On Aug 29, 2006, at 3:09 AM, Douglas Newman wrote: > This is something that really annoys me ... > Like most modern cameras, the 20D goes to "sleep" > after a few seconds. > ... > On a N*kon D-SLR you can press ANY button and the > camera will wake up. The C*non needs yout half-press > the shutter to wake it up. > ... > On a Pentax, can I wake up the camera from its slumber > by e.g. pressing the "Fn" button, or does it require > the half-press of the shutter like the C*non?
I haven't seen anyone make a direct response to your query. The answer is that you must press the shutter release button half way to "reawaken" the camera or reactivate the metering. Some further discussion: On the Pentax *ist DS, there are two time out settings: how long the metering circuit is active, with settings of 3 sec, 10 sec and 30 sec in the Custom menu, and how long the camera will stay powered up overall with settings of 1, 3, 5, 10, 30 minutes or OFF in the Settings menu. Either requires the half-press on the shutter release to reactivate the camera in use. The meter activation time out is essential to saving power. I often have mine set to 30 seconds so that I can fuss and fidget settings as much as I want without the meter powering down and losing AE-Lock if I've set it, or doing the semi automatic metering with K-mount lenses, but in doing so there is a noticeable reduction in battery life. Leaving it at 10 sec is the normal, default case. The system time out, however, is what affects you in the case you mention. This seems to have less effect on overall battery life than the metering time out selection. As long as the system is powered on, Fn, Playback and Menu buttons operate on one press. While I normally have mine set to 5 minutes to conserve power should I drop the camera in my bag and forget it, when I'm doing a lot of shooting I reset it to 10/30 minutes or disable it entirely. This allows me to just pick up the camera and work with it, without requiring the half press on the shutter release to gain access to menu functions. Since the DS powers up very quickly (compared to my Canon 10D), I often find myself turning it off between sequences of shots when I drop it in the bag casually rather than leaving it on. Pick it up, flip the switch on as I do so, and bring it to my eye ... the camera is ready by the time I'm looking through it. The 10D's lethargic power up time made this more awkward. Godfrey -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
