What use is the Macro Mode in the K-x?
Posted 22/04/2011 - 12:43
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These modes skew the camera's settings towards something more suitable for the subject.
Landcape would favour small apertures for maximum depth of field.
Macro will favour the same but sharpness and contrast may also be different.
Portrait may mean large apertures to isolate the subjewct from the background.
And so on.
Landcape would favour small apertures for maximum depth of field.
Macro will favour the same but sharpness and contrast may also be different.
Portrait may mean large apertures to isolate the subjewct from the background.
And so on.
Best regards, John
Posted 22/04/2011 - 14:14
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I'd hope that the macro mode would bias the camera settings towards both faster shutter speeds, and smaller apertures, as well as the 2 sec timer to lock the mirror up before firing the shutter...
but i hope it does not pull the "point and shoot" camera stunt of cropping the outer 25-50% of the image area off to enlarge the center of the frame...
wouldn't know for sure.... my camera dial might as well be crazy glued to "M"...
but i hope it does not pull the "point and shoot" camera stunt of cropping the outer 25-50% of the image area off to enlarge the center of the frame...
wouldn't know for sure.... my camera dial might as well be crazy glued to "M"...
Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.
Posted 22/04/2011 - 18:21
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Thanks, chaps, for these comments. They motivated me into putting some coins etc on my desk and photographing them (a) in Program mode, (b) in macro mode and (c) in Auto Pict mode. I hope I won't get thrown off the forum for admitting to the latter. All at ISO 400, with a tripod.
Program mode set the camera to 1/60 sec and f/4.5
As you predicted, Macro mode stopped down just a little, to f/5.6 with the exposure *prolonged* proportionately to 1/45 sec. But no mirror lockup - the makers wisely assumed that a lot of users would not have the camera on a tripod, and one really does not want a 2 second mirror lockup if you are hand-holding! And no cropping of the image either.
The interesting finding was that Auto Pict also set it to 1/45 sec and f/5.6. However, a careful check on histograms and colour balance revealed that the Macro Mode (same exposure & aperture) produced a perceptibly brighter image across the spectrum, with the overall histogram shifted about 2% brighter in Macro than in Auto. The exif ISO figure stayed at 400 in each. I haven't looked closely enough to judge if the sharpness differs in any of them.
Personally, I think that the changes in choosing Macro Mode are too trivial to be worth having. Again, personally, if I'm setting up something that needs macro, I'll have my old manual Tamron SP 90 f/2.5 on the front of the Pentax.
Thanks for answering my idle query in a way that provoked me into actually doing some practical tests
Martin
Program mode set the camera to 1/60 sec and f/4.5
As you predicted, Macro mode stopped down just a little, to f/5.6 with the exposure *prolonged* proportionately to 1/45 sec. But no mirror lockup - the makers wisely assumed that a lot of users would not have the camera on a tripod, and one really does not want a 2 second mirror lockup if you are hand-holding! And no cropping of the image either.
The interesting finding was that Auto Pict also set it to 1/45 sec and f/5.6. However, a careful check on histograms and colour balance revealed that the Macro Mode (same exposure & aperture) produced a perceptibly brighter image across the spectrum, with the overall histogram shifted about 2% brighter in Macro than in Auto. The exif ISO figure stayed at 400 in each. I haven't looked closely enough to judge if the sharpness differs in any of them.
Personally, I think that the changes in choosing Macro Mode are too trivial to be worth having. Again, personally, if I'm setting up something that needs macro, I'll have my old manual Tamron SP 90 f/2.5 on the front of the Pentax.
Thanks for answering my idle query in a way that provoked me into actually doing some practical tests
Martin
Posted 22/04/2011 - 18:30
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OldTaffy wrote:
Thanks, chaps, for these comments. They motivated me into putting some coins etc on my desk and photographing them (a) in Program mode, (b) in macro mode and (c) in Auto Pict mode. I hope I won't get thrown off the forum for admitting to the latter. All at ISO 400, with a tripod.
Program mode set the camera to 1/60 sec and f/4.5
As you predicted, Macro mode stopped down just a little, to f/5.6 with the exposure *prolonged* proportionately to 1/45 sec. But no mirror lockup - the makers wisely assumed that a lot of users would not have the camera on a tripod, and one really does not want a 2 second mirror lockup if you are hand-holding! And no cropping of the image either.
The interesting finding was that Auto Pict also set it to 1/45 sec and f/5.6. However, a careful check on histograms and colour balance revealed that the Macro Mode (same exposure & aperture) produced a perceptibly brighter image across the spectrum, with the overall histogram shifted about 2% brighter in Macro than in Auto. The exif ISO figure stayed at 400 in each. I haven't looked closely enough to judge if the sharpness differs in any of them.
Personally, I think that the changes in choosing Macro Mode are too trivial to be worth having. Again, personally, if I'm setting up something that needs macro, I'll have my old manual Tamron SP 90 f/2.5 on the front of the Pentax.
Thanks for answering my idle query in a way that provoked me into actually doing some practical tests
Martin
learn something new... I guessed it would engage the two second timer....
Thanks, chaps, for these comments. They motivated me into putting some coins etc on my desk and photographing them (a) in Program mode, (b) in macro mode and (c) in Auto Pict mode. I hope I won't get thrown off the forum for admitting to the latter. All at ISO 400, with a tripod.
Program mode set the camera to 1/60 sec and f/4.5
As you predicted, Macro mode stopped down just a little, to f/5.6 with the exposure *prolonged* proportionately to 1/45 sec. But no mirror lockup - the makers wisely assumed that a lot of users would not have the camera on a tripod, and one really does not want a 2 second mirror lockup if you are hand-holding! And no cropping of the image either.
The interesting finding was that Auto Pict also set it to 1/45 sec and f/5.6. However, a careful check on histograms and colour balance revealed that the Macro Mode (same exposure & aperture) produced a perceptibly brighter image across the spectrum, with the overall histogram shifted about 2% brighter in Macro than in Auto. The exif ISO figure stayed at 400 in each. I haven't looked closely enough to judge if the sharpness differs in any of them.
Personally, I think that the changes in choosing Macro Mode are too trivial to be worth having. Again, personally, if I'm setting up something that needs macro, I'll have my old manual Tamron SP 90 f/2.5 on the front of the Pentax.
Thanks for answering my idle query in a way that provoked me into actually doing some practical tests
Martin
Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.
Posted 25/04/2011 - 21:51
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I'm guessing the K-x is the same as my K-m in this respect, but try flicking the control dial in "P" mode. It should cycle through combinations of aperture and shutter speed, if it doesn't I have a feeling that there's a menu option to set it to do so.
The principle advantage of P and Av over the green and picture modes is that you have control over ISO and white balance, as well as aperture.
The principle advantage of P and Av over the green and picture modes is that you have control over ISO and white balance, as well as aperture.
Matt
Shooting the Welsh Wilderness with K-m, KX, MX, ME Super and assorted lenses.
Shooting the Welsh Wilderness with K-m, KX, MX, ME Super and assorted lenses.
Posted 26/04/2011 - 13:13
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When my K-x is turned on in the green Auto Pict mode it does cycle through the scene options before settling on one. At close distances it does settle on the Macro mode - which explains why I found negligible difference between images taken in Auto and Macro modes!
Even in the Auto mode one can set the ISO: said to be limited to 400-800 though I find that I can rack it up to the normal limit of 6400, though I haven't tried to see if it really takes pictures at that setting. You are right in that WB cannot be set in Auto.
I agree entirely about the desirability of using at least P or Av rather than Auto, and I agree with other posters that Manual is even better for serious photography. My primary point was: why did Pentax put a Macro setting as one of the options on the mode dial? It does next to nothing, and I guess that it is there more for marketing reasons than for practical photographic reasons. The Landscape and Moving Object settings seem to have a real purpose; I have not yet explored what the Night Scene setting does in practical terms.
Martin
Even in the Auto mode one can set the ISO: said to be limited to 400-800 though I find that I can rack it up to the normal limit of 6400, though I haven't tried to see if it really takes pictures at that setting. You are right in that WB cannot be set in Auto.
I agree entirely about the desirability of using at least P or Av rather than Auto, and I agree with other posters that Manual is even better for serious photography. My primary point was: why did Pentax put a Macro setting as one of the options on the mode dial? It does next to nothing, and I guess that it is there more for marketing reasons than for practical photographic reasons. The Landscape and Moving Object settings seem to have a real purpose; I have not yet explored what the Night Scene setting does in practical terms.
Martin
Posted 26/04/2011 - 20:51
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I believe they didn't put that function on their earlier DSLR but i know that Canon had that function on their bigenners camera's for some time now.
Stefan
K10D, K5
DA* 16-50, DA* 50-135, D-FA 100 Macro, DA 40 Ltd, DA 18-55
AF-540FGZ
K10D, K5
DA* 16-50, DA* 50-135, D-FA 100 Macro, DA 40 Ltd, DA 18-55
AF-540FGZ
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