Glad not using a Nikon

I haven't ever used a Nikon DSLR (I've got my trusty Pentax DS), but I've been helping a friend who has a D70 with Lightroom. I hadn't realised that Nikon encrypts their white balance among other things in their RAW files. That's absurd! My friend has several thousand NEFs - and apparently the only thing he can do is go through each individually and adjust the white balance.

So that makes me feel pretty fortunate that Pentax respects our rights to data in PEFs, and they show up nicely in Lightroom and other RAW tools.

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Photography is 2/5 location, weather, light, 2/5 photographer, 1/5 equipment
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I knew that Nikon had encrypted WB a couple years ago, but my recollection was that after quite a major uproar, they relented. I wonder if an upgrade of firmware for the camera would help?

The encryption was IMO the first big sign of Nikon starting to rip off their customers, the D40/X carry on the tradition as far as I am concerned. Too bad, I was once quite a Nikon fan.

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Looks like I'm mistaken on this white balance thing. It is encrypted - but the key was released a while back. But that begs the question why Nikon Capture is showing RAWs so much better than Lightroom? anyway off-topic

--
Photography is 2/5 location, weather, light, 2/5 photographer, 1/5 equipment
It's your world, http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowcat/

Ash Mishra said:

Looks like I'm mistaken on this white balance thing. It is encrypted

• but the key was released a while back. But that begs the question

why Nikon Capture is showing RAWs so much better than Lightroom?
anyway off-topic

Click to expand...

Probably the defaults in Nikon Capture are better tuned to the specifics of the D70. That just means you have to develop a set of defaults that work better in Lightroom and apply them on import to the D70 NEF files.

G

Don't rule out the possibility that Pentax will copy Nikon's ways in the future. Pentax used to support TTL flash, but it has followed the lead of Canon, Sony and Nikon and adopted the preflash-TTL flash only strategy, which forces buyers to buy new digital compatible flashes because now their own TTL flashes are not usable. Nikon went through a difficult period financially several years ago, when the D100 was languishing on store shelves and Canon had 80% of the DSLR market. So Nikon executives adopted a strategy of maximizing profits. Pentax went through a couple of years of red ink, and its executives too may well adopt a similar strategy.

Ash Mishra said:

I haven't ever used a Nikon DSLR (I've got my trusty Pentax DS), but
I've been helping a friend who has a D70 with Lightroom. I hadn't
realised that Nikon encrypts their white balance among other things
in their RAW files. That's absurd! My friend has several thousand
NEFs - and apparently the only thing he can do is go through each
individually and adjust the white balance.

So that makes me feel pretty fortunate that Pentax respects our
rights to data in PEFs, and they show up nicely in Lightroom and
other RAW tools.

--
Photography is 2/5 location, weather, light, 2/5 photographer, 1/5
equipment
It's your world, http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowcat/

Click to expand...

This TTL flash thing really bugs you, doesn't it? ]

G

Godfrey said:

This TTL flash thing really bugs you, doesn't it? ]

G

Click to expand...

It seems to me (a novice to digital) that a P-TTL flash with an optional TTL setting would solve everyones complaints regarding flash..

If I am wrong about this, then please correct me..

This way the new flash would work on every camera that originally supported flash in a manufacturers line-up, as well as the newer model digital cameras..

Perhaps as Pentax allows full backward compatibility with old lenses on current digital cameras, there is some small smidgen of hope that they might eventually do this with their flashes..

That the manufacturers have not done so is evidence (to me) that they really are not listening to their customer base..

As many, many posters on this & other forums have noted, P-TTL flash has limitations which could be easily solved with a TTL setting on newer flashes..

The other thing that the newer P-TTL flashes have done is to trick (convince)people into thinking that the computer chips in the cameras & flashes can (will) do all of the thinking for them!!

I myself semi-bought into this type of thinking when I first purchased my K10D, even though I intuitively knew better..

Since I had taken a 25 year sabbatical from all photography, I somehow convinced myself that switching to digital would be easy..

It has not been so, at least for me..

Therefore I am seriously considering putting the K10D aside for 6 months or so, picking up my Pentax MX, & re-discovering the basics of photography by shooting B & W film to the exclusion of anything else..

This would allow me to focus only on the basics & not be distracted by the hundreds of different menu settings that are possible with the K10D..

That would include using a thyristor flash on the MX, with a hand-held light meter as an assist..

Thinking only about aperture, shutter speed, ASA (really don't have to think about this once the film is purchased)(unless you are deliberately under or over exsposing), & focus & not having to constantly think about all of the different combinations, would be a relief..

I then think that when I returned to the K10D & digital, I would be much better equiped to deal with their respective complexities..

Bruce

baltochef920 said:

It seems to me (a novice to digital) that a P-TTL flash with an
optional TTL setting would solve everyones complaints regarding
flash..

Click to expand...

This doesn't work that easily. TTL flash requires a dedicated TTL flash sensor in the camera. The flash is actually your least concern, most P-TTL flashes support TTL when mounted onto a TTL camera body.

This extra sensor needs room and costs money. There are also some issues with TTL flash on digital sensors due to their different reflective behaviour. P-TTL technology is a cost-effective method for the manufacturer to "solve" these problems.

baltochef920 said:

Perhaps as Pentax allows full backward compatibility with old lenses
on current digital cameras, there is some small smidgen of hope that
they might eventually do this with their flashes..

Click to expand...

They once did (*ist D and *ist DS) , and I have very little hope that they will bring it back.

baltochef920 said:

Since I had taken a 25 year sabbatical from all photography, I
somehow convinced myself that switching to digital would be easy..
It has not been so, at least for me..

Click to expand...

Why? Because a (flash) technology confuses you that you haven't used 25 years ago? Noone forces you to use it.

baltochef920 said:

Therefore I am seriously considering putting the K10D aside for 6
months or so, picking up my Pentax MX, & re-discovering the basics of
photography by shooting B & W film to the exclusion of anything else..
This would allow me to focus only on the basics & not be distracted
by the hundreds of different menu settings that are possible with the
K10D..

Click to expand...

Feel free to do whatever helps you enjoy yourself. But why is that better than shooting with a K10D? Noone forces you to use Continuous AF or even AF at all, matrix metering or TTL metering at all. Just sit down for 5min, dive into the menus and cripple your K10D and you'll have a nice pseudo-manual camera that will be a much better learning tool than a film body due to the review capabilities digital has. If you like the rendering of film, the large viewfinder, the user interface, then use it. But if you are merely intimidated by the number of choices the K10D offers, there are other options

baltochef920 said:

That would include using a thyristor flash on the MX, with a
hand-held light meter as an assist..

Click to expand...

You can use those on the K10D, too.

baltochef920 said:

Thinking only about aperture, shutter speed, ASA (really don't have
to think about this once the film is purchased)(unless you are
deliberately under or over exsposing), & focus & not having to
constantly think about all of the different combinations, would be a
relief..

Click to expand...

Again: Noone forces you to do that.

baltochef920 said:

I then think that when I returned to the K10D & digital, I would be
much better equiped to deal with their respective complexities..

Click to expand...

Howso, if you never met them before?

Good luck in finding the correct approach for you, your suggested one wouldn't work for me, and mine might not work for you...
Jens

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Hey

If i bought a Nikon id' have faster AF and i'd have my third lens now for 200 bucks cheaper... Plus Sigma would have given me hsm for free...

Then again i wouldn't get IS... bleh... Maybe Nikon and Pentax could merge

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to state the obvious I effin' heart photography...