Do you have a question for the Pentax team of experts?

^yup.

Perhaps Pentax have missed a marketing opportunity there

Thanks Peter, I did see that post - which is why I worded my question in the way I did.
But perhaps I exagerate the problem - there are no reported occurrences of it on this site.

Ha! Pentax marketing is something that used to be very clever, but I doubt this is a topic for the team of experts that are answering our questions, pity.

I'd like to see the ability to check exposure and colour balance by reading in the camera from a grey card shot (or Expodisc). Reading from the JPG would suffice.

Just a centre reading averaged over a group of pixels would do, but it would be better if it could also be moved to the corners to check vignetting.

I do this at present by sending a shot to a PC using an Eye-Fi card, but being able to to do it from the camera would be quicker.

This an an actual shot at f/2.8 with a 28mm lens.
You can see the vignetting ....
It also shows the Pentax WB is spot on just 001 to much blue.




I would also like to see bracketing in Manual mode.

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Algi, sounds like a good idea ... I'm just unsure of exactly what you mean regarding the expodisc. When I set a custom WB with the disc on, I get the grey screen with square in the centre ... I can then move the square anywhere around the frame before pressing ok to set the wb based on that specific area ... Is this not what you are referring to?

I've always thought that a 'grey disc' for exposure metering would be helpful, but again I'm not sure what extra feature is needed to use it? What are you suggesting here? Does a grey disc not equalise the light reading across the entire frame, meaning any meter mode would give exactly the same result?

All the Expodisc info is on....

http://www.expoimaging.com/product-detail.php?cat_id=1&product_id=2

It's very accurately made.

Another alternative is the Whibal Card
http://michaeltapesdesign.com/whibal.html

Possibly Pentax could sell something similar.

All lenses vignette and it's useful to know by how much.

"Adjusting the white balance manually" is on page 208 of the K-5 manual. The same page should be in the K-7 manual as well. You have it correct above, but it would be handy to be able to check it. It would also useful for flash... very often warm wallpaper and furnishings throw the flash CT setting out. There is a "K" setting in the WB menu that lets you store 3 colour temperatures. I normally try 4500deg.... 4200deg.. 3900deg and pick the most neutral.

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I surely prefer to shoot without available light, but I can't see why on earth Pentax should keep being limited to P-TTL rather than return to the much trustworthy TTL (which Pentax introduced since LX days).

This in a general "landscape" where competitors sport TTL flash as a standard feature.

IMHO P-TTL isn't a feature, is a handicap.

So my question might be: "why/how should a wedding professional (I'm not) go with Pentax without a decent TTL flash metering?"

Hi, I have a Pentax K20 with a 18-55 pentax lense plus 2 other telephoto lenses and have just purchased a Pentax 1.4x lense for it. It mentions on the Ricoh site that earlier cameras MAY need a firmware update to utilise this fully? What is this, how do I get it and how do you download it.

I'd like to know why:
The focus peaking is only available prior to starting video recording on the K-30.
It would be extremely helpful for manual focus work during recording.

And can someone please explain the thinking (assume there was some?) behind this new 'Movie SR' shake reduction in the k-30 (and k-3 and k-01?).
It creates horrible warping distortions that don't occur in the K-5, suggesting the new method is software based at least to some degree instead of just mechanical in nature.

And is there any reason why these, and higher overall recording bitrates, couldn't actually be implemented in future firmware updates?

Thanks.

I can't understand why Pentax discontinued the off camera flash boom and the Hot shoe cable and grip.

All this seems to have been binned as soon as Digital SLR came into being.

As the worst place to mount a flash is on top of the camera, why has Pentax not produced similar kit for Digital SLR cameras?

I have 2 old SIGMA lenses that both fit the K bayonet mount from my redundant Pentax ME Super camera, and the f=35-70mm Zoom-master lens fits the Pentax K500 DSLR camera I have just bought, but the f=75-300mm ZOOM-~II lens will not turn into place after having been inserted even though the lugs on the K-mount match OK. Both lenses have a black projection lug, but that on the f=75-300mm lens seems to be further round the lens than on the f=35-70mm lens which seems to match the position of a similar projection on the Pentax DAL f=18-55mm lens that came with the Pentax K500. Why does the f-75-300mm Sigma lens with a K-mount not fit into the K500 body when the red dots are lined up, and is there any modification I can make to enable the lens to fit?

Using my K3 in selective spot(AF point) focussing, I find it so frustrating when I need to change one of the settings on the four way buttons. It would be great if one could just press and hold the AF Mode button, Make the changes in the 4 way controller buttons (Flash, Drive mode etc) Then release the AF Mode button. Surely this could be made possible?

My first pentax k5 body locked up and needed to have its battery removed to restart. My second, a k3 body wouldn't write to its cards, (first outing saw me take 300 photos and 118 were recorded on its card) and was replaced. The third Pentax a k3 again will not start the first time it is switched on, it just looks dead and it also needs its battery removed before it will burst into life. Taking a battery out means taking off the
DB5 grip and is a nuisance every time I want to take a photograph..

Have I jut been unlucky with my camera bodies? My Minolta and Panasonic cameras just didn't have these problems. Is there anything your technical experts can suggest to make the k3 camera useable ?

I hesitate to expose my ignorance, but after two years use I still do not understand the purpose of the green button on my K5. Old Pentax hands clearly know all about it without being told, but the manual is, to me, completely obscure. The only other guidance I've found so far is in the Magic Lantern book on the K7, which indicates that it simply acts as a point-and-shoot control. I don't expect detailed guidance in the forum, but I would be very grateful if anyone can point me to a suitable source of information.

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk/media/b571816120561df417cced2121b1211a/PENTAX-K-5...

The green button simply makes the camera reset the aperture and shutter speed to give a correct exposure... handy if you're in M mode and suddenly need to take a shot with auto settings. You can also use it to select the correct shutter speed when using M and K lenses (where the aperture is set on the aperture ring).