pentax km long exposure

hey, this is my first time posting here...im looking to try a few star trails as an experiment so im trying to work out what the longest exposure i can take with the km is. iv looked into an i.r remote but that doesnt seem to have a bulb option and the longest preset exposure is "30. any ideas if i can set it to longer in a subsetting or if theres some other way round it other? any ideas would be awesome
cheers guys!
chris

Set your camera on "B" and the shutter will stay open as long as the shutter release is held down. Until the battery runs out, which may be several hours.

Some remote releases, such as the Pentax one, allow the shutter to be locked open.

cheers john=] the thing is none of the wireless remotes iv found seem to have the option to work with bulb which is the issue i have and as the km doesnt have a jack for a wired remote all i can think of is bodging something together with cable ties and blutac....

Are you sure? Every Pentax camera I have seen has such a connector. Have you missed a small door that conceals it?

absolutely positive. its even in the spec. crazy huh? i was shcked too...all ya have on it is the connector for the usb lead..the only way for it to connect to a remote is i.r and that doesnt seem to support bulb. strange isnt it?

Indeed. Obviously not the intended market segment. Perhaps for every 10,000 DSLRs they sell, they sell 25 remote releases. Just guessing the figures, but it's the thought that counts.

Neither the k-m or the k-x have a port for a wired remote, however with the cheap £2.69 or whatever it was remote i bought from china it works on bulb. there is a setting in the menu's, if you cant find them let me know i'll tell you the page on the manual or where to find it in the settings. You can set it to auto focus with the remote and also set it to either stay open while the remote button is held down (bit of a pain though with the sensor being at the front of the camera) or press to open shutter, press again to close.

Like i say have a browse through the settings or the manual, if you get stuck, or if i get chance in a bit i'll let you know where to change the settings.

Ok so i lie, that goes for the k-x, i couldnt even find where to put the k-m into bulb let alone anything else.

So i dug out the manual and found out how to set it in bulb.....thing is tho, the remote i have works a treat and does everything on the k-x, the k-m is a different story, its supposed to stay open while the remote button is held down, it does'nt even do that i'm afraid.

Sell the k-m and get a k-x you wont be dissapointed.

haha thanks man =]i really appriciate how helpful everyone here has been. iv managed to rig something using elastic bands and chopsticks for now. ill just have to use the old black hat method

Have to disagree slightly Glover. My K-m shutter stays open as long as I've got my remote button (Pentax Remote Control F) pressed.

Bulb on the K-m is accessed through Manual mode. Select M on dial then keep adjusting shutter speed to it's longest, the last setting should be bulb.

As i said, my remote is a cheap one from china, works fine with the k-x but not with the k-m, your pentax one might but mine dont