As per the title, here are a few items for sale:

SOLD! 1. K20D, genuine grip, and extra Pentax battery
Having upgraded to (Greytop's) K7, here's my well-looked-after K20D kit for sale. The body still has a few months left on its 2 year SRS warranty. In excellent cosmetic condition and perfect working condition. Shutter count is a mere 8420.

K20D #1
K20D #2
K20D #3
K20D #4
K20D #5


The D-BG2 grip is older - having used it on the K10D - but in excellent to mint condition (I use the grip about 20% of the time). Also an original Pentax battery.

D-BG2 #1
D-BG2 #2


Some signs of use (smoothing around thumbwheel, use on the K-mount etc), and the usual marking on the hotshoe where the flash has been.

Everything included - manual, CD, unused Pentax strap, all original caps etc.

Boxes for everything.

(SOLD) £440 plus shipping.
(I'd rather sell as a kit, but I might consider splitting... if you can convince me! )


2. SMC-F 100/2.8 macro
I'm really, really sad to see this go... but I use it so infrequently now that I have the DA*50-135! Needs a good home to go to!

Optically perfect (recently cleaned and serviced by Asahi). The plastic distance window has a fine crack on it (I bought it that way - it wasn't me!) The outer body has some light marks on the barrel, but otherwise the condition is very good indeed.

Images, as you'd expect, are "brutally" sharp from this lens.

Supplied with original rear and front Pentax caps.

SMC-F 100/2.8 #1
SMC-F 100/2.8 #2
SMC-F 100/2.8 #3
SMC-F 100/2.8 #4

I'm looking for £250 plus shipping.



3. SMC-FA 80-320 silver
This is a very sharp copy! Admittedly, it did have a small fungus bloom some years ago - in the end I worked out how to disassemble and clean it myself.) The disassembly guide I have put on the web... so you can service it yourself if needed in the future!!

In generally very good to excellent condition (though I inflicted a small mark inside while repairing - shown in photo #3).

Supplied with Sigma rear cap and Pentax lens cap.

SMC-FA 80-320 #1
SMC-FA 80-320 #2
SMC-FA 80-320 #3
SMC-FA 80-320 #4
SMC-FA 80-320 #5

£80 plus shipping.



Cash & collection in person is possible - be prepared to chat about Pentax gear! Courier delivery to a work address is also possible. Otherwise RM Special Delivery would be advisable and charged at cost. Payment to be cleared before shipment - PayPal+4% or PayPal gift, cheque, bank transfer, or cash.

I'd prefer to only ship to UK... but I'll consider Europe

My tuppence' worth:

* Quieter shutter. A plus for show & theatre work!
* Better exposure in low light. The new 77 point metering does seem mightily improved in dim lighting conditions (and flash too).
* Better WB. Again, in dim lighting conditions this is really helpful.
* More useful live view. I've found this genuinely useful.
* Smaller body. I always like the 'dinkiness' of the *ist-D. The K7 is closer.
* Proper mirror-up facility. Again, very useful.
* Digital level is actually surprisingly useful!
* Very nice live rotate on playback.

The IQ isn't really any different to the K20D, but it'll be a definite improvement from the K10D The CMOS sensor is a very different beast to the CCD.

Hope that helps!
Matt

Glad you're now sorted

Alistair,
Have you Googled for it? Looks most likely to be a video card driver issue. Check you have the latest stable video drivers
Matt

TBH I almost always use Av mode. Like the K20 I have assigned the second wheel to ISO, but with the dedicated button on the K7 I'm trying to learn to use that!
One little thing to watch for is the Ev compensation button and ISO button. On the K20 the compensation was hold-and-dial, whereas the K7 buttons are toggles

Not 100% sure there's any difference in the auto ISO, but will tryand check later.

Matt

@Stefan - I've haven't told you of the other bug (only little, and carried over from the K20D and K10D)

@Anne - first, some quick comments on the images:
#1: This is as expected. The lower ISO has rendered the ambient area black. There's enough face filling the frame for the camera to take that as the main subject.

#2: Don't forget that ALL cameras meter for mid-grey. So, your dark brown sofa will try to be rendered grey... which means overexposing it.

#3: Partly like #2 - the large dark area is throwing the metering.

Now, as regards your other question... No, you can't experience the bug I related (dlacouture's one) because you'll need a much faster lens. The issue shows up at apertures wider than f/1.8 (as far as I can tell).

Regarding your comment about comparing against the D300 - you're right, you shouldn't The cameras have different algorithms and goals about handling ambient lighting


Here's a setup you can try at home (and hopefully you'll see just how easy it is to gain 100% creative control over the flash lighting - rather than letting the camera make up its mind!).

Position an object in a doorway - a person is good, but they'll get bored. Probably a good idea to sit a doll on a stool (not a chair). You want to be able to see clearly into the room or hall beyond.

Make sure the lighting on both sides of the doorway is about the same.

Ambient: Camera on Av, Auto ISO, set the aperture to f/5.6. Take a meter reading and shot with NO FLASH. For the sake of illustration, let's say the reading was 1/30s, f/5.6, ISO1600

Auto: Now just use the popup - still in Av, Auto ISO. Let's say the reading was 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO200 (let's assume the Nikon auto way of using very low ISO for dark environments). Now - you should see that the room beyond has gone very, very black. Look at the difference in the metering - we have 1Ev in the shutter speed, and 3Ev in the ISO difference making a total of 4Ev underexposure for the ambient. Your subject should look like picture #1

Equal: Now let's use manual mode and set the same exposure as for the Ambient one - e.g. 1/30s, f/5.6, ISO1600. Use the flash. This time you'll hardly notice the flash - except where it has filled in some shadow detail.

Balanced: Again, using manual mode, dial down the ISO by a stop at a time. So, try 1/30s, f/5.6, ISO800 and then ISO400. You should see the room beyond going progressively darker, while the subject in the doorway is getting more prominent and "flashed".

You see, the Pentax will aim more towards the balanced algorithm (which will necessitate a higher ISO), whereas the Nikon is going more towards a full-on flash approach (or so it seems from your comments).


You also need to be aware of this fact:
* Flash exposure does not depend on the shutter speed.

The flash exposure is dependent ONLY on the ISO sensitivity and the aperture. It is the ambient light that is affected by the shutter speed (plus aperture and ISO).

So, when doing manual flash work (as in the "Balanced" experiment) you can work like this:
* Set shutter speed to 1/180s (as a temporary measure)
* Set ISO where you'd like it to be (e.g. ISO200)
* Set the aperture as you'd like (e.g. f/5.6)
* Take your shot and check for flash exposure on your subject only
* With that done, NOW lower the shutter speed to "bring in the ambient" into the composition.
* If you find you need stupidly slow shutter speeds to achieve that, then repeat the cycle but using a higher ISO and/or wider aperture (lower f-number) until you get a balance.

This is actually quite liberating However, it doesn't work too well with toddlers running around.... see how you get on with the above, and if you can cope with more I'll give you at least two ways of dealing with those "ad-hoc" situations.

Hope that helps!!
Matt

P.S. Phew! All that typing... I've almost short-changed myself. Honestly, if you find those insights useful, then do seriously consider purchasing my e-book HERE (there's even more in it!!)

I think the title of "Proudly Disseminating Sensationalised Rubbish for over a Century" gives part of the game away

...but my long suffering wife would probably agree with the "article"


Matt

Anne - can you explain what you'd like to see changed in these images. I think it'll help to understand your expectations

edit: @dlacouture: there's definitely something not right when using f/1.4 The issue seems to almost disappear by f/2.8, but with very wide apertures there's over exposing. I'm testing with the SMC-FA 50/1.4. It would be good to try with the DA*55/1.4... test as follows: point at blank, evenly lit wall (so we can discount metering modes). Set to auto ISO fast, Av mode, normal flash with 0.0Ev compensation. Set f/1.4. Take meter reading. Open popup and read again. I was getting 1/160 & 500iso with no flash and 1/180 & 800iso with flash I'll double check and write a proper report tomorrow.

Matt

Only have an f/2.8 lens to hand where I am...
My K-7 behaves exactly as I'd expect.

e.g.
Auto ISO 100-1600, Slow, Av mode, Flash set to normal, 0.0Ev.
No Flash: f/2.8, 1/60, ISO640
Flash: f/2.8, 1/160, ISO160 (yes, 160, not 1600)

Auto ISO 100-1600, Fast, Av mode, Flash set to normal, 0.0Ev.
No Flash: f/2.8, 1/160, ISO1600
Flash: f/2.8, 1/160, ISO640

I can't make it do what yours is doing! Odd
Maybe there's a custom setting we have set differently??

Which lens do you have?

I'm sure there must be an explanation.
Matt

@dlacouture: I'll check later and see if I can work out what the K-7's algorithm is