For help please

In Manual mode if you look at the values in the viewfinder you can adjust them until they are correct - there is a little indicator which shows when you have the correct exposure. So you decide you want say F4 and set that, then twiddle with the shutter speed until the little indicator is in the middle.

Clear as mud I know, but I'm sure if you look at your manual it will explain it better than I can .

Just to pick from where Glynn left off (if I may), I thought it might help to illustrate what I'd do in this situation.

My first step would be to put the K-x into Auto Exposure Bracketing mode, so that I'll have three shots 'in the can' for each go - and can then pick and choose the one I like best later . I'll assume you know how to do this, because it's not essential - just a convenience. Ask if you need info.

Ok - so now I'd go into Manual (M) mode, and the first thing I'd set in this situation (a static flower) is my desired aperture. Press the AV button up top, next to the green button (to select aperture on the e-dial), and then spin the e-dial round to, say, f5.6. In all honesty, looking at your shots above, and the depth of the bloom, maybe I'd dial up f8 or even f11, to get a bit more depth of field. But not too much, if you want that far-off background to stay blurred. Experiment (later)...

Now I'd sort out my first 'guess' at a shutter speed. Either press the AV button again (to put the e-dial back into shutter speed selection mode), or just wait a moment or two for it to revert to that mode automatically. Then dial up, say, 1/250th as a starting point.

I'd then point the camera (without looking through the viewfinder) roughly at the flower, and half-press the shutter, and let go again. This will kick the light-meter into life, and show something like this on the back LCD, in the box below the ISO readout:




This particular example shows that the light being read, for the aperture/shutter speed/ISO combination you're using, is about 1.3 f-stops underexposed, so you'd need a bit more light in. Spin the e-dial to slow the shutter down a stop or so. Alternatively (if you're, say, going handheld, and are already down to such a slow shutter-speed that'll cause camara-shake blur), you can open the aperture up a stop (i.e. a lower number). And if you're at the limits of shutter-speed and don't want to lose the depth of field you have from your selected aperture, then press the ISO button on the back of the camera, and select the next faster (higher-number) speed. Or get a tripod, of course!

Then repeat the metering process, and see whether you're nearer the centreline. If you see:




then the metering has switched off! It only meters for a short while, so half-press the shutter again and let go, to turn it back on. Eventually, you'll get somewhere near:




..which tells you that you're pretty much 'on the money'.

Now you can bring the camera up to your eye, and sort out the focus (whether you're using manual or auto focus, you'll be looking for that bleep and the steady green hexagon). You'll see something like this at the bottom of the viewfinder:




... which in this case tells me that I have (reading left-to-right):
- 1/250th selected as my shutter speed (and it's currently still the thing the e-dial will alter, if I spin it - that's what the underline means)
- F5.6 is my aperture
- I'm focussed
- I'm 2 f-stops OVER exposed!!

That's your double-check, in manual mode, that last bunch of numbers. It'll read either + or - a number of f-stops (or part f-stops). Ideally, you're aiming for 0.0, which means the meter thinks the exposure is perfect. It can still be fooled, though (if the subject is back-lit, or very reflective or white, for example) - which is why I still prefer to use the Auto Exposure Bracket mode to take three shots (one underexposed, one overexposed, one 'just right' - by the metere's standards, at least!).

But that's the basic drill, anyway. If you're finding that when you look through the viewfinder, you're still 'off' on the exposure, then as before, change the shutter speed or aperture (you can do that without taking your eye away from the viewfinder, with practice), or change the ISO (alas, in M mode, that's hidden, so you'll have to come back away from the viewfinder to do that, but it's less likely to be necessary than the other two options, really).

And that's it, really! Hope this helps a bit. Not trying to claim credit for the idea, but as Gwyn referred you to the manual, I thought I'd try and rustle up the key bits to save you having to look there. We all know how much we hate manuals, right?

Good luck, and let us see how you get on.