All Forum Comments
Comment by Evel79 posted on Does your old manual lens crash your DSLR when it gets dark? at 15/09/2011 - 15:03
Thanks John,
I've actually had about 4 battery recycles on each battery now - not always from empty I must admit, but still.
My thoughts are that 440 mins screen use is a little over 7 hours. So just on pure mathematics, 2 hours use should give me about 70% battery for the photos - so about 600 photos give or take. And I'm definitely not seeing that!
Of course there is screen use and there is screen use. No doubt Pentax measured it with brightness set to -7, withought pressing any buttons or using live view or any processing. That's clearly not how I'm using it!
Now the big holiday is over, I'll spend some time shooting without any post in-camera and see what happens.
I've actually had about 4 battery recycles on each battery now - not always from empty I must admit, but still.
My thoughts are that 440 mins screen use is a little over 7 hours. So just on pure mathematics, 2 hours use should give me about 70% battery for the photos - so about 600 photos give or take. And I'm definitely not seeing that!
Of course there is screen use and there is screen use. No doubt Pentax measured it with brightness set to -7, withought pressing any buttons or using live view or any processing. That's clearly not how I'm using it!
Now the big holiday is over, I'll spend some time shooting without any post in-camera and see what happens.
Comment by Evel79 posted on Battery problem? K5 at 15/09/2011 - 14:34
Sorry the formatting of the battery life has been screwed on posting - as follows:
All at 23 degrees:
normal - 980 shots
50% flash - 740
100% flash - 610
screen use - 440 mins
All at 23 degrees:
normal - 980 shots
50% flash - 740
100% flash - 610
screen use - 440 mins
Comment by Evel79 posted on Battery problem? K5 at 15/09/2011 - 11:28
Hello,
I am a first time Pentax user and bought my K5 back in August and have been using the original battery and one from VHBW via amazon throughout an East-African trip. I figured one change of battery would be sufficient given the official life given (taken with the obligatory pinch of salt!). But I am left disappointed with the battery life. I just want to see if I am having camera issues or too high-expectations issues!
From the manual:
Temp: Normal use 50% flash 100% flash playback time
23C 980 740 610 440 mins
0C 810 680 560 400 mins
I used live view only when using my manual only prime to help with focus. So maybe 10% of the time, and I hardly ever used the flash.
As I am both new to the brand and DSLRs in general, I have been cycling through the menus a lot, experimenting with settings, and reviewing / converting photos. Partly because I realised I didn't have enough memory with me, and I had no choice.
Basically I was firing off about perhaps 300 shots, plus maybe 2 hours reviewing and cycling though menus to adjust image paramaters to cope with the ever-changing light. This did include some internal editing and raw conversion (I know - still in play mode). Screen brightness was set to 0. But that was all I was getting from either battery. Given the numbers given above, even with the 2 hours(ish)screen use, I should expect roughly double amount of shots that I got - shouldn't I?
Scanning the forum topics I saw reports of people saying they had 1200 photos with 2 bars remaining. Is this for real, given the figures!
My battery meter also stays in 3 bar mode most of the time. Then as it depletes it quickly progress from 2 to black circle. In black circle, live view often just won't fire up. Sometimes like it says in the manual - if I've had the camera on for a while or in burst mode, turning it off and on again puts it back to 2 or 3 bars. Idiosincrsities of the camera I guess.
Do I have too high expectations?
Otherwise - very happy with the camera!
I am a first time Pentax user and bought my K5 back in August and have been using the original battery and one from VHBW via amazon throughout an East-African trip. I figured one change of battery would be sufficient given the official life given (taken with the obligatory pinch of salt!). But I am left disappointed with the battery life. I just want to see if I am having camera issues or too high-expectations issues!
From the manual:
Temp: Normal use 50% flash 100% flash playback time
23C 980 740 610 440 mins
0C 810 680 560 400 mins
I used live view only when using my manual only prime to help with focus. So maybe 10% of the time, and I hardly ever used the flash.
As I am both new to the brand and DSLRs in general, I have been cycling through the menus a lot, experimenting with settings, and reviewing / converting photos. Partly because I realised I didn't have enough memory with me, and I had no choice.
Basically I was firing off about perhaps 300 shots, plus maybe 2 hours reviewing and cycling though menus to adjust image paramaters to cope with the ever-changing light. This did include some internal editing and raw conversion (I know - still in play mode). Screen brightness was set to 0. But that was all I was getting from either battery. Given the numbers given above, even with the 2 hours(ish)screen use, I should expect roughly double amount of shots that I got - shouldn't I?
Scanning the forum topics I saw reports of people saying they had 1200 photos with 2 bars remaining. Is this for real, given the figures!
My battery meter also stays in 3 bar mode most of the time. Then as it depletes it quickly progress from 2 to black circle. In black circle, live view often just won't fire up. Sometimes like it says in the manual - if I've had the camera on for a while or in burst mode, turning it off and on again puts it back to 2 or 3 bars. Idiosincrsities of the camera I guess.
Do I have too high expectations?
Otherwise - very happy with the camera!
Comment by Evel79 posted on Battery problem? K5 at 15/09/2011 - 11:23
I have a K5 and bought a good quality SMC-M Asahi 50mm 1.7 for the princely sum of €24.
This lens has no A mode. I do put it in M mode (and manual focus mode of course) and permit use of the aperture ring in the menu, and using the green button to take a reading first.
When I get the bugger in focus properly it's great. Love the sharpness and DOF that the 55-300 and 18-135 can't touch. When money permits I will probably upgrade to an Auto 1.4 or a 43mm, or 70mm. But for now I'm loving it.
The weirdness starts when it gets dark. I thought f1.7 - I can take pictures in the dark (well nearly dark). The type of darkness I am having problems with is not pitch black. But 9pm with streetlights dark. Although to clarify pitch-black also causes problems.
Here's what happens:
1) Select appropriate aperture and focus
2)Press green button
3) press shutter
4) Listen to the mirror flip up, and wait and wait and wait
5) Either:
a) Turn camera off - the top panel stays on. Repeat and repeat.Then remove battery and listen to mirror drop back down. No picture taken.
b) or point it at some very bright light source, and the mirror
will usually drop down again. Picture is taken (very badly as I have been waving the camera around)
Sometimes it just crashes when I press the green button. It just hangs, and I have to take the battery out, as just turning it off doesn't actually turn it off.
Now this is a €24 lens. I get great portrature etc from it, and it's great to learn with so it's not a biggie. But it's damn infuriating when it happens. It happens whether the battery is half dead or full.
I'm certain it's a lens not a camera issue, as I have tried the same conditions with my 18-135 and 55-300 (in manual mode, using the green button for a reading) - neither of which are super-fast. They work fine apart from my shaky hands.
Maybe the lens isn't as great as I think! But being manual, there's no electrical gubbins to mess with the camera, so I'm clueless as to why it's happening.
Anyone else heard of this or had the same issue? I'd love to get a 43mm and use the ring instead of auto - love the feel. But wary of the same happening.
Cheers in advance