BLWNHR
04-02-2007, 10:25 PM
Hello all, I’ve got a problem with my Pentax *istDL (purchased in March 2006) and was wondering if the great minds here can help. This will be a bit of a long winded story but please bear with me as I really need to resolve this problem.
I take a lot of motorsport photographs, in particular drift. The problem I’m having is my *istDL is underexposing on white cars. I like to shoot in Tv-mode with shutter speed at either 1/180 or 1/125. Initially I thought this was something I was doing wrong so started shooting in full manual and was getting some satisfactory results, but still unpredictable.
I have 2 lenses, the one I use the most is the Sigma DC 18-125mm 1:3.5-5.6, the other is a Sigma DL 100-300mm 1:4.5-6.7 that I used to use on my MZ-50 35mm SLR.
Initially I thought the problems were confined to the 100-300 lens because I was having all sorts of exposure issues in May last year. I was shooting 1/125 & F8.0 on the 18-125 and decided I’d use the 100-300. I was still in Tv mode and the photograph was very overexposed. I played with the settings in manual mode and the only way I could get a correctly exposed photo was to go to 1/1000 & F32!
I was shooting with 2 professional photographers, one using Canon, the other Nikon and neither could work out what was going on. We checked everything. Exposure compensation was 0.0 and ISO was 200. The settings they were using were the same, or very near to my 18-125, except they were shooting 400mm focal lengths.
After this event I just thought there was an issue with the 100-300 lens and put it down to the lens not being a digital lens and that it wasn’t talking to the *istDL right.
Over the next few events I started having underexposure issues with the 18-125. This started about June 2006. While shooting in Tv mode any white or light silver cars would come out really under exposed. What confused me was that the problem was very inconsistent. Also, all other colours from grey through blue, red and black came out with perfect exposure.
I thought this must have been an issue with how I was using the camera so I put up with it. At the time I was shooting with 2 professionals, 1 using a Canon 1D and the other a 30D. Both these men were using Tv mode with the same ISOs as me and had no issues like I was. I just put this down to me having a amateur-grade camera and that this was one of the draw backs.
The problem remained consistent for the next few months then started getting worse so I decided to take the camera back to get warranty. This was immediately after Christmas, as soon as C.R. Kennedy, the Australian warranty agents, re-opened. The camera was returned to me in the last week of January. The report from C.R. Kennedy said they could not repeat the fault so did a firmware upgrade (version 1.00 to 1.02) and sent it back.
The weekend I got it back I had a round of motor racing to photograph so it was the perfect time. I fitted the 100-300 straight up and set the shutter to 1/1000 because of the overexposing issues and the image was underexposed a lot. Set it to Tv mode and 1/180 and got perfect exposure. The firmware upgrade appeared to fix that issue.
I shot with the 100-300 for about 4 hours then swapped to the 18-125. Instantly had underexposure issues. These were quite dramatic and were consistent with all light coloured cars. The only images that were near to correct exposure were those of dark blue or black cars, but even these were underexposed. I changed back to the 100-300 and was then having the exact same issues with that lens.
This rendered the camera basically useless. I tried shooting full manual but with no light meter was having a lot of problems.
I sent the camera back to C.R. Kennedy a week later. I got it back after 3 weeks, the Service Report says a new main PC board was fitted. The job number, if anyone at C.R. Kennedy visits here and wants to check it is MP811258.
It was a couple of weeks before I could get out to a race track, my test ground. As soon as I got out there I knew the camera was still faulting after taking only about 50 photos. Since then I’ve shot 2 rounds of drift racing since then and it is still giving issues. I cannot use Tv mode because the results are unpredictable. I could shoot manual, but the circuit I regularly shoot at has a really wide vantage point for photographers and as a result the light varies considerably it makes shooting manual very hard. This is why I want to shoot in Tv mode.
At all of these events I’ve been shooting with people using Nikon or Canon. I’ve borrowed a Canon 20D, 30D and 350D, as well as a Nikon D70 and D200, set them to Tv mode and taken consistent, correctly exposed photographs for hours. I genuinely think there is a problem with this camera still, not the way I am using it.
I have tried with and without a Polarising filter, Skylight filter and UV filter to no avail. I’ve also tried centre-weighted and matrix metering and neither make a difference. I take 800-1000 photos in a day at these events. Is this too much for the camera? Is it worn out? It has taken approximately 11,000 photographs in the 12 months I’ve owned it.
I did notice after the main PC board was replaced it only had version 1.00 of the firmware on it. I upgraded to version 1.03 tonight, but haven’t had a chance to test it yet. I highly doubt it will fix the problem.
Thankyou to those who have read this, I hope someone can help me out.
Here are some examples just to back up my story. These have been re-sized in PS CS2 but nothing else has been touched.
These first 4 are comparisons. The first was taken a 10:18am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec and F8. The second was taken only a few seconds later, still 10:18am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted average metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec but aperture is F11 and focal length is 88mm rather than 125mm.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5143.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5146.jpg
This image was taken at 11:22am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec F8, the one below, 11:23am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec F11. Both were 125mm focal length.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5307.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5311.jpg
These last 2 really confused me. The first was taken in full manual mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/180sec and F32. As you can see the image is massively over exposed, even with F32. The second is set to Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/180sec and is F13, yet the image is correctly exposed. Both were taken at 100mm focal length and within 1 minute of each other.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP1189.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP1191.jpg
I take a lot of motorsport photographs, in particular drift. The problem I’m having is my *istDL is underexposing on white cars. I like to shoot in Tv-mode with shutter speed at either 1/180 or 1/125. Initially I thought this was something I was doing wrong so started shooting in full manual and was getting some satisfactory results, but still unpredictable.
I have 2 lenses, the one I use the most is the Sigma DC 18-125mm 1:3.5-5.6, the other is a Sigma DL 100-300mm 1:4.5-6.7 that I used to use on my MZ-50 35mm SLR.
Initially I thought the problems were confined to the 100-300 lens because I was having all sorts of exposure issues in May last year. I was shooting 1/125 & F8.0 on the 18-125 and decided I’d use the 100-300. I was still in Tv mode and the photograph was very overexposed. I played with the settings in manual mode and the only way I could get a correctly exposed photo was to go to 1/1000 & F32!
I was shooting with 2 professional photographers, one using Canon, the other Nikon and neither could work out what was going on. We checked everything. Exposure compensation was 0.0 and ISO was 200. The settings they were using were the same, or very near to my 18-125, except they were shooting 400mm focal lengths.
After this event I just thought there was an issue with the 100-300 lens and put it down to the lens not being a digital lens and that it wasn’t talking to the *istDL right.
Over the next few events I started having underexposure issues with the 18-125. This started about June 2006. While shooting in Tv mode any white or light silver cars would come out really under exposed. What confused me was that the problem was very inconsistent. Also, all other colours from grey through blue, red and black came out with perfect exposure.
I thought this must have been an issue with how I was using the camera so I put up with it. At the time I was shooting with 2 professionals, 1 using a Canon 1D and the other a 30D. Both these men were using Tv mode with the same ISOs as me and had no issues like I was. I just put this down to me having a amateur-grade camera and that this was one of the draw backs.
The problem remained consistent for the next few months then started getting worse so I decided to take the camera back to get warranty. This was immediately after Christmas, as soon as C.R. Kennedy, the Australian warranty agents, re-opened. The camera was returned to me in the last week of January. The report from C.R. Kennedy said they could not repeat the fault so did a firmware upgrade (version 1.00 to 1.02) and sent it back.
The weekend I got it back I had a round of motor racing to photograph so it was the perfect time. I fitted the 100-300 straight up and set the shutter to 1/1000 because of the overexposing issues and the image was underexposed a lot. Set it to Tv mode and 1/180 and got perfect exposure. The firmware upgrade appeared to fix that issue.
I shot with the 100-300 for about 4 hours then swapped to the 18-125. Instantly had underexposure issues. These were quite dramatic and were consistent with all light coloured cars. The only images that were near to correct exposure were those of dark blue or black cars, but even these were underexposed. I changed back to the 100-300 and was then having the exact same issues with that lens.
This rendered the camera basically useless. I tried shooting full manual but with no light meter was having a lot of problems.
I sent the camera back to C.R. Kennedy a week later. I got it back after 3 weeks, the Service Report says a new main PC board was fitted. The job number, if anyone at C.R. Kennedy visits here and wants to check it is MP811258.
It was a couple of weeks before I could get out to a race track, my test ground. As soon as I got out there I knew the camera was still faulting after taking only about 50 photos. Since then I’ve shot 2 rounds of drift racing since then and it is still giving issues. I cannot use Tv mode because the results are unpredictable. I could shoot manual, but the circuit I regularly shoot at has a really wide vantage point for photographers and as a result the light varies considerably it makes shooting manual very hard. This is why I want to shoot in Tv mode.
At all of these events I’ve been shooting with people using Nikon or Canon. I’ve borrowed a Canon 20D, 30D and 350D, as well as a Nikon D70 and D200, set them to Tv mode and taken consistent, correctly exposed photographs for hours. I genuinely think there is a problem with this camera still, not the way I am using it.
I have tried with and without a Polarising filter, Skylight filter and UV filter to no avail. I’ve also tried centre-weighted and matrix metering and neither make a difference. I take 800-1000 photos in a day at these events. Is this too much for the camera? Is it worn out? It has taken approximately 11,000 photographs in the 12 months I’ve owned it.
I did notice after the main PC board was replaced it only had version 1.00 of the firmware on it. I upgraded to version 1.03 tonight, but haven’t had a chance to test it yet. I highly doubt it will fix the problem.
Thankyou to those who have read this, I hope someone can help me out.
Here are some examples just to back up my story. These have been re-sized in PS CS2 but nothing else has been touched.
These first 4 are comparisons. The first was taken a 10:18am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec and F8. The second was taken only a few seconds later, still 10:18am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted average metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec but aperture is F11 and focal length is 88mm rather than 125mm.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5143.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5146.jpg
This image was taken at 11:22am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec F8, the one below, 11:23am, Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/125sec F11. Both were 125mm focal length.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5307.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP5311.jpg
These last 2 really confused me. The first was taken in full manual mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/180sec and F32. As you can see the image is massively over exposed, even with F32. The second is set to Tv mode, Centre Weighted metering, ISO-200, 1/180sec and is F13, yet the image is correctly exposed. Both were taken at 100mm focal length and within 1 minute of each other.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP1189.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/blownhr/Photography/IMGP1191.jpg