brendonmeyer

<p>I finally dropped my k10d the other day, too. I was at a baseball park, and they had those aluminum bleachers where the part you sit on and the part you walk on are the same thing. I was on the third seat up, and when I got up the camera tumbled off the edge, hit the ground and rolled back to near the back of the bleachers. Still works great, and just double-checked and really don't see a single scratch anywhere on it. After it hit the ground it probably traveled about 4 feet, all told, bouncing more than rolling. And these bleachers were on concrete, too. And I think the drop was about 3 to 3 1/2 feet, maybe even higher. Must have landed just right, on the rubbery parts. The strap will not be leaving my neck in the future, tho.</p>

<p>You're right in there are no contacts on the lens itself, but thought maybe some gunk on the base ring might cause some error between the contacts on the camera.</p>

<p>Sounds about right, tho. 90% of the time AV mode works fine, with the occasional slight over-exposure. This one was just drastic enough for me to try to suss it out. Guess I have to go with "it's a feature, not a bug". Thanks everyone.</p>

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<p>ISO was not on auto, manually set to 100. Aperture I'm pretty sure was wide open (4.5), for both images. I had initially taken the first, brighter shot in AV mode, so figured a longer exposure in manual would make the sprinkler show up even better. I certainly wouldn't rule out user error, but I really don't think I would have stopped it down for the manual shot considering I wanted it to be even brighter.</p>

<p>I'll keep running some tests, but it seems to be an intermittent thing, or at least it has been with using the flash. I think sometimes it just adds its own exposure compensation, regardless of settings. Just did a couple of shots in daylight, setting it on AV first which metered at 1/30. So set it to manual at 1/30 and they seemed identical. Probably drive myself crazy trying to reproduce it to no avail. Going to give the lenses a good cleaning, too. I've only ever cleaned the glass up until now. Time to give the base rings a good rub down, methinks.</p>

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<p>Well these are from my Soligor 80-200mm. It's an older lens, at least before '87 or so which is when I came in possession of it. Neither of these are using a flash, and I've deleted all the ones that were blown out, but will try to reproduce it later, if need be. Also happens with my Focal 135mm, too. And there is no "A" on the aperture ring (on either lens), so I have it set to "permitted" in the menu to allow operation in modes other than "A". And aside from that all other menu options are still at default, as I've never messed with any of them.</p>

<p>Just something weird I noticed the other day while messing around, and not sure if this is normal. For some reason, AV mode seems to give much brighter images than in manual. Both these were shot at same aperture, and ISO100.</p>

<p>AV mode, ISO100, 1.5 second exposure</p>

 

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<p>But in manual mode I get a much darker image, even with a much longer exposure (4 seconds).</p>

<p>Manual mode, ISO100, 4 second exposure</p>

 

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<p>And the exposure compensation was set to 0 while in AV mode, by the way. I notice this even more so when using a flash. Certain situations, even shooting at f22 with the flash dialed down the image will be blown out using AV mode. Is my camera just borked, or does AV mode work differently than I think it does?</p>

<p>Or could it be something to do with my lens? As this only seems to happen with my manual lens, but not the kit lens. Maybe the contacts need to be cleaned? Some other part of the lens causing it? Thanks.</p>

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<p>Cool, good info. I have a couple of umbrella stands, with CFL's. Just don't want to be confined to needing an outlet. I'm going to modify it and add a screwmount on top, as opposed to buying a dedicated flash mount.</p>

<p>Skyport's are definitely out of my range right now, just looking for something to learn with, and didn't want to fry anything. I already knew not to try either of them directly on the hotshoe. Hopefully by the time I need to change batteries I can just get the Skyports. I figure $30-40 is a good starting point to learn with.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the links. Especially the voltage testing one, didn't see it in the other threads. I never even noticed the contacts on the side of the flash before.</p>

<p>I've searched the forums and have a pretty good idea of what I may need, just need to double check before I order anything. I have a K10d, and the only flashes I have are older ones, an AF200S, and a Sunpak Auto 321. Are there radio triggers that work with these, or will I need to get the Wein safe syncs for each one? I was really only planning on using the Sunpak, since it swivels. But if I can use both all the better.</p>

<p>Also, people always say to test the flash with a multimeter, but nobody ever really says how. The AF200s has 3 contacts on the bottom, and the Sunpak only has one. Do you just put the lead on a contact and test fire the flash? Or will you get a reading from it just being turned on? I haven't picked up a meter yet, so just thought I'd ask in the meantime.</p>

<p>The Sunpak came with a Minolta X-370 my brother gave me. I've been looking at the CTR-301 triggers, and they mention something about Sony and Minolta having different hotshoes. If anyone can clarify that I'd appreciate it, or point me in the right direction. Thanks.</p>

<p>Heh, think I saw the wind leak on reddit. Altho I didn't actually click on it, just assumed that's what it would be. Had I known it was a p.net'r I'd have upvoted.</p>

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