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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
10-22-2021, 07:03 PM
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Egret fishing on the shore of Jinji Lake, Suzhou Industrial Park, China
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-07-2021, 06:57 PM
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thanks for the kind comments. I also have a K-5 which is better at high ISO, but in good light I still prefer the colours I get from the K200D, especially for foliage and flowers like in these pics.
As far as I can tell it’s a ‘Coffee Clearwing’, a type of hummingbird moth. I’ve spotted a few lately feeding on the flowers around the north side of the lake.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-04-2021, 04:23 PM
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The K200D is still my most used body. Here are some recent shots from around Jinji Lake Suzhou with the K200 and DA L 55-300.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
09-21-2021, 04:07 PM
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does the shutter not fire at all, or is it that you can't control the speeds? The ME super will need batteries to fire at anything other than 1/125 as the shutter is electronically controlled.
Also, make sure the exposure control dial around the shutter release button isn't set to 'L' as the shutter release will be locked in that position.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-20-2021, 06:20 PM
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Thanks so much for the link -- what a great resource! I've already been able to identify a few recent sightings from there and hopefully will have more to contribute to this thread soon.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-18-2021, 04:14 PM
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Red one is a scarlet skimmer I believe, no idea as to the rest I’m afraid. All were shot in Suzhou, China
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-10-2021, 03:47 PM
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While the yellow is indicating dark areas as described and is itself not a problem, the fact that the camera is still producing such dark images when in auto mode outdoor suggests to me that the aperture block solenoid might be starting to fail. There are plenty of threads on here about this issue, so a quick search may help you find advice how to diagnose this.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
05-28-2021, 02:20 PM
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Hi Niels,
A few questions/ suggestions that might help you get to the bottom of the issue in case you haven't already checked:
What metering mode is the camera in? A common cause of inconsistent exposure is when it's been inadvertently set to spot rather than matrix or centre-weighted.
A few other settings to check in the camera's menu would be the settings AE locked when AF locked and link exposure to focus point.
What lens are you using? You mention testing with an M42 lens in manual was fine, so is it just happening when using AV mode with the same lens? If it is an M42 lens in AV mode that's causing the issue you may want to check that it's shorting the mount pins so the camera knows there's a lens attached. I don't have a K30, but I remember my K-r wouldn't meter correctly in AV mode with M42 lenses unless they had a conductive mount that was big enough to cover the contacts on the body.
If the problem is happening with a K-mount lens then I'd look at the aperture mechanism in the lens to make sure it's not sticking (move the lever on the rear of the lens and check that the blades open and that they snap back quickly when released).
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-23-2021, 06:27 AM
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I suspect the cleaning fluid may not be the cause of the issue and instead your K70 is beginning to suffer from a failing aperture solenoid. The symptoms, first picture black, subsequently OK after firing off more shots are typically how this starts.
It's worth checking for at least if only to rule out the possibility. If you brighten up the dark shots in post is any detail visible? If the shutter is sticking closed there should be none, but if it's just that the image is very underexposed due to the aperture blades stopping down all the way then you may be able to recover details by brightening the image. Also set a mid aperture on the camera and fire off a shot when looking down the lens at the blades: if they stop down to the minimum opening on the first shot rather than pausing part way while the shutter fires, then this will be the problem. Solution will be to swap out the aperture solenoid. There are several threads here with details how to do this. If it is the shutter that's failing, however, it probably won't be economical to repair sadly.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-26-2021, 06:34 PM
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I still have the K-x I bought in 2009. While I have newer and ostensibly better cameras, I still like using the K-x due to its small size and light weight (lighter than the K-s1).
The K-m would also be a good choice, as ChristianRock has suggested. That 10MP CCD sensor is great, but then the K200D might be a better option - a little bigger but still uses AAs and gives you weather sealing and focus point indicators.
Really you can't go wrong with any of the suggestions though. If you buy a K-m/x/r it won't cost a great deal and even if it dies, these bodies should have at least one white solenoid which you can then harvest to either recoup some money or keep to fix a future K-s1/2, etc.
As to the e-dials failing, generally they just need cleaning. Photogem has posted a tutorial on how to take the cover off and get to the dials: they just need a little deoxit or similar. If you're not brave enough to disassemble the camera you could also try a drop or two on a needle applicator.
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Forum: Video Recording and Processing
02-23-2021, 05:34 AM
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The K-5 series has no manual level control for audio so you're stuck with AGC (automatic gain control). This makes things simpler, but will ramp up the background noise during quieter periods. There's also no headphone socket for monitoring, nor meters to give you a visual indication of the level. Best thing is just to try a few test recordings and adjust the settings (gain/ filter) on the mic/ recorder until you get a response that works best in your particular environment. The K-5 will expect a mic level input, not a line-level, so make sure the recorder is configured correctly. That said, if you've got the Zoom, you'd probably be better just recording on that separately and syncing in post.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-15-2020, 11:02 PM
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Checked my two DA 18-55 WR lenses: One certainly has haze which looks like a mist of fine bubbles near the edge of an inner element. It wasn't immediately obvious, but holding the aperture open and bringing the lens to the light I could make it out. The other one is clean. In practice I haven't noticed much difference in performance between these two, though I suspect the hazy copy might lose contrast when shooting into the light. The first generation 18-55 that came with my son's K100D is very clean inside.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-13-2020, 05:52 AM
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You may have checked this already, but just make sure that the SD card door is shut and fully pushed home.
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Forum: Pentax Mirrorless Cameras
09-21-2020, 06:21 PM
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The DFA 85 1.4 is a new lens. I suspect the K-01 being a much older body won't be fully compatible. Even if you can get the lens to focus manually, presumably it won't stop down as I believe the K-01 does not support electronic aperture control (KAF4).
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-23-2020, 03:55 PM
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It's not too tricky, but you will need to be careful. In addition to the visible screws, there are two underneath the rubber eyecup, one under the flash, and one deep in the battery compartment (as the K-x has an electronic release you'll need to either pop this up before pulling the battery, otherwise you can slide a bit of stiff paper into the gap to release the catch). Screws may be different sizes/ pitches, so keep them in order.
Once you release the top cover, be very gentle and lift slowly: there are wires and flexes which could easily tear with rough handling. I think one of the flexes can be unplugged (use a fingernail or similar to list the small flap on the connector). This gives some freedom of movement, but other connections will remain.
All in all, it's not too difficult, but you need to be methodical and aware of the hidden screws and flexes.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-19-2020, 03:49 PM
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@Jie, I've sent you a private message. Depending on your location, I might be able to post some mount screws to you.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-01-2020, 09:55 PM
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The FA 80-320 lens, especially the black version for some reason, does have something of a reputation for communication/ electronic issues. I'd echo Not a Number's advice and try with different AF lenses to determine if the fault is with the lens or camera.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-19-2019, 07:05 AM
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My copy is not that consistent. It took a while to calibrate because of this. After extensive testing I settled on a +6 adjustment on my K-5. This has improved matters, but I still get random misses with more frequency than I would like. My other plastic fantastic (DA 50 1.8) is much better in this regard.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-08-2019, 07:41 PM
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While the calibration options are limited, the LCD color tuning can help (setup menu second tab).
I noticed my K-5 was too warm on the screen. When you open this menu item you get a test screen with gradient from white to black. I adjusted (uses the same colour axes as WB fine tuning) until it looked neutral gray then checked the setting shooting a gray card after setting manual WB.
You can also choose to adjust based on a photo (by turning the front dial when in the color tuning screen). If you shot a suitable test chart (after setting WB with a suitable target) this might give an even better result. Be aware though that it's only brightness and color that can be tweaked: there's no gamma or contrast options for example, so you'll never match a well-calibrated monitor. However, I have found colors to be accurate enough after adjusting for WB setting and casual use - certainly much better than how it left the factory.
There can be quite a difference between screens on different samples of the same model. I have two K200Ds and one has a much warmer (yellower) screen. Sadly there's no adjustment available on this older model though...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-24-2019, 06:01 PM
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Is your lens the 18-250 or 18-270 (title says 270 but post mentions 250)?
What I do know is that the 18-250 can get stuck at 18mm when an internal part gets loose: there's a small screw which is accessible via a hole in the zoom barrel under the rubber grip. If the screw loosens it can protrude into this hole and lock up the lens.This makes the lens feel like the zoom lock is applied even when said zoom lock switch is working normally.
My advice would be to peel back the rubber grip, inspect any access holes and make sure any visible screws are nipped up tight. If you're lucky this will solve the problem.
Edited to add: seems I'm not the only one to have fixed this problem. A quick search found a post here describing a similar problem and detailing the repair steps: the offending screw and collar can clearly be seen in the pic: http://usefulbulk.com/pentaxlens/
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-30-2019, 06:27 PM
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Did you check to make sure that no filters were applied? The Toy Camera filter applies a heavy vignette which is visible on the Jpeg preview but wouldn't show on the RAW file (unless you were opening it in PDCU). The other possibility is that the backlight is failing. What happens if you increase the screen brightness?
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
06-23-2019, 11:22 PM
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Another vote for the Tascam DR-05. It's inexpensive and I've been impressed with the audio quality I get from it. Build quality could be better -- the battery door doesn't feel so robust and the build is a bit plasticky. However, it has performed very well in the field. I have used it at work for recording audio for training videos, etc. The inbuilt mikes are very sensitive and good for recording ambient sound. For recording speech you can use a lavalier mike or try a shotgun mike.
I wouldn't bother plugging the line out into the camera. The K-5 series have quite poor audio quality with automatic gain control which can't be disabled -- this causes an increase in noise in the quieter sections. In my experience it's better to add the audio from the external recorder to the video in post -- you can use the audio recorded by the on-camera mike to help sync things up.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
05-22-2019, 09:03 PM
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Welcome Neal,
Tough I'm now mostly based in China, I grew up on the Wirral (West Kirby). Looking forward to seeing your work with the Q.
Best wishes,
Steven
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-28-2018, 09:38 PM
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I think returning it is the best course of action. The alternative would be to send it in to Tamron for service assuming it's covered by warranty. However, I had similar problems with my first copy of the 17-50 and two trips to the service centre did not fix it. I ended up selling that one for spares/ repair. I later got another which was bundled with a K-5 I bid on. That one was assembled in China rather than Vietnam or Japan and it works much better -- noticeably sharper in the corners and able to hit infinity at the wide end using AF (the old one would backfocus so much that it went beyond infinity meaning nothing was sharp within the frame). It is worth noting though that even the best copies seem to have some focus shift when you stop down so you may never get it dialed in precisely for all apertures and working distances.
If you need the 2.8 aperture though I might suggest avoiding this lens. While my good copy of the Tamron is usable wide open, it doesn't really excel until about f3.5. I also think the transmission (T-stop) isn't great. Nowadays for low light indoors I usually use my plastic fantastic DA 35 2.4 -- much lighter than the zoom and impressively sharp from wide open. To be honest, I still prefer my old 16-45 to the Tamron. while it's a nominally a stop slower, the Pentax lens is great wide open (above ~19mm: below this it's soft in the corners unless stopped down) and it is noticeably lighter, wider, has less distortion and vignetting -- and better colours.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-26-2018, 10:31 PM
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Prices seem to have risen lately -- I guess there are fewer around. There are bargains to be had though. I bought a silver copy in the UK recently for 50 GBP (around 65 USD). It has a few scrapes to the silver painted finish but works flawlessly. I tend now to use this more than my black one: the black one is in like-new condition so I tend to baby it (black one cost me approx. 100 USD two years ago). The K200D is my favourite camera. I use my K-5 and K-r much less these days. In good light the K200D prodiuces lovely clean images with great colour. Another advantage is that my Tamron 17-50 actually focusses accurately on the K200D. I could never get it dialled in right on the K-5 and having the faster lens on the older body is not a bad thing as I like to keep the sensitivity below ISO 400...
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