Pentax KM - Prolem with Red Hues

I got a Pentax K-m for christmas but all of the photos I take have strong red hues to them, but no blue or green so the photo looks like its black and white with strong red highlights. I'm really very new to all of this and have no idea where to start with trying to rectify this problem.

Many thanks in advance!

Andrea

Are you taking photos indoors under artificial light? This would result in very red images. There is a "tungsten" setting in the White Balance menu that will correct this, but don't forget to switch it back to AWB for outdoor shots.

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Best regards,

John Riley

Hi Andrea!

If this camera is brand new, straight out of the box, then unfortunately it might have a fault and will have to be returned.

But, establish first whether whoever gave it to you (a) had it demonstrated to them in the shop, and/or (b) 'tested' it for themselves. If either of these are true then the possibility is that one of the cameras settings has been altered.

Given you're a newbie I'd suggest the easiest solution would be to reset the camera to default - you'll find how in the manual.

Press the "MENU" button, go to the second item down ("Digital Filter") and make sure it's turned Off.

Sounds to me like one of the arty filters has been left on. If none of these suggestions work or you don't understand then ask again.

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...or, do these pictures look the same on your PC or just on the camera screen? The camera has the option to highlight over/under exposed areas of a photo and it does this by colouring them red on the screen.

To switch that feature on and off press "MENU" and navigate to the second tab (blue / playback) second page where you'll find "Playback Display" > "Bright/Dark Area" - set that to Off.

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Joining the Q

That's FLASHING red, though. Or is it steady on the K-m?

Regarding the white balance: that could well be relevant, but still I would expect SOME hint of blue or green in the pictures as well as red.

In case nothing else works and it seems like a bug in the camera, I would try my favourite trick of leaving the battery out for a few hours.

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~Pete

Wow! What a wonderful response!! Thank so much - I've been made to feel incredibly welcome.

I'm in a hurry now but will methodically go through the replies tomorrow and will report back. I'll also post an example for you. My poor chestnut horse looks like my daughter has dappled him in red with a felt tip

Hefty! - You are a star! The digital filter was set to some weird and wonderful setting. I've just turned it off and it working beautifully!

Thanks again to you all for taking the time to post and try to help me

You're welcome - and welcome to the forum too.


I know, it was a long shot, but it wouldn't be the first time someone's been caught out by that being left on.

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