red kite

Still cant get the metering right on my k5 any ideas
stu

the sky may be causing the underexposure? are you using centre weighted or spot to give yourself a chance?

Bit like shooting aircraft, spot metering and at least +1 EV. You will most likely blow the sky but at least you will get detail on the bird. You can usually do something about the sky later (unlike the bird).

If in a hurry, I'd leave in matrix metering and give it +2 EV. If I had time to prepare, I'd find something like the top of a telegraph pole in similar light and manually expose a series of shots until I got one that showed some detail. I'd then leave the camera on those settings

Thanks for that

The problem i have is when i switch the camera off it dont stay on the settings that i have set it at
and every thing i have done to sort it as not work

Does the K5 have a User setting on the top dial? You set it up with your most used/favourite settings and then just set this on the top dial. It doesn't matter if you then use the camera differently so long as you don't reset the User setting

Probably give it a couple of months se how i get on if not it will have to go

These things take time to learn. I would suggest you have a look at the American Pentax forum- they have really useful threads.
I don't wish to sound rude (but probably will ...again) please be patient. These are great cameras, I agree that for some purposes straight out of the box they aren't easy but practice and more practice will help you get the best out of the camera

If you shoot in RAW you should be able to pull back some detail in Photoshop. As David said. (Does the K5 have USER settings?) The K5 has USER settings (I think?.) [The K5iis has.] So once you get it set for what you want then save it in USER then you can go to that setting every time.
CHEERS Vic.

But what should it be set to. Light changes. I know I wouldn't set it to f10, as was the case in the shot above

I did try that vic but it set it back to what it was befor

I would say i was pulling my hair out with it but i dont have any to pull out

As Alan said, what would you set it to before saving?

You will always have to change something as the light will not always be the same, sometimes you will get the sort of output you have there and need certain settings while other times (in good light) you will need (or prefer to use) something different.

That's the nature of a DSLR.

going to try some landscape at the weekend if that dont work i think it may be over the hedge and a k20 will be in order

What mode are you shooting in? Are you using P or Auto? Or are you using A,S or M?

I'm with you on the hair problem Stu. That I can't help you with. I'm the same. However with the USER settings. (you should have 5 available) when you have set one up you have to SAVE IT. Just go through the menu methodically and you'll find all you need to know. That way you can set 5 different settings for different conditions (save each one separately) which you can access at will. The K3 has only got 3 USER settings to use. These are on the dial whereas on the K5 they are in the menu.
CHEERS Vic.