K10D Version 1.10 Firmware Testing

I can confirm that wireless use of the built-in flash works very well. I have used it in combination with 1 x AF540FGZ and 2 x AF360FGZ with the popup acting as both master & controller.

Wireless High Speed Sync is not available and surprisingly, neither is the option (that the *istD has) of using the OK button to test fire the flash (just in case Pentax firmware developers are reading this).

I've noticed a high degree of green/red vertical banding at low ISO (100) when increasing the exposure of underexposed areas of RAW (DNG) images using Adobe Camera RAW.

I shot some images of the setting sun yesterday evening and had some very underexposed foreground. Although the sun in the shot got completely blown out, the foreground had significant and noticeable banding.

That said, this may have been a bit of an unfair test. Arguably, a heavily underexposed shot (or part of a shot) lacks certain image detail which no software can recover (AFAIK).

Well you should all have Version 1.10 for your K10D's now. If not, get the Pentax Official version here. The only difference as far as I can tell between the Pentax released product and the 'bootleg' version I loaded, is the modification date and time of the .bin file being different. The latter has a later date and time. I haven't compared the two files to determine any coding differences.

Enjoy.

Thanks for the link, Peter! Even though I knew the camera battery was charged enough and everything went according to the easy-to-follow accompanying text file, I still had my heart in my mouth for the couple of minutes that it took to upgrade.

All completed successfully, so I think I'm now going to leave my big Metz with the Z1 and have a look at the latest Pentax guns.

Ray.

Both files are identical

(Did a byte-for-byte file comparison)

Just off to upgrade....
Matt

Oooh, oooh
They've fixed a bug or two and added some really nice features

* Wireless - beautiful! That makes me one happy man I also noticed that the top LCD shows "W" and the flash symbol - they obviously had that one planned from the beginning

* The bug in Hyper-program with Auto ISO where you could shift the Tv slower, but then not faster (to up the ISO) has been fixed. Works exactly as the *ist-D now.

* The new e-dial modes for Av and Tv are fabulous! They're a bit like Hyper-program but with ISO. I've got the ISO on the thumb and Tv on the finger - Press the green button and it shows "Auto". You're on auto ISO, but the ISO is shown. Flick the ISO wheel and you override the auto-ISO. Brilliant (It's like the power of Sv mode but with a no-brainer mode too!)

- My only niggle is with the Manual WB - you can't see the colour temperature when you set it. It'd be much better if I could grab the K setting and plug it into one of the three memories. Still, that's a small niggle

Now all I've gotta do is find some time to go and put it to use
Matt

Thanks for the link

I'm off to charge the battery fully and update.

If anybody want's the instructions on how to use the new software I've converted it to a printable word doc

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/rfphotos/images/k10dupdate.doc

Since I always use Av mode, I was tickled to see that now I can quickly adjust the ISO by holding the OK button and using the front e-dial.
Splendid!!!!

Hi
I just got a K10D last week and a single AF360FGZ.
I am a newbie to flash generally.

After this firmware update, are any accessories (shoe adaptors/cables etc) needed for wireless external flash?
P.S. Are there any advantages to wired flash at all (and shelling out £30- for short cables and plastic adaptors)?
Many thanks.
ST

No, no external bits at all. Just put up the pop-up flash, choose the option in the custom menu (pop up is master or controller only) and set the AF360 to Slave 1 (hold the LIGHT button down for three seconds, until "SL 1" or "SL 2" shows, and press the "S" button to toggle).

Yes, there are advantages. The zoom information is transferred through the cabling and allows HS flash. This is most useful for outdoor portraiture (e.g. weddings) where you mount the flash on a bracket.

But, for 90% of flash work, wireless flash is a real plus - especially as you can mount the flash on a tripod with a brolley or other diffuser
Matt

Thanks Rodger, that will save a lot of time.


Successfully update my firmware, now I'm off to play with it.

Thanks Matt !