Functions:
• Shooting Modes: PSAM, Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports, Sunset and Night Portrait/Night View
• Effects: Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Night view, Sunset, Black & White, Adobe RGB (Except for Adobe RGB, all other color modes use the sRGB color space)
• Flash Modes: Built-in Auto Pop-up: Auto, Fill-flash, Rear flash sync, Slow Sync, High Speed Sync, Wireless off camera flash (with Flash HVL-F56AM, F36AM)
• White Balance: Auto plus 8 Modes (Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Flash, Color Tempature/Color filter, Custom), each with +/-3 adjustable step
• Metering: 40 Segment, Center Weighted, Spot

Technical Data:
• 2.7 inch LCD + Viewfinder: 0.83x magnification and 95% coverage
• 10.2 megapixels
• KIT: 18-70mm f3.5 Zoom lens
• ISO Range: Auto/100/200/400/800/1600/3200
• Exposure Compensation: ±2.0 EV, 1/3 EV Steps
• Continuos Shooting: Up to 3FPS; Unlimited to capacity of media (JPEG L/M/S); Maximum 3 frames (RAW + JPEG); Maximum 6 frames (RAW)
• Shutter Speed: 30 < 1/4000 sec 52 step, Bulb
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds
• File Format: JPEG, RAW, JPEG+RAW
• Memory Stick PRO Duo
• NP-FM500H Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
• Dimensions: (WHD) 5 3/16″ x 3 7/8″ x 2 13/16″ (130.8 x 98.5 x 71.3 mm)
• Weight: 1 lb., 2.8 oz (532 g) body, not including battery, lens and media

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Scene, Movie
• Scene Modes: 30 scenes
• Movie Mode: 848 x 480 (UHQ Wide/HQ Wide, 30 fps), 640 × 480 (UHQ/HQ/Normal, 30 fps), 320 × 240 (LP, 15 fps); MOV format, H.264/AVC, AAC (monaural)
• Effects: Date and Time, Calendar, World Time
• Flash Modes: Auto, Flash Off, Flash On, Soft Flash, Red Eye Reduction
• Focus Modes: Auto Focus, Macro Mode, Pan Focus, Infinity Mode, Manual Focus
• White Balance: Auto WB, Daylight, Overcast, Shade, Day white FL, Daylight FL, Tungsten, manual WB
• Metering: Multi-pattern, center weighted, spot by imaging element

Technical Data:
• 2.6-inch LCD
• 8.1 megapixels
• 3x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 6.3 to 18.9mm/Approx. 38 to 114mm
• Aperture: F3.1 (W) to F5.6*6 (W), auto switching
• ISO Range: Auto, ISO64, ISO100, ISO200, ISO400, ISO800, ISO1600
• Flash Range: Normal: Approx. .33′ to 8.53′ (W), approx. 1.97′ to 4.59 (T)
Flash Continuous Shooting: Approx. 1.31′ to 4.59′ (W), approx. 1.97′ to 2.30′ (T)
• Focus Range:
Normal: Approx. 15.75″ *3 to infinity (W)
Macro: Approx. 3.94″ to 19.69” *3 (W)
Manual: Approx. 3.94″ *3 to infinity (W)
• Exposure Compensation: -2EV to +2EV (in 1/3EV steps)
• Continuos Shooting: Maximum is 3 frames per second
• Shutter Speed: 1/2 to 1/2000 second (night scene: 4 to 1/2000 second)
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds, Triple Self-timer
• File Format: JPEG (Exif Version 2.2)
• SDHC Memory Card, SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard plus compatible+ 12.4MB internal memory
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery (NP-60)
• Dimensions: 3.53″ (W) x 2.03″ (H) x .75″ (D)
• Weight: 3.53 oz

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Movie, Scene
• Scene Modes: Beach, Fireworks, High Speed Shutter, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Smile Shutter
• Movie Mode: MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640×480 at 30fps) (MPEG VX Fine requires Memory Stick DUO PROâ„¢ media), MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640×480 at 16.6fps), Presentation Mode (320 x 240 at 8.3fps)
• Effects: Black & White, Natural, Sepia, Vivid; Red-eye correction, soft edge filter, cross filter, partial color filter, fish-eye filter, retro, radiation, trimming
• Flash Modes: Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, Slow Synch
• White Balance: Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash
• Metering: Multi-pattern, Spot, Center-Weight
• Focus: 9 Area Multi-Point AF, Center AF, Flexible Spot

Technical Data:
• 3.5 inch LCD
• 10.1 megapixels
• 5x optical zoom + 2x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 5.8 – 29mm
• Aperture: F3.5-F10
• ISO Range: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
• Flash Range:
ISO Auto: Approx.0.1-Approx.3.5m(W) / Approx.0.8-Approx.2.7m(T),
ISO3200: up to Approx.7.2m(W) / Approx.5.5m(T)
• Focus Range: 19-11/16″ (50cm) Normal, 3-1/8″ (8cm) Macro, 3/8″ (1cm) Magnifying Glass
• Exposure Compensation: ±2.0 EV, 1/3 EV Step Increments
• Continuos Shooting: 100 shots at 1.6 fps
• Shutter Speed: Auto(1/4 – 1/1,000) / Program Auto(1″ – 1/1,000)
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds
• File Format: JPEG
• 22MB internal Flash Memory, optional Memory Stick® DUO Media, optional Memory Stick DUO PRO™ Media
• Lithium-Ion NP-BD1 battery

Panning Setup

Here is a fact: results will be better if you use a tripod. However, if you don’t have one or if an opportunity that does not allow you to set it up presets itself, you can still make a very decent panorama by following a few simple tips.

If you have a tripod:

Set up your tripod so that your camera is perfectly horizontal. You can do this by hand, or use a spirit level if you have one. Top geek stuff: you can buy a mini spirit level that will adapt to the external flash slot (hot shoe) of your camera if it has one.
It is quite important that your camera is horizontal. If it is not you will get some unrecoverable distortions on the horizon line (if shooting outside), and you will loose some height on the final picture.
If you want to fine tune the setup, you can take an extra step to make sure your camera will rotate along the nodal point of this lens, or at least around the symmetry axis of the lens.
What is the nodal point of a lens you say? It’s the point, on the symmetry axis of the lens, that all the incoming light rays cross being sent to the focal plane. Rotating around this point will give you zero distortion. Rotating around a different point will create distortion – due to the parallax phenomenon.
If the tripod mount crew on the camera is not even aligned with the lens axis you’ll need to buy a specialized tripod extension that will allow you to slide the camera horizontally so that the rotating axis of the tripod is in line with the nodal point.
Such devices are often called Panoramic Tripod Heads.
The nodal point of your lens change when you zoom in and out. Finding it is a matter of trials and adjustments: try to locate two vertical objects, such as poles or light posts, one being close from the camera and the other being far away from it. Take two different shots by rotating the camera and compare the position of each object relative to the other. If the objects have moved away or toward each other from one shot to the other, you are not yet rotating around the nodal point.
Finding the precise nodal point even with most regular lenses is often a matter of millimeter, but with a few tries you should get close enough.

Note that this step is optional. You will get perfectly decent results even if you skip it and rotate around a different point, especially if you are shooting outdoor landscape panorama. More distortion will show if you are shooting indoors, where the perspective lines may appear quite different from one shot to the other.

If you don’t have a tripod:

Hold the camera at the eye level and tuck your elbows close to your body to avoid moving the camera too much when you rotate. Try to keep the camera at the same level when rotating (the horizon line is a good marquee when you shoot outside). Rotate using your shoulders and waist, and try to rotate around the camera rather than rotating the camera itself. You’ll be closer from the nodal point this way.

Continue reading part III

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Movie, Scene
• Scene Modes: Advanced Sports Shooting, Beach, Fireworks, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, Twilight Portrait
• Movie Mode: MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640×480 at 30fps) (MPEG VX Fine requires Memory Stick PRO DUOâ„¢ media), MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640×480 at 16.6fps), QVGA(320×240 at 8.3fps)
• Effects: Black & White, Natural, Sepia, Vivid; Red-eye correction, soft focus filter, trimming, cross filter, partial color filter, fish-eye filter
• Flash Modes: Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, Slow Synch
• Focus: 9 Area Multi-Point AF, Monitoring AF
• White Balance: Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash
• Metering: Multi-pattern, Spot, Center-Weight

Technical Data:
• 3.0 inch LCD
• 8.1 megapixels
• 10x optical zoom + 2x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 6.3-63.0mm
• Aperture: Auto( F3.5/8.0(W)) / Program auto( F3.5/8.0(W)) / Manual(F3.5/8.0(W))　
• ISO Range: Auto / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200
• Exposure Compensation: Plus / Minus 2.0EV, 1 / 3EV step
• Continuos Shooting: shots automatically at 1-second intervals (VGA standard mode) or 2-second intervals (full resolution mode)
• Shutter Speed: Auto(1/4 – 1/2,000) / Program Auto(1″ – 1/2,000) / Manual(30″ – 1/2,000)
• Self Timer: 10 seconds, 2 seconds
• File Format: JPEG
• Memory Stick® DUO Media +31MB internal memory
• Lithium-Ion NP-BG1 battery

Introduction

A panorama – or panoramic photo – is usually made by stitching several pictures, taken with the same camera, into one. Although you can also achieve a panoramic effect with only one photo by simply cropping it aggressively – especially if you are using a wide angle lens – I will stick to the “multiple photos” approach in this article as it offers more possibilities.
A panorama can in general be horizontal, vertical or even be a mosaic of pictures taken in both orientations. For this article I will assume you want to do a horizontal panorama, which means the final photo will have a width much greater than its height and photos will be taken from right to left (or left to right if you prefer but my camera only takes ine way). The technique can, as you will see, easily be adapted to do vertical panoramas.
Making a panoramic photo really only takes a couple of important steps.

The first step is taking the pictures;
The second is stitching them using your computer.

The more effort and attention you put in the first step, the easier the second step will be and the more realistic your final photo will look.

Taking the pictures

Whether you are shooting inside or outside, and especially if you are planning to shoot a particular event such as a sunset, it is a good idea to arrive early at the location of you shot as a proper setup can take some time.
Camera Setup:
What follows is the most important tip of the whole article: Put your camera in all manual mode, including manual focus.
This will ensure all the sub pictures making up the final panorama will have the same exposure level (hence the same brightness/contrast) and the same depth of field. This will make the stitching a lot easier since you will not have to adjust the individual pictures for exposure and focus.
A few extra tips will get you the best results out of this:
Do not use a polarizing filter unless you really have to. When you are going to rotate the camera in order to take the pictures, the incidence of the light on the filter will change and this will result in different colors hues on each picture. This can make the stitching very painful.
Try to use a focal lens of 50mm or greater. This means “zooming in” a little bit. Of course it also means you will have to take more pictures to cover the panorama, but it will result in more details in the end.
It is better to do this because, if you use a wide angle lens (or short focal length), there are changes that objects in the foreground will suffer from distortion, and you will be in trouble to stitch the pictures.

Continue reading about this in part II

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: (1) Auto Picture mode, (2) Picture mode, (3) Scene mode, (4) Program AE, (5) Sensitivity-Priority AE, (6) Shutter-Priority AE, (7) Aperture-Priority AE, (8) Metered Manual, (9) Bulb
• Playback: One Image, Two Images, Index ( 4 or 9 or 16 thumb nails ), Enlargement ( up to 16X, scroll available ), Image Rotation, Folder view, Slideshow, Histogram, Bright/Dark area
• Effects: B&W ( 4 type ), Sepia ( 3 type ), Color ( 18 type ), Color extract ( 6 type ), Soft ( three-level amount adjustable ), Illustration, HDR ( 3 type ), Slim ( +/- 8 level amount adjustable ), Brightness ( +/- 8 level amount adjustable )
• Flash Options: Hot shoe, sync-speed : 1/180 sec., P-TTL, high-speed-sync, wireless-sync with PENTAX dedicated flash
• Focus Modes: AF-single (with focus lock); AF-continuous available, Manual focus; TTL Phase-matching 11-point wide autofocus system
• White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, Fluorescent Light ( W, D, N ), Flash, Manual setting, with WB fine adjustment
• Metering: TTL open-aperture 16-segment metering, (1) Multi-segment metering (2) Center-weighted metering (3) Spot metering

Technical Data:
• 2.7-inch LCD + approx. 96%, 0.85X viewfinder
• 14.6 megapixels
• ISO Range: Auto, Manual : ISO100 – 3200 ( 1EV steps or 1/2EV steps ) can be expand to ISO6400, Bulb mode : up to ISO1600
• Exposure Compensation: ±2 EV ( 0.5EV steps or 0.3EV steps )
• Bracketing: 3 or 5 frames within range of ±0.5EV, ±1.0EV, ±1.5EV, ±2.0EV ( 0.5EV steps ) or ±0.3EV, ±0.7EV, ±1.0EV, ±1.3EV, ±1.7EV, ±2.0EV ( 0.3EV steps )
• Continuos Shooting: approx. 3fps, sequence : until 38 frames ( JPEG and continuous (Hi) ) , 14frames ( RAW (PEF) ), 16frames ( RAW (DNG) )
approx. 2.3fps, sequence : until the memory card becomes full ( JPEG and continuous (Lo) ), 14frames ( RAW (PEF) ), 16frames ( RAW (DNG) )
• Shutter Speed: 1/4000 – 30 sec. and bulb
• Self Timer: 12s, 2s , Remote control 0s, 3s
• File Format: RAW+JPEG, Compressed : RAW ( PEF ), Non-compressed : RAW ( DNG ) , JPEG ( Conforms to Exif 2.21 ), Conforms to DCF ( Design rule of Camera File system ) 2.0
• SD – Secure Digital memory + internal memory
• Rechargeable D-LI50 lithium-ion battery – 530 shots
• Dimensions: 141.5(W) x 101(H) x 70(D)mm ( 5.6 x 4.0 x 2.76 inches )
• Weight: 715g ( 25.2 oz. ) without battery and SD memory card

Gothic pictures gallery

Functions:
• Shooting Modes: Auto Picture, Program, Night Scene, Movie, Voice Recording, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Surf&Snow, Sport, Digtal SR, Kids, Pet, Panorama, Frame Composite, Green
• Playback: Slideshow, Resize, Trimming, Image&Sound Copy, Image Rotation, Digital Filter, Brightness Filter, Frame Composite, Red eye compensation, Protect, DPOF, Start-up Screen
• Flash Modes: Flash-on and Flash-off modes. ”Red-eye” compensation function employs a pre-discharge
• White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten light, Fluorescent light, Manual setting
• Metering: Multi-segment metering

Technical Data:
• 2.4 inch LCD
• 8.1 megapixels
• 3x optical zoom + 4x digital zoom
• Focal Length: 6.2mm – 18.6mm ( 35mm equivalent focal length approx. 37.5 – approx. 112.5mm )
• Aperture: F2.8(W) – F5.2(T)
• ISO Range: Auto, Fixed ( ISO 100 – 1600 )
• Flash Range: Wide :approx.0.15m ( 0.49ft ) – approx. 6.0m ( 20ft ) ( ISO Auto ) Tele :approx. 0.4m ( 1.31ft ) – approx. 3.2m ( 10ft ) ( ISO Auto )
• Focus Range: Normal :0.4m ( 1.31ft ) to infinity ( whole zoom area )
Macro :0.15m ( 0.49ft ) to 0.5m ( 1.64ft ) ( at wide setting )
• Exposure Compensation: ±2EV ( 1/3EV Steps )
• Continuos Shooting: One shot, Self-timer, Continuous, 16-frame Shooting
• Shutter Speed: 1/2000 sec.- 1/4 sec. 4 sec. at most ( Night scene mode setting )
• File Format: JPEG
• SD – Secure Digital memory + internal memory
• 2 AA batteries ( Alkaline, Lithium, Nickel and Rechargeable Ni-MH )
• Dimensions: 96.5(W) x 60(H) x 22(D) mm ( the thinnest depth )
• Weight: 120g ( without battery and SD memory card )