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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-13-2012, 08:17 AM
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Nah, held it firmly pointing to the same spot within the room and there was no-one to fiddle with the light switches...
Over-sensitive or undecided? Just like in person, pardon the pun, too ;-)
I feel there is as you hinted a bit of hesitation and variance in the light meter - perhaps something for Pentax to look into for the next firmware update? (I do hope that is FW rather than hardware problem).
Yeah, you are right - keeping the highlight protection on at all times is worth it. Especially, as I read somewhere the difference in IQ between ISO 100 and 200 is hardly any if any at all (isn't ISO 100 non-native and is only simulated?). The only advantage of ISO 100 is shooting in very-very bright light when the shutter speed runs over the top limit (1/6000), which I hardy can think of a condition for - perhaps a snow-strewn Spanish beach? :-)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-12-2012, 02:17 AM
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Thanks Sandy. Good shots and nice illustration! It's kinda curious how 30s already created moving stars (they are slightly blurred).
westmill, thanks for the tips.
Vincent, I did similar tests cap on - my results match these of yours at #132. 18mm ISO 100 F/4: 20s.
And your math does add up. I still believe Pentax' low light metering is somewhat funny and underexposing.
What I found annoying in more tests last night is that when using spot metering pointed at a dark spot and being static in that position the exposure readings were jumping up and down between 4" and 10" as if the camera struggled to make up its mind.
In multi-segment too, once I half-press the shutter release for the first time after idle the reading jumped to lets say 15", then rolled down to 10".
Any explanation for that mystery?
BTW, higlights on or off didnt make difference to the exposure other than allowing ISO 100 to me. Thanks for the tables
Thanks all once again! My camera seems fine - may be a bit funny! Hurray! ;-)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-11-2012, 01:41 PM
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Thank you everyone for your replies.
Here are the sample photos (sorry for the delay - I was at work):
https://picasaweb.google.com/108648874181776963060/PentaxLowLight?authkey=Gv1sRgCITG-oL-4ZTgVQ
Sorry for the image quality - I know I should have used a tripod, but I was so let down that I could not be bothered - decided to test on as many settings as possible instead.
I have also uploaded a few Monlta pics for comparison - on one of these you can just about make out the outlines of the skies there and the stars, but mind you that was quite a bit darker than on the pentax shots. Still we are talking ISO difference of 5 stops!
On the hindside, analysing these Minolta shot they looks comparable to the Pentax ones, so perhaps the sensor sensitivity is similar (my initial fear was that the Pentax is broken somehow and drops sensitivity in low light), so perhaps the sensor is ok to that end...
Still, the metering is rather disappointing - I am pretty sure that Minolta was much better at getting exposure right in low-light situations and was bravely going down below 1s mark in shutter speed in Av mode.
As to the cap-on test I'm pretty sure Minolta went down to about 4s...
Any idea why Pentax imposes these weird restrictions?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-11-2012, 05:15 AM
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First of all, I have used a Minolta 5d for some 6 years, including night shots - always to a great result, so I know how to do it!
Last night I took my Pentax K-x out for some night shots. I used kit Pentax 18-55 lens. It was pretty dark, only remote city light and the moonlight through clouds. However I was able to see my step well enough, so it's not a pitch-black!
I set to shoot in Av mode with f.4 at 28 mm. Multi-segment metering. No exposure compensation.ISO 1600. The suggested shutter speed come up to 0.3", with indication blinking (according to the manual complaining about low light). The shot came out almost competely black, to my surprise! I took a few more shots, messing with exposure compensation and metering modes. All the photos came grossly underexposed, even those with compensation +3.The suggested shutter speen never went lower than a couple of secs. Tried manual exposure - not much better. The best shot came up at 30s, ISO 1600, f/4 - still somewhat on the under side.
Shooting at a road daylight the result is always excellent!
Two questions:
1. Am I right in thinking that at no expo compensation the camera should try to produce a shot close to medium-gray, no matter how dark it is?
2. Does anyone experienced something similar or is my camera f**ked?
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