Brian,
The K10D very much errs on the side of caution. It's only a problem if you shoot JPG. With RAW it can be a stop or two underexposed and have absolutely no problem bringing it back - I am still stunned by its phenomenal dynamic range compared to the *ist-D!

Did a family shoot with AF540 + AF360 with brollies on Manual mode (Slave 2), triggered from my Metz 50MZ5 set to M and 1/128th. Took all of 30 seconds to get the exposure right and then rattled away! Got some really nice images for them, sharp as a tack, with a really smooth look to the skin (even they commented on it when looking at the shots through their TV). Now all I want is for the K10D to act as a wireless controller for P-TTL and M mode then I can ditch the hunking 50MZ5

Matt

Just be aware that the flash metering of the K10D will check the highlights
If you have very reflective surfaces then the shot will look underexposed. For instance, I took a snap shot with the AF360 in bounce mode but didn't immediately see that I was facing a window - the AF360's reflection was metered and the shot was underexposed. A quick reframe and the second shot was fine.

Even the pop-up will do the same thing - I took another snap of the kids in the woods, but they had reflective strips on their coats which threw the metering off.

If you are shooting in "controlled" conditions (like studio), always go for fully manual - it's much easier

Matt

Rodger,
The *ist-D series did not apply any compression The variance is the size of the embedded JPG thumbnail. To clarify some matters:

* The *ist-D used 2-bytes per pixel resulting in huge PEF files. The top 4 bits are zero - wasted space!
* The *ist-DS and later use 1.5-bytes (12-bits) per pixel for the PEF
* The K10D PEF uses lossless compression to squeeze the size down
* Adobe DNG has the option of using lossless Huffman encoding/compression or not - the K10D at the moment produces uncompressed DNGs, and the Adobe DNG Converter has the option of compressing. This is totally lossless

All the in-camera formats will include an attached JPG which is used for fast preview. The size of that JPG will vary according to the scene contents, but the RAW convertors don't use it - so don't worry!

Hope that helps!
Matt

There's always Silkypix Developer Studio 3 - it handles both PEF and DNG from the K10D

PEF is compressed at between 8 and 14Mb per shot.
DNG is uncompressed.

(I'm using PEF & SP-DS3)

Matt

Rumours, rumours...

If it helps calm you, I've used the Metz 50MZ5 with the K10D in manual mode. Definitely not fried I would have absolutely no problem in using a Pentax flash on the K10D.

There were some very old flashes (older Metz series I think) that had a high trigger voltage and could damage the camera.

HTH!
Matt

You can use the AF280T in A or M mode just fine.
The K10D does not support TTL (only P-TTL with the AF360-FGZ and AF540-FGZ). FWIW, only the *ist-D and *ist-DS support the older style TTL (which, I reckon, is more unreliable in digital than on film).

Matt

...lost in translation...

I have the SMC-F 100mm/f2.8 that I picked up for £200 from LCE a few years back.

On the K10D the quality is absolutely astonishing! (My "chair" : http://www.ephotozine.com/gallery/showlargepic.cfm?photoid=785575 should hint at some of the detail possible! At full resolution it is soooo clear!)

Matt

Aktivo,
You don't have a problem with either the K10D or the *ist-D. Those images are perfectly normal. Stop worrying!!!

It is like setting your audio amplifier to "no signal" and turning the volume up full - then worrying that you have a slight "hiss". You are listening to electron noise (intrinsic noise).


One reason the K10D is much better because they have cut down on the amount of electronics:
> *ist-D - CCD ---> Amplifier ---> 12-bit A-to-D
> K10D - CCD ---> 22-bit A-to-D

The K10D can do this because of the extremely wide range A-to-D (22-bit). The amplifier (that sets the ISO rating) in the ist-D will produce its own noise and add to the "hot pixel" effect. The K10D also allows a non-linear response (we've all found you can pull out information from the shadows in RAW) - it's all down to the 22-bit ADC.

However, the tests you are doing are extremely EXTREME! You are "turning up the volume" so much you are seeing the circuit and electron noise of the CCD!

My old *ist-D has three permanently stuck / hot pixels that show up even in normal conditions. In long exposures there are hundreds of them!

You say that the Minolta 7i has no hot pixels - impossible They have more of a problem since a smaller CCD = more noise. They just have much more aggressive software noise reduction in-camera. All digital cameras have noise - but their software varies. It is not a "Pentax problem".

More Heat = More noise (electrons get excited)
Smaller pixels = More noise (electron noise out-weighs the photons)
Longer exposure = More noise (electron noise out-weighs the photons)
Worse/More circuitry = More noise (circuit/electron noise out-weighs the photons)
(These are the reasons that pocket digicams are sooo much more noisy than APS-C sized dSLR cameras)


For "normal" shooting:
* Shoot RAW
* Enable Noise Reduction in the Pentax (even in RAW).
* Use Silkypix Developer Studio or Capture One which both detect stuck and hot pixels and remove them in software
* Use Silkypix, Noise Ninja, NeatImage etc to remove further image noise when using higher ISO.

To summarise - your K10D and *ist-D are okay!
And, yes, the K10D is much better and I hope to have some very low light images from it soon that I can share

Hope that helps!
Matt

Liam,
You do make me laugh That image was:
30sec, ISO 200, f2.8, Pentax *ist-D.

So, maybe it's not "a minute", just "half a minute"

I've just tried 30sec exposures on both my *ist-D and K10D (both with and without NR). The *ist-D has a scattering of hot pixels, while the K10D is completely clean. However, both were taken straight out and used from cold, and both have Li-Ion cells.

When the dSLR body gets warmer, the electrons get more excited and make more noise (a bit like my kids ). In addition, battery noise can add to this - when using AA NiMH cells in my *ist-D I would get hundreds of hot pixels, and when I took out the batteries they were extremely warm. Doing the same thing with CR-V3 Uniross Li-Ion cells and they are still cool.

So, you have a few choices when shooting long exposures (which can be combined):
1. Wrap an cooling ice pack around the body to keep the electrons quiet.
2. Use Dark Frame Subtraction. If you have lots of shots to take with the same exposure time, turn off the camera NR and take a black frame at the end with the lens cap on. Then subtract this in Photoshop. Alternatively (and more simply), enable the camera's Noise Reduction facility.
3. Use cool and quiet batteries (the more noise the batteries generate, the more noise creeps into the image through the circuit).
4. Take fewer shots, further apart to allow the electrons to calm down.

As John rightly said, there were a few things wrong with that image - you can't push CCDs for as long as film... but once you understand what's actually going on you can do things slightly differently with digital and get great results

Matt

PS. And going back to the *ist-D makes me realise how fast the K10D is, and how small the *ist-D LCD is!!