Since we have been having these threads on manual focus, I thought to bring to attention my *ist DS. I chose this over the Canon 350D a couple of years back because of a bigger viewfinder magnification (.8x vs .95x) which is even better than the K100D's (.85x)--which makes it great for manual focus! (It also has to be pointed out that the K100D has a bigger VF of 96% vs the DS with 95%; but what's 1% between friends). I don't have the numbers, but it also has a bigger buffer than the K100D making it better in sequential shooting. The K100D, of course, supercedes this with better JPEGs and shake reduction but since I shoot half the time in RAW and have trained myself to be rock steady even at 1/20 (otherwise I use a tripod), I have no compelling reason to change to a K100D (which is not really an upgrade). Sometimes I wish I had the bigger LCD but as a film photographer, I have yet to make chimping a habit (although the DS2 has the bigger LCD).

Have tons of old K-mount lenses or plan to be a manual focus junkie but cannot afford the K10D? The *istDS may be worth revisiting. There are still brand new units floating around (I think I saw one in Camerahaus Glorietta) and they're definitely cheaper than the K100D.

Bong

Hi Bong,

I agree, just bought a DS for a friend (baduy - silver body hehehe - she prefers it than the black though) - it is still new (old stock). Instead of paying a premium on the body, I would prefer better lenses. Though the shake-reduction on the K10d really, really works! It will also be a good back-up once you buy the higher-end K10d and possibly convert the DS to a full-time IR camera hehehe.

Cheers!

Actually I am beginning to miss those silver bodies ...ay baduy! :D

Nice thing about being in Japan they make variants that is not seen anywhere else in the world. So far I've seen silver DLs on sale in EBay, but not DS. Do they have silver K10D too? Of course I look forward to shake reduction (for a short while I used a Minolta Dimage A1 with anti shake tech so I know what it can do) especially now I'm in my mid-life...

Bong

Bought my Ds 3 years ago at Camerahaus - still perfect after all this time. SR and bigger lcd would be nice but not a must for me (I have shot static subjects at 1/8s before). Like Bong, I mostly shoot RAW nowadays except when I'm testing.

Been thinking of upgrading to the K10D but am not sure if it's the right time for me. BEsides, what will I do with my trusty old Ds?
Nols

Hi!

Just wondering how you determine exposure reading using lenses without the auto aperture ring. With my *istD set at manual mode, I press the green button. This gives me the shutter speed based on the maximum aperture of the lens. When I stop down the aperture setting of the lens, I have to mentally determine the corresponding change in shutter setting and adjust manually.

Is there a more efficient (faster) way to do the above procedure?

Fred

Hi!

Just wondering how you determine exposure reading using lenses without the auto aperture ring. With my *istD set at manual mode, I press the green button. This gives me the shutter speed based on the maximum aperture of the lens. When I stop down the aperture setting of the lens, I have to mentally determine the corresponding change in shutter setting and adjust manually.

Is there a more efficient (faster) way to do the above procedure?

Fred

First go to the custom menu - set your camera to accept aperture from the aperture ring. Change shooting mode to manual and set your desired aperture using the aperture ring. Press AE-L button and the camera will give you it's recommended shutter speed. With my Ds I have to do half-press on the shutter button when I press AE-L. You can still adjust this using your shutter speed dial if needed.

Nols

BEsides, what will I do with my trusty old Ds?
Nols

Give it to me? And I'll have it converted into an IR camera. :Grin:

Give it to me? And I'll have it converted into an IR camera. :Grin:

LOL! Randall, I know you're the IR guru here. Please educate me. How exactly does one convert a dslr to a dedicated IR camera?

Nols

Well, there are a couple of ways. There is a DIY method but tinkering with the camera's high voltage innards by myself is last on my list.

You can have it serviced through Pentax or Lifepixel.com (though, I don't know if they do Pentax cameras).

They will replace the camera sensor's lowpass filter with an infrared glass filter which then let's you take infrared images at normal camera metering and exposure times. So, you don't need to use screw-in IR filters and long exposure settings to do IR images.

The only drawback is it's already an IR camera so you can't do normal visible light photography anymore.

It's a reversible method but you again have to service it through them to swap-in the original lowpass filter. :Grin:

I miss the days of Kodak IR and Ilford SFX, results are better compared to digital IR

First go to the custom menu - set your camera to accept aperture from the aperture ring. Change shooting mode to manual and set your desired aperture using the aperture ring. Press AE-L button and the camera will give you it's recommended shutter speed. With my Ds I have to do half-press on the shutter button when I press AE-L. You can still adjust this using your shutter speed dial if needed.

Nols

Hi Nols,

In the custom menu of the *istD, there's no setting to set the camera to accept aperture from the aperture ring. I can set the camera to enable the shutter to function when the aperture is not set to "A"; but the meter does not link to the setting of the aperture ring. Maybe the models after the *istD can be set to accept the settings from the aperture ring.

Thanks,

Fred

Hi Nols,

In the custom menu of the *istD, there's no setting to set the camera to accept aperture from the aperture ring. I can set the camera to enable the shutter to function when the aperture is not set to "A"; but the meter does not link to the setting of the aperture ring. Maybe the models after the *istD can be set to accept the settings from the aperture ring.

Thanks,

Fred

Have you updated to the latest firmware? Here's a quote from a fellow at dpr:

"-For the D model you need the latest firmware installed and the custom function that allows "non A-setting" operation enabled. Mount the lens, set the camera to M (manual) mode, set the aperture you want on the lens aperture ring, press the Green button (no need to hold down the buttom), take picture.
Follow the same procedure for the DS model, only press the AE-L button.

From experience I can assure you that genuine K-mount lenses only work at open aperture when in AV mode. KA-mount lenses on the other hand, work in AV mode too."
Nols

It will also be a good back-up once you buy the higher-end K10d and possibly convert the DS to a full-time IR camera hehehe.
Today was revealing. My son assisted me in a wedding shoot, he can use the DS...I now have a reason to get myself a K10D! So you think they'll release a champagne silver edition of it in Japan?

Bong:Grin:

Is there a more efficient (faster) way to do the above procedure?

Surprisingly it took me a while to figure out even the DS...but that was because in my excitement to get it to work I did not RTM (...RTfM!). Even up to now, instead of using the AE-L button as Noli described, I sometime find myself using the DOF switch to check exposure.

Have you updated to the latest firmware? Here's a quote from a fellow at dpr:

"-For the D model you need the latest firmware installed and the custom function that allows "non A-setting" operation enabled. Mount the lens, set the camera to M (manual) mode, set the aperture you want on the lens aperture ring, press the Green button (no need to hold down the buttom), take picture.
Follow the same procedure for the DS model, only press the AE-L button.

From experience I can assure you that genuine K-mount lenses only work at open aperture when in AV mode. KA-mount lenses on the other hand, work in AV mode too."
Nols
Oops! You're right. I checked the firmware of my *istD; and it's still the original version 1.0. I will download the latest version 1.12 which has the custom function that I need.

Thanks a lot! :Grin:

Fred

Anybody out there know where (and for how much) I can get my DS converted to IR? I got the K10D last month and the DS is on extended holiday now, he he.
Thanks!

Anybody out there know where (and for how much) I can get my DS converted to IR? I got the K10D last month and the DS is on extended holiday now, he he.
Thanks!
Randall's post in this thread (post #9) may have already partly answered your question, go back the previous page.

Well, there are a couple of ways. There is a DIY method but tinkering with the camera's high voltage innards by myself is last on my list.

You can have it serviced through Pentax or Lifepixel.com (though, I don't know if they do Pentax cameras).

They will replace the camera sensor's lowpass filter with an infrared glass filter which then let's you take infrared images at normal camera metering and exposure times. So, you don't need to use screw-in IR filters and long exposure settings to do IR images.

The only drawback is it's already an IR camera so you can't do normal visible light photography anymore.

It's a reversible method but you again have to service it through them to swap-in the original lowpass filter. :Grin:

Lifepixel does not convert Pentax cameras unfortunately, and I have been scouring the internet for someone who had been brave enough to disassemble the D/DS/DS2/DL/DL2 by themselves to no avail. If you have some info like would there be some desoldering/resoldering the non-sensor related parts of the camera body (i.e. Canon dSLRs) involved - will be glad to know it :-)

Today was revealing. My son assisted me in a wedding shoot, he can use the DS...I now have a reason to get myself a K10D! So you think they'll release a champagne silver edition of it in Japan?

Bong:Grin:
I can spray paint it for you if you really want it :-) But you know, that would be a good idea if someone here has very good techniques with an airbrush! Like a ustom painted car! I want mine red!

Surprisingly it took me a while to figure out even the DS...but that was because in my excitement to get it to work I did not RTM (...RTfM!). Even up to now, instead of using the AE-L button as Noli described, I sometime find myself using the DOF switch to check exposure.

Also did this with a *istD before - use the DOF preview lever to stop down the lens then adjust the shutter speed to get proper exposure in Manual Mode.

Chelo

I can spray paint it for you if you really want it :-) But you know, that would be a good idea if someone here has very good techniques with an airbrush! Like a ustom painted car! I want mine red!

Did that once with an old Spotmatic ... :Shock:

But search Ebay and there are a lot of reconditioned K1000 & Spotmatics with red/green/blue/brown/yellow(!) leatherettes. Someone got the idea, no spray painting though...

Bong

I just shot a wedding and in one series, I was shooting the bride with her entourage so I had the FA 28-105 attached to the DS. The next photo is below left when the bride asked to pose with her mother. After that shot was taken I realized that it could have been better so I switched to my old manual focus K (no "A" function) 135/2.5 and the rest of the series looked like the photo on the right.

http://www.ontu.net/images/_IGP6185.jpg
Left photo was taken on Av mode with f4.5/105mm and the right photo was taken in manual mode at f2.5/135mm (I can't remember the shutter speeds).

Oh...and I did remember that I metered using the DOF switch :D

More from that shoot here (http://www.ontu.net/portfolio/weddings.htm) and in my son's website (http://www.khalil.uni.cc)--he was my assistant.

I just shot a wedding and in one series, I was shooting the bride with her entourage so I had the FA 28-105 attached to the DS. The next photo is below left when the bride asked to pose with her mother. After that shot was taken I realized that it could have been better so I switched to my old manual focus K (no "A" function) 135/2.5 and the rest of the series looked like the photo on the right.

http://www.ontu.net/images/_IGP6185.jpg
Left photo was taken on Av mode with f4.5/105mm and the right photo was taken in manual mode at f2.5/135mm (I can't remember the shutter speeds).

Oh...and I did remember that I metered using the DOF switch :D
Nothing beats a large aperture lens for portrait shots. This is where the prime lenses shine because of their large lens openings compared with most zooms. I just left my 50mm 1.4 at Sanly for cleaning. It's large aperture opening enables a lot of DOF control.

BTW, I just installed the 1.12 firmware on my *istD. The opening now stops down to the aperture setting when the green button is pressed for metering. The metering scale in the viewfinder now also appears when I use the DOF switch. :)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/505430464_ea77293264.jpg
Shot this morning with the *istD and manual K 135mm f2.5.

Hi Fred,

The lighting of that shot is exquisite, congrats on your firmware upgrade, more 135/2.5 shots to follow I assume. We should invite you to be one of our resource in the upcoming training seminar.

Bong :Grin:

Hi Fred,

The lighting of that shot is exquisite, congrats on your firmware upgrade, more 135/2.5 shots to follow I assume. We should invite you to be one of our resource in the upcoming training seminar.

Bong :Grin:

bong, you better sell me the m35-70 and the k135 as well! nice shots bro! may niluluto ako for june 9. pag natuloy, sama ka!

joey

bong, you better sell me the m35-70 and the k135 as well! nice shots bro! may niluluto ako for june 9. pag natuloy, sama ka!

joey

As in ...kainan? Sama ako! :D

Ah...teka, lumalabo na nga yun 35-70 (btw it's an A35-70) mas malabo yun K135 :Grin:

I just bought my 1st Ds last month and I just want to thank all you pentaxians that a great part of my decision was because of the inputs I read in this site. I have been a pentaxian since '83 and own an MX and K2 and ME super all of which I treasure dearly. What made me choose pentax again is that fact all my lenses are working with my new toy(1st DS). since I have been used to manual operations with my old pentax I did not have any problem using it again. My problem if anybody can help is my fear of using my old national panasonic flash units with my camera. My sunpack works well, I would like to ask if any of you have any experience of using national panasonic flash units?

PENTAXIAN FOREVER!

Here are some of my shots using my vivitar zoom 28-210 mm KA lens

Welcome aboard Eric...Pentax user here since 1976 as well, and still hanging on to my DS! :Grin:

Before anything else, sign-up in the roll-call thread and visit the Pinoy Pentaxian website (http://www.pinoypentaxian.com).

I'd be wary of using old flash units on DSLRs because of the trigger voltage issue which is discussed in two thread here:

http://digitalphotographer.com.ph/forum/showthread.php?t=9315

http://digitalphotographer.com.ph/forum/showthread.php?t=8153

Sunpak is known to work well because of low voltage; my old Vivitars doesn't (but the recent Vivitar 285HV does). So its a mine field out there and I don't have any info on National. Somewhere in those threads mentioned is a link to a site which list trigger voltages of various brands of flashes. National might be listed somewhere there. Another solution is to take a tester and simply see what voltage registers when the flash is fired.

Hope that helps!

Some shots from my first day out with the Tokina 80-200mm f/2.8 mounted on my DS. Accurate focus at f/2.8, 200mm still requires a lot of luck on my part. I don't really know if a split-screen would help very much:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/NolsP/IMGP6004ver1red.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/NolsP/IMGP6054ver1red.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/NolsP/IMGP6115ver1red.jpg
Nols

Bong,.... thank you for the reply.....I was afraid of that! sana nga pwede yun national na flash ko kasi stem flash yun and matagal ko ng ginagamit. well my last hope is camerahaus sabi kasi ng saleslady dun I can bring it and have the technician look at it. But the cost of a new flash really is so much I could remember that in cubao the more expensive flashes cost between 2-3 K lang. talagang matgal out of touch na ako sa SLR world!

Noli..... tama ka yun split image focusing screen I think is the best, yan ang standard na focusing screen ng MX which is detachable ang dali gamitin especially pag night shots. I have a Tokina 35-105mm with macro which is the best range before .....I used to bring that everyday to school.

Bong,.... thank you for the reply.....I was afraid of that! sana nga pwede yun national na flash ko kasi stem flash yun and matagal ko ng ginagamit. well my last hope is camerahaus sabi kasi ng saleslady dun I can bring it and have the technician look at it. But the cost of a new flash really is so much I could remember that in cubao the more expensive flashes cost between 2-3 K lang. talagang matgal out of touch na ako sa SLR world!

Noli..... tama ka yun split image focusing screen I think is the best, yan ang standard na focusing screen ng MX which is detachable ang dali gamitin especially pag night shots. I have a Tokina 35-105mm with macro which is the best range before .....I used to bring that everyday to school.

Stem flash? You mean the one that connects to a flash bracket and a X sync cord? Uh...by now you would have found out that the DS and most of new DSLRs does NOT have the old X sync cord for old flashes.

Welcome aboard Eric...Pentax user here since 1976 as well, and still hanging on to my DS! :Grin:

Before anything else, sign-up in the roll-call thread and visit the Pinoy Pentaxian website (http://www.pinoypentaxian.com).

I'd be wary of using old flash units on DSLRs because of the trigger voltage issue which is discussed in two thread here:

http://digitalphotographer.com.ph/forum/showthread.php?t=9315

http://digitalphotographer.com.ph/forum/showthread.php?t=8153

Sunpak is known to work well because of low voltage; my old Vivitars doesn't (but the recent Vivitar 285HV does). So its a mine field out there and I don't have any info on National. Somewhere in those threads mentioned is a link to a site which list trigger voltages of various brands of flashes. National might be listed somewhere there. Another solution is to take a tester and simply see what voltage registers when the flash is fired.

Hope that helps!
Bong...I have an hot shoe adapter which I used with my sunpack and it worked. may kasamang sync cord yun national kong flash takot lang ako baka ma fry yun metering ng camera...kay I will bring it to camerahaus although sabi ng tech dun basta yun contact point sa gitna lang ok daw. just to be sure sila na lang ang papagawin ko. In fact thet never mentioned any voltage issues to me except on the website na suggested ng pentaxian.

I did some reading here (http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html) to check on National flashes' voltage and quite a number are not advisable for DSLRs. The 'hammerhead' seems to be borderline, the website says "your call."

Just for anecdotal reference, I once ...(folks don't try this at home)... fired my DS with my Vivitar 273 (290VOLTS!!!) mounted and it ...well... fired. The DS felt like a computer that had its reset button pressed while you were in the middle of something.

:Shock:

I guess it did not have a long term effect...I did that late 2006 and my DS is still working well without any of the glitches reported by other Pentaxians with their cameras. Of course, I never did anything like that again.

:Grin:

I have the same issue before.. don't know if the flash can be used with DSLR.. so I did what sir bong told me.. Measure the standby voltage.. and found out that it was less than 4V.. heheheh.. Then somehow got confident and tried it.. Perfect!:D

To measure, put the (+) hand of the voltmeter at the middle pin of the flash and the (-) at the metal at the side of the hot shoe ( this is for manual flash but I guess it's the same with others )

I made a safe-voltage flash sync circuit for my Vivitar 283. I've actually made one already but my other 283 has not yet been modded.

The total parts cost at Alexan is probably <100 pesos. Mine is quite untidy hence I want to clean it up and pot it in epoxy para single part and neat.

http://orlygoingthirty.blogspot.com/2008/02/more-vivitar-283-hacking.html

add-on: the EOS350D flash shoe can take 250V. My two 283's only put out about 110V on their sync connectors, but I wanted an extra margin of protection.

Too bad I blew the fuses on my 350D.. I dropped the camera (and 50mm lens) at the Changi airport last Monday, the ribbon cable inside the lens snapped. I "repaired" the lens using some hard disk ribbon cable, but my repair was faulty and the lens shorted the camera.

(that's what I get for being overly DIY)

the fuses in the 350D are surface-mount and I no longer feel brave enough to open it up and repair it myself... so off to Canon it goes tomorrow.

I have the same issue before.. don't know if the flash can be used with DSLR.. so I did what sir bong told me.. Measure the standby voltage.. and found out that it was less than 4V.. heheheh.. Then somehow got confident and tried it.. Perfect!:D

To measure, put the (+) hand of the voltmeter at the middle pin of the flash and the (-) at the metal at the side of the hot shoe ( this is for manual flash but I guess it's the same with others )

Uh...right :Grin:

But did you ever find out what the trigger voltage was?

@Orly...lets meet up one of these days. You see, I worked for an outfit that had me running around with a Canon 20D a couple of years back and I was already on my way to adapting Pentax lenses to it; having left that company I never had a chance to implement that and am wondering since what's it like to use a Canon with Taks...

@Bong, that would be great. The Canon is at Canon right now though... 3 weeks daw. And I haven't gotten my split-image screen yet from China... should've gotten a Haoda.

Bong, Orly and jay2,

Guys I did it! ginamit ko na yun flash kanina (the stem flash na national)...ewan ko ba kung anong pumasok sa akin basta kinabit ko tapos yun ok na I used it in my daughter's soiree a while ago. medyo nanibago lang ako sa setting kasi yun setting ng flash ......determine the ASA and via a dial the flash will give 2 f/stop settings. I used ASA 100 so the settings were f 2.8 and f5.6 medyo madilim sa 5.6 so by trial and error as bong suggested in one of his threads nakuha ko yun gusto kong setting which is 1/2 fstop bigger than the recommended. Meron din times that since the biggest opening of the lens is f3.5, I had to compensate to a slower shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/60 secs. At least di nasunog yun camera. Again maraming salamat sa concern ninyo sa aking "flash" problem. here are some of teh outputs I hope you can comment on them. BTW the 1st two has a auto white balance setting while the last one I adjusted to white balance+ flash. any suggestions?

@Bong, that would be great. The Canon is at Canon right now though... 3 weeks daw. And I haven't gotten my split-image screen yet from China... should've gotten a Haoda.

You know (in another thread) that I got one of those in my DS. It feels like it was salvaged off one of those Chinese clones of Minolta SLRs... I exaggerate... :Grin:

Sige mag-MF trip tayo :)

Bong, Orly and jay2,

Guys I did it! ginamit ko na yun flash kanina (the stem flash na national)...ewan ko ba kung anong pumasok sa akin basta kinabit ko tapos yun ok na I used it in my daughter's soiree a while ago. medyo nanibago lang ako sa setting kasi yun setting ng flash ......determine the ASA and via a dial the flash will give 2 f/stop settings. I used ASA 100 so the settings were f 2.8 and f5.6 medyo madilim sa 5.6 so by trial and error as bong suggested in one of his threads nakuha ko yun gusto kong setting which is 1/2 fstop bigger than the recommended. Meron din times that since the biggest opening of the lens is f3.5, I had to compensate to a slower shutter speed from 1/125 to 1/60 secs. At least di nasunog yun camera. Again maraming salamat sa concern ninyo sa aking "flash" problem. here are some of teh outputs I hope you can comment on them. BTW the 1st two has a auto white balance setting while the last one I adjusted to white balance+ flash. any suggestions?

They seems to be on the reddish side. Also, it seems a bit underexposed (which may contribute to the reddish tint). JPEGs? Because its hard to do a manual white balance with a flash, I would suggest shooting RAW.

I've had Great Success (Borat TM) with the modded Vivitar 283. The output is fantastic (but my sample photos suck so I won't post them here).

The modded Vivitar uses a potentiometer to set the flash power. I don't dink around with the dial etc. I just fire off a shot, look at the histogram, adjust potentiometer, rinse and repeat. Would probably not work too well in a "real live" event though...

Yup jpegs ang format...maybe I'll use raw next time and remove the diffuser on the flash. thanks for the input. I"ll also try looking at the histogram and maybe that can help me also. Thanks again

Yup jpegs ang format...maybe I'll use raw next time and remove the diffuser on the flash. thanks for the input. I"ll also try looking at the histogram and maybe that can help me also. Thanks again

Oh...may diffuser. Yeah that may throw the color balance a bit off; my hunch is that if you shot without it the white balance set to flash would work properly...then you can shoot jpeg. The diffuser would still be okay except maybe you have to shoot in RAW to fix the color cast after.