learning ist D

I just bought an ist D and am trying to learn how to use it. I find the book that came with it to be very complicated. So far I have only been able to take a picture with built in flash, bring it up on the back screen to view and delete it (this did look under exposed as I have been reading about).

The first thing I had trouble with is when I tried to set the date when I first turned it on. I must have hit the wrong button because I lost that screen before I was finished and I could never find it again. The book said it would come up again the next time the camera was turned on buth this did not happen.

I bought a Lexar 40x CF 512 MB and on the top panel of the camera I see the number 117. Does this mean that I can only store 117 images in there? That does not seem like much for the price I paid. What do I need to do in order to store more?

I have not been able to figure out yet how to set the program to save in RAW, Tiff or whatever.

I am going to continue to try to figure out the manual, but can anyone offer basic suggestions (that are easy to understan) about the best way to use this camera? Any recommendations on digital books that might help me out with this?

Thanks for any information! Also, I only have my manual focus lenses. Can anyone suggest a good autofocus lens that will work with this camera well?

Ava

Hi Ava

You have asked a series of very complex questions, so first a few basics. The *istD is usually packaged with its 18-35mm FAJ lens, so perhaps you should start with that. If your maual focus lenses are A series you will be able to use many features of the camera, but if they are M or K series the functions available will be very limited.

If you want high quality you will need large file sizes and this will reduce the number of pictures per CF card. If you are happy with lower quality perhaps for web use then smaller file sizes will enable many more pictures to be taken on one card.

The idea is not, however, to store pictures on the CF card long term, but rather to download them to your computer and then re-use the card. A card reader is one of the more convenient ways to achieve this.

Do you have a suitable imaging program such as Adobe Elements 2 or Photoshop 7 or CE? This is where you will manipulate and refine your images ready for their final purpose, be it a print or web use or whatever else you have in mind.

I would suggest starting with the digital magazines, trying out the CDs that come with them and picking up tips and practice from there and also perhaps buying a beginners guide to digital photography.

But first keep on studying that camera manual, ask questions in this forum as you need to, read lots of material in magazines and web based and do get the appropriate lens for the camera.

Hope this helps a little at least!

Thank you for the information John. I am in the US and I could not find the camera and lens package here. The body is always sold alone. I do have the correct lenses that will work with the camera however, but they are all manual focus which is OK. I was just interested in trying an auto focus. All my lenses have the A setting.

Software came with the camera. My next project is to install it in my computer and try to download the pictures. I have been reading the manual and figured out some of the settings finally! I guess I was hoping to be able to bring the camera on a trip where I might take lots of pictures and be able to download them to my computer when I got home. The Raw setting only allows me about 34 or so pictures which is not much for a trip. The lower settings will allow me the 117 or more which is actually probably still not enough for a big trip, but you are telling me that I should not use this setting because the quality is low? What do people do in situations as this where they have no computer to download images? Is there another type of card that you can download and store to until you return home?

I have Photoshop 6 right now so that should be fine. I am just having trouble getting the settings so I like the images that I initially get. There are lots to play with and I am not sure what works best in which situations. White balance, automatic, AV, TV, manual, spot focus, and so on and on and on....I guess it takes lots of practice. Has anyone found settings that work best for them in different circumstances? In some of the reviews I saw there were wonderful pictures of sunsets and closeups of flowers and they all looked so good!

Hi Ava

You have a camera very capable of producing superb images from its 6.1MP sensor, but these files will be large. I guess they might produce a photographic quality print of around 15 by 12 inches at 300ppi. You could argue that there's no point having such a high resolution and then reducing it so that you can fit more pictures on a card, otherwise a smaller MP count would do perfectly well. So personally I would buy more cards, or perhaps one of the portable hard drives that are now available and which will allow you to store vast amounts of data on a portable device. Your card would plug into this device. There are also similar devices that will burn a CD from your card data.

Probably the RAW setting will not be needed, but perhaps save in camera as TIFF files or the highest quality JPEG setting, depending on what is available in the *istD.

Otherwise, you're OK with Photoshop 6 (There's a great book available called "Easy Photoshop 6") and from here on it's practice, practice, practice!

Hi Ava,

First of all, you have a camera that is highly capable of producing high-quality digital images! Don't get beasten if you are lost on the controls Just study the manual well, and you will soon realize how friendly this camera is!

Now on to your issues...

On CF card:
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Like what John said, high-quality images are bigger files, thus require bigger spaces. I think that the 117 capacity 'reading' of your 512Mb CF suggests that your camera is most likely set to Highest-Quality JPEG (indicated as '***L' on the LCD Top Panel) , as my 256Mb reads 57 (or 58?) when empty at the same setting. Note that this setting allows you to capture 3008x2008 pixel images - more than enough to provide you even 16x20" prints at 150DPI or 15x12" at 300dpi. If you think you wont be printing the images at these sizes and be happy with just 4R, 5R or 6R prints, or you just want web/screen output, you can set the JPEG SIZE (not QUALITY) to Medium or Small, such that your panel reads *** M for Medium or *** S for Small. (The '***' denotes Highest-Quality JPEG.) This will significantly allow you to store more images on the CF card, but it DOES NOT sacrifice image quality. This is what I do for birthdays and ordinary occasions/parties/gatherings where I don't intend to print the images bigger than 6R.

If you want the best quality and largest image, you may set the Image format to RAW or TIFF. Both RAW and TIFF formats are "loss-less" formats, meaning they store the most information, as opposed to JPEG where the image undergoes "compression", lossing some details in favour of smaller file sizes. But do take note that TIFF & RAW files are huge. The diff between RAW and TIFF is that RAW is an "untouched
" version of the image - it's what the lense sees, without any in-camera software enhancements made. But one thing dissappointing about the Pentax RAW is that the utility software that comes with it is very simplified - lesser control... in fact you can't even resize the image on screen. Furthermore, the very powerful, sophisticated RAW utility built into Photoshop CS does not recognize Pentax RAW - at least at this moment. I hope a software plug-in will come in soon.


On Storage:
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If you travel a lot, you need a portable storage where you can transfer your images from the CF card. CF cards are not meant to be long-term storage devices. As a typical example, here where I live (Singapore) there are third-party portable storage devices with a generic name "Image Tank", with names like X-Drive, TerraMate, NixView...etc. - all of which uses small harddisks (those used on Laptops) of varying capacities. They allow several known medias as input - some of them even have LCDs where you can browse the images!!! These units can be bought with or without harddisk. Buying the unit without hardisk is prefered if you choose to buy your harddisk separately. It sells for about SG$160 without the harddisk here, and is considered to be the most practical portable storage to use, unless you carry a portable laptop computer with you, in which case you may need to have a card reader.


Lense:
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I think John gave his comments on this. If you have A lenses, you can still utilize the full potential of the camera. If you own M or K mount lenses, your functions may be limited.

If you can afford to get a SMC 50mm f1.7 I highly recommend this lens. It is cheap, yet it offers superb image quality, not to mention the ability to shoot with available light indoors!! For portraits, I almost always use it now. It is very sharp, contrasty and provides naturally accurate colors. Only prob is it behaves like a 80mm on the *ist-D, not good for confined spaces.

I think the lense that comes with the camera, the FAJ 18-35mm is good enough for most situations. An ultra-wide lense is important if you shoot wide angles. Due to the 1.6x magnification factor, for example, the 24mm effect on 35mm film requires you to have 15mm lense for this camera!


Hope that helps

That was very helpful! I am slowly learning the camera. It can be confusing sometimes, but I am slowly getting better. It will take time and practice I think!

I just ordered a device for storage and am awaiting it's arrival.