Exploring the K-5's Features: Part III

A look at AF point count selection and RAW button customization

By PF Staff in Articles and Tips on Nov 4, 2010

In this third installment of our "Exploring the K-5" series, we'll be taking a look at two more new menu options.

5. AF Point Selection in Auto (Green) AF Mode

This new setting allows the photographer to control which focus points the AF system will attempt to focus at when in automatic point selection mode (to enter this mode, slide the ring by the AF button to the lower position, labeled with green "Auto" text). By default, the AF system uses all 11 points: a 3x3 grid in the center of the viewfinder, as well as two additional points to the left and right of this grid. If you instead select the 5-point option in the menu, the system will only use the center point, as well as the points above, below, to the left, and to the right of it. The remaining points will not be used.

This setting is useful when your subject is moving but stays relatively close to the center of the frame. In center AF, the AF system would likely hunt as soon as your subject leves the dead center of the frame, but with the 5-point setting enabled in green mode, this won't be the case. Furthermore, the AF system won't get distracted by anything that's going on outside of the center of the frame. Thus, in a nutshell, this setting expands the "center" AF point from being a single point to a being a + shape.

6. "RAW" Button Customization

On the K-5, the RAW button can now be used for more than just toggling RAW mode. Because of the addition of the on-the-fly RAW conversion menu option (see this article), some might find the RAW button redundant, and because of this, several new uses of this button have been added to the menu. One in particular struck our attention: exposure bracketing. If you decide to use your RAW button for this, pressing it will not only enable bracketing, but also bring up the bracketing options on the rear LCD, allowing you to choose how many photos to take, and how to adjust exposure. In a future article, we will discuss these bracketing options in more depth. As you can see in the screenshot below, the RAW button can now also be used to toggle digital preview (which will work even if you normally use optical preview), the electronic level on the rear LCD, and the composition adjustment feature.