Calling all Pentax users....

[snaphappy]

Hi All,

I have been using my Pentax K10D for two months now, desperately trying to learn in time for my trip to India in 3 weeks. One thing I have realised is that a three month learning curve is not enough for the pictures I had hoped for and although that inspires me to keep learning, I would be grateful if somebody could point me in the right direction for a failsafe mode when I am out on my travels so that I don't come back with a stack of blurred photos)

I have the 18-55 kit lens, the 50-200 zoom DA (kit equivalent), the tamrom 28-300 zoom macro, and have just purchased the 50mm 1.4 Pentax lens. I am planning to take the Tamron and the 50mm with me but just don't know what to do.

Obviously there will be lots of scene shots and probably many from a distance using the full zoom - I don't seem to be able to get this sharp - any ideas?

What would be the best mode to get me out of problems? Some tell me shutter priority, others AV but I don't really understand why and would the green mode work - because I can't see the value of the green mode yet.

When I started shooting I was nearly always using the P mode but after a photography course tried more and more to use manual but on holiday really don't want to take too many risks unless I have the time (which is unlikely as it is a fast-paced tour with some wonderful opportunities to click).

Last question - what sort of settings should I be starting with for low light?

It sounds like I want somebody to write me a book ) but just a quick bit of guidance so that I don't mess up would be SO appreciated.

Thanks all ..........

Isi

[Transistor]

If you are concerned about image quality, but want to retain some of the control of manual consider shooting in Tv or Av modes depending ont he effect you're going for. This will allow you to set a shutter speed to minimise camera shake, or an apeture for a specific depth of feild dpednign on circumstances. I'm presuming the green mode is fully automatic, it will work just fine but you'll lose a lot of the creative options you get with a DSLR. Of course, if those options are still a little intimidating, go for it.

If you're using the 28-300 towards the long end, I'd make sure you have a shutter speed of 1/250 or higher, depnding on how steady your hands are, this might help with some of the softness. However, any lens with that sort of range has plenty of optical compromises, so it will never be quite as sharp as your 50mm prime. Stopping down to F8 or so might help if conditions are bright enough too.

Shooting in low light, the 50mm is perfect as it's nice and fast. You may still want to up the ISO to 800 or so. Other than that, a tripod is worth every cent you'll spend on it. If room is an issue or you don't want to carry a heavy one around all day, you might want to consider a gorrillapod or something simmilar.

I hope thats of a bit of help.

[mattdm]

Two important tips:

1) turn the dial on the back so you're selecting which focus point is used, and then use the arrow keys to move it around. The auto-multipoint mode seems to latch on to the wrong thing more than it should.

2) shake reduction takes a few seconds to activate. Half-press the shutter and wait for the icon to light in the viewfinder before firing.

[GEli]

I have to disagree with mattdm on his first point. Always use the centre focus point and recompose after focus-lock has been achieved. I can't imagine a situation where you'd want to use any other focus point. If you have lots of time, using the centre focus point and recomposing will give you more freedom in composure (as you won't be locked in to having the point you want to focus on be at one of the 9 default focus points. If you don't have a lot of time, deciding on and then selecting the focus point and then shooting takes up piles of time - far more than even focusing, locking and recomposing would. Traditionally with action photography you want your subject centred anyways (as it's all you have time to do), so the centre focus point will most likely be the one you select anyways.

As for automatic modes, I like aperture priority myself. Shutter speed doesn't particularly matter in most situations as long as it's fast enough to handhold while having a photo that is technically correctly exposed (in that enough light got to the sensor and it's sharp) but has an aperture 2 stops too fast will more likely than not result in an bokeh-fest completely lacking in detail in any plane outside that of the focus point. However, this mode does require you have some basic knowledge of photographic theory, which leads me to...

Books! You are going to buy, borrow, rent or steal and read the following books before your trip:

Understanding Exposure: A wonderful book by Bryan Peterson. It'll give you piles of knowledge in regards to the effects of the shutter speed, aperture and ISO you select and some very good rules of thumb in regards to each.

Magic Lantern Guide to the K10D: Really a simplified elaboration on the official manual of the K10D, it gives you some more info on what your camera can really do in less technical terms than your manual uses. By the sounds of things this book will really help you out.

Lastly, your manual. Cover to cover. Probably twice. To use your camera to its fullest you need to know exactly what button does what when used alone and when it's used in collaboration with any other button on your camera. Off the top of your head you should be able to tell someone how to turn on bracketed exposure, what pressing the OK button in tandem with turning the back thumbwheel (changes ISO), the difference between AF-S and AF-C focus modes and how to change your flash exposure compensation without a single 'Umm...'.

As for low light photography, there are two ways to do it right: A tripod or a fast lense coupled with high ISO. The latter is only one way to do fast-action low light photography. Luckily for you, your 50mm is damn fast, so I will offer some suggestions regarding its use:

Be extremely careful with focusing when it's wide open. At f/1.4 your plane of sharpest focus will extend a full 1.4cm from the point you focus on back, so if you do want to use this aperture (which is wonderful for portraits [b]if you are careful to focus on the eyes of your subject[/u]) be extra-triple careful that your focus is absolutely perfect. If it is not, assuming no undue luck or divine intervention, your photos will be unusable. The lense is at its sharpest from about f5.6-8 and deteriorates as you go in either direction from that range, so when you're in sunshine or are taking a long exposure on a tripod anyways and don't need any special bokeh that's the aperture range you should be shooting for. You perhaps may want to open it up a bit more than that even if you're in sunshine but are doing portraits, as that particular lense is clinically sharp at its best and a slight softening can actually be quite good at hiding blemishes of the skin.

I also advise you not to be afraid of cranking the ISO all the way up to 1600 if need be. Your image quality will of course suffer slightly (aside: the K10D with latest firmware is quite good at high ISO - rather film like grain rather than ugly chroma noise) but a slightly grainy image is far better than a shaky mess caused by too-long-to-handhold-you-fool shutter speeds.

Well that's all I can think of at this time. Please ask more questions (either new ones or asking to clarify what exactly I meant by the mess typed above) if you have them and most importantly have a great trip!

[mattdm]

Originally Posted by GEli

I have to disagree with mattdm on his first point. Always use the centre focus point and recompose after focus-lock has been achieved. I can't imagine a situation where you'd want to use any other focus point.

Well, we agree on the basic point, which is to use an intentionally selected point rather than hoping the automatic multipoint focus does the right thing.

If you have a narrow plane of focus and are close, using one of the off-center points may give better results than using the center and recomposing, but in general it's a matter of preference and style.

Understanding Exposure: A wonderful book by Bryan Peterson. It'll give you piles of knowledge in regards to the effects of the shutter speed, aperture and ISO you select and some very good rules of thumb in regards to each.

I'd suggest getting this from the library. It's an okay book but I think overrated. I particularly dislike how he tends to oversimplify to the point of being inaccurate. For example, he describes aperture, shutter speed, and ISO as sides of a triangle, which makes for a poor analogy mathematically. (Think of them as height, width, and depth of a cube instead, if you're inclined to geometric metaphors.)

Magic Lantern Guide to the K10D: Really a simplified elaboration on the official manual of the K10D, it gives you some more info on what your camera can really do in less technical terms than your manual uses. By the sounds of things this book will really help you out.

Again, I dunno. If you read the manual + ask questions here or other forums, there's nothing this book really adds.

[snaphappy]

Thanks folks - that is fantastic.... I am very excited about the 50mm so there are some great points there to practice with. I can't wait to be able to write a post like those and answer some poor beginner who doesn't feel like they know the right way up on a camera! I know I have bought probably the only camera without a fully automatic mode and that I really have to learn, learn, learn but I am also pleased with that because it is good to get thrown in the deep end and it can only get easier. I took a few night flash pics last night at a friend's birthday party and had to throw all bar one away - which was a huge disappointment but a steep learning curve! I am going to buy "Exposure" definitely - unfortunately Amazon doesn't get it to the island quick enough for me to have it before the trip but it will give me chance to improve before the next one. Thanks again for taking the time to respond. Isi

[mattdm]

The built-in flash of any camera isn't going to give good results — most crucially, they can't tilt to give indirect bounced light. So, one of the best bang-for-the-buck purchases for indoor photography is a decent hotshoe flash. More on that in another thread when the time comes.