Learning to use the K10D and...

I have only had the K10D for a few days, and only took my first picture last night. I have been reading through the manual and trying to understand the new settings that have not been on my previous cameras.

I am going to my sons first concert at his university tomorrow night. It will be dark with a lit stage. I am wondering what the best setting would be in this situation. The sensitivity setting? A manual setting?

Hey.

I would suggest you to use the Av mode.

Using this - you can control both the sensitivity and the exposure. The camrea sets the shutterspeed.

I find this feature the best for low light.

Of course you need a fast lens (perhaps a prime).

Interesting - I'd have suggested the reverse!

Firstly use the Av mode at f4 say and see what shutter speed it comes up with which may be depressingly slow.

Then I think I'd mess about a bt in Tv mode starting with the setting Av suggested which might be as low as 1/20th with anti shake on. I think I'd then see how I got on - one thing I think you'd be wise to try and get to grips with fast is the histogram on preview/info as that will tell you how your exposure is going.

I fear you'll have very dark areas and spot lit areas and I think you'll need to expose for the spot lit areas otherwise they will burn out.

It will be quite a learning experience!

Now let's wait for a third and different opinion!

Mike

When working with concerts in these conditions I do the following:

1. Set Manual mode
2. Set the metering to Spot (the dial on the left hand side)
3. When someone comes on stage, zoom in, point the very centre to their forehead and press the Green button (this will set the exposure)
4. If this is too slow, then increase the ISO rating (on firmware 1.3 you should be able to hold in the OK button and dial in the ISO on the front wheel). Then repeat step 3.

If you use Matrix metering the camera will try to make the generally-black stage into a mid grey, and consequently everyone will be over-exposed

...and shoot RAW too - because you can easily adjust the exposure after the event

Hope that helps!
Matt

Thank you for the suggestions. I will see how it goes. I don't know what Firmware is in it, because it just came out of the box. I don't know if I need to somehow update this.

I am not certain if they allow flash, or if I would even be close enough to try it, but I will bring the flash along just in case I might be able to give that a try too.

I guess if I press the raw button on the side of the camera, it will take both jpeg and raw at the same time...


Opps- I can't dial in the ISO, so I guess the firmware is not updated.

How do I get the updated firmware into the camera?

You go here, and follow the instructions very carefully.

It looks hard, but it isn't.

You can go straight to 1.3 from whichever version it already has, although you cannot go backwards (without a lot of fiddling about).

Thanks! I will not have time to do this before I leave for the concert, so I guess I am changing ISO in FN for tonight...