Web Analytics RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: K10D Bulb mode cannot hold longer than 32 seconds?

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

K10D Bulb mode cannot hold longer than 32 seconds?

3 different users reported that their K10D cameras could not hold "long" exposure more than 30 or 32 seconds in the Bulb mode, despite that the battery indicator did show full power as well as the battery power was actually not depleted:-

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21047900

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21047498

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21040890

If what they said are true, then it is undoubtedly that there exists some kinds of hardware problem and/or software/firmware bug with their units. If Bulb mode can just only be up to 30 seconds, why "Bulb"? In the Manual mode, there is also a 30-second (actually ideally should be for 32 seconds of exposure) setting!

My humble advice is for anyone who plans to use the K10D for real long exposure shooting applications (typically for night scene shootings, not even to mention astrophotography), one must be aware of this potential problem reported. Do try and test fully, hands-on, to confirm if the mentioned problem exists or not before you buy! My final advice is do *never* try to *wait* for a fix for a camera which has some existing problems which cause you troubles which don't satisfy your current need(s), and cannot work for your *current* application(s).

Update (Nov. 30):
Yet another user at PDML reported that the problem was appearing intermittently:-

http://www.mail-archive.com/pdml@pdml.net/msg360961.html

Actually, the problem of the 30s limit in Bulb mode did appear sometimes in Continuous shooting mode and sometimes with just a quick press of the shutter release button. The user also mentions in his above post that with a longer time of half-press until the SR symbol appeared in the viewfinder, he experienced no problem. (but how come any Pentax K10D or K100D user should turn on the SR function in Bulb mode? It is not recommended by Pentax afterall, i.e., SR should be turned off when the camera is mounted on a tripod!)

4 comments:

  1. According to a source close to Pentax the initial problem has to do with battery conditioning, not the camera. It has been noted that after a few charges the LiIon battery and B mode work fine.This was noted in pre-production cameras and ruled a non-camera error. The source is awaiting more confirmation from the Pentax engineers. In the meantime take some photos :)

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  2. Anonymous6/12/06 07:20

    http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=21102290

    this explains it all. hopefully it's true.

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  3. Anonymous3/8/14 21:44

    « If what they said are true, then it is undoubtedly that there exists some kinds of hardware problem and/or software/firmware bug with their units. If Bulb mode can just only be up to 30 seconds, why "Bulb" ? »
    Hi Rice !
    Eight (8) years later... and still the same stupid limitation to the Q, Q10 and Q7 cameras !
    Pentax is teaching us how to lower its camera sales ?
    They are afraid getting too big ?
    ;)

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  4. Just because RP is being afraid of our pics are too noisy, for our own sakes! ;-p

    ReplyDelete