shooting with a Pentax K200 camera

Hi everyone. Hope someone could help me with an older Pentax digital camera I just bought. It is a Pentax K200. I am just playing with it right now, but would like to use it as one of backup cameras. Unfortunately I did not receive an instruction manual with it. There is an eyepiece on the back to view the scene before shooting, but there is also a larger screen on the back. Is there a way to view the scene on this screen to take the photo instead of looking through the eyepiece? Thanks in advance.

David

DavidAH said:

Unfortunately I did not receive an instruction manual with it.

Click to expand...

K200D manual

Good Luck

From memory, I don't think the K200D had LiveView so you have to compose the image through the viewfinder.

Yes, It is called Live view.. You must find a button with letters Lv in the back.

Hit it and the rear screen will show you the picture currently on the sensor. Hit the shutter and you got your picture...

Focusing in Liveview mode is slower than through viewfinder though....

I would suggest you don't use this DLRS as you would for a phone as it can do much more ...

The K20d was the first Pentax DSLR with LV.

No Live View on the k200d

Great little camera though.

Younes B said:

Yes, It is called Live view.. You must find a button with letters Lv in the back.

Hit it and the rear screen will show you the picture currently on the sensor. Hit the shutter and you got your picture...

Focusing in Liveview mode is slower than through viewfinder though....

I would suggest you don't use this DLRS as you would for a phone as it can do much more ...

Click to expand...

The K200D doesn't have Live View.

I believe sony dslr of that era were the first ones to have live view and it was pretty terrible. What about tethered shooting?

quoting from pentax forums.

"Proper' tethering isn't supported on the K200D, in the sense of 'remote display at full resolution and with remote control of the camera'. But 'pseudo' tethering CAN work fine three ways with the K200D. And it will achieve exactly what you have asked.

I've verified the first two methods , the 3rd is a guess.

(1) Make sure 'Instant Review' is enabled. Then connect the AV cable supplied in the K200D box to your K200D and your PC or an external video monitor/TV. Any photo you take is then instantly displayed on the external video display, for the period of time you have selected for instat review.

(2) Make sure that 'Digital Preview' is enabled. Then connect the AV cable supplied in the K200D box to your K200D and your PC or an external video monitor/TV. Any photo you take is then instantly displayed on the external video display for as long as you choose, and if you like how it looks you can choose to save it, discard it etc, as per usual.

(3) via something like an Eye-fi card. I think it probably works on the K200D.

(1) and (2) have limitations - the output image is only at standard definition PAL or NTSC resolutions, and requires that you have a device with an AV input, but it works."

If you want to use live-view, you have to step up to K20D, but even that camera has quite limited live-view options. Then Pentax K7 was introduced, but it has same sensor like K20D and although LV was a bit better, it is still far from ideal. Then entry level Pentax Kx was introduced, which had more modern sensor. And finally the camera you want to start with is called Pentax K5. Mighty beast that is now quite cheap on 2nd hand market, but is on completely different level. Rugged, fast, reliable and with very good image output even with higher sensitivity levels. And live-view there is quite good. And of course every camera released since that was improved a bit, but this is good starting point.

K200D was entry level camera to replace old K100D and added sensor from K10D. Those have CCD sensor and it does not have any live-view capability. Also K200D does not have lens correction options unless you dig into service menu and is rather slow camera with small viewfinder, reduced controls etc. But the advantage is, that it can run with 4xAA batteries and is weather sealed. Or rather was. I don't trust seals on 14 years old camera. Even my K20D from that era is no longer going to spend time on tripod on balcony shooting thunderstorms in heavy rain as I used to do when it was new

Hello DavidAH

An other point about your camera:

The SR was relative new and this SR version in your camera need a little time to get ready. So wait a little until you see in the viewfinder the SR ready symbol, before you take the picture.

The other point is when you use this camera with ISO's 800 and above: you can use JPG, but when you use RAW, you can use the way better NR of the todays RAW converter for your pictures.

best regards. KPM2