Can the K10D multi-task?

Someone I know, the owner of an ist D has had a Samsung GX10 on loan for a week.
He is not impressed. One thing which is driving him nuts is that he cannot change the settings (ISO, WB) while the camera is writing to memory. He can do this on the D and sees is as an obstacle to changing. He is generally not impressed with the Samsung. He hates the position of the green button too, and says the WB for artificial lighting is terrible.
Can the K10D cope with setting changes whilst writing to memory or not?

Been having a similar issue whilst trying to change settings using the exposure comp dial - I often manually want to take a shot and then adjust the exp comp but I have to wait before the input dial will have any effect.

I've given my *ist-D to my Dad so haven't been able to make any comparisions and can't remember if it caused me an issue or not on the old camera.

Will

Hmmm.
The *ist-D took an absolute age to write RAW to the card so updating while writing may have been useful. However, the K10D with a decent 133x card (I use a Lexar) writes amazingly fast. In fact, I'm not sure I'd even have the time to do anything while it was busy

As for green button - having used the K10D since December I find it much more intuitive and the *ist-D more awkward. Some things you've just got to get used to.

Haven't had a big problem with WB on the K10D - I'd say it was better under more situations. Tungsten with AWB is always yuck. And in any case, I shoot RAW and sort it out on the PC with Silkypix. My only niggle was that the *ist-D had great WB memories and worked really quickly with the Expodisc. The K10D is still a bit too fiddly to use the Expodisc quickly

The speed and massive LCD I miss when switching back to the *ist-D
...and when it comes to image quality there's no contest

But I'll check...
Matt

I'm using quick cards too Matt (Extreme III's) but still having this little niggle (and it's just that, nothing more) - rather than set the camera up to do auto-bracketing I'm doing it myself as I can do it quicker than the camera can (and I can pick what shots I need to bracket) but the issue is that the camera won't allow a change of setting until it's finished writing to the card. I can of course keep on shooting to the buffer but only at the same setting - I'm finding that I'm having to bring the camera down from my eye and wait for the preview to appear on the screen before I adjust the exp comp.

If you could have a check on yours, I'd love for you to tell me I'm wrong and there's a quick way round it...

Will

I've just tried this with my k10, SanDisk Ultra II 2GB, using DNG only.

Took a shot, with camera still to my eye, pressed OK with my thumb and used right index finger to adjust iso.

there was no delay but I didn't see if the camera was writing to the card.

Took another shot, moved camera to see back, card writing light was on, pressed Fn to bring up WB, by the time the Fn screen had come on, the k10 had stopped writing to the card. There was no delay between pressing Fn and screen appearing.

By holding the k10 at chest level, pointing and shooting, then pressing the Fn button straight away I can get the Fn screen up and enter the WB screen while the card is still writing.

I've not timed it but writing takes ~ 2 seconds.

On my setup, writing to the card is not delaying access to other settings.

Just tried changing Exposure Comp while in Av: with the camera to my eye and thumb on the ExpCom button, I took a shot, pressed with my thumb, ExpComp came up no problem. Couldn't see if the camera had finished writing by the time I made an adjustment.

The way it's working for me, the functions are readily available as soon as needed, it takes me longer to make the adjustment necessary than the camera takes writing to the card.

When trying to do this I was concentrating on pressing buttons, not taking pictures. When I'm taking pictures things are much more laid back.

Might be a difference in firmware... ?
Will - what version are you running? I'm running v1.1 and will try it out later
Matt

Marc's problem is that he tried taking several photos then wanted to change the settings, and had to wait while all the photos were written to the card, thereby missing his next shot. He tried it several times apparently and couldn't change settings, whilst he can on the D. He always shoots RAW.
He wondered if it was only on the Samsung that this was a problem. He is a die hard Pentax fan, but works for a big retailer and so was able to borrow the Samsung to try out - they do this so the salesmen know what they are talking about!
I think he has decided to save his money, and maybe invest it in new lenses when they come out - he has a serious LBA problem

As a burst mode? Haven't tried that!

Well I just did, filled the buffer with raw and while writing pressed the Fn button to bring up WB, etc. I can also change most settings while writing.

It doesn't seem to be a problem on the k10 with v1.1 firmware.

In fact I can fill the buffer, change WB and ISO, before the buffer finishes writing, refill the buffer with maybe 3-4 rapid shots, change settings again, and fill up the buffer again.... several times!

I didn't know I could do that.

'Course, the photo's are crap, mostly my fireplace, mostly blurry and too dark, but in principle you don't have to wait for the buffer to empty to change settings and take more pics.

Def running v1.1 - the only issue I have is with the exp comp. Maybe it's the way that I'm doing things?

Mainly shooting in Av with the front dial set to exp comp - the camera has to 'think' a while before accepting the increase or decrease I'm trying to dial in with the exp comp settings.

In fact I've just tried it again sat here at the computer taking shots of the living room. I'm set at f2.8 and getting shutter speed of 0.5 secs, immediately after pressing the shutter I try to adjust the exp comp by turning the front e-dial and it won't accept my input until it's finished writing which at these longish shutter speeds is even worse on the write time than 'normal' shooting conditions.

Just tried again by shooting at a light and have the same but slightly different problem - write times are now quicker as I'm shooting at 1/180th but the exp comp dial still stalls and I can tell that it stalls whilst the image pops up on the rear screen.

Just tried it whilst/after firing a burst - it's not the files writing to the card that presents the problem. It only stalls whilst it's putting (or trying to put) the image up on the rear screen.

Intrigued now to know if anyone can replicate this? It's not a huge issue but the way that I shoot I tend to use the exp comp quite a bit depending on the lighting. The 'stalling' means that I have to double check the exp comp setting before I fire, I can't rely on 1 click of the wheel always moving it 1/2 or 1/3 stop plus or minus.

Does this make any sense?

Will

Will

Just changed my setup as yours, yes the front dial does pause while the image is displayed so an extra click or two can be missed.

What i don't understand though, is why you are changing settings without seeing the result of the image you've just shot?

If I'm not sure of brightness settings, I take a shot, look at it, change a setting, take a shot, check, etc.

Wouldn't auto bracketing give you what you want?

I'm not totally sure, but I suspect you are trying to put exposure compensation on without measuring an exposure. That is, the original exposure may still be locked in until you take a new one with a new half press of the shutter release. Once you have dialled in compensation it will stay there until you take it away again.

Try a light pressure on the shutter button before you dial in the compensation. I've noticed this on occasion and i think it might have nothing to do with writing to the card.

In that case, you might want to try disabling the preview feature in the menu
(Set the image preview to 0sec)
Maybe that'll solve the "problems".
Matt

Just found a really, really slow SD card (a 64Mb Boots card ) and I can confirm that the Pentax K10D can multitask very nicely.

Took about 20 seconds to write a DNG and in that time I could adjust anything (menus, dials whatever) all while the red LED was lit.

No problem then
(Maybe the Samsung doesn't multitask???)
Matt

Do we know if the samsung uses DDR memory? Does it save to the SD card as quickly as the K10D? I suspect (without evidence!), not!.

There seems to be a presumption that the Samsung variants will be in some way inferior because things will have been purposely left out or reduced in specification.

Do we have any real evidence of this?