DSLR Revisited – Part 3, The DSLR – in this case the Pentax K-10

Here’s my cat of the week shot (a two for one special) of Gandalf & Merlin posin’.  This one was taken with the K-10 through the 70-200 zoom set at f4.5 and 1/60 with ISO at 100. I used Picasa to lighten it up a little.

Now, back to the DSLR discussion - When I first started using a DSLR I fully expected it to be essentially the same as my SLR but with an electronic sensor instead of film, especially since I made sure to get one with a full manual mode as well as all the other programed modes. Turns out that isn’t quite the case. The first thing I realized is that with a DSLR there were many more choices to be made – many more choices.

The good news is I don’t have to choose which type of film I want to use anymore, but ISO is important. Now I can choose a specific ISO rating (as with the film SLR), an ISO range, or just set it to AUTO and let the camera choose for me (I’m not sure what the camera uses as a basis for making this choice); and presumably I can change my mind with each and every shot whereas with film I can only make the choice once for each roll of film.

The same is true for “White Balance,” which I had never heard of before digital photography but it involves the color balance and was generally taken care of before with the selection of the film simply by choosing either “Daylight” or “Tungsten” film. As with so many things in the digital world there’s a bit more involved with it. I can now choose a variety of settings to deal with whether I’m inside with tungsten or fluorescent lighting, whether it’s cloudy or bright, whether I am in the shade, whether I am using a flash and I can even set an actual color temperature but I suppose I would need a color thermometer for that! 

The next thing to decide is which mode to use. There are seven different exposure modes on my DSLR’s with varying degrees of automation all the way from full AUTO (point & shoot mode) to full Manual and there appears to be some overlap between the seven that frankly I don’t quite understand; and if that weren’t enough to deal with, I can again change my mind with each and every shot. 

Next there is the EV Compensation. Here is where no matter which exposure mode I choose I can “tweak” it from one to three stops over or under the exposure selection, almost. There is actually at least one mode where the camera is in full control and I don’t think you can “tweak” it at all.

Then there is the focus setting. Again – more choices! There is of course manual focus (although some autofocus lenses either don’t have a manual focus ring or it is difficult to use) and automatic focus just as you would expect - but there’s more! There is “autofocus – single” and “autofocus – continuous.” On top of that there are apparently several different types of autofocus algorithms as well as manual spot autofocus I can use. I would not try to explain all this even if I could because we would be here all day just talking about autofocus choices. 

That is just the photographic basics. I also have to choose the file format I want to end up with. Most folks think RAW files are the best choice here because you can do more with them but they are huge. Generally, other less sophisticated cameras output in jpeg format and that seems to work just fine for most people. With my camera I can also choose RAW+ which includes both – I guess for those who can’t make up their minds.

Then there is whole system of menus and sub-menus that allow me to select such things as what language to use on the menus, time zone settings, whether I want the image stabilization function on or not, flash mode (built in vs. external, TTL, wireless, slow sync vs. high speed sync, red eye reduction, etc.), preview mode, what play-back mode to use and what things look like on the display screen; do I want to display each shot after I take it (or not), what filters I may want to use for post processing (B&W, Sepia, IR etc.), how the camera connects to and interfaces with A/V equipment, printers and computers (newer ones even have wireless internet connections and GPS settings to deal with); how the camera deals with various storage media, the image tone, saturation, sharpness, & contrast of the images, drive mode (how many pictures it takes & how fast); and then there is the automatic bracketing menus.

Automatic bracketing is….nah, never mind.  I’m not going there. This has already gone on too long and I haven’t even broached the subject of in camera post processing, shooting video or memory card formats.

 Are you beginning sense my frustration with all this technology and all these decisions? I started out just wanting to take better pictures and ended up getting involved in a whole host of other things I don’t much care about. No wonder toy film cameras are making a come-back and digital point & shoot cameras are dominating the market.

Anyway, I told you all that so I can say this. I still believe digital photography is here to stay and I am determined to master it. I am just hoping that someone eventually comes out with an advanced (DSLR type) camera that is not so difficult to operate other than to put everything on full auto and hope for the best.