Pentax Camera Utility Info Please

I've been viewing some of my photos in the above programme . Can anyone tell me why in some of the photos various settings are in red in the image data portion ? Sometimes shutter speed , sometimes focal length sometimes both. Also Image Tone is set to bright , is this a setting generally used by others ? I still find my photos look (to me) a little dark even when a correct exposure is indicated.

Thanks
Confused Fife

As far as I can make out, this highlights where a value is different from the previous picture that you viewed the image data for. So if you move from one at 1/400 to one at 1/320, it will be red, anything that hasn't changed will not be. I *think* this paragraph from the help covers it:

"You can display an item by highlighting the item if there is a difference between the data of a previous image and data of the current image when images are displayed in Image Preview Page. Select the highlighting method (different color or bold font) using the [Options] dialog on the [Tool] menu. "

Not the clearest explanation, if you look in the tool - options section it's a bit more obvious.

droopsnoot is correct; changed values are indicated in red

That setting is (more than likely) copied from your camera. Take a shot with another setting (e.g. vibrant) on the camera and check it with the utility.

Does your histogram indicates correct exposure? Is your monitor calibrated?

I know very little about histograms but the dark photos appear to be indicated as too dark . Would the calibration change anything other than appearing too dark / light on the monitor ?

If the underlaying problem is in the image (as you state in your last post), monitor calibration is not the way to go.

Can you post a sample photo so people here can see what goes wrong (with exif intact). Your scenes might contain plenty of bright areas and a dark subject resulting in the camera underexposing if you use matrix metering. Try a typical scene with matrix, center-weight and spot metering and check the difference in results.

Not sure about your experience level; if you consider yourself a beginner, you have some studying to do to understand how a scene affects what a camera decides on.

I would start off by setting the image tone to Natural. This should lower the contrast a little and make things look better. IMHO Bright is too bright, and Vivid is just off the scale!

Exposures of average subjects should be fine with matrix or centre weighted metering, but leave spot metering unbtil the camera is understood better.

Starting with images that don't contain lots of sky would be good, but also look at the way your subject is lit and make sure some light is actually falling on it, not coming from behind it. Photography is all about light.

Here is a link to the photos i took on Sunday , the exif data should be viewable (not sure about histogram)

www.flickr.com/photos/darren_healy/sets/72157629014372045/

I think the main thing here is knowing when to alter the exposure indicated by the camera. On the images where there are burnt out areas, less exposure needs to be given. On the others, they are all satisfactory for dealing with in Photoshop. Maybe some look a little dark, but the sky will cause this as the camera thinks there's more light that there actually is on the foreground.

I would buy a basic book on photography and the principles of exposure will be well covered by that.

If you take some shots of say buildings or plants with no sky, then I think you'll find those will be spot on.

I'm reading Bryan Petersons Understanding Exposure which i think is very good , can you recommend anything else John ?

A visit to Waterstones or a virtual vist to Amazon will give plenty of choice! I would just suggest reading as much as possible and also shooting as much as possible.