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As these camera makers own a smaller market share than Canon or Nikon, they have often tried more radical and innovative approaches than the big two. You can see both Canon and Nikon as more traditional makers with very consistent and proven features in their cameras.
When Sony bought Konica-Minolta's camera division, they inherited the only body-based ...
26
Professional cameras such as the Canon 1D Mark IV have dual memory card slots for a variety of professional use cases. I will break them down into three main groupings:
Mirroring of the image across multiple cards for redundancy
Automatic switching to a second card after the first one reaches capacity
Ability to write different file formats to different ...
26
Well, it seems obvious that the film did not advance between shots. Whether that's because of user error (film not installed right so it didn't catch on the advancing mechanism) or a hardware issue with the advance mechanism not working properly can't really be determined without more information and/or inspection of the camera...
Try taking a couple shots ...
20
Doing double exposures with the k1000 requires that you cock the shutter using the lever while simultaneously holding down the release on the camera bottom. This allows the shutter to cock while not advancing the film.
Check to make sure that this release button isn’t sticking in.
17
I default to the three-star setting (out of four), but I always use RAW + JPEG so I can revisit the choice, because there are situations where yes, it makes a difference. Particularly, when there is strong contrast across color channels, like a tree with red leaves or flowers against a blue sky, JPEG compression artifacts can be surprisingly visible with the ...
17
So, there a couple of basics to get out of the way first.
Pentax DSLRs are just fine compared to Canon and Nikon; they're solidly built, have a decent but smaller following, and in fact often have better features at the same price level (because they need to, to compete). That's not to say blindly that "Pentax Is The Best!"; in fact, they're all great and I ...
16
Canon E-TTL
E-TTL stands for "Evaluative Through the Lens" and was introduced in 1995.
A low power preflash is fired immediately before shutter opens and its reflectance is measured to determine correct flash exposure. Entire frame is analyzed by the same evaluative exposure metering system as ambient exposure, area under active AF point is given more ...
14
This is a great camera with a lot of advantages for a beginner. It's dead simple and very reliable. It doesn't even need a battery, except to meter. And the meter is great — a simple, direct needle which indicates the overall exposure of the whole frame. I find this much more enjoyable to use than the LED indicators used on newer fancier cameras. Combined ...
11
If you move the focus ring, you will find the the 3m/9ft mark is also in orange. Many Pentax wide angle lenses use an orange marking at f/8 which corresponds to an orange hyper-focal focus distance mark on the focus ring.
The orange marks are just for convenience for a quick hyperfocal distance reference.
When the orange marks are aligned, by using f/8 at ...
10
As stated here ( and guessed by Dreamager) it is aligned with the lens release button of older Pentax cameras. It's much easier to change the lens in the dark. ( I don't really understand the advantage of the newer orange dots. )
From K-1000 user's manual:
In the dark, when red dots are difficult to see, align the white
plastic bump on the lens barrel ...
10
A few points that haven't been mentioned about Sony's cameras:
The only way to get autofocus Zeiss lenses1. While Zeiss makes lenses for Canon and Nikon mounts, they're strictly manual focus.
Yes, old Minolta lenses work -- and many are almost amazingly good on digital. Just for one example, there was a recent comparative review of the old (circa 1985) ...
10
You apparently have Highlight Correction activated. This forces the higher ISO limit (usually forcing it from 100 to 200, though you also have Expanded Sensitivity enabled, which gives you a broader ISO range starting at 80, thus now 160).
So, there's nothing wrong with your camera.
Mind you: Options you find that look superior may come with a downside. ...
10
Film works by changing when exposed to light. If you have exposed the film to light, then any information it captured will be lost as the film will have been completely over-exposed and washed out. If you did it in complete darkness or, if it's orthochromatic, limited spectrum of light to which the film isn't sensitive (like the red lights in a dark room) ...
9
As you can see from a side-by-side feature comparison, the K-5 has a few advantages — 14-bit processing, somewhat faster shutter, a few more modes on the dial. It has a top LCD screen, and it has a magnesium-alloy body. On the other hand, the K-30 has some improvements of its own. Whether these things are compelling to you is a personal decision, but as ...
9
I don't know about this particular model, but in all my film cameras advancing the film (by pulling the film advance lever) resets the film release lock. Depress shutter with cap on, then advance again. You should see the winder turn, indicating the film is advancing. That should be enough to keep you shooting. (I'm assuming from your post, that you don't ...
9
Many lenses from that era had the f/stop calculated by the lens designers to be the "sharpest" or "sweet spot" marked in a different color than the other f-numbers. A cursory survey of a couple of reviews of the lens in question indicate that the reviewers found f/8 to be the sharpest aperture setting.
As this answer points out, this particular lens also ...
8
If you have trouble with to much sun, a ND (Neutral Density) might be want you want. This gives you the option of having a higher aperture even when there is much sun.
A polarization filter might also be handy. This way you could get rid of the reflections from the ocean. Also you could get that postcard feeling with a more blue sky.
There are many people ...
8
My direct experience with travel matches advice I was given years ago: expect to take the same kinds of photos, with the same type of equipment, as at home. If you have a particular lens that is rarely needed then there's no reason to expect that this will finally be the time to use it. The same goes for tripods, field notebooks, or any other new habit that ...
8
I started out much the same way, choosing Pentax DSLR because I already had Pentax lenses. While I'm still with Pentax (now on my 3rd: ist-D; K-10D and now K-5), to be honest I barely ever used my original lenses. Absolutely no offense intended but your existing lenses don't look anything particularly special, just as mine weren't - they look perfectly ...
8
Small haul of Pentax gear, what have I got here?
You've got an old film body, two fairly mediocre older zoom lenses, and a pretty good 70-210mm f/4-5.6. The two telephoto zooms have quite a bit of overlap. You've got one of several different 50mm prime lenses offered by Pentax over the years. You've also got an old 1.7X AF adapter that is worth a bit on the ...
7
as Itai's answer was very detailed, I will only add some details regarding to Pentax, which at least for me were important when buying my first DSLR:
1) support for AA batteries in Pentax entry level DSLR - some people love it, some hate it ... (I am from the first group :-) ) - currently you can decide as newest K-r supports both.
2) Pentax has excellent ...
7
The distance, camera to subject determines the perspective of the image. Consider, things close to the camera reproduce large, and things further away, reproduce small. If you work in too close, the nose reproduces too big and the ears too small. We are taking distortion. It is mainly distortion of the facial features that causes the subject to say, “I look ...
7
Just because you have old Pentax consumer grade zoom lenses isn't the best reason to decide to go with a new Pentax digital body. That 28-80 and 80-210 and 100-300 are mediocre consumer level lenses that you should not get excited about. They are worth a little used - but not a lot. The current kit lenses sold with new Pentax digital bodies are better lenses....
7
I've seen P&S cameras use up a roll in two ways:
The film is inserted, the back closed, and then the camera pulls the whole roll onto the take-up spool. As you shoot, each from is "advanced" back into the cassette. When you hit the end, what you've shot is already in the cassette.
The film is inserted, the back closed, and the camera then advances to ...
6
SEL or Select mode is a Pentax focus mode that allows you to select which point to focus on out of the available focus points. Auto mode is on the other hand going to select from the available focus points(11 in the case of the K10D) whichever it feels is the best using the TTL phase-matching system(SAFOX VIII) and the subject. A third option is available ...
6
I'll add Sigma for completeness.
Sigma fits well with the "smaller camera makers can be more experimental" theme: Their primary claim to uniqueness is that the Sigma DSLRs are using a different type of sensor, the Foveon X3, which has higher per-pixel color resolution than the standard Bayer filter sensor.
A little background:
Almost all DSLRs use a type ...
6
When 2 of mine failed, the solution was the same: Send it back to the manufacturer. Once it was under warranty, the other time it was not. Pentax is notoriously slow at servicing parts and, sadly, it took between 2 and 4 months to get the lenses back.
These were some of their earliest lenses which had more problems. This has not happened with any of my ...
6
You have quite a few questions here.
The first that you asked was about an ultra wide angle lens for the Pentax KR.
Sigma has an option in the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens, Pentax also offers the Tamron AF 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 SP Di II LD Aspherical (IF) Lens. If you are wondering why these two cost around $500, see this previous question:
Why are ...
6
I have used P-TTL flash on some events, and have generally been quite satisfied with the results. I don't like the "deer in headlights" look of a direct on-camera flash, so I've only used bounce flash, or off-camera flash. That said, here are some ideas why underexposure might be experienced and how to avoid it.
In exposure modes where shutter time is not ...
6
The K1000 has a pentaprism - it will be notably brighter and clearer to look through than even most modern "consumer" DSLRs. It also has a focussing screen with microprism collar and split-screen rangefinder, which is a tremendous help when learning how to focus manually. It's incredibly rugged and reliable, and does not need a battery to operate, so long as ...
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