I think the only D-FA lenses are the 50mm and 100mm macro lenses George. Do you mean the DA* 200mm and DA* 300mm primes?

If you are comfortable with manual camera/flash operation, the AF500FTZ is an exceptionally good flash. Yes it will work very well, but not TTL/P-TTL.

Matt, I think you've nailed it.

Billy, I did tell you that if a reason could be found in the EXIF, Matt would find it. I think he has.

All we need now is the evidence from the K7 shots to prove that the cause of your (so far) two issues was due to inadvertent activation of the AE-L feature.

Well done Matt. The scores then:-

Pentax Equipment 1 - 0 User
Pentax User Forum 1 - 0 Pentax Technical Holland

A nice series Stefan. #1 is especially good considering it's hand held. Hope you had a good vacation.

You need to make some changes in your Custom Settings Menu.

Custom Setting 1 - EV Steps, change it to 2 - 1/3 stop.
Custom Setting 2 - Sensitivity Steps, try changing it (see page 89 of the .PDF manual).

You should be able to make exposure changes in steps from 1 EV to 1/3 EV by making these changes in your custom menu and using the appropriate eDial.

Welcome back Stefan.

I hope your course tutor can learn from you, as we all have.

Yes, you are probably right.

Re. the two images, Matt has them both by now. I think he's just teasing us . . .

@Matt - I know that it is possible to take an exposure before the SR has stabilised. Is it also possible to 'stab' the shutter button such that an image is exposed before the metering system has done it's bit, thus resulting in an issue similar to this?

The fact that the lens has not been identified by PhotoMe (unless the lens is not in the PhotoMe database) leads me to think that the exposure was made at full aperture, when it should have been smaller. According to Billy, the lens used was a kit smc DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL WR.

I think this is definitely an electrical contact or lens mounting issue. I would (almost, but not quite) bet money that the correctly exposed shot shows the correct lens and a different aperture.

Billy,

Pentax, and probably other manufacturers, don't always document the fixes that are implemented in any particular firmware update and Pentax Technical Holland may not be aware of all fixes that have been applied by the boffins in Japan.

One of the files included in the download has a file extension .BIN. You copy this file to the root folder of an SD memory card. With power off, insert the card in the camera. Press and hold the Menu button and turn the camera on. You will see a message on the rear screen that tells you what your current firmware version is, and that a newer version exists on the card, and the question "Do you want to update?", or something similar. Perform the update.

There is no guarantee of course that this will cure your problem, but it is senseless to continue trying to diagnose a problem which might already be fixed in the firmware update.

Update your firmware, it will not affect your warranty. Firmware updates are provided by Pentax for a number of reasons, mostly to fix problems that have been identified and reported by users.

It only takes a couple of minutes once you've downloaded the update file from here for Windows, or here for Mac (they are different). Just ensure that your battery is fully charged before doing so.

Instructions can be found here and selecting the options from the menus, starting with cameras. The download also includes a readme file containing the same instructions.

PS: If a fault can be diagnosed by interrogating the EXIF data, Matt will find it. Send him your image and stop worrying.