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Forum: Sold Items 12-17-2023, 06:35 PM  
For Sale - Sold: Sigma Bigma 50-500mm EX DG APO Pentax K Mount in Case REDUCED FREE USA SHIPPING
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 20
Views: 1,504
Interested, DM'd
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 12-02-2011, 08:02 AM  
issues using manual lens
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 19
Views: 5,975
Perhaps I can help clarify things, since I shoot exclusively MF lenses and have put 15K clicks on my k-5 through them.


In M mode, the camera leaves the aperture wide open all the times except when you're metering and shooting. you select the aperture manually but (to aid focusing and composition) the aperture remains open except those times. So when you want it to meter properly you have to tell the camera to meter with the green button, otherwise it's metering with the lens stuck wide open and you'll get wildly underexposed pictures when it stops doen to actually take the picture.

In all the other letter modes (except B), the camera behaves as if it is in Av mode, but with the lens wide open at all times, no exceptions. if you have a lens with an actual k-mount or an adapter that supports k-mount properly (like tamron adaptalls), you won't be able to stop down. if you're using M42's or some other mount you should be able to adjust the aperture ring manually (you will see the the viewfinder go dark as you turn the ring) and the camera will start metering when you give the shutter a half-press.

I too thought the green button impeded my workflow when i first started using k-mount manual lenses (as opposed to M42), but if you give the green button a chance and take most of your shots that way for a few weeks you'll get quite used to it, and it's nice to be able to always focus at full aperture rather than at what you're manually stopped down to.

the +/-EV adjustment does work in M mode. in M mode it applies the EV compensation to the shutter time it metered for when you press the green button. Even in M mode I usually have an EV of -1 since my k-5 has a slight predisposition to overexposure.

the camera will always default to the last used value for SR. Doing pretty much anything dismisses the dialog and the SR is active at whatever focal length it defaulted to. if you're not changing lenses or zooming, this is not a problem
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 11-17-2011, 01:30 PM  
Pentax O-GPS1 accuracy
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 21
Views: 7,986
Not sure the O-GPS1 interfaces with horizon correction, since it works fully on the K-r which doesn't have horizon correction. Can someone confirm?. My guess would be that it has built-in accelerometer that is calibrated to a higher precision when leaving the factory. It shouldnt need to know the side-to-side level, but it does need to know how high up into the sky you're pointed.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 11-08-2011, 07:50 AM  
K5 makes double shots
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 31
Views: 6,290
I've noticed when I'm slow releasing the shutter button the camera will sometimes fire a second shot as I release it, even if I'm in single-shot. My situation I suspect is likely due to switch bounce and the camera registering it as a second shutter button press.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 11-05-2011, 06:44 AM  
%*$#^(&! The Lens Release Button Fell Off my K-5!
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 206
Views: 51,141
This happened to me the other day. i think it has more to do with how your camera is stored in your bag. I shoot adaptalls entirely, so I haven't had to use the lens release button in a month or so, but yesterday i was cycling and stopped several times to take pictures, which requires taking my camera out of the bag and putting it back in. one of the dividers in my bag rubs up against the camera about where the lens release button is and I have the feeling that's what led to it falling off. unfortunately I didn't notice it at the time and it is not in my bag so I'm without a lens release button. I'm considering machining a new one out of aluminum rather than sending the camera in and be without it for several weeks.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-26-2011, 05:40 PM  
dead pixels?
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 7
Views: 2,012
Wow, you learn something new every day. I always figured that each pixel on the sensor was comprised of one R, one B, and two G photsites. Turns out, though our images are processed and displayed as 16MP x3 colors, each pixel starts out as only representing one color and the data for the other two colors it can't represent are interpolated from the pixels around it. No wonder foveon advertises their sensors as 3x the MP of the images it spits out! This also aligns with RAW image sizes; i guess if each pixel were 4 photosites' worth of data, our RAW files would be 90MB apiece

I have updated my post accordingly.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-25-2011, 01:07 PM  
K5 problems
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 49
Views: 8,428
JHD, I'm fully open to the possibility of your numbers being an accurate prediction , I just think you need to back them up a bit.

The thing holding my mind up is that I'm not sure the number of hits would scale with market share. help us understand by proving that this, the foundation of your numbers, is based in fact and not simply conjecture.

On a (sort-of) related note, where did you get your market share numbers? all I was able to find was an article from 2010 that didn't mention Pentax's DSLR share directly, only that of Canon, Nikon, and Sony. Here it is: Sony, Nikon Narrow Gap to Canon With New Digital Camera Models - Bloomberg
Forum: Lens Clubs 10-25-2011, 09:00 AM  
The Mirror Lens Club!
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 1,239
Views: 466,979
Not the clearest shot in the world, but one I am very proud of. My 500mm adaptall mirror showing the effect of hard braking on a le lmans prototype car (glowing brakes). Not the best example of the IQ you can get from this lens, but it does show that it can be used for fast action under the right circumstances. ISO1600, 1/800s


IMG_9657 by jerm1386, on Flickr
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-25-2011, 08:33 AM  
K5 problems
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 49
Views: 8,428
@Sifu I was the one who mentioned knowing your history with the camera. Moisture can be tenacious, even with a weather-sealed camera. Fortunately, with a weather-sealed camera, they can't turn your repair down because it's gotten wet! Do post some of those rafting pictures.



These search results omit many variables, among which are:

*You need to consider ONLY the market segment that the k-5 is in (advanced amateur/semi-pro DSLR only)
*You need to consider that another manufacturer might have more cameras in that same market segment so searching for a specific model wouldn't represent overall problems from that company in that market segment
*Some models may have been out for a longer or shorter amount of time and so will have more or fewer results by nature
*Perhaps one model or manufacturer is simply talked about more by everyone in general, problems included.
*Pentax is the only manufacturer in your search that has a dedicated forum system, suggesting more active/involved users.
*Many digital photography sites will make any viewer aware of problems even if they don't own that particular camera and as such are not related to market share
*Users of one brand ma talk about problems with another brand; these are not market-share-related results either
*Even with a growing population of people with problems you can only start so many threads on the subject; as you get more sources about problems people start to tack their problems into the same threads or comments on an article rather than starting a new page/thread/review/warning themselves. There are more people that are reporting problems, yet they don't show up as results.
*Maybe one brand is more whiny and will make more posts per problem than the others.

I'm sure there are more variables that affect search results. The point is there are so many variables in these numbers that to try to make any comparison on the reliability of any pair of cameras, based solely on the number of search results, is almost willfully divisive (as it results in posts like these) and serves little educational purpose (except to expound upon the dangers of these numbers). We can make numbers say anything we want, folks. Please stop using numbers like these that only further obfuscate the truth.

The truth is that yes, The k-5 is a camera with many widespread problems, but those problems do not affect everybody and we do not know for sure how our problems compares to another camera's problems - either in scope or depth - unless manufacturers start posting their warranty return percentages for individual models. The truth is also that the K-5, when you get a copy that works fine like MOST K-5 buyers have, is a superb camera.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-25-2011, 08:22 AM  
dead pixels?
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 7
Views: 2,012
dead pixels or, in your case, hot pixels, are a byproduct of manufacturing a sensor with 16 million photosites in such a small area (each 'pixel' is actually 1R, 1B, and 2G pixels in a square). You can't get them all perfect all the time. some may be perpetually dark, but others are stuck bright. There's usually an upper limit on the number that can be defective before they throwout the sensor, but many sensors, from any given production run, will have these tiny imperfections. what pixel mapping does is takes a picture with no light (it can just keep the shutter closed) and looks for these aberrations, and stores their location so it knows to subtract them from any further photos.

Incidentally if you let your sensor get hot by doing a lot of live view/long exposures, more hot pixels can show up (but will usually go away again when the sensor cools down)
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-24-2011, 05:22 PM  
K5 problems
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 49
Views: 8,428
Try it without the quotes, I get 327,000 hits (but only the 2 you specified when i do use the quotes). :confused:
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-24-2011, 04:29 PM  
Battery/Power Problem, What To Do
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 20
Views: 3,894
Sorry for the irrelevance. Keep us informed!
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-24-2011, 12:26 PM  
Battery/Power Problem, What To Do
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 20
Views: 3,894
@debmalya. Wrong. Li-ion batteries do, in fact, have limited charge/discharge cycles. Though it's not a hard cutoff number, capacity does slowly decrease over time AND with usage. if you overdischarge/overcharge your batteries this effect will be exaggerated and your batteries will wear out sooner. Yes, time from manufacture also factors into it, but so do thermal stresses, which are introduced during charge and discharge.
I do not know where you're getting your battery information from, but I happen to be involved with battery testing for a large power tool company and have access to life cycle data showing lithium batteries wearing out in weeks or months (or years) depending how hard you treat them. (or you can wear them out in seconds: being in a test chamber when they run a nail through a battery pack can be very...entertaining)

Most Li-Ion batteries nowadays have overcharge/overdischarge protection IC's on them to prevent excessive life loss or dangerous charging conditions. These, combined with a well-designed, safe charger wil actually usually only charge a Li-ion battery to 90-95% of its true capacity, but the battery will remain safe and its life will be extended. But a third-party may use a cheaper, lower-capacity cell and simply use a cutoff chip with expanded tolerances so it charges closer to 100% capacity (looking like a higher-capacity cell) but allow the cell to get into the life-reducing zones more often. And a lower-cost charger may use looser tolerances so it will not charger to the exact proper limits anyway, possibly undercharging your cells or, worse, overcharging them.

most of the safety measures go into the charger, so I'd recommend only using official chargers. Third-party batteries aren't as much of a concern, but they may be using lower-cost cells which wear out sooner, heat up more, have lower capacity, or don't respond as safely in accidents. that being said, official batteries are expensive and 2 out of my 3 batteries for my k-5 are third-party.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-24-2011, 12:11 PM  
K5 problems
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 49
Views: 8,428
@Sifu: I know some have had delays in getting service, so keep us informed of the situation. Hopefully you get your camera back soon!

@JHD you were very quick to jump on this as a QC issue. What we have here is, as far as I can tell, an isolated problem type where we have no insight into the user, their applications, practices, environment, or history with the camera in question. Blaming this on poor Pentax QC is as much jumping the gun as is blaming food poisoning on the farmer that grew a chicken you ate last night for dinner. yes, it is possible, but it's premature to go spouting off against that farmer if you don't know how the chicken was transported, packaged, stored, or cooked.

Your anger at pentax for the K-5's known issues is not entirely misplaced, but has no place in this particular thread until multiple reports of the same nature roll in from users in a variety of shooting circumstances, something those other problems you mentioned all have in common.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-24-2011, 09:32 AM  
Lots of corrupted files
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 15
Views: 2,888
if it is a PC RAM/HDD error, it could also be tested for by trying to develop a 'corrupt' RAW file on the camera itself. if the developed RAW is corrupt without ever being written to by a PC, then it's a problem with the camera or memory card. As long as you set the card's lock switch on before reading it in the PC, there's no writing to the card to corrupt the pictures that stay on there.

also, i recommend trying to develop the 'corrupt' photos in RAW on the camera anyways as a good objective test.

I always buy my memory from newegg, and always buy transcend memory
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-21-2011, 07:09 AM  
K5 vs k7 dynamic range
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 17
Views: 7,269
i also have to keep EV comp at -2/3 or -1EV in order to not get significant overexposed areas
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-20-2011, 06:17 AM  
Just Pulled the Trigger
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 14
Views: 1,679
were they back-ordered? Keep us updated on whey they finally give you a tracking number and where the shipment originates from.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-19-2011, 05:50 PM  
Making sense of repair note details
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 5
Views: 1,500
FPC usually stands for flat printed circuit and refers to a cable type. In a lot of repair manuals they have workers replace these 'flex circuit cables' whenever the item is disassembled (like replacing a gasket in a car even if the gasket isn't the problem) because they can be pretty intricate and fragile or have adhesive on them that would need to be replaced. It's probably the flex circuit between the main board and the shutter block/motor assembly.

shutter count would definitely be stored on the main board rather than in the shutter module, since the shutter module is probably mostly mechanical. Sort of like replacing the engine in your car doesn't make the odometer reset.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-16-2011, 03:22 AM  
K5 in Italy
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 22
Views: 3,294
It sounds like you believe he will primarily be shooting sports and trying to catch car accidents while they're happening while he's there for which I agree AF would be more ideal. However I think an MF lens is a fine tool to take on a vacation where you mostly shoot static objects. also, it's a few stops faster than any other lens he has, helping him get those 1600 shots in low light. Think about application before disparaging an entire technique, since really the most important part of the camera is the operator.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-14-2011, 04:46 AM  
K5 in Italy
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 22
Views: 3,294
I'm not experienced enough to speak to tripod/monopod technique but maybe i can convince you to brig the takumar.

if you get one of the non-flanged adapters on ebay (link to where i got mine from, it's in the US so it'll ship quickly to you) it's actually an adapter with a little tab screwed on to keep it latched inside the camera, and a tool to release that tab when you want the adapter to ocme out of the camera. what I've done with mine is to use a jeweler's screwdriver to unscrew the tiny screw holding that tab on so you don't need a special tool to remove the adapter from the camera. then just thread the adapter onto your M42 lens and leave it there permenantly (you may want to get a K-mount lens end cap). your lens will not stay latched onto the camera, but the K mount provides enough resistance to the lenses coming off that it won't be a problem.

I shoot manual lenses almost exclusively and they aren't a problem on this camera. since it's a F/1.4 lens it should be bright and quite easy to focus in your viewfinder, then once you have proper focus just stop down on the lens till you get the desired exposure. you must first set the focus switch to MF and menu function C/4/27 "using aperture ring" to 2 ""Permitted". If you use AE lock, just remember not to use it until after you've stopped down.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-13-2011, 03:17 PM  
Finding my Firmware version?
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 8
Views: 1,930
"http://www.pentaximaging.com/"
'support'
'Downloads and Literature'
select the k-5, select the firmware box, and submit. Run the file that it downloads, it will contain a readme on how to install it on the camera.

I think the pentax site only has 1.11
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-13-2011, 07:59 AM  
Finding my Firmware version?
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 8
Views: 1,930
It's actually 1.11 but since 1.03, their change log only shows changes for compatibility with the O-GPS1.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-13-2011, 05:49 AM  
Finding my Firmware version?
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 8
Views: 1,930
How to check version
Turn the power on while pressing the MENU button.
The Firmware version is displayed for about 5 seconds at the center
of the LCD monitor.
Perform the above operation without inserting the SD/SDHC card
containing Firmware in the camera.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-08-2011, 10:39 AM  
Confused
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 48
Views: 6,344
I just got my k-5 about a week and a half ago and I've put it through its paces very quickly. it's up to 11,000 shutter actuations, and, being intended as my manual-focus camera, I've done a fair amount of live view shooting (to the point of getting a sensor temperature warning), diving into menus, changing lenses in crowds and on hiking trails,walking around with it dangling off my neck, etc. All that abuse in such a short time and no problems yet.

My biggest complaint is that I don't think the level of interface customization lives up to all the hype about it. IE when shooting manual zooms, it would be nice to have a button to take me right to the focal length adjustment rather than going into a menu. And it's not necessarily a hardware problem either, that's something that could be done in firmware
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-07-2011, 07:10 AM  
Question about the K-5 LCD magnification
Posted By jerm1386
Replies: 17
Views: 4,286
assuming a non-widescreen 17" monitor with a standard resolution of 1280x1024 and our camera's 4928-pixel wide image

at 100% view, approximately 1/4 of the width of the image (1280/4928) is displayed, so 4x magnification on your camera display will show about the same image area as 100% view on your screen
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