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Pentax K-7 - page 1
This e-book is intended to be read on a comp uter screen. You can print the e-book for your own use. However, it will have a copyright watermark notice at the bottom of each page. ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 2
Table of contents and Foreword I am pleased that you purchased one of our “ Pentax K-7 – Everything you need to know…..and then some ” book. As an enthusiastic photographer for many years, I have had many Pentax cameras. My first “new” came ra was a Pentax Spotm atic, purchased when I was still in Junior High. I When Pentax stepped into ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 3
Table of contents and Foreword II Foreword Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Table of Content Know your K-7 How to use your K-7 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Processing your K-7 images The Pentax System Photography Techniques Chapter 6 Appendix Addendum HD Video Recording Glossary Additional Information ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 4
Table of contents and Foreword Yvon Bourque Pentax K-7 Everything you need to know ….. and then some Foreword III ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 5
Table of contents and Foreword IV All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No par t of this book may be used or reproduced on any form or by any means, or stored in database or retrieval system, without prior written permission. Making cop ies of any part of this book for any purpose other than your own personal use is a violat ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 6
Table of contents and Foreword About the Author: Back when most of his classmates were dealing with growing up; the author was nurturing a serious enthusiasm for photography. Son of a Montreal carpenter, he enrolled in photography courses, soaked up theory, bought his first camera, shot rolls of film, and learned how to develop and print. All this ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 7
Table of contents and Foreword VI My preferred editor: This is my wife Anne. This book and all my other books would not have seen the light of day without someone editing the ma nuscripts. She wanted the book to be as “user friendly as possible”. Whenever sh e didn’t like the way something was ex- plained, I had to redo it. Sh e is responsibl ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 8
Table of contents and Foreword VII TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD X1V CHAPTER 1 ● KNOW YOUR K -7 21 Nomenclature 23 Viewfinder Available Inform ation in Details 28 LCD Panel Available Information in Details 29 K-7 Technical Specifications 33 What is special about the K-7 ? 38 K-7 Features 40 K-7 Innovations 41 Highlights 41 Resolution 42 Why redesign ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 9
Table of contents and Foreword VIII Battery 59 Battery Installation / Removal 59 Installing / Removing SD/SDHC Cards 60 Installing / Removing Lenses 60 Turning Camera ON 61 Focusing 61 Adjusting Viewfinder Diopter 62 Language 62 Date and Time 63 World Time 63 Taking Pictures 63 Picture Quality 63 Shake Reduction 63 White Balance 63 Green Mode ▀? ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 10
Table of contents and Foreword IX Setting to Tungsten White Balance 82 Setting to Flash White Balance 83 Setting to CTE White Balance 83 Setting to Manual White Balance 83 Fine tuning White Balance 84 Metering System in detail 86 Multi-Segment 86 Center-Weighted 86 Spot Metering 86 Linking AE and AF Points 87 Meter Operating Time 87 Built-in Flash ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 11
Table of contents and Foreword X Self-Timer (12 seconds) 109 Self-Timer (2 sec onds) Mirror Lock 109 Dedicated Mirror Lock 109 Remote Control Unit 110 Remote Control Unit (3 seconds delay) 110 Remote Continuous Shooting 110 Interval Shooting 111 Shake Reduction 111 Dust Removal II (DR II) 112 Pixel Mapping 113 Alphabetical List of Menu Ba sed Funct ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 12
Table of contents and Foreword XI Custom Filter 134 Resize (JPEG only) 134 Cropping (JPEG and RAW files) 135 Slideshow 135 Manual White Balance for current Image 135 Convert RAW images to JPEG or TIFF files 136 Got that great Pentax K-7 ? Why not take the plunge to RAW files. 137 RAW Mode explained 138 Shooting and saving in RAW 138 Shooting and sa ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 13
Table of contents and Foreword XII Optional Focusing Screens 154 Right-Angle Viewfinder 155 Lenses Compatibility 156 DA Lenses 158 DA Lenses 160 D FA Lenses 162 FA J Lenses 163 FA Lenses 164 K-Mount Manual “A” Lenses 166 K-Mount Manual “M” Lenses 167 M42 Screw-Mount Manual Lenses 168 Medium Format Lenses 169 CHAPTER 5 ● PHOTOGRAPHY TE ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 14
Table of contents and Foreword Tips & Reminders 204 CHAPTER 6 ● HD VIDEO RECORDING 207 Movie recording attributes 208 Creative Movie Recording 208 Reliable exposure control, even during movie shooting 209 Built-in microphone, plus com patibil ity with external microphone 209 Other movie-related features 209 Effortless custom ization 210 Movie ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 15
Table of contents and Foreword XIV Foreword his book was written for all users of the Pentax K-7 . No matter what your experience level is, you will find something useful in this book. A few years ago, most amateur and pr ofessional photographe rs alike, were using film cameras for their picture taking. Within the film cameras, several for- mats we ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 16
Table of contents and Foreword XV shoot with telephoto lenses, it works to y our advantage as a 200mm f/2.8 lens acts like a 300mm f/2.8 telephoto at no additi onal cost. We know that a 300mm f/2.8 telephoto lens is very expensive. The down side is that wide angle lenses will no longer perform as such, but the maximum aperture will remain. Today m ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 17
Table of contents and Foreword XVI The new Pentax K-7 is ai med at advanced amateurs to professional photographers but can certainly be used by entry-level phot ographers as well. It’s a camera that will help expand your photogra phic talents. It can be as easy to operate as a point and shoot, but it also has all of the pr ofessional features tha ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 18
Table of contents and Foreword Chapter 4 “ The Pentax System ” is dedicat ed to the Pentax System. Pentax is truly the only manufacturer with 100% backward co mpatibility. It includes all lenses ever manufactured by Pentax, both 35mm and m edi um formats. There are about twenty four million genuine Pentax lenses out th ere. There are probably t ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 19
Table of contents and Foreword XVIII Check our Pentax Blog; we constan tly post articles about Pentax prod- ucts. http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/ The Blogspot We also have our website for purchasing our books and downloading important information or sa mples. http://www.pentaxdslrs.com/ Website ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 20
Table of contents and Foreword © 2009, Yvon Bourque - “Ms. J. Peggy” This is probably the best tool I have, ot her than the Pentax DSLRs. Lenses and equipment. It allows me to get to places I wouldn’t be able to get to otherwise. If you ever owned a Keep, you already know that it is customary to name it, just as you name a boat. Her name is ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 21
Table of contents and Foreword XX ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 22
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Chapter 1 Know your K-7 Page 21 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 23
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 22 The Pentax K-7 system ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 24
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 23 Nomenclature 3 7 6 5 4 2 8 10 9 15 14 16 11 1 13 12 1. Self-timer lamp Blinks for self-timer. Serves as remote control receiver. 2. Front e-dial Sets shutter speed, EV compensation values. (Customizable) 3. Main Switch Rotate to turn camera on or off and for depth of field preview. 4. Shutter release Press halfway ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 25
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 24 32 31 27 17 19 21 33 34 35 29 30 28 26 25 24 23 22 20 18 17. 3” LCD m onitor Displays exposed pictures, allows access to menus. 18. ERASE b utton Press to delete current picture. 19. Play button f Press to s ee pictures on LCD screen 20. Viewfinder If you don’t know what this is for, abandon photography. ☺ 21 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 26
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 39 38 37 36 36. Diopter adjustment Adjusts the viewfinder to suit your eyesight. 37. EV compensation Press to adjust EV compensation with rear e-dial. 38. ISO button Press to adjust / change I SO settings with rear e-dial 39. LCD Panel Displays current camera settings and information 41 40 43 42 40. Cover unlock tab Pull a ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 27
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 26 49 48 47 46 45 44 50 11 44. Raw button Press on-the-fly to shoot RAW or RAW + JPG (Customizable) 45. X-Sync socket For using studio lighting – Sync to 180 th sec. 46. UP button Press the UP button to pop the built-in flash up. 47. Microphone input Stereo connection socket for external microphone. 48. Mini HDMI ou ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 28
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Information you see in the viewfinder Page 27 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 29
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 28 Viewfinder available Information in details: 59 67 57 66 65 64 63 62 56 55 54 53 61 68 58 60 53. Manual Focus Appears when manually focusing. 54. Shutter speed Shutter speed, underlined when adjustable with e-dial. 55. Aperture Value Aperture, underlined when adjus t able with e-dial. 56. Focus Indicator Appears wh ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 30
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 LCD Panel available information in details: Page 29 69. Flash Mode Built-in flash ready. If flash n eeded, it will flash on and off. 87 86 70 71 72 73 74 79 80 81 82 83 78 77 76 75 84 85 88 69 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 31
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 30 70. Flash Mode Trailing curtain Sync enabled. 71. Flash Mode Auto-Flash Discharge enabled. 72. Flash Mode Slow-Speed Sync enabled. 73. Flash Mode Red-eye reduction function enabled. 74. Aperture Shows aperture being used. 75. Shutter Speed Shows Shutter Speed being used. 76. Mirror Lock-up Indicates mirror-Lock-up ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 32
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 © 2009, Yvon Bourque – Use a tripod, a slow shutte r speed and neutral densit y filters to achieve this effect. With the K-7 , you can use the multi-exposure to a chieve the same results. Page 31 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 33
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 32 © 2008, Yvon Bourque – Don’t be afraid to use a different “point of view”. ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 34
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 K-7 TECHNICAL SP ECIFIC ATIONS Type: Digital SLR Sensor: Type - CMOS with primary color filter and integrated Shake/Dust Reduction sen- sor movement system Size - 23.4 x 15.6mm Color depth - 8 bits/channel JPG, 12 bits/channel RAW Effective pixels - 14.6 MP Total pixels: 15.07 MP Recorded resolu ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 35
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 34 Resolution - 921,000 dots Wide angle viewable - Yes Built-in Flash Type: Retractable P-TTL popup flash Guide number: 13 (100/m) Coverage: 28mm wide angle (equivalent to 35mm) Flash modes: on, redeye, slow sync, slow sync + redeye, trailing curtain sync, wireless; Flash exposure compensation: ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 36
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 35 Metering System: Type-TTL open-aperture 77 segment metering Sensitivity range: EV 0 to 21 (ISO 100, 50mm F1.4) Multi-segment: Yes, 77 segments Center weighted: Yes; Spot: Yes Exposure compensation: +/- 5 EV (1/3 and 1/2 steps) Exposure lock: Yes; Exposure bracketing: Yes, 3 or 5 frames, up t ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 37
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 36 o Movie Green simplified mode availab le: Yes; P/A/S/M/B: P, A, S, M, B (extended modes Sv, TAv) Date stamp: n/a Digital filters (captu re): Custom Image Function includes Bright, Na tural, Portrait, Landscape, Vibrant, and Muted modes, each with gamu t radar and fine adjustment of saturation, hue, ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 38
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 37 Digital filters (playback): Toy Camera, M onochrom e (filter effects, toning), Retro, Color (6), High Contrast, Soft Focus, Ex tract Color (6), Starburst, W ater Color, Fisheye, Pastel, Slim, Miniature, HD R, Base Parameter Adjustment, Custom Fil- ter File Formats: Still: RAW (PEF, DNG), JPG (Exif 2.21), DC ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 39
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 38 What Is Special About the K-7 ? The most significant features of the Pentax K-7 that have never been offered before in any K series digi tal camera, and in some case any camera, include: A compact, Stainless steel frame with magnesium alloy body t hat is one of the smallest in the advanced photo enthusiast cate ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 40
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 A new 14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor rebuilt from the ground up to minim ize noise, adds four channel output for fast image cap- ture, and the ability to capture HD quality movies. It is the ideal combination of resolution and file size, allowing very large (poster size and larger) prints and crop ping flexibility. A n ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 41
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 40 A composition adjustment feat ure in Live View allows minor shifts in the fram - ing and composition of images using the Shake Reduction m echanism without having to physically move the camera. Th is feature is ideal for tripod use. A programmable embedded c opyright function preserves artistic integrity an ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 42
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 41 The K-7 ’s Dust Reduction system, improved over previous K series cameras, features a piezo-ceramic vibration action to the sensor’s low-pass filter for dust- fee image capture. A new high capacity battery features exte nded battery life, ideal for travel pho- tography or video work. Advanced image ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 43
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 42 prised of professional mode choices. Gone are the auto-picture icons, portrait mode, a landscape mode, moving object m o de etc. What you have on the K-7 are ( ▀▀ ) (Green) Fully automatic, (P) Hyper Program, (Sv) Pentax unique Sensitivity prior- ity, (Tv) Shutter priority , (Av) Aperture priority, (TAv) Shutte ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 44
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 43 CMOS , ( C ompleme ntary M etal- O xide- S emi-conductors), are a major class of inte- grated circuits, and CMOS technology is us ed in a number of electronics including image sensors. With a CCD sensor, light is not amplified at the photo diode; rather, the charge is carried in sequence and convert ed to voltage. ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 45
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 44 Exclusive Image Processor The redesigned PRIME II processor ( Pentax R eal IM- age E ngine) significantly speeds up the image processing when compared to other current DSLRs. The new PRIME II engine offers fast er data-processing speed for higher quality images with richer gradation and more ac- curate color rendit ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 46
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 To help even more, the K-7 has been given a Pixel mapping feature and any dead pixels found are fixed using interpol ation with adjacent pixels. Brilliant! Exceptional Shake Reduction System (SR II) The K-7 features the Pentax-developed SR (Shake Reduction) mechanism, which effectively compensates the adverse effect of cam ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 47
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 46 Dust and Humidity Resistance We can say farewell to the camera enemies; dust and humidity. First and most importantly, the Pentax K-7 is built around a solid stainless steel chassis, surrounded by a lightweight magnesium-steel alloy body. The DSLR camera feels very professional and very solid. The addition of non- ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 48
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 47 With the K-7, it is possible to shoot in RAW or RAW + JPEG on demand, without going through extensive menus. The camer a has a dedicated RAW button, located on the side of the lens mount; this unique dedicated RAW button can be configured to switch in and out of RAW only, RAW+JP EG or JPEG modes for a single shot o ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 49
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 48 The viewfinder also allows viewing of all the important image information such as: focus point indication in red, in-focus in dicator, focus mode st atus, shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, number of image remaining, shake reduction status and the current ISO setting. In addition, the standard focusing ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 50
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 There are two autofocus mode s and one manual mode so yo u have tota l control of the camera focusing abilities. Indeed, the K-7 offers a choice of two autofocus modes; A uto F ocus S ingle ( AF-S ) and A uto F ocus C ontinuous ( AF-C ), which m aintains focus of a moving subject as long as the shutter release button is pr ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 51
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 50 (3) The Spot metering: Analyzes the center of the screen and determines the proper exposure. The meter operating time is adjustable from 3 seconds, 10 seconds or 30 seconds. The A uto F ocus ( AF ) point and the A uto E xposure ( AE ) point can be linked during multi-segment metering . More on metering page 86. Exp ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 52
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 (P) Hyper-Program Mode: Automatically sets shutter speed and aperture to the proper exposure according to the Program Line * when taking pictures. While maintaining proper exposure, it allows the use of the front e-dial and rear e-dial to change the shutter speed or aperture. Pressing the ISO setting button and the ISO set ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 53
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 52 (Av) Aperture Priority Mode: This lets the user set the Aperture. This is useful for se- lective focusing. It affects blurring or sharpening of the background. Large aperture renders a blurry background and small aperture enlarges th e depth of field. Av stands for Aperture values. More on Aperture Priority page120 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 54
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 (B) Bulb Mode: Lets you take pictures at lo ng exposure such as night photography. You will likely need a sturdy tripod and the optional cable switch mode l CS-205 to control the long exposure without camera shake. More on Bulb Mode page 122. (X) Flash X-Sync Speed Mode: Locks the shutter speed to 1/180 sec. Use this mode ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 55
Chapter 1 - Know your K-7 Page 54 (Movie) Mode: Pentax introduces a brand new mode with the K-7 . The new Movie mode allows the recording of High Defini- tion video. This new kind of hybrid DSLRs opens up a completely new way to look at photography. The K-7 does not only produce spectacul ar still images, it can document events or even reco rd the ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 56
Chapter 2 - How to use your K-7 Chapter 2 How to use your K-7 Page 55 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 57
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Pentax K-7 - page 58
Addendum Addendum Page 241 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 59
Addendum Page 242 Modern DSLR cameras are…micr o-chips and optical elements In this book, I’ve tried to explain in a down-to-earth way, the tools the K-7 puts at your disposition. The K-7 is a great advance amat eur camera and can be a Professional camera depending on what your needs are. Amateurs photographers to Professional photographers ali ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 60
Addendum HDR (High Dynamic Range) The Pentax K-7 is the only current DSLR that has an HDR function. The picture at left below was taken without HDR. The ri ght picture was taken with HDR strong. The first picture show some washed-out area and dark shadow. The second picture shows a more uniform distribution of the dynamic range. The HDR function is ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 61
Addendum Page 244 Composition Adjustment in Live View When shooting with a tripod, sometimes you have to readjust the position of t he camera slightly to achieve the intended co mposition. This used to mean that you had to reposition the tripod and camera. With th is composition adjustm ent feature, when shooting in Live View, you can adjust the po ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 62
Addendum New shutter speed up to 1/8000 sec Pentax designed a new shutter mechanism for the K-7 . The shutter blades are lighter in weight, the magnetic attraction to generate more driving force from the motor has been optimized, and the unit is built with abrasion resistance. That translate to a shutter mechanism that can withstand more than 100,0 ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 63
Addendum Page 246 site earlier on, was too small and too clutte red for lenses with a minimum focusing distance of more than six to eight inches. One thing charts seem to have in common is that no one is ever sure of which exact point of the chart the camera is actually focusing on. Back or front focusing problems are m o re not orious with subject ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 64
Addendum Page 247 DSLR Firmware. Doing so could void the warranty and damage the camera. It is better to leave specialized work to specialists. Proposed Solution I do not believe that Pentax has an AF check ing chart available to the public. That is the primary reason I took it upon myself to design one. After reading every blog and information abo ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 65
Addendum Page 248 There are various opinions whether a chart should be viewed at 45° from the lens centerline axis, or at 30°, or any angle or even flat. The re ality is that it should give good results at any angle between 30° and 60°. Chart-1 and Chart-2 were design for viewing at 45° from the lens’ centerlin e axis. The measurements on th ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 66
Addendum Page 249 Chart No. 2 viewed at 45 degree angle Camera Settings Set the camera to: * Autofocus single. * Leave the Shake Reduction off if you use a tripod (recommended). * Use the Aperture Priority mode (Av). * Set the lens aperture to its maximum. * Set the AF point to center. * Use a remote for the shutter release or use the 2-second time ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 67
Addendum Page 250 The two smaller charts were designed so that they can be cut and taped together in a way that they can stand at a 45° angle when placed on a table, desk, or flat surface. The camera / lens is then leveled and pref erably positioned on a tripod so that the lens’ centerline is aligned with the center of the chart. Place the lens ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 68
Addendum Page 251 Next, move the camera / lens angle slowly downward until it auto focuses. At that point, you know that you are focused on the intersection of the black / white portion of the chart. That is the center of the ch art. The measuremen ts (Metric on the left and English on the right) are at zero on both sides of the chart horizontal ce ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 69
Addendum Page 252 A lens with acceptable Auto Focus should ha ve the center target line in focus, even if the back and front focus lines are not equally or proportionally out of focus. A lens with back focus problem s will look li ke the image to the left below while a lens with front focus problems will l ook like the image to the right below. ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 70
Addendum Page 253 A Word About Auto Focus Sensors Sensors are either vertical, hor izontal or cross type. Pentax K10D , K20D and K-7 all have 9 cross type sensors and two vertical sensors. Vertical sensors detect the sharpest horizontal contrast within its ar ea of coverage and lock the focus on that point. Alternatively, the horizontal sensor s de ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 71
Addendum Page 254 The K20d Custom Setting Number 35 Is Sh own B elo w– Th e K-7 Setting Number Is 37 But It Is Almost Identical. In the Custom Setting menu, navigate w ith the four-way controller to AF Adjustment, Setting number 35 or 37. Use ▲▼ to turn the AF Adjustment On or Off. When choosing On, press ► and select if you want to adjust ...
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Pentax K-7 - page 72
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Pentax K-7 - page 73
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Pentax K-7 - page 74
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Pentax K-7 - page 75
[How to operate additional function ] [ 36 . O perate at AF Poin t “ SEL ” ] is newly added on [Custo m] menu. *Select [36. Oper ate at AF Point “ SEL ” ] and pre ss f our-way c ontro ller r i ght then select either [1 Ca lli ng Funct ion Preferenc e] or [2 Select AF P oint Pref erence]. P ress OK for s etti ng. [1 Ca lli ng Funct ion Prefe ...
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