Thank you to all of you that helped with this problem. I believe I have resolved my issue. After reading the book over and over again for about the 50th time I think I found 2 reasons that caused my problem. First of all auto iso was set to span 100-200. That explained the lack of function in the auto modes. I was not aware you could set the range of the auto ISO. As to the manual usage. (Read exposure with a meter and set camera accordingly.) The problem was #18 in the custom menu was turned off. I turned it on. Set the amount to strong. guess what? It works! I didnt think my vivitar 45 could be wrong. At least I didnt try to fix it with a hammer LOL.

Thanks again to all of you.

DA 18-55

I reciently purchased a K20D to enter the realm of digital photography. Started shooting film with a K1000 in 1977. In 1986 I bought a 645. I love film so this digital is a shock. Here is my problem. For years I have been doing a night Portrait. A full moon with snow on the ground and a clear sky makes for some awsome photo's. I tried to do this last night with the K20D. I tried all of the auto functions to no avail. even tried manual settings using my vivitar light meter. My meter was telling me 5.6@2sec ISO400. This manual setting did not produce even an outline of my subject. Unfortunately, I deleted all of the images before I found this site so I cannot post one. Is this something I just have to live with in digital or do I possibly have something wrong with the camera. In the studio this morning I went to my log book and tried some light setups and settings that have been working for years on film and could not produce an acceptable image. Are digital ISO and Film ISO the same?

I am using Pentax SMC 18-55 DA