So in default K-5 video mode you can control your aperture and exposure compensation (WB and other stuff) - and that's it - compared to other cameras like Canons and Nikons this pretty much sucks isn't it?! But there is a workaround how to control the ISO and the shutter speed as well. This might be handy when shooting e.g. on green background and you want to avoid motion blur caused by fast movements.
Here are the simple steps:
You have to use one of the USER modes - set it to Av and tweak your exposure settings.
When done - press the AE-L button - this will lock your exposure settings.
Keep it locked and then just switch to the video mode - the exposure settings will remain locked.
Start shooting and enjoy your manual settings
Limits: ISO must me 3200 at maximum and shutter speed must be at least 1/25 or 1/30 depending on the video format you chose.
Forum
I. How to get manual control?
1. Go into USER mode
2. Set the exposure program to Av (I have tested M,
Tv,
Sv, P and none of them work, it would align with my theory that the
movie mode utilises its own perverted form of Aperture priority program.
II. Setting the exposure.
1. Once the upon is done, activate Liveview, preferably with the live
histogram enabled, I also like to use the dark/light overlay to.
2. Dial in the desired aperture.
3. Dial in the desired
ISO. (I believe based on my testing that 100-1600 is the most usable range, however someone else could further test this.
4. Setting the shutter setting is rather trickier, it involves aiming the camera at or away at a
light source till you see the shutter speed at your desired value, ie 30, 60, etc and then hit the AE-L button.
5. Turn the dial to video mode and hit the shutter button, you will
immediately see the AE-L symbol is still on the screen and your exposure
is locked
as said above this only appears to work in Av mode in USER and no others.
III. Observations & unanswered questions.
1. You can see a clear difference in noise between locking
ISO 100 & 1600, this is quite dramatically apparent when you have the dark/light setting enabled in liveview and you have the
lens cap on.
2. I am still unsure of the limits of the shutter speed, ie how fast and
slow can you lock it or does the camera automatically set the upper and
lower limits of this. Further experimentation would have to be
conducted.
3. Has anyone been able to pull EXIF data off K-7 videos yet?
IV. Email & Harass
Pentax & Their Official Distributors For Proper Full Manual Control.
