The Pentax K10D digital SLR is a 10.2 megapixel camera from Pentax, that I own.
I chose this camera because, when I purchased it, this camera was the best built camera that I could afford, and one of my more usual photographic areas involves Air Displays, where a camera should be able to take a bashing, especially in the event of an accident.
The camera has a built in anti-shake which is in the actual camera body, unlike some DSLRs which have their anti-shake systems built into the lens, this ensures that I have the facility available which ever lens I chose to use and saves me having to buy more expensive lenses just for this facility.
Exposure Modes
The K10D has a number of different exposure modes, these are detailed below:
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| Mode | Description |
Program | In this mode the camera sets the shutter speed and aperture according to the available lighting to give a correct exposure. But the photographer can alter any one of these settings (shutter speed or aperture) using the front and rear e-dials (found both on the camera body and the battery grip) and the camera will automatically reset the other setting (aperture or shutter speed) accordingly. |
Sensitivity Priority | In this mode the photographer sets the sensitivity (or ISO) and the camera sets the shutter speed and aperture. This mode is very handy as it prevents the camera changing the ISO if the shutter speed and aperture cannot be changed enough to correctly expose the image. |
Shutter Priority | This mode allows the photographer to set the shutter speed that they want and the camera changes the aperture, and if necessary the sensitivity (ISO) to match. This mode is ideal for air display photography where you will want slower shutter speeds to capture the movement of propeller driven aircraft but faster shutter speeds for fast jet aircraft. |
Aperture Priority | This mode is the opposite to the shutter priority mode in that the photographer sets the aperture and the camera changes the shutter speed, and if necessary the sensitivity) to suit. This mode is ideal when you want full control over the depth of field for taking both landscapes and macro photography. |
Shutter and Aperture Priority | In this mode the photographer can set the shutter speed and the aperture themselves and the camera will change the sensitivity (ISO) to compensate. |
Manual | In this mode the photographer sets the shutter speed, the aperture size and the ISO themselves. In the viewfinder a scale is used to check the exposure so that the photographer can choose which setting they wish to change without the camera changing anything else. This is seen as the most creative mode where the photographer can capture the image that they want without any changes made by the camera to compensate for the photographers settings. |
Bulb | This mode enables the photographer to keep the shutter open for as long as they wish, without the constraints of the range of shutter speeds. This mode is ideal for capturing movement, especially at night, eg. fireworks, etc. |
External Flash Sync | This mode is for synchronising the camera shutter release with external flash units. It locks the shutter speed at 1/180 second and prevents it being changed accidentally. |
User | The user mode allows the photographer to set a number of settings; exposure mode, flash settings, EV compensation, bracketing, file format, image tone, size, sharpness, saturation and contrast and store these settings on their camera so if they lend their camera to someone or a setting is changed they can reset the camera to their own preferences. |
Green | This mode is a fully automatic snap shot mode where the camera sets the shutter speed, aperture and sensitivity ready for the photographer to use. |
Focusing Modes
The Pentax K10D has three focusing modes, these are:
| Focus Mode | Description |
AF.S (Single) | In this mode the camera sets the focus and allows the photographer to capture the photograph in focus. This mode is only suitable if neither the camera position or the subject position do not change. This mode is ideal for landscape, product and macro photography where the camera and the subject are not moving. |
AF.C (Continuous) | In this mode the camera locks the focus onto the subject and changes the focus to suit if the subject or camera move. This mode is ideal for action and wildlife photography where the subject is moving or likely to move. |
MF (Manual) | This mode allows the photographer to manually focus the camera, without any changes being made by the camera. This mode is ideal where either the camera and subject are not moving, there is something between the camera and the subject that may affect the camera’s automatic focusing, or where the photographer is using a manual focusing lens, for example a catadioptic mirror lens. |
Other Focusing Options
As well as the focusing modes above, the Pentax K10D, which uses eleven focusing points, offers three options concerning how the camera chooses which focus point to use, these options are:
| Option | Description |
Auto | This is where the camera selects the focusing point, based on any movement being picked up by the focusing points. |
SEL | This is where the photographer can choose which focusing point is used (the focusing point is highlighted in the viewfinder). |
| . | This is where the central focusing point is used, meaning the photographer has to make sure the subject is central in the viewfinder. |
Metering Modes
The Pentax K10D has three metering modes, details of these are shown below:
| Icon | Mode | Description |
 | Spot | In this metering mode the camera takes a light reading from the central 12% of the frame only, ignoring everything else. This mode is very useful when there are distracting forms of lighting, in particular back lighting, which would otherwise cause the camera to under expose the photograph. |
 | Centre Weighted | This mode also takes a light reading from the centre of the frame, but also takes in to consideration the wider central area. This mode is useful for situations where there are less forms of lighting. |
 | Multi Segment | This mode takes light readings from different parts of the frame, as well as the central area. This mode is useful for general photography. |
File Formats
Since the beginning of digital photography cameras have used the universal JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format for storing the digital photographs back in 1992. Whilst this format allows the images to be viewed and edited on all platforms, as well as direct viewing on televisions, the format does have its limitations.
JPEG is a format that allows the image to be compressed to reduce the file size and enable the photographer to store more images on the memory card, but this compression can lead to problems such as artefacts where the camera in order to compress the image discards too much information, and splodges or irregular areas of colour are present where the compression algorithms do not maintain an even range of colours or tones. The JPEG standard has another problem, in that it is a lossy format, whereby each time an image is saved and re-saved in the JPEG format more and more of the data is lost.
In today’s digital cameras the DSLRs, many of the bridge cameras and some of the more advanced compact cameras now retain the original RAW file from which the camera processes the JPEG photograph. Each manufacturer have created their own RAW format for their range of cameras.
The Pentax range of DSLRs have the advantage that not only do they capture the image in JPEG and the Pentax PEF RAW format but they can also capture the image in Adobe’s DNG (Digital Negative) format which is becoming more acceptable with photographic editing software.
Looking at the range of image formats before the JPEG standard was developed, I can see the DNG format becoming the new standard for RAW images.
When taking photographs I prefer to capture the image in the RAW+ mode, whereby both the original RAW file together with the processed JPEG formats are stored, and although my photographic editor Serif’s Photo Plus X4 can handle both PEF and DNG formats, I tend to use the more universally accepted DNG format.
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