K-r - help me optimize settings

[daniel fritzen]

I currently own a K100D Super and my K-r will arrive tomorrow. I am reviewing the manual and all these new settings sound cool but I am not sure what all of them are or if I want to enable them.

Help give you advise so I can setup optimal to start off with. I have to share my camera with my wife so I do not want to choose the wrong settings to hinder quality.

Settings I have questions about (feel free to tell me others):

1. 1. High-ISO NR is auto the best mode?
2. 2. AWB in Tungsten light?
3. 3. Highlight correction? Seems like i should choose custom setting one to keep normal ISO to 200.
4. 4. Shake Reduction on of off? Just Kidding, leave it on.

 

[Pentax_Prime]

I currently own a K100D Super and my K-r will arrive tomorrow. I am reviewing the manual and all these new settings sound cool but I am not sure what all of them are or if I want to enable them.

Help give you advise so I can setup optimal to start off with. I have to share my camera with my wife so I do not want to choose the wrong settings to hinder quality.

Settings I have questions about (feel free to tell me others):

1. 1. High-ISO NR is auto the best mode?

Shoot in RAW.

1. 2. AWB in Tungsten light?

Shoot in RAW.

1. 3. Highlight correction? Seems like i should choose custom setting one to keep normal ISO to 200.

Shoot in RAW.

1. 4. Shake Reduction on of off? Just Kidding, leave it on.

Turn it off when it's on a tripod.

Best of luck

-Prime

--
My Website
http://www.andrewallenphoto.com

My Pentax Street Gallery - Arranged By Lens Used
http://photobucket.com/andy_allen

 

[coleviolin]

I currently own a K100D Super and my K-r will arrive tomorrow. I am reviewing the manual and all these new settings sound cool but I am not sure what all of them are or if I want to enable them.

Use the camera at factory defaults for a bit, until you want to make some changes. Then start asking questions again.

Help give you advise so I can setup optimal to start off with. I have to share my camera with my wife so I do not want to choose the wrong settings to hinder quality.

I would suggest not sharing your camera with your wife especially since you're going to have two of them. You could share lenses. The K100DS is still a fine camera. Must you get rid of it?

Settings I have questions about (feel free to tell me others):

1. 1. High-ISO NR is auto the best mode?
2. 2. AWB in Tungsten light?

It's good, and can be set to make a stronger compensation in the custom menu if you wish.

1. 3. Highlight correction? Seems like i should choose custom setting one to keep normal ISO to 200.

I don't understand this question. I still haven't used the shadow or highlight correction settings. Once again, just use the camera for a while and try changing a couple settings as you go along.

1. 4. Shake Reduction on of off? Just Kidding, leave it on.

With the self timer, it switches off automatically. Just leave it alone and don't worry.

Have fun. Enjoy. Congratulations,

--
Lipo

 

[daniel fritzen]

So these settings are for JPEG? I do shoot in RAW despite my wife's wishes.

 

[daniel fritzen]

Yes I need to sell the K100D Super to help pay for the upgrade.

 

[dragra]

I currently own a K100D Super and my K-r will arrive tomorrow. I am reviewing the manual and all these new settings sound cool but I am not sure what all of them are or if I want to enable them.

Help give you advise so I can setup optimal to start off with. I have to share my camera with my wife so I do not want to choose the wrong settings to hinder quality.

hi Daniel,

I've got the K-r since last friday, so it's still pretty fresh. but I am quite familiar with the settings, because I borrowed my girls K-x for a while..

Settings I have questions about (feel free to tell me others):

1. 1. High-ISO NR is auto the best mode?

I don't think auto NR to be the best mode. K-r offers you the possibility to set different NR for the various ISO levels, which is best way to go IMO.

1. 2. AWB in Tungsten light?

Pentax has a comprehensive approach to WB. mostly AWB in tungsten light would completely remove the warm cast and this would make the scene neutral and sterile - the mood your eyes see would be gone. so here you can tweak the AWB to sustain degree of warm tone in the picture.

1. 3. Highlight correction? Seems like i should choose custom setting one to keep normal ISO to 200.

this is great feature and I almost always keep in on in bright sunlight. sometimes it gives good results when you combine this function with shadow correction.

1. 4. Shake Reduction on of off? Just Kidding, leave it on.

I turn it off most of the time, just turn it on when I really need it.

cheers,
d

 

[coleviolin]

Ok.

Yes I need to sell the K100D Super to help pay for the upgrade.

You are welcome.

--
Lipo

 

[daniel fritzen]

thanks for the help.

 

[coleviolin]

As a matter as fact... I went through my K-r settings last night after taking some pictures during the day and evening. One thing I feel is that the JPG's are too sharp, and tend to "chew up" details. It depends on what you want to do with the pictures. Some reviewers have called the default JPG's out of the K-r "soft" but I basically turn the sharpness all the way down to -3 for the flatter looking custom image modes (natural, muted, portrait etc...) and for bright or the "film-like" modes (Bright, BW, Bleach Bypass...) I set it to -3 or -2 fine-sharp. The fine-sharpness setting brings out smaller details, and you select it by turning the e-dial. It's not enabled by default, and I find it just gives a more film-like effect. Saturation, and everything else is pretty much spot-on for me, except I often prefer a bit more contrast as I often like shooting in more diffused light. The Muted setting with it's very high-key brightness pre-set is great for indoor, low-light shooting (give or take a few tweaks) as you can essentially under-expose by a stop if you wish. Then you can adjust the "hue" slider a touch according to the lens you use, or the scene. The DA 40/2.8 Limited tends to be on the cool side for me, so for portrait mode I increased the hue setting one notch. Here is a sample from today at ISO 800, basically straight out of the camera JPG, with a little sharpening only after resizing. I'm loving the K-r. Have fun!

Portrait custom image mode





--
Lipo

 

[ccd219344]

I would suggest not sharing your camera with your wife especially since you're going to have two of them.

Cameras? Or wives? ;-)

 

[coleviolin]

I would suggest not sharing your camera with your wife especially since you're going to have two of them.

Cameras? Or wives? ;-)

Well I guess you never know... Kinda makes one wonder. Regards,

--
Lipo

 

[ccd219344]

Indeed. Nice to see some levity in this forum.

 

[Lee Beasley]

1. 1. High-ISO NR is auto the best mode?

Not to me. I set it to none up to 6400 and then just light in-camera NR. I like to remove noise with NIK Dfine or Topaz Denoise, so I don't want the camera to compete.

1. 2. AWB in Tungsten light?

I have mine set to the lowest level of correction, but I've never really had occasion to try it out because we don't have any tungsten lights in the house.

1. 3. Highlight correction?

I leave highlight/shadow correction turned off. Sometimes I try them out, but I don't really notice a huge difference except in the limitations on ISO range setting.

1. 4. Shake Reduction on of off? Just Kidding, leave it on.

I leave mine turned off unless I need it.

One thing that's surprising is that the HDR function really does a nice job. While you're reviewing the picture, you can also hit the + - button and save a RAW copy of the scene at the same time.