Chatter Of The Squirrel

Photography: Pentax K10D AF issues

April 6, 2009 on 10:55 pm | In Photography, Tech | No Comments

Many users complain about back/front-focusing of the Pentax K10D.

But users have found a way to get into the Debug Mode of the firmware to make some adjustments.

With the new ver 1.30 firmware of the K10D though, that debug trick does not work anymore. Instead, you’ll need to download a program to Unlock the ver 1.30 Debug Mode, via the USB cable. Download setup_gx10_dmctrl_1.1u_eng.exe , and use the password : penta-club.ru

The tool is easy to use. Connect to DSLR, turn on Debug Mode, save, Disconnect DSLR.

Then in the Menu, go to Setup, and press Up to get to the Debug functions.

To check if you’ve actually got back/front-focusing issues, get the focus chart and figure it out.

I took a few tests with my K10D, and successfully made some minor adjustments. I’ll soon see if there’ll be any noticeable real world difference after the adjustment.

PS. One can also go more hardcore and try to adjust the AF physically. Not something I’m prepared to do yet…

Photography: Canon G10

April 6, 2009 on 10:30 pm | In Photography, Reviews, Tech | No Comments

Boss bought a new camera out of gadget envy. He’s too busy to RTFM, so I’m called in to teach him how to use his new Canon PowerShot G10 (click link to buy).

Well, it gave me the chance to play with a new camera, and share some of my random thoughts on this gear.

The camera looks neat. Significantly larger than the compact point-and-shoots. It’s weighty and feels rather solid.

Observe the flash hot-shoe where you can plug in a Canon external flash, which will typically cost half what this camera is worth.

The typical functions of this camera is just… typical. I had many of the same features on my old A430 Powershot.

Other nice stuff is the face recognition AF, aperture control from f2.8-f16, manual focus (?!), continuous AF, bracketing, multi-shot (at a terrible 1fps).

From the top you can see the really cool stuff: the EV adjustment dial on the left to increase/decrease exposure in 1/3 stops. A very useful feature to quickly fix exposure issues whenever the camera’s metering is confused by the scene you’re trying to capture.

There’s also a knob to quickly set the ISO sensitivity.

Only had a few hours to play with this camera. Took mostly macro pics, and it’s very good. Macro was something the A430 was utterly useless in.

What’s fantastic is the LCD display. It’s very wide and bright. Pictures just look BEAUTIFUL on the display, giving you an immense sense of accomplishment after taking the shot.

This is a nice camera, but not RM1800 nice. For that money, you can already get an entry level DSLR with kitlens from Pentax or Sony.

The target market for this camera? I think it’s for old guys who’ve become too jaded with the SLR, and want to convince themselves that they can take equally good pictures with something a lot less cumbersome, but still has some creative control like f2.8 aperture and ISO 1600.