I got a new camera--help!

[Ron Kruger]

I finally did it. This old film format dinosaur finally went digital. I was forced into it. My Nikon of over 20 years service went all fuzzy and soft, so I found a great deal on a Pentax K20D with mega mega-pixels. I know a lot about photograph, but it’s all from a film perspective, so I feel like a digital amateur.
I have a number of question:
First of all, I find digital use of ISO ratings a bit confusing. With film (mostly slides) long ago I came to the general rule that the lower the ISO rating the finer the grain and the higher the quality of the exposure. (Keep in mind that I take pictures for publication.) I shot a lot of Kodachrome 25 and 64, and after these became rare, I switched to 100 and 200 print film.
I presume ISO in digital has the same relationship to F-stops, or light gathering capabilities, and shutter speeds as in film, and thereby the same relationship to quality, but I read all the time about people shooting at 3,200 and higher. I don’t understand.
I have a lot more questions, but well take them one at a time. I do appreciate any insights you can offer.

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks, Toivo K. That's what I presumed. A habit I developed with film was to use a small ISO and set the camera on shutter preferred (250/sec most of the time) and let the f-stop fall where it may. Of course, this K20D has a pretty sophisticated in-camera image stabilization technology, so I'll try it at 60/sec (the bottom range of hand-held with film) and see what I get. I'm excited.
Next question:
To operate in a digital world, I bought a good scanner to convert film, and that has worked quite well. I scan at 2,400 and then bring it down to JPEG 300 (for emailing) when I crop the image in PhotoShop.
Because quality is paramount, I plan to shoot in TIFF or RAW so that I don’t compress the original image. For future cover possibilities, I plan to save the best TIFF or Raw images to CD, but when I want to send a regular inside illustration with a story, I plan to import it to PhotoShop, crop it and convert it to 300 JPEG, just as I did with film. Does this sound like a good plan?
If so, here’s a couple of other questions:
Would it be better to shoot in TIFF or RAW?
I’m beginning with a 2 GB card. Does anyone know how many Tiff or RAW images I can place on this card?

[Ron Kruger]

Don't let them intimidate you, Toivo. I've known some of the top photographers in the country, including some guys who shoot a lot for National Geographic, and none of them act like that. Quite the opposite. They'll go out of their way to help a beginner and share what they know.
Anyone who acts the way you describe is not the "pro" they want you to think, and the reason they try to intimidate beginners is because of their own insecurities.
I've known wildlife photographers with long lenses that cost $12,000 to $18,000 each, and not one of them acted like that.
Don't skip classes--just skip these guys.

[Ron Kruger]

A K20D, by the way, is not a "professional" camera. It's considered the top end of the average sutterbug's equipment. Some may consider it the low end of professional equipment, but most true professional cameras cost three times what I paid, and the lenses they use cost more than my car.

[Ron Kruger]

Help! I filled my 2MG card up over the weekend, but I edited and saved the best exposures to CD and then deleted all shots from my camera.
This morning I shot a couple dozen shots of monster lilly pads, but when I tried to download them to my computer, it said there were no shots on my camera. They show up on the camera's LCD. What's going on here?
From reading my manual I think that I have to re-initalize the memory card before I can reuse it. Right?

[Life Love & Laughter]

Check to see if you shot in Raw. You'll need the corect software in your computer to open same; the jpgs will open just fine.

[Life Love & Laughter]

My 8mp / 2 GB card gets 207 RAW.
My 10mp / 8 GB card gets 570 RAW.

[Life Love & Laughter]

PhotoShop CS2 can not open RAW from my cameras, I use Digital Photo Professional 3.3 to convert RAW to jpgs to do PS things.

[Life Love & Laughter]

I shot a series at different ISO 100-1600 and you can tell the difference, but not nearly as bad as film. The high resolution targets at ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, & 1600 I say was about 1-2 jnd between 100 and 1600.

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks a bunch, LLL. Great information. I ended up reseting my camera to the highest quality JPGS for general shooting, and the RAW button to RAW. For most things I do, JPGS is fine, but when the situration arises, I want to be able to shoot some RAW for cover possibilities. Guess
I'm surprised PhotoShop wouldn't handle it, but all I have is PhotoShop Escentials. I also installed Pentax Photo Laboratory 3 that came with the camera, but I guess it can't handle RAW either.
It's always something.
I'll have to get Ditigal Photo Professional 3.3.

[Life Love & Laughter]

Your welcome Ron...

I'm surprised that the software that came with your camera won't open your RAW. The Ditigal Photo Professional 3.3 came with my new camera...

[Ron Kruger]

Maybe it's my fault?
While setting up my camera, I changed the RAW file format from PEF (Pentax file format) to DNG (general purpose format designed by Adobe Systems) because I planned to do everything in (Adobe) PhotoShop, mostly because I'm familiar with it.
I'll try switching it back and learn how to use Pentax Labratory 3.
You've been a big help, LLL, and I am grateful.

[Life Love & Laughter]

The DP Photo Pro does a nice quick job with bulk conversions from the canon RAW to tiff to any folder; see if yours will do that too & then were ready to PhotoShop reality lol...