Poor Image Quality with My K20D

Pothers · 2009-03-02T21:05:32+0000

I can hear the groans just from the title.:D Don't get me wrong, I'm not slating the K20D as I know a majority of owners are more than happy with theirs. I just want to be one them. I've had my K20D for 3 months now, having previously owned an istDL2, and have taken just over 600 photos. And out of all those I'm lucky if I have a handful of images that I'm totally happy with. I don't remember deleting so many shots, although I wish I hadn't as it's given me less to compare with. At first I put it down to a new learning curve, then I had the vertical banding issue. This has been fixed with the replacement of the motherboard, but my photos just are not sharp. So this weekend, having looked at some of my latest efforts, I decided to compare some photos I took with my istDL2. This shot is what made me suspect something is wrong.I was using a Sigma 55-200 1/1000s f5.6 (still not sure why:oops:) iso200 Now I know the sigma is not the best lens in this range, and for some reason I had it wide open at 200mm, but nothing in this photo is sharp. Just to prove it's not the lens here's an eye crop from a photo of my youngest using the same lens, f5.6 at 200mm on my old istDL2 Finally, I got my wife to take some test shots of me using my DA16-45 on the K20D. I set the camera to f8 to allow for extra depth of field, set iso to 200 to match the istDL2.This gave me a speed of 1/500s. I'm getting old & I hate photos of myself :cry: Now I'm sure the more experianced will be able to come up with an explanation or 2 but I'm at my witts end. I shoot in RAW (PEF). Nearly always Av mode. I leave SR on most of the time except when using a tripod.I don't use filters except grads when required. I really like this camera, but Im not getting the results I was hoping for. I know a better camera doesn't make a better photographer but I'm sure I'm doing things correctly. If not I should find out by the end of next week as I have returned it to Pentax sevice today for them to take a look. I haven't ruled out user error even now and if thats the case maybe I'll have to ask my sister if I can buy back my istDL2.:evil::D

Pentax Digital SLRsPentax Digital SLRs

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ttk ttk

2227 posts
17 years

Posted 23/04/2009 - 22:01 Link

Phoned Pentax today got to wait another 10 days 4 weeks in all not happy.

Tel,

scottthehat scottthehat

1053 posts
17 years
devon (honiton)

Posted 23/04/2009 - 22:13 Link

terry what is the reason for it to take that long its been a pi** take already

just keep snapping,

https://pentaxphotogallery.com/scottbenson

http://s727.photobucket.com/albums/ww272/scottthehat/

CAMERAS = k200d + battery grip.
nikon d300 + battery grip.
LENSES = tamron aspherical DII 18-200mm f3.5/6.3,
nikon 18-200mm afs vr f3.5/5.6 g dx
sigma 150-500mm apo dg hsm os
sigma 170-500mm apo dg
FLASH = samsung sef36pzf flash + more.

ttk ttk

2227 posts
17 years

Posted 24/04/2009 - 10:53 Link

They miss layed the bill of sale I e-mailed them 2 weeks ago therefore untill I rang them yesterday it had not been repaired, now they have found it work will begin( New Focus/SR unit ) to be fitted, with a turnround of 10 days So we will see..

What can I say

Tel,

Prieni Prieni

1469 posts
22 years
Rostock,
Germany

Posted 24/04/2009 - 11:19 Link

ttk wrote:
They miss layed the bill of sale I e-mailed them 2 weeks ago

Well, your fault for sending one of these 'read only once, then self destruct' e-mails. This really sounds like a lame excuse on their part.

ttk wrote:
now they have found it work will begin

You just call them and mysteriously that 'mislaid e-mail' appears (must have fallen out of the RAM and got stuck in the CPU cooler).

ttk wrote:

( New Focus/SR unit ) to be fitted, with a turnround of 10 days So we will see..

I feel with you...

ttk wrote:
What can I say

I know what I would say and that certainly isn't fit for posting in this civilized forum.

I hope that at least you will get it back in best working order.

Prieni

How inappropriate to call this planet earth when it is quite clearly Ocean. - Arthur C. Clarke
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