Finally...

I did shoot slide film, but that was a loooong time ago...

Well I always leave the camera at ISO-400 (biggest dynamic range for the Kx) - unless in extreme conditions.

The F2 was as I was shooting headshots indoors in gloomy indoors and wanted the background defocused, then we unexpectidly moved outside, the sun suddenly changed from gloom to bright sunshine, and I didn't review pics for a few minutes. As soon as I reviewed a shot, tried doing -EV, that didn't fix it as still at the shutter-speed limit (although had to take shots to find-out - as I said, you can't see what the viewfinder is saying - then dropped to ISO-200 and raising the F stop a bit! If I'd know we were going outside I would either had a CPL to hand (takes a stop off) or gone for a different lens than the 50/1.7 in the first place...

on the bright side, I now know what the max shutter speed is, so can avoid it... as I usually shoot in low-light. where too-long shutter is a problem (i.e. blur), I never really found that before!

It looks like we've found the problem.

If this 50mm f1.7 lens isn't an A series one, then that is probably the source of any exposure errors as well.

its an A series. See my .sig...

I do have some interesting sequential shots with very different exposure when I swapped between that lens to the 12-24 though...need to look at them in detail though when I'm back at the computer, it could be quite revealing.

Anyway, over-exposure errors are worst with the Sigma 30/1.4, which I'm considering changing for a DA-40 instead, as not making succesful use of the lower f-stop...

Not at all, i-Berg, please carry on. Flossie may be able to solve the focusing problem with all this helpful advice.

I merely wanted to celebrate achieveing a minor ambition: I live in a Pentax desert (or so I thought). It was great to see a big outlet displaying cameras in such a helpful and accessible way (though I don't suppose anyone there could have told folks much about their relative merits).

One wonders whether owners of other makes are so sensitively served by a site such as this and its thoughtful members.

I shot one slide film in my life.

Composition: Not too bad
Exposure: Dreadful. Hopeless. Rubbish. Truly crap.

Back to film, until digital. Then it became affordable to work on getting exposure right

the irony in this for me is I started out doing b&W on tri-x then color doing slides on velvia, and kodachrome, then negative films like agfa portrait 160, ultra 50, and kodak max 800. Shooting digital required going back to what I learned from slide film at first...

Slide film made me a better photographer. period.
nothing on earth teaches you to think about photography, like slide film.
to this very day, I can walk into a room or scene or set, guess the exposure (I'm usually within 2 or 3 tenths of a stop compared to my lightmeter) and guess what color balance I need...
if something in my camera's display info doesn't jive with my guestimate, I know right away to check my camera's settings to see if something is not where I expect it to be set...

Ah. I've sussed this by reviewing the shots on the camera and the helpful info panel. Although the camera was set to Auto / Matrix which it happily did for the 12-24, when the A 50/1.7 was used it changed itself into Spot Mode, hence the different exposure on those particular shots. Lightroom is great, but it doesn't always tell you the information you want...

I have also found I can see which shots were in AF and which I had to go to MF on the 12-24, so I will be able to post some examples tomorrow and maybe people can explain why it refused to lock focus so often : I didn't have any problems the next day in identical conditions when I wandered-around with the DFA-100 (well, its the Samsung version, but effectively a DFA...)

yes please a needle like my Spotmatic !

Pete

It's not exactly the same, but in M mode you do get a +/- bar that is similar.

Doesn't the lightmeter do the same thing?
What about this viewfinder, it's from the *ist D

Can’t really help with the focus issue, as I’ve set my (now slightly dented) K20D to focus only on the back button, and manual focus when needed.

However as regards the clipping, I use spot metering most of the time where clipping/blown highlights are likely to occur.

Meter off the brightest area, which in my case is often the sky (obviously not the sun), but could be a wedding dress or whatever bright area you don’t want to clip. Then dial in + exposure compensation, to whatever latitude your camera can go to can go to without clipping the highlights. This will give you the best you can get from the shadows without clipping the highlights

I generally use AE-L, then dial + 2 to 2.5 EV into the K20D.

If the shadows are more important I go to +3 EV, and from what I’ve read the KX can pull more from the shadows anyway.

If you already know this technique, my apologies

Regards

Paul

Paul why not use the M-mode and the green button instead off using the AE-L button?

Thanks Stefan
Most of the time I use program, centre weighted or multi zone and use thumb wheel to set aperture, so only use the technique when blown highlights etc are going to be problem.
I can feel the exposure handle and hear it click same with the AE-L.(no click)
Good practise for when its dark.
Do use manual when I can.

Paul

Thank you Paul.
I use the green button like an AV mode on command when the camera is in manual mode.
With one press of the button the camera sets himself and doesn't change values without the need to lock it.
It's just how you're used to use the camera

Your right Stefan, its whatever your happy with. Perhaps I’m transferring techniques learned on older SLR’s

I mainly use a tripod, so aperture priority is my preference and using an aperture that gets the best from whichever lens I’m using sometimes straying either side if needed. So just setting the correct shutter/aperture combination is not my best option as it tends to prioritize for shutter speed which is logical for camera shake.

I can obviously change it for my needs but then pressing AE-L works for me.
To anticipate your reply I have changed the program line to No.3 for Depth, it still errs on keeping shutter speed high which is sensible if hand held.

So if the scene is well lit I often use metered manual to ‘keep my hand in’ as they say, if not then program, thumb wheel and AE-L.

Sorry to hijack your thread Andrew, good to see Pentax in the mainstream shops again.

Paul