Pentax K-x help thread

[Cyberj]

Anyone can advice how to use remote with kx? I tried using the drive mode with the remote bought from Dealextreme but cant work. I set drive mode..see the red light binking.. but i press remote but nothing happen.

This is the remote which i bought
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.27842

 

[woefulwabbit]

Point at the blinking red light and press the "S" button next to the "P" (top left hand corner)
I remember there's a piece of plastic protecting the battery, you need to remove that first.
There's a range limit on the remote, try it short range first then experiment to see how far you can go out to

 

[Moonlightsg]

Anyone can advice how to use remote with kx? I tried using the drive mode with the remote bought from Dealextreme but cant work. I set drive mode..see the red light binking.. but i press remote but nothing happen.

This is the remote which i bought
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.27842

wah only $4+... if working i sure will order!:thumbsup:

 

[poseur]

Anyone can advice how to use remote with kx? I tried using the drive mode with the remote bought from Dealextreme but cant work. I set drive mode..see the red light binking.. but i press remote but nothing happen.

This is the remote which i bought
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.27842

i using this remote on my kx too. can only use the top left button as i beileve "P" is for pentax. all other button dont work.....but u can go disturb canikon people camera shutter....ahaaa

in your camera i think under "C" customised settings 3 or 4...u have to set your remote shutter to snap or do a "blub" mode remote shutter (press once to open the shutter and press again to close the shutter)

and you can set if you want to do auto focus or not when remote is press.

dont have the actual camera settings now as no cam now. later tonight maybe i post the setting in finer details.

 

[poseur]

i using this remote on my kx too. can only use the top left button as i beileve "P" is for pentax. all other button dont work.....but u can go disturb canikon people camera shutter....ahaaa

in your camera i think under "C" customised settings 3 or 4...u have to set your remote shutter to snap or do a "blub" mode remote shutter (press once to open the shutter and press again to close the shutter)

and you can set if you want to do auto focus or not when remote is press.

dont have the actual camera settings now as no cam now. later tonight maybe i post the setting in finer details.

actual kx settings

menu C2 11
menu C2 12

remember to timer (up arrow) button to go to Drive mode then set to remote control.

 

[sid8888]

here are some of the test shots i did with my new k-x.
I was using Aperture priority mode and matrix metering for all

f18 1/60s ISO200

f18 1/200s ISO200

and 1 more in a darker environment:

f4.5 1/30s ISO400

I understand that the metering may not be accurate in certain conditions, but it was constantly too dark in almost all my pictures. For the first 2 it was bright and sunny, looks overcast in the pictures. Is there a problem with my settings or my camera?
Help greatly appreciated.....

 

[WangJianWei]

I bought from here: http://myworld.ebay.com.sg/tecpoint2139 4xAA eneloops at $16.50 + $0.50 (delivery)

Great price!
I bought one this afternoon

 

[tabako]

here are some of the test shots i did with my new k-x.
I was using Aperture priority mode and matrix metering for all


I understand that the metering may not be accurate in certain conditions, but it was constantly too dark in almost all my pictures. For the first 2 it was bright and sunny, looks overcast in the pictures. Is there a problem with my settings or my camera?
Help greatly appreciated.....

Yea all seems underexposed.

Why dun you take a few more in good light and low light, see is it permanently underexposed, if it is maybe its time to visit emjay.

 

[Cyberj]

Point at the blinking red light and press the "S" button next to the "P" (top left hand corner)
I remember there's a piece of plastic protecting the battery, you need to remove that first.
There's a range limit on the remote, try it short range first then experiment to see how far you can go out to

cant work leh..i try look for spare battery replace and try.. see how
Tks

 

[banana0ne]

cant work leh..i try look for spare battery replace and try.. see how
Tks

check center weighted metering. also try jpeg output. also try exposure compensation.

 

[Gengh]

here are some of the test shots i did with my new k-x.
I was using Aperture priority mode and matrix metering for all

I understand that the metering may not be accurate in certain conditions, but it was constantly too dark in almost all my pictures. For the first 2 it was bright and sunny, looks overcast in the pictures. Is there a problem with my settings or my camera?
Help greatly appreciated.....

The first two look like the kind of scene where the large patch of white clouds causes the meter to underexpose. Checked their histograms and it does seem like that. Do the other problem pictures have a large piece of sky in them as well? Overcast skies in the day tend to require a stop of overexposure if you include them in your pics.

The third one is more tricky, looks like you took it with flash, and at a fairly close distance? EXIf says flash was used. It looks to me like the cam metered for the most reflective object in the centre - the guys spec! And the fall-off of flash power in the background didn't help.

I wouldn't conclude anything yet just from looking at these pics, but those are my guess as to what was happening.... If you take a pic without flash, and with no bright objects (white clouds, light bulbs, lcd screen, etc) in the scene, does it turn out ok?

 

[elavan]

here are some of the test shots i did with my new k-x.
I was using Aperture priority mode and matrix metering for all

f18 1/60s ISO200

f18 1/200s ISO200

and 1 more in a darker environment:

f4.5 1/30s ISO400

I understand that the metering may not be accurate in certain conditions, but it was constantly too dark in almost all my pictures. For the first 2 it was bright and sunny, looks overcast in the pictures. Is there a problem with my settings or my camera?
Help greatly appreciated.....

congratulations you have discovered the limitation of cameras. or maybe Pentax cameras: preserve highlights at all cost..

some of us have addressed this already, nothing is wrong, in fact this is very typical of what you get when you use matrix in daylight shooting & matrix metering generally.

you can just compensate 0.7 EV and "trial", making use of the histogram preview in-cam and ETTR accordingly. or exposure bracketing.

if you want nice blues from the sky to come out better, use a CPL filter, there's a reason for existence of such things/measures because the camera is not almighty.

if u have photoshop/lightroom etc just look at the histogram (also available in-cam)from the shots u posted, you will see lots of unused DR in both shadows and highlights, just compress n everything will brighten up accordingly..

 

[elavan]

The first two look like the kind of scene where the large patch of white clouds causes the meter to underexpose. Checked their histograms and it does seem like that. Do the other problem pictures have a large piece of sky in them as well? Overcast skies in the day tend to require a stop of overexposure if you include them in your pics.

The third one is more tricky, looks like you took it with flash, and at a fairly close distance? EXIf says flash was used. It looks to me like the cam metered for the most reflective object in the centre - the guys spec! And the fall-off of flash power in the background didn't help.

I wouldn't conclude anything yet just from looking at these pics, but those are my guess as to what was happening.... If you take a pic without flash, and with no bright objects (white clouds, light bulbs, lcd screen, etc) in the scene, does it turn out ok?

i think it's that reflective spot on the glass of beer, is it?

 

[banana0ne]

i think it's that reflective spot on the glass of beer, is it?

Most likely the spectacles. It's the only thing I can see there

 

[airconvent]

here are some of the test shots i did with my new k-x.
I was using Aperture priority mode and matrix metering for all
I understand that the metering may not be accurate in certain conditions, but it was constantly too dark in almost all my pictures. For the first 2 it was bright and sunny, looks overcast in the pictures. Is there a problem with my settings or my camera?
Help greatly appreciated.....

Bro
I noticed your firmware still Ver 1. If you encounter fast battery depletion issues, remember to upgrade to ver 1.01 which solves it.
BTW, for your photo, you can increase your ISO to 800 or 1600 as the kx is very forgiving with high ISO noise.

 

[woefulwabbit]

If you look at the histogram for the first two images, you will find that the entire range is covered. Because the sky is brighter than the buildings, the metering chooses an exposure so as not to blow the highlights of the sky. You can't make the scene any brighter without losing detail in the sky. You have to make a choice whether you want to expose for the sky or for the building and get more detail for the sky or the building.

There are a couple of ways to get a better amount of detail for both sky and building. If you use a CPL filter, this will reduce the brightness of the sky, so allows you to brighten the building without losing detail in the sky. Alternatively, you can do a HDR shot, either through the cam by enabling HDR mode, or use AEB to take 3 shots and combine a HDR image in post processing yourself. You could also try to do some fake HDR in post-processing... here's an example of some extreme processing (i did id quick and dirty in Krita so excuse the quality) applied to your first photo:

The last image is because of the reflective surface of the spectacle and the beer glass. If you notice when you use flash, there are two flashes that go off one right after the other. The first is a pre-flash where the lightmeter will measure how much the subject is lited, and then the power of the flash is recalculated for the second actual flash. Reflective surface cause more light than usual to be reflected back, so the second flash is weaken and so the image is dark.



Instead of using matrix mode, switch to center-weighted. It may be more suited for your style of shooting and likely to fix the problems you have (although will overblow your skies a bit). You can also play around with spot metering, which requires a bit more experience to use effectively.

 

[sid8888]

Ok thanks guys will try out more shots over the weekend...
Learning new things everyday

 

[watchthewaves]

But its no more $16.50 + $0.50. Its now $17.90 + $1.00. Still some savings, but not much.

 

[kengoh]

But its no more $16.50 + $0.50. Its now $17.90 + $1.00. Still some savings, but not much.

So it's $18.90.
I bought from AP at $19.

 

[woefulwabbit]

Yeah the shrink packs sell out fast, after that have to buy standard package or wait for more shrink pack stocks to come in