Paid for Cactus set (sorry Dwiea/Graeme!)
Matt

Richard
I'm interested in your Cactus set
Matt

I would also say that Eneloop/Hybrio batteries are the way to go. My wife's *ist-Ds lasts for ages on them (as does my old *ist-D).

The *ist-D and *ist-Ds tried to automatically work out if you have Lithium or NiMH batteries installed by the voltage. Some NiMH when freshly charged have a higher than expected voltage and the camera can wrongly identify them as Lithium cells - that are on their way out. Often, by powering off the camera and repowering it would work (so it'd show dead, then power cycling would come back alive).

Alternatively, if you can get hold of a couple of cheap 3V Lithium cells you can try those (most high street retailers charge a large amount, but I believe 7dayshop has reasonably priced ones). You should get several hundred shots out of Lithium.

A multimeter would help identify the problem...

Matt

Hi
I have a K10D that's needing a new motherboard (the connector to the SD card board is wrecked).
Let me know if I yours is ok, and how much the main board would be?
Thanks!
Matt

As mentioned above, there are plenty of free/OpenSource/GPL packages that will do the job just nicely!

No need to pay money - especially not $69!!!

Matt

http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/

http://www.isl.co.jp/SILKYPIX/english/purchase.html


Matt

Replied

The genuine Pentax D-BG4 is weather sealed like the camera
Cannot comment about the copy versions

FYI, most hotshoe to PC sync adapters are just a plain adapter - there's no electronics included. There are some exceptions though that provide over-voltage protection.

The remote flash units will short the centre pin of the hotshoe to the edge (the metal flange of the hotshoe).

The Flickr image shows some adapters that have been set up to effectively short the sleeve and tip of the 2.5mm remote connector. (See this thread)

I would guess that the sleeve of the 2.5mm goes to the edge of the hotshoe (as in GND), while the tip of the 2.5mm goes to the centre pin of the hotshoe.

I have an unmarked hotshoe-to-PC that came with some ebay kit.
Might be worth seeing if your local camera shop has a 'bit box' you can rummage through (that is, if you have an old-style shop locally... there's Clock Tower Cameras in Brighton )

Matt

LEDs are powered by DC voltages so there is no variation of frequency. Sounds like "salesman speak" to me

The illumination issues are down to the spectral output of the LED, and that has more to do with the manufacturing process and quality of materials in the LED. As I mentioned, there can be a wide variation of quality with cheap LEDs.

But, as the referenced videos pointed out, even when using really expensive LED lighting (as in the film industry), you cannot trust what your eye sees since there is a metameric error occurring in the camera (i.e. your eye sees one colour, but the camera is seeing discrete wavelengths and not wide spectrum colour - and these individual peaks create issues with the spectral response of the camera's sensor). As was pointed out, two different cameras can render the same LED-lit scene completely differently - which gives almost impossible problems when shooting video + stills!

Hopefully the LED lighting will improve...

Matt