Pentax E20

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:02 pm

Well, I finally got around to swapping my faulty Samsung D53 at Jessops, and I swapped it for the Pentax E20, as you might have guessed from the thread title.

I've yet to properly test it, and I am completely new to digital photography, but my impressions so far are distinctly average. I'll have to give it a thorough testing in daylight conditions, which may not be any time soon given I leave and get back to work after dark at the moment. Has anyone got any information on this camera, either from personal experience or from others? I'm just wondering if I'm expecting too much from the poor thing...

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:27 pm

If you e-mail me a couple of pictures from the camera I'll have a look and see if it is up to scratch.

The files straight out of the camera would be great - they'll still be large files, so maybe only a couple of them?

Be glad to help if I can.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:23 am

Any sort of camera will suffer in Low light if you are not using the correct settings and or flash. I would also be interested in seeing some of the photos to see what you are disappointed in.

John Knight · Post by **John Knight** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 5:29 pm

but with a copy of photoshop you can get an image out of an almost black photo. Just get involved with the exposure controls. and the shadow/highlight settings. cheating I know but its just the digital equivalent of what used to take place in good photo labs.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:16 pm

It is just like when there were lab developers, I totally agree. The best effects are achieved by those who do it day in day out. I know that I will not be able to use photoshop to the max. That is after years of practice! :D

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:41 pm

I suspect I'm just being a bit too harsh on it, because I secretly want a Finepix F30. Next camera, maybe...

I'll take some test shots in a variety of conditions and get some samples together, it may be that low light/indoors isn't its strong point and it's better in natural light. Here's some minor gripes so far:

1) No display of aperture or shutter speed in any mode before you take a photo.
2) And just for fun, no camera-shake warning either.
3) Neither auto or night modes set the white balance to tungsten when taking photos without flash indoors (results in orange tinting, and I did use the timer).
4) Shutter speed is capped at 1/4 second in program mode, but it doesn't tell you this anywhere in the manual. Night mode gives you the full two seconds.
5) Artifacts (blue/red) in darker areas of some pictures, but it might be the unusual conditions I tested it in.

Not exactly standard conditions (indoors, entirely artificial lighting), plus it was a bit of a stress-test. I shall hold my judgement until further testing.

Post by **johnriley1uk** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:18 pm

1) The E20 is the entry level model and is intended to be very simple, so no frills I'm afraid.
2) As above.
3) Is there no white balance control? AWB will only work within certain perameters and tungsten light is always outside this range.
4) True, and that's an inconvenience.
5) This is chroma noise because of the low light levels and is a consequence of the very small CCDs that are used in these cameras. All very compact digital cameras will suffer from this to some degree and the lowest ISO setting possible is the only thing that will help.

The camera is really intended for colourful and sharp sunlit pictures and should happily produce very nice prints up to 13 x 18cm or thereabouts.

I'll be very interested to have a look at it sometime. I use the Pentax A20, which is always in my pocket, which is similar but it has a slightly larger CCD to accomodate its 10MP. It too needs low ISO settings to get the best out of it.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:19 pm

Then I think you should do an ADAPS presentation of your findings - complete with the good the bad and the ugly.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:30 pm

ADAPS would descend on me and tear me to pieces. Like wolves! Wolves, I tell you!

Yeah, I was probably expecting a bit too much. The Samsung had 1) & 2), though. Battery life was awful, however, and the E20 seems fine so far, so that's cool. 3) I can live with, as I'm unlikely to be taking photos in that way...pretty much ever, plus there is a control for it. With regards to 4), I must admit that I wasn't too impressed overall by even the full manual, but I can be a bit picky at times. 5) That's cool, as long as it's nothing freaky.

I feel better after the soothing presence of Mike et pater. Yay! I'll bring the camera out into the wild sometime for it to be observed by the more seasoned photographers amongst us. And maybe stop using random metaphors, too.

mr_e · Post by **mr_e** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:42 pm

As an update on the camera situation, I've found it to be much better in brighter conditions. Whilst I still think this reflects a bit of skimping on decent image processing, it's performing well. The major issue I'm having is actually being able to see anything on the display due to glare when I'm trying to take photos, resulting in a lot of post-editing for wonky horizons etc etc. Any tips would be gratefully received.

I've also found that the camera resets the image numbering under certain conditions. I suspect it's when you delete a single photo from the camera (if it's the only one on the memory card), or the entire lot via Windows when it's connected up. A minor point, but slightly bizarre.