Pentax K100D SLR Review
By: Steve's Digicams
Bundled Software
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PENTAX PHOTO Browser is software for viewing and managing images taken on your digital
camera and saved on your computer. When you select a folder containing saved images, PENTAX
PHOTO Browser compatible images in the folder automatically appear as thumbnails.You can
select a thumbnail image to view an image. (Files with extensions [.PEF (RAW)], [.TIF
(TIFF)], and [.JPG (JPEG)] are supported)
PENTAX PHOTO Browser also does the following tasks:
- Save image files under a new name, change file names, copy, cut,
delete and paste.
- Create new folder, change folder name, copy, cut, delete and paste.
- Save Image Data List
- Check Image Data
- View RAW image data easily.
You can also start RAW image data editing software PENTAX PHOTO
Laboratory and camera control software PENTAX REMOTE Assistant
from within PENTAX PHOTO Browser.
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The PENTAX PHOTO Browser window layout:
- Tree view:
Internal data on your computer appears here as a folder tree.
Select the folder containing saved image files here.
Also, the tree view handles operations such as creating new folders,
erasing folders or moving/copying folders. (Applies only to Windows)
- Thumbnail pane:
Images in the folder selected in the tree view appear here as thumbnails.
The size of thumbnails can be selected from four sizes. When a thumbnail
image is selected in the thumbnail pane, the image appears in the preview
pane and the image data appears in the image data pane.
- Preview pane:
An image selected in the thumbnail pane appears in this view.
- Image data pane:
The image information for the image selected in the thumbnail pane
appears here.
Double-clicking on a thumbnail image opens the edit window, where tools are provided to crop, fix and rotate
the image, or invoke PENTAX PHOTO Laboratory.
PENTAX Photo Laboratory 3 processes undeveloped RAW image data produced by the K100D,
enabling them to appear on commercially available image viewing and
editing software. Enhancements over version 2 include print bracketing, noise reduction,
lens aberration correction, crop/resize, rotate/shift, a more advanced tone panel and
enlarged preview panel for selecting a grey point for white balance correction.
When you click the [View] button, a dropdown menu allows you to select the
RAW processing tools to use. When you select each item (White Balance,
Tone, Noise Reduction, Lens aberration correction,
Other settings [Sensitivity, Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness], each setting panel is
displayed.
Setting the Sensitivity / Contrast / Saturation / Sharpness
Adjusts the sensitivity of development processing.
+ : The image becomes brighter.
- : The image becomes darker.
Adjusts the contrast between light and shadow.
+ : Increases contrast between light and shadow.
+ : Decreases contrast between light and shadow.
Adjusts the strength of the colors after RAW data development.
+ : The colors become stronger.
- : The colors become weaker.
Adjusts the sharpness of the edges.
+ : Image contour is enhanced.
- : Image contour is softened.
White Balance settings panel with the preset selections shown. You can select the
Camera Setting, use a preset, select a gray point from the image or manually set the
color temperature. The
changes made will be shown realtime in the preview window.
Tone curve:
The relationship between the input level and output level is set
using a graph (Up to 16 points.).
If the graph is left clicked, the line on the graph moves to that
spot and the point can be set.
The point can be released by right clicking (Windows only).
Histogram (Brightness) displays the light distribution when combining RGB.
Histogram (R) Displays the light distribution for R (Red).
Histogram (G) Displays the light distribution for G (Green).
Histogram (B) Displays the light distribution for B (Blue).
Reset Deletes the tone curve settings, and returns to a straight line.
The Lens aberration panel provides three tools: Marginal lumination compensation, Distortion Correction and
Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction.
The Marginal lumination correction reduces light falloff at the corners. Sliders are provided for lens angle of view
and brightness correction.
Distortion Correction resolves lens aberration that photographs straight lines as curved lines.
The Correction balance slider adjusts the distortion correction level between the center and margins of the image. (Slide to the right to widen the range.)
The Compensation slider sets the compensation level.
Lateral Chromatic Aberration corrects differences in the image magnification and image size due to different color wavelengths at the image margins.
The Red compensation slider adjusts the magnification of red light and the Blue compensation slider adjusts the magnification of blue light.
The Noise Reduction panel offers tools for reducing image noise.
Random noise reduction reduces random noise (especially electrical noise visible in dark areas).
Spurious color signal reduction settings are provided to reduce moire.
The Tool dropdown menu lets you change Image Tone, Rotate and Crop/Resize the image.
The available
save formats are JPEG (5 levels), TIFF 8-bit, and TIFF 16-bit.
PENTAX REMOTE Assistant
This software has an additional function that controls the camera from a
computer. To use PENTAX REMOTE Assistant, you will need to purchase
and install PENTAX REMOTE Assistant separately.
PENTAX PHOTO Laboratory and PENTAX REMOTE Assistant can also
be run as standalone applications.
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