Update to my underexposure problem on K30. "Underexposing in auto modes, very high ISO selected in bright conditions"

had the repair quote back... £245 to fix "Mechanical asembly, Shutter mechanism, mirror asembly and sensor clean"
Yeah right.
Is it because I'm out of warranty.

Looks like an early xmas for me. Either a K50 body, with the cashback promo, or a different camera system.

AArrrghh! I started scanning the forums to see what was the matter with my K30 and i think I have found the issue. What the person on he 'dpreview' site matches exactly with my recent experience. It vastly underexposes with auto lenses but is fine with fixed manual lenses like the 50mm-M.
It was fine the previous week. Gone bad overnight.

sigh... Dissapointed. Is it Cheaper to fix or just buy a new camera?

Thank you for the feedback. It's most helpful. Yeah I'll try for a bit more background. I was attempting some close ups.

I hope this answers your question Karl
1. meerkat - slight crop at the base, i might have lifted the lighting a touch.
2. heron - no processing
3. otter - cropped, adjusted contrast. very little
4. sleeping lion - adjusted colour to warm it up, contrast and unsharp (poor photo to start with I think)
5. cheetahs - cropped due to tree behind.
6. bird of prey - unsharped to get the focus on the eye. otherwise no processing
7. jelly fish - No processing
8. carnation - cropped adjusted light saturtation and generally fiddled with it
9. B+W hand - no processing

I see a theme - too much post-processing spoils the light.

Hi all, I've had a K30 just under a year now, so tentativley putting up some shots for comment and criticism.

K30 with sigma DL100-300
1.



2.



3. Pray to the Otter God



4.



5.



6.



7. 18-55 Wr lens



8.SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.7 White Carnation in snow



9. Petri 35mm f/2.8

Okay, having matured into a K30 for a coupkle of months i felt prompted to share a few for comment.




This Snow Leopard was taken in Basel Zoo at xmas time. Sigma DL 100-300. With my partner, her neice and two over excited kids. So I was constantly swapping between the sigma and wr 18-55 lens. The animals were a lot more patient and quite content to have their picture taken.




K30 and 18-55 wr lens.

And this one of a Mountjack deer is a cropped zoom. had to fiddle with the processing a bit, USM sharpen and turned into sepia to cover up any faults . Sigma Dl 100-300




Thanks for looking.

thanks for the warm welcome. When I spot the pixies dancing on the hedgehog I shall certainly take the shot.

I agree. I think if camera manufacturers spent a bit of time with the ergonomics of the cameras they might get better sales. Like buying a pair of shoes you want a comfortable fit.

Greetings and saluations to all. I am a new Pentax k30 user and a new DSLR user. Having upgraded from a compact camera I felt compelled to give my experience of moving into the DSLR world.

I have used a fujifilm 2mp point and click quite happily for several years. Until I realised my partners nephew was taking better photos with his mobile phone. Cant have this I thought. Time to upgrade and get serious! It will be easy to upgrade and get a new camera... little did I know.

Over zealous sales people, deep pools of insipdly confusing camera reviews and bizzare techno babble.
Typical conversation; Me: "I need some advice on a DSLR"
Salesreptile; "I advise you to buy this camera from me. It has 16 mega pixies dancing in harmonious cross eyed 27 point auto phase with sideways stepping apertured for low contrasting hedgehogs"

Trying to get information from magazines or the web is very limited. High on tecno speak, low on practical advice. With all things being aproximatley equal in cameras, ie 16mp, auto tracking, they take photographs etc I set my own purchasing criteria.
1. Can I hold the camera comfortably.
2. If yes what other practical benefits does the camera have.

This narrowed my search to the Canon 600d and the Pentax K30. The K30 won because its weather sealed - very useful as I'm an outdoors person , in body shake reduction - meaning I dont have to buy special lenses to have this feature, lens compatibility and the fact my father has four screw mount primes that he's sending me.

Not a very elegant purchasing criteria but it works for me and Im very happy with the results. I thorourghly enjoy this camera. It makes me want to go out and take photos.
Note: This is an abridged version of my traumatic camera buying saga. Currently undergoing therapy by taking lots of wonderful photos.

Pentax K30, 18-55WR , Sigma Dl 100-300. (yes i know the sigma is soft and needs to be stopped down but it was inexpensive)