K20D nuggets of wisdom, please

OK, so I have myself a new (or rather, second-hand) and shiny Samsung GX-20, to all intents and purposes the same as a K20D. I also have the kit lenses, the 18-55mm and 50-200mm. I have started playing with the camera and getting good results, and I know the only real way to get the best out of it is to get to know it like the back of my hand. But I would really appreciate a few little nuggets of wisdom from those who have had a K20D, to help me on my way, particularly in my main area of interest, landscapes. For example...

1. What have you found to be the steps you would normally take with Adobe Camera Raw and/or Photoshop? For example, how have you found the white balance to be, as shot? (I took some shots of a harbour in the later afternoon sun on Sunday and found them to be coolish 'as shot', and rather improved by setting the white balance to 'Daylight' in ACR). And have you found yourselves generally doing something with Vibrancy and/or Saturation, and what USM sharpening settings have you found to work best?

2. Any tips on exposure? Like, do you find usually upping the Ev slightly? Or the opposite, or neither?

3. I know the kit lens is a kit lens and I can't expect miracles from it, but it was generally well reviewed. Have you found that it has a 'sweet spot' where it is really good? Or alternatively, areas to avoid? E.g., it's great from f5.6 onwards or whatever, or great from 21mm to 50mm, something like that?

Thanks in advance.

I still use a K20D for small product shots and I'd be loth to part with it.

I use Premium JPEG, set the EV compensation to +0.3 and use the kit lens at f/11 or f/16 ideally, for close ups anyway. Out and about f/8 to f/16 should give best results. Metering is Centre-weighted. WB is set to Daylight, or if the light is very cold then Cloudy or even Shade. Under a canopy of green for example the images can go rather purple, so Shade does the trick there.

Hope that helps!

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Best regards, John

Thanks, John, very helpful. So you explicitly set the white balance in the camera rather than shooting RAW and changing it afterwards? That presupposes you're shooting RAW of course, and given that you say you use Premium JPEG, perhaps I have my answer...

Oh, and kudos for spelling the word 'loth' correctly. I think it's the first time I've seen anyone spell it correctly in years!

Actually, your answer suggests another question I should be asking, specifically what camera settings work best for JPEG (sharpening, saturation, whatever). Although I got into the habit of late with my GX-10 of shooting JPEG+RAW, the reality is that most of the time good JPEGs would suffice for my purposes.

I use +1 sharpness, natural image. Any tweaking after that in Photoshop is minimal.

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Best regards, John

Debatable - it can be either loath or lothand the origins are from the Anglo Saxon lath

On the subject of the K20D - I shoot RAW+ with a JPEG size based on what I am doing. The file size is relatively small compared to newer models and you have the RAW available if you ever want to reprocess a file.

Get the latest PDCU software (V4) installed on your PC.

Get a second battery - I find that the indicator works reasonably well but suddenly the battery just dies - normally when I am in te middle of a set of shots.

I keep all the original JPEGs, so they are also available if a file needs to be reprocessed.

As regards the batteries, they last longer than the K-7/K-5 ones do, so two batteries ought to be enough.

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Best regards, John