Flash and Exposure Modes

Depending on the exposure mode you have selected, your choices of flash mode change.

In this article we'll briefly discuss the flash modes available for each of the exposure modes.

K10D Manual White Balance

Like I promised back in the function menu post, here is the method and results of an in camera manual white balance setup.

I'll start with a caveat or 2 (or more).

The images of the K10D menu screens are taken with a Pentax DL and are not properly color corrected and are not near to life as they are not intended to be.

The final images from the in camera manual white balance are out of camera (OOC) (other than re-sizing) and still need post processing. I used jpg mode to record all images and no RAW files were used in the process.

This is not a post on how to color correct with post processing programs but intended to get the most accurate color correction straight out of camera.

You can use any (true) white sample you want for the manual white balance, just make sure it's really white.

Don't use an antique wedding dress as your sample as it most likely will be off-white and distort the color balance.

Moving on.

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Start by selecting the manual white balance option from the function menu in record mode (not playback). The manual white balance is the second to last selection in the white balance menu. You should end up with a menu screen that looks like this.

Press the shutter button to take a sample photo.

You should now have a menu screen that looks like this.

You can size the selection box using the rear thumbwheel and move the selection box using the 4-way controller.

Move the selection box over the area in the sample image that contains the true white color.

Press the OK button.

You should now have a menu screen that looks like this. If you do not have a mixed lighting situation this may be all you need and can hit the OK button.

However, if you are in a mixed lighting situation then there is one final step to properly color correct the image.

Using the 4-way controller, move the cursor along the green-amber and blue-magenta grid until the white looks white. Slide over into the extremes a bit so you can see the changes and then move back until you don't see any of that color in the white any more. No, it's not an exact science at this point, and if you can't tell any difference in the color subtleties then leave the cursor at mid point and call it good.

You can do a final levels layer on your white color sample in post processing and use that layer to correct all images taken in the same lighting conditions.

My final manual white balance menu screen looked like this for the fluorescent/tungsten mix I had going on. YMMV. And remember, the menu screens are not color corrected so they do not look white.

Here is what the K10D saw with no color correction.

The BWG card.

The colorless subject.

And the final product straight OOC.








Well that's all there is to a K10D in camera manual white balance. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment and I'll try to help.

Next article is on Debug Mode with the latest firmware.

The Function Menu (part 2)

Next we'll discuss the function menu in playback mode. To get to playback mode press the little arrow button near the bottom left of the back of the camera.

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DPOF

DPOF is used to tag the photo with limited printing information. All you can tag is the number of copies you want printed and whether you want the date overlaid on the print or not. Use this feature if you take your SD card to the local photo lab and have your photos printed directly from the SD card.

If you want the same information on all images then press the function button again. To get out of all image mode, press the menu button near the upper left of the back of the camera.

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Slideshow

Slideshow mode is used for just that, to start a slideshow of all the images stored in the camera. Once you select slideshow from the main function menu the slideshow starts after a really quick display of the slideshow menu. The OK button pauses and restarts the slideshow while the left and right arrows display the previous and next images respectively. The down arrow stops the slideshow and you have to go back into the function menu to start the slideshow again. Pretty simple stuff.

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File Conversion

File conversion is used to convert a RAW image into a jpg image. If a jpg image is displayed in playback then you can not select the file conversion option. Once in the file conversion option you can use the left and right arrows to select the previous and next images.

Once you have selected the desired image to convert press the OK button. This will bring you to the jpg settings menu.

In the jpg settings menu you can change all the information like you can from the record menu. Once you change the settings you want press the OK button. If you want to exit the jpg settings menu press the menu button.

If you want to change one of the settings press the function button again. You will be prompted to save the image as a new file. Select Save as and press the OK button to start the actual conversion/save process. The jpg image will now be stored on the SD card.

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Digital Filters

Digital filters basically are an in camera digital photo editing software. They are limited in what they can do but in a pinch can produce usable results.

The B&W filter can do a basic color to black and white conversion or you can select either the red, green, or blue color channels using the rear thumbwheel to be converted to black and white.

The sepia filter allows you to select 3 levels of sepia toning.

The color filter allows you to tint the image with 6 colors. You select the color with the front wheel and select the amount with the rear wheel.

The soft filter applies a blur to the image to create a creamy finish. Again there are 3 levels to choose from.

The slim filter stretches either the horizontal or the vertical size of the image to produce either a slimming or fattening effect. Unless you're going for that carnival fun house mirror effect, don't stretch either of the axis too far.

The brightness filter allows you to adjust the brightness of the image in 8 steps in either direction.

Here's a trick to combine more than one filter to an image. Select one filter and save the new image. Then select the new image and add another filter to it.

By creating a black and white image as the first image and then adding a color tint to it you can create toned black and white images in a color other than sepia.

And you can even add multiple color filters to get secondary color tints or select opposite colors and convert the image back to black and white.

Well I hope you enjoyed our little tour of the function menu in playback mode.

Next I will dig into white balance and how to do a manual white balance in camera.

Back at it! Function Menu (part 1)

After a long absence I'm back and we take up where we left of with the menus, in particular the Function menu.

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The Function Menu

We'll take the function menu in clockwise order starting with the camera in record mode (not playback).

Drive mode

The drive mode lets you change how the camera will capture each frame. You can decide between single frame, continuous shooting, 2 timed delay modes, and 2 remote control modes.

Single frame shooting is just that. For every press of the shutter button you capture one image. This is your basic default mode for normal shooting.

Continuous shooting will continue to capture images as long as you have the shutter button pressed. This mode is useful to capture sports action and multi frame shots of a sequence of events. It's not quite fast enough to capture a golf swing in motion or anything like that, but fine for a soccer game. If you need to capture frames of a golf swing or other such fast action try one frame and a strobe that fires repeatedly.

The first self-timer mode is a 12 second delay which is used mostly when the photographer wants to be in the image but doesn't have a remote shutter device. Once you press the shutter button the camera will start beeping and flashing and you have 12 seconds before the curtain releases. 10 seconds into the sequence the beeping and flashing speed up to indicate the release time is close. This gives you 2 seconds to get those pearly whites showing.

The second timer mode locks the mirror assembly in the up position and waits 2 seconds for any vibrations to settle before releasing the curtain. This mode is used mainly in macro or astro photography. It can be used in any condition where camera vibration is causing the image to be blurry.

The first remote control mode is the default Infra-Red (IR) remote mode where the shutter curtain releases when the remote button is pressed. I have not yet used an IR remote so I can't elaborate any more on it. As with all IR devices I'm sure there are line of sight issues as well as distance (power) issues with the remote's LED.

The second remote control mode also adds a 3 second delay. The manual does not mention if the mirror locks up in this mode, but I imagine it does or else why have such a short delay.

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ISO (Sensitivity)

AUTO Sensitivity is a very useful mode especially when you dial in your top and bottom ISO numbers. What will happen then is the camera will try to use the lowest ISO possible to properly expose an image based on what the aperture and shutter speed is. If the available light is not enough then the camera will up the ISO to obtain proper exposure. The max and min settings can be adjusted via the front and rear dials. The front dial adjusts the min setting while the rear dial adjusts the max setting. I keep mine on AUTO 100-400 when I'm shooting Av or Tv priority modes. This lets me select the speed or aperture I want and the camera will adjust the sensitivity to compensate. ISO 400 still delivers very clean images (low digital noise).

You can also select a static ISO by pressing the 4-way controller up or down until the desired ISO is displayed. The ISO step increment can be adjusted in the Custom Setting menu (Sensitivity Steps) to 1 EV steps or to match the EV steps. I have mine set to match the EV steps as I can really fine tune the sensitivity if I need to when in manual mode to get the desired exposure.

I don't recommend using ISO above 800 as there is very visible digital noise in the shadow/dark areas of the image. I have used 800 when it was necessary with usable results but 1600 has too much noise.

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Flash mode

The flash mode lets you set how you want the flash to operate. In this instance we're only going to discuss the settings for the built in flash and not talk about external (hot-shoe mounted flashes), however, some of these settings work with an external flash also.

The first setting is the basic default flash on mode. If the pop-up flash is up then the flash will fire when the image is captured.

Flash on plus Red Eye reduction will fire a few pre flashes to help constrict the pupils so the amount of reflected light is reduced and so is the red eye.

Slow speed sync is used when shooting in dim lighting conditions where you want the subject to be lit by the flash yet the shutter speed is slow enough to capture the dark background. This is useful in a dimly lit room where you want some of the background to be visible instead of black or when shooting portraits against a sunset. A tripod is most useful in these conditions.

Slow speed sync plus red eye is the last two modes combined.

Trailing curtain sync is used for moving subjects where you want the trail of the subject to be behind the flash lit subject. What happens in normal flash mode, the flash is fired right after the first curtain begins to move and if the rear curtain is too far behind due to a long shutter speed then the moving subject will be recorded after the flash lit subject. This gives the impression the subject is moving backwards. To give the illusion that the subject is moving forwards the flash is fired right before the rear curtain begins to close so the flash lit subject is recorded after the subject trail is recorded. This sounds confusing and I suppose it is a little. I'll elaborate more when we discuss flash technology, but for now just know to shoot moving subjects in dim conditions with long shutter speeds the rear curtain sync is the mode to use.

Wireless mode allows the camera's built in flash to remote fire slave flashes. This mode will only be visible if you have the latest firmware version installed. We will discuss this mode in detail when we discuss flash technology.

The read thumbwheel allows you to adjust the flash compensation from -2.0 to +1.0 in 0.5 increments. If you find your flash is too bright or to dim in certain conditions you can manually adjust the compensation to obtain a properly exposed image.

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White Balance

The white balance settings for the most part are quite straight forward with the exception of the Color Temperature and the Manual modes being more complicated.

Lets talk a little bit about color temperature because if we don't you will get pretty confused when I say that cloudy or shade lighting conditions have a higher temperature than full sunlight.

Here's why. Color temperature ranges from the lowest (reds) to the hottest (blues) when we're talking about color temperature. It seems backwards to what we humans have been taught over the years. So in terms of photography I'll only discuss the temperatures of the lighting conditions we're most likely to shoot in and that is tungsten lighting through shade (red through blue). Also along with color temperature is the hue of the color. The temperature follows the red-blue scale while the hue follows the green-magenta scale. Think of this like a square grid where you can adjust both sets of numbers to dial in the correct balance.

Tungsten has a temperature of about 2800K (varies with different bulbs) which is quite red in color.

Sunlight (at noon) is about 5200K and has less red than tungsten. Sunlight in the morning and evening has more of a red temperature.

Cloudy conditions produce about 6000K while shade produces about 8000K. These numbers will vary slightly depending on the amount of mixed light (reflected sunlight, thin clouds etc.) but for the most part in full cloud or full shade the numbers work.

Fluorescent lighting has a temperature of about 4000K but can have a very green hue to it. It's the one light source that makes mixed lighting difficult to capture properly. For beginners try to avoid mixed lighting with tungsten. If you can turn off the other light source and just use one even if it's fluorescent.

OK, now that we've discussed color temperature a little lets move on the camera settings.

Auto White balance is useful under most lighting conditions from 4000K (fluorescent lighting) to 8000K (shade). So it's useful for most lighting conditions except tungsten. If you’re using hot lights with a color temperature under 4000K then you will want to set your white balance to compensate.

Daylight white balance is great for shooting outdoors in direct sunlight. You’re not going to see much difference between Auto and Daylight settings when the subject is lit by direct sun.

Shade is used when shooting in the shade of a large object where there is little reflected sunlight from nearby objects. The more reflected sunlight then the redder the image will be. This is OK though as we'll discuss in a bit the camera is quite capable to adjust to these conditions.

Cloudy is used when shooting in the open (no shade) under cloudy skies. The color temperature will vary depending on the depth of the cloud cover. Again the camera settings can be fine tuned to produce the desired results.

The fluorescent setting has 3 settings that can be selected. This is for daylight balanced bulbs, neutral bulbs, and white bulbs. If you know the color of your fluorescent bulbs then select the one that matches. If not, then stay tuned for the Manual setting coming up in a bit.

The tungsten setting is used when shooting under hot lights or a bare tungsten bulb or even candle light.

Flash setting is used when shooting with a flash whether it's the pop up flash or an external flash. Pentax flashes produce about the same color.

The manual setting allows you to take a sample frame and select an area of that frame to set to white. We'll discuss this in detail in a moment.

The color temperature setting allows you to manually dial in and store up to 3 different color temps/ hue variations. This is useful if you use certain locations often for photo shoots and want to recall the proper white balance. Maybe you have one favorite location but want to have a daylight and a cloudy setting for it. The choice is up to you to decide what to store.

That's the function menu in record mode. Next we'll take a look at the function menu in playback mode.