Brand New Pentax K10d...now what?

[mabenoab]

Hi all! I just bought a new Pentax K10d DSLR w/ a Pentax DA 50-200mm f4-5.6 lens. My former SLR was a Pentax K1000, pretty old school but great. Now I have my first DSLR and I'm lost. I want to take it from Auto to Manual, but there are so many buttons, so many options. I'm now afraid if I make a change in one place, and forget that I did it that I'll mess up all my other functions.

My question to the group is: does anyone know of a great DSLR (and even more specifically: one for the Pentax K10d) how to manual? I'd love to find something that would tell me: "If you want to take a low light action photo...these are the settings you need."

I have read my manuals that came with the camera, and I've signed up for a DSLR boot camp class through Betterphoto.com but thats not for a while. I want to use this camera now!

Thanks in advance,
Beth

 

[Master Mason]

I do not know of a specific manual for your camera, I am sure there is one, just don't know it.

But I would recommend Understanding Exposure, it will help you to know what settings your looking for for your pictures, and how ISO, Shutter Speed and Apeture all work together to craft the picuture your looking for.

 

[YEKCIM]

I believe I am correct in saying that the K10D does very little in-camera processing, at the default camera settings, meaning that you will need to obtain and lean to use some sort of editing program such as PhotoShop, Lightroom, Paint Shop Pro, or even Picasa.

Someone with more Pentax savvy may want to correct me if I'm all wet on that.

~Y

 

[mabas9395]

My question to the group is: does anyone know of a great DSLR (and even more specifically: one for the Pentax K10d) how to manual? I'd love to find something that would tell me: "If you want to take a low light action photo...these are the settings you need."

I don't think you need a manual that is specific to Pentax for those types of questions. A good book like Understanding Exposure will answer those, or a website like this can get you started http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/index.html

Then when those resources tell you to open up to a wide apperture and boost up your ISO, you can use the manual that came with your camera to figure out how to do that.

 

[handicap18]

I too recommend "Understand Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. He does a wonderful job of explaining everything and how it all works together.

Also, you don't have to necessarily get cought up in shooting "Manual". Many use Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority. I personally use Aperture Priority most of the time and let the camera set the shutter speed for me.

Use the meter in your view finder, that will help if you do shoot in Manual. Todays camera's have excellent meters and do a very good job with the settings.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Another book is The digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. Basically he tells you, this is the shot, and here's what I do to get the shot. Then you can experiment with your camera. (It's like a recipe book for each type of shot he shows you.) Another vote for Understanding Exposure as well.

 

[Groucho]

Fantastic camera! You'll have a great time with it.

I don't have any experience with them, but there is a Magic Lantern guide for the K10D as well as a a couple of tutorial DVDs (1 and 2.) I would guess that the book is the best bet, I've heard pretty good things about the Magic Lantern guides, and it's not terribly expensive.

I too went from a K1000 to a Pentax DSLR, so I can understand what the transition is like. First off - unlike with the K1000, you probably won't be shooting in Manual mode very often - in fact, very, very rarely most likely. For everyday shooting, Program mode will basically do nearly everything for you. Av lets you manually control the aperture and Tv lets you manually control the shutter - those three modes will do everything they can to automatically keep the exposure correct. In Manual mode, exposure is 100% up to you. You can hit the Green button to set everything to recommended settings then modify if you like.

Ultimately, I would recommend leaving it in "P" mode for a little while and get the feel of the camera. If you find yourself in a low-light situation and are getting blurs, try setting the ISO higher (it probably defaults to 100-800, similar to the K100D, so try 1600); this will give slightly higher levels of noise but allow a faster shutter.

Once you get comfortable with that, you can start to play with Av and Tv modes. But you can leave full manual mode to the K1000.

I believe I am correct in saying that the K10D does very little in-camera processing, at the default camera settings, meaning that you will need to obtain and lean to use some sort of editing program such as PhotoShop, Lightroom, Paint Shop Pro, or even Picasa.

Someone with more Pentax savvy may want to correct me if I'm all wet on that.

From what I've seen, the default settings go for a slightly more film-like image, which is not as oversharpened as we're used to from digital images. (Which has caused a lot of confusion and undeserved bad press in the net world.) And actually, the K10D does more in-camera processing than the vast majority of DSLRs as it can process RAW files in-camera using settings that you choose (sharpness, saturation, etc). Anyway, if you want JPGs that are more "typical" of a DSLR, it's just minor adjustments to sharpness and one or two other settings, and there you go. Unfortunately, the damage from Phil's review, where he obsessed on this (which is easily adjustable and honestly, if you're using a K10D you really should be shooting RAW mode anyway), and the camera got stuck with a "bad JPGs" label. I would guess that on their next DSLR, they'll go with a more standard-looking JPGs (like the K100D produces) to try to avoid a repeat of this.

Anyway, back to the point, the included RAW processing software is not too bad. The interface is a little on the clunky side, but for a free bundled program, it's fairly complete and powerful. Lightroom is way better - but it ain't free.

 

[mabenoab]

Thank you all for your kind recommendations and insight. After a week & a half of using the camera, I'm becoming a little more comfortable. I visited the website that mabas9395 recommended, and that was helpful. Groucho, thank you for the information you shared specific to the K10D. You know, I think you're the one who first turned me on to the Pentax K10d a few months ago when I posted looking for guidance about which DSLR to purchase, so thank you. I'm very happy with my choice. A little intimidated, but very happy.

My son is in a band and one of the reasons I wanted this camera was to take high quality photos of the group while they're in concert. I'm often shooting action shots in a low light situation. I thought, and still think, this Pentax will be great for me, but I know I'll need more equipment, and a lot more training. They had a show this past Sunday and it was my first chance to use this camera. If you want you can see some of my favorite pics (some I like because I think they're good, and some I like because I think they're good examples of what I need help on). I've posted them at:

http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/mabenoab/MHM Show2/
if you want to take a look. I appreciate feedback, I really do.

Thanks again for your kind advice.
Beth