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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-19-2014, 10:34 PM
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so what is everyone's opinion on the K-5 II body? What is the difference between the K-5 and the K-5 II? Also someone mentioned a K-50? Is that the same thing? I found a K-5 II for $400. Is that reasonable? Not sure what it was new? it is a used body with 10,000 shutter count.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-19-2014, 09:45 AM
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Hi. I've had my Pentax K-x for a year now and I am getting fairly good shots a lot of the time. The one thing I really like the looks of is the Nikon user's I know have the ability to move their focus point to where you want it instead of where the Pentax guesses at. (I use the center point focus and generally have good results now but....) I know the Nikon's have the movable focus point and movable metering with the focus point. I can see where this is really a good feature as sometimes even using center focus, my point of focus can be off a little bit. I'm considering a D3200 but then I would have to start my lens collection all over again. Do any of the newer Pentax's have these features? Maybe I should just buy a new Pentax body instead of jumping to Nikon. If the newer pentax body's have this feature, which ones are they? There are so many! LOL And do all the newer bodies use the K-mount lenses so that I can continue to use the lenses I have? Anyone use both Nikon and Pentax and venture an opinion on which they like better and why or the pros and cons of both? I like that Pentax has the vibration reduction actually built into the body instead of the lens...that's a really nice feature plus the catch in focus for older lenses is nice too...(not sure if Nikon has anything like that....) Anyway, just looking for experienced user input as I am still really new and have lots to learn. Thanks!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-11-2014, 04:19 PM
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Hi. I'm still fairly new to my Pentax.... around 6-7 months now. My son is playing basketball but my photos are still blurring-I'm mainly using a 18-250 lens and I tried my 35 to 105 lens. Any suggestions on minimum settings to try? I was also wondering if a prime lens would be a good choice? I've heard they are faster focusing? Any suggestions for stopping action and crisp clear shots? Setting helps would be a nice place to start as I am new but also wondered about the new lens? Hopefully something under $300? Does that exist? The next lens I was considering purchasing was a 35mm auto focus prime lens? Would this one be a good choice? I've heard it's a good one but don't know if it will be good for action or not? I am using a K-x.
Ideas?
Thank you?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-01-2013, 06:06 PM
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So not the response I was expecting! LOL. But hey, whatever works. I'll give it a try. :-)
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-01-2013, 09:25 AM
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Great idea....how do I lock it to a mm size?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-01-2013, 08:34 AM
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Sorry....I should have stated that I'm using a K-x....
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-01-2013, 08:02 AM
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This is GREAT information! I have a 50 1.7 that I'm going to go try this on! Thanks so much for sharing. Now maybe I can get a good portrait with this manual lens! :-)
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-01-2013, 07:42 AM
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I'm looking to buy my first prime lens and have a question.... every one has always said that I should buy the 50mm 1.8 lens to go with the DSLR and that is what I had planned to do after purchasing my camera a few months ago. However, the more I look around the more I am considering the 35mm 2.4 or 2.8 lens instead. I have seen some amazing portrait shots and others taken with the 35 lens. I want to take some really sharp, clear portraits and other things.
For those using a Pentax (all my friends use Nikon), if you didn't have a prime yet and were considering purchasing just one....which one would you choose and why? Anyone have both and wish to chime in? I'd love your thoughts! Which one do you find is more versatile and if you could have only one .... which would you choose? (I do have to mention I have a 50mm manual focus lens but wanted an autofocus that produces SHARP images.) Both of these lenses are rated really well. I'm going to ask for one for Christmas so I thought I'd better start researching which one I want now so I can save for it. :-)
I'm using a K-x...
Thoughts please?????
Thanks!
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Forum: Sold Items
09-30-2013, 04:37 PM
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-28-2013, 08:58 PM
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Hi. I have a K-x. How do I tell how many clicks the camera has taken? I've heard they are rated for 100,000 so I figured there must be a way to see how many pictures have been taken with it.
Thanks!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-29-2013, 02:54 PM
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Ok....so I played around a ton about 40 pictures worth on the K-x and finally got some really close to the first photo that I liked. (I'm going to try to go out today or tomorrow and do some outdoor shots as suggested.) In the meantime....here's some answers to comments above....
The K100D is set to jpeg because it would be easier for my young son to post his pictures on facebook on the photo challenge blog that he joined. So the photo I like the best was shot in jpeg. The K-x photos are taken in pef format. I was just hoping to get a "better" picture overall before I edited every picture after the fact.
I did try some of the pictures with the K-x set with the WB flash function, but didn't like those either. I'd post one, but I already deleted it. The actual white balance auto looked better which surprised me. I also tried the indoor tungsten setting and the auto WB was better than that photo also so I switched it back to auto WB. I thought it was interesting that the K100D set the auto WB at 200 using the flash and after taking more photos with the K-x and getting some really close to the above one, the K-x set the Auto WB at 800. Just thought that was interesting although I don't care that they are different, just that the overall picture is acceptable.
Today after reading everyone's comments, I have reset the camera settings back to factory settings even the custom ones. I have then reset for AF.S spot focusing, AE spot metering, aperture ring to permitted, PEF format, and sharpness to high as per the recommendations previously on focusing issues. :-)
Just out of curiosity and I know this questions is subjective to "likes" but what setting is your favorite under custom image for people or portraits and do you change if for every photo setting? ne person mentioned they liked natural....under natural do you leave it at default or is your "favorite" a little sharper and the saturation higher/lower etc. For foliage, the vivid setting would probably be nice for bright rich colors and I have liked the results on a few that I have done. I would think bright or natural would be good for overall...apparently the default is bright because that's what it's set to now. Do you change them every time you take photos? Does it become second nature or do you have one that does well for a lot of everyday shots and then change for specific ones when you are doing something specific? Just wondering "what" you like and why and do you change the saturation, hue etc every time you use one of this settings? Or do you change them under the main heading and leave them that way for the majority of shots under landscape for instance.... and mostly, what are you favorite settings for portraits under all the options? At this point that's my main interest in getting it right. Just wondering what you liked so I could try your settings for people that you already have played with and see what I like.
Thanks everyone. I've learned so much already in the last couple of months and have really appreciated the tips and tricks that have helped me overall with my camera including reading materials. I sure like it when I find out my troubles are operator error and not equipment issues as operator error I can learn to fix while equipment issues.....not so much! I'll try to get outside today and take some more photos with the lens now and see what happens and post those now that I have reset everything to default. Here's to hoping! :-)
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-28-2013, 10:08 PM
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Since I can't go outside tonight, I took another one indoors and set the EV compensation to 0.... better, but still not like the first one.... how can I get it to look like the first shot?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-28-2013, 09:31 PM
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Hi. I posted a month of so ago because I was struggling with people pictures on my first DSLR a K-x. Still not getting good results, but having purchased a K100D because it had a lens I was interested in (got both for less than the lens was worth), I turned the K100D over to my 10 year old son so he could join me and he was getting better pictures. Thinking it was the lens he was using (I bought it for portraits) I attached that lens on my K-x and took some photos. Still not great. So I finally grabbed the K100D and attached the lens back on it and my pictures were significantly better.
So I took some pictures....same lens, same subject, same settings and got drastically different results. Now I'm starting to think it isn't just me.... I wondering if something is wrong with my K-x. I did buy it used. Can you guys take a peak at these photos and tell me what "might" be wrong....
All of these photos are taken with the same lens, different camera, auto wb, flash f5.6 in AV mode. Same spot AF same spot metering, I'm the same distance away but it looks like I zoomed a little closer on the K100D than the K-x but....also with the Auto WB on the K-x it was way over exposed the first time so I had to manually set the ISO to 200 to get these pictures to compare. These were all taken indoors with the flash on so same light, same subject etc.
So photo 1 is K100D AV mode, 5.6, auto wb which the camera set to 200.
Photo 2 is the K-x, AV mode, 5.6, manual 200 wb with flash on
Photo 3 is the K-x, AV mode, 5.6 auto wb with flash - way over exposed...so I did manually set the 200 ISO since that's what the K100D set it as....
I'm so stressed right now as I spent a lot of money for the K-x....sigh....
What could be "wrong" with the K-x?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-25-2013, 05:11 PM
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How do I correct that in the software? I'll try again at F8 and see how it does.... Thanks!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-22-2013, 09:11 PM
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Wow.....I'm really impressed with the image quality of this lens! It's the sharpest one I now own. My 10 year old son took some pictures of me and my Grandmother and they turned out amazing! What a wonderful investment! So glad I found it and picked it up. It's giving me better pictures than my Pentax 18-250 lens. Lovin' it! If you can find one that looks like the one I posted, I would say grab it. I bought it for portraits and am impressed so far! I can't wait to play with it some more.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-16-2013, 03:48 PM
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OK.....so I took this brick wall picture a little ways away and the lowest f the lens would go..... it is at 5.6. It looks "distorted" to me. Is it suppose to be that way? It makes me queasy to look at it! LOL.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-16-2013, 03:29 PM
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Beautiful! That's exactly what I want to accomplish.... everyday NICE shots of my family. I would like to stage some at times, but want to just capture "them" at other moments with the clarity that you have! I'll do the next test that Dan recommends and post that photo and go from there. I'll play some more and be back for lens recommendations! LOL.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-15-2013, 04:17 PM
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Ok....let's try this again.... I have attached 3 photos.... 2 taken with the same lens (18-250) on 2 different cameras the kx and the k100d and then a third photo taken with the k-x and the kit 18-55 lens. I used the live view function, turned off the face detect and changed it to contrast AF, and focused all these photos on the girl by moving the box to her face. The ISO is different on the K100D because I couldn't figure out "how" to set that while they were sitting there as I haven't used that camera before and it didn't work just like the K-x so sorry that one is a little darker...the fstop is 6.7 also because it didn't go to 7.1 so I used the closest stop it would go to which could make it a little sharper but I'm not sure.... Would it make that much of a difference as that picture does appear to be a little sharper. So is something wrong with the k-x?
I have spent hours pouring over photos on flickr looking at settings for this camera and watching what lenses people use, but the majority of photos posted aren't of people so it makes it hard to figure out. I can't seem to figure out if it is completely operator error or if I bought the wrong camera or if their is something wrong with my camera or lens. My SX30IS on av mode would have no trouble with this photo but I was really trying to improve my skills and advance by upgrading to a DSLR but it's not for the faint of heart! LOL Any more thoughts????? Thank you so much for taking your time to help!!!! I really do appreciate your insights and hopefully I'll get there.
(I also went to the library and got the book "Understanding Exposure" that was recommended and started reading it a couple nights ago too so hopefully that will help.)
How long did it take you to get comfortable with the camera and how it works when you had your first DSLR? These pictures are better once again so I'm hoping I'll eventually get there! On the bright side, I learned a good lesson on spot focusing and some fun results of how it worked. :-)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-13-2013, 03:51 PM
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I have a K100D that I'd sell for lower than you quoted. I bought it with a lens I was looking for so I'm not using it. If you are interested, let me know.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-13-2013, 01:54 PM
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Ok....So i ran the focus test several times. I first printed it on regular paper, but it kinda bowed in the middle and my results showed front focusing so I tried laying it flat and couldn't get the angle quite right with my tripod so I finally reprinted it on cardstock, used the tripod and the timer, and did the test twice that way. The first time it showed a little front focus around the 6mm range on the left side of the chart but not the right side..(in all of my tests, it show more front focusing on the left side of the chart than the right. Strange....) Then trying to get it exactly centered, I did the test again trying to make sure everything was as aligned as I could get it. The last time using cardstock, a timer, and a tripod, the results showed pretty close to focused although even the "in focus" area could have been "more" in focus. So it appears that it is definitely operator error which is good news because that means that I can be taught and eventually get it right. :-)
With that in mind, I went out again and used the live focus per the above suggestion and it was set to use the face detect so I left it on. It detected both faces, but once again the main face is more in focus that the secondary face. When taking a picture of two people, I would really like BOTH of their faces to be in focus. I have two kids and I'd eventually like to use the self timer to take a family portrait of the 4 of us.
When using the live focus and moving the box, I will still only be able to select 1 face as the main focus correct? (I have not done this yet but will later when I get two people again.) Do I put the box on one face and take the picture or try to put it inbetween them? But then with the spot focus, it will focus between them which is apparently what happened in on of the above photos. If I can only put the box on one person either by positioning it in live mode or centering and recomposing in the viewfinder, am I always going to have one slightly out of focus?
I did do another test where I had my husband put his arm around my daughter and hug her so there heads were touching and that there was no light coming "between" them and using a f4.5 that one turned out quite well although my husband was in slightly better focus than my daughter. But in a lot of real life situations, people won't want to be that close to one another while getting their picture taken.
Could it be some type of setting that the previous owner had selected somewhere "deeper" in the controls that is causing this? One of these nights I"m going to go out in a controlled lighting setting against a building or barn and stage some shots to see how those work, but I'd really like to learn also how to take these snap shot type everyday photos also as there is a lot of times life is happening around us and that is the important thing at the moment. A picture is a reminder of the good time we had. I've tried doing some one-on-one shots of the kids with hit and miss results. I tend to get better results with only one person in the shot but once again, I often want two or even three in the shot.
I have access to an older K100D and I think I'll grab it and take it out and see how it does in the same situation. That might give me some info also....anything else to try when I go out again? My subjects are getting grumpy. LOL.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-12-2013, 07:15 PM
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Ok....I changed it back to AF.S, pointed it at the girl's eyes, held the shutter button down half way and when focused I kept the button pushed half way then recomposed to center and took the picture this time around. it's better again, but still not quite right....I also changed it to f7.1 for wider focusing (should I have kept it at 5.6 ?) ISO up to 400 and used the flash again. Interestingly enough, I pointed it at the girl, but the man looks more in focus....the light is better though.
Any more thoughts?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-12-2013, 05:49 PM
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Ok...so let's try this again.... I changed the AF to C and pointed the camera at the man, held the button down to focus, once focused moved the center point between them and this is the result.... still not great....
Also, I had to add fill light to these even though I used a flash.... I realize that it's in the shade and I should have upped the ISO, but when using a flash 6 feet away....shouldn't it be light enough???? What setting should the flash be on for general use?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-12-2013, 04:59 PM
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LOL..... that's what my focus point was on before and people suggested that I change it to spot focus...????
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-12-2013, 04:58 PM
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That's possible because I would have put the focus point in the middle of the two of them.... but how would I get "both" boys in focus without putting the center focus between them? Please pardon my inexperience....that's why I'm here! LOL.
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