K10d underexposure

This is my first post on this site, so "Hi all you fellow Pentax users".

Has anybody else found their K10d to be prone to underexposure? I find most of my shots to be flat and requiring a not inconsiderable tweak to the raw exposure; now I almost permanently have exposure comp set to at least +1.

Any help/advice with this would be most appreciated

Welcome to PU.

Yes we have..... It is quite common and some say it is on purpose that pentax wanted the camera to underexpose a bit. + 1 seems to be on the high side perhaps.

Try search the forum for underexposure and you will find a lot of threads about it.

Nothing wrong with the camera - just something that is normal and wanted.

I usually have my bodies set to +0.7. At other times, I will use spot metering, and adjust until everything is right. It does rather depend on the circumstances.

In the days of print film, exposure was often out by as much as a couple of stops, and the latitude of the film meant that it didn't matter. Now we have histograms, and demand a greater degree of perfection than the camera is perhaps capable of.

Things were more critical with transparencies, so slide shooters developed their own techniques for ensuring that exposure was correct.

Regards

G

I find that my K10D tends to underexpose more in dark situations but is easily rectified in PSP. It also varies to some extent with which lens is in use. I understand that the cameras are designed intentionally to underexpose slightly to minimise the burning out of highlights.

John

I think most people have found this when buying a Pentax, I do the same as the previous poster and use +0.7 EV pretty much all the time

simon

I have mine set on -1 all the time as I mainly use manual focus lenses with the A setting in AV mode and the K10D seems to over expose considerably with those past wide open.

I've noticed that recently, it's never been a problem with my Pentax A series lenses (although I only have one), but it seems to be the case with my Tamron Adaptall lenses with the A series adaptor

Yes, I must admit it seems worse on my 90mm Tamron with the PKA adaptall mount.
It will be interesting to see if it is the same with the 70-210mm SP adaptall 2 that I have coming.

There was a thread on another forum where a chap was advertising a 80-200mm f2/8 tamron adaptall 2 that I was interested in and he said something about putting a shim on the lens or mount to stop the over exposure.?

Well I've had the same feeling when I bought the camera. Then I got used to it and I do MUCH more exposure correction than I was used to with MZ-5n shooting slides. By default I don't correct the exposure metering but quite often the highlights are blown so I correct it. In average more to underexposure than to overexposure.

Re the Tamrom adaptall

According to photoshop my 500 F8 mirror has been modified to a F4 both with and without a 2x converter hanging on the front of my IstD so they may just a tamron interface "thing", as to exposure +0.7 seems to pull everything in perfection - less tweeks in PS = more time with a lens.

Regards
Alan

Me too...

(sorry, couldn't resist...)