure what the problem is. This is my first AF lens with 2.8 at 50 mm. Perhaps I just need practice. My Canon S type focus screen really helps as I can see that the focus is not correct before I even shoot. Sometimes I half press the shutter button 3 or 4 times before the correct focus occurs. I've only taken about 50 shots so I'm going to give it time.
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Forum: Pentax K-r
04-12-2012, 06:40 PM
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Card is not locked. When I noticed it didn't work I turned off the camera, popped open the card door to check the card was there and then I restarted the camera. Everything was fine after that.
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Forum: Pentax K-r
04-11-2012, 07:46 PM
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I think I'm still at version 1.11.... I never bothered with the latest... I need to do that.
I formatted the card two days ago.
The card is Photo Dimensions Class 6 card. I have 2 and never had an issue with either. This card has worked perfectly since the incident. Photo Dimensions is a Canadian based group of 1200 merchants aimed to help the brick and mortar stores compete against large corps. Welcome to Photodimensions! The card was purchased from a local brick and mortar store (per their recommendation).
Good point though...it could be a card error. I'll watch out for that.
AB
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Forum: Pentax K-r
04-11-2012, 06:46 PM
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Hi Everyone,
I had an issue yesterday with my K-r. My DA 55-300 was mounted, no flash.
I turned on the K-r and was in aperture priority mode. I quickly clicked 4 or 5 pictures of my son holding a baby alligator (we were at the Florida Jungle Gardens), checked the back of the screen after the last shot...it looked good. I switched the K-r off. About a minute later I turned it on again to look at the photos and they were nowhere to be found.... I took another photo and it recorded this one.
Any idea why my K-r didn't record the photos to the card?
AB
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-09-2012, 03:46 PM
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Yes I do the same especially with the DA 55-300 where I frequently set it to infinity prior to focusing. Otherwise I might as well get a cup of tea while I wait for it to focus.
AB
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-08-2012, 06:56 PM
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I was out today with my K-r and 200 mm Super Takumar f/4. Focusing this lens requires quite a bit of twisting as the range on the focus ring is quite large.
I found myself pre-setting the focus to infinity and then focusing in one direction until I achieved the desired focus. Do you prefocus your lens when walking around to either infinity or minimum focus just so you don't have to do a lot of searching? I found that if I didn't prefocus I would end up twisting in one direction, then twist in the other until I finally got the correct focus... by that time...the shot was gone.
Just curious....
AB
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