K20D - still no release priority setting?

sklathill · 05-21-2008, 10:12 AM

I used to have a K10D and one of the really bothersome things about it was AFS was always focus priority. Which was rather annoying for low-light shooting. Yeah, I know AFC has release priority, but I want the focus to just lock in and stay. And I want it to take a picture when I tell it. I know about using the AF button on the back to cancel the AF so that I can actually fire the shutter, but really, losing about half a second for that is somewhat frustrating.

So yeah... still can't configure release priority in AFS mode?

ivanp · 05-21-2008, 10:53 AM

You can do it the other way - do focus using AF button, and disengage focusing from shutter button (custom setting 14 to Off).

sklathill · 05-21-2008, 11:07 AM

I guess that's something... though I've personally gotten in the habit of moving the active AF point around as I'm engaging AF. Here's hoping I can break some of my Minolta habits.

Since it's got quick shift focus anyways, it would be nice if the AF button on the back wasn't a manual focus button but instead something that toggled release priority. That'd be brilliant. If I'm shooting something I need to take quickly, where I just need the image to capture, period, I could grab the camera and use my thumb on the AF button and be certain the camera will take a shot. Man, if I could hack the firmware... oh man...

*Wheatfield* · 05-21-2008, 05:34 PM

The definition of AF-S is focus priority. If you want follow focus, use AF-C, that's what it's for. If you want auto focus that actually works, buy a Canon.

joefru · 05-21-2008, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

The definition of AF-S is focus priority. If you want follow focus, use AF-C, that's what it's for. If you want auto focus that actually works, buy a Canon.

*Groan* Is RiceHigh posting under a new name?

*Canada_Rockies* · 05-21-2008, 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by joefru

*Groan* Is RiceHigh posting under a new name?

Nasty, Nasty.

OPTMEKX& · 05-21-2008, 08:00 PM

All this so called low light AF capability of the C* & N* isjust getting out of proportion, I have yet to see a post of a running dog in dim light, not in the C* nor N* forum. There are tons that shows them running in ideal light condition but then there are in the Pentax forums as well.

Cheers,

Rene

*Wheatfield* · 05-21-2008, 08:02 PM

Sorry to come off like a troll, but AF is a weakness with Pentax. The SAFOX VIII was introduced with the *ist body, and is still the AF system being used, while every other manufacturer has come out with at least one new generation of AF.

One of my hobbies is dog sports. I have a Belgian Terveren who runs like the wind. The Pentax AF cannot keep up with her if she is running towards the camera. I have a friend (believe it or not) in Ontario who also keeps Belgians. She is a Canon user, and has a much better success rate with her camera.
She tells me that her canon can track anything as long as she can keep a focus point on it.
To be sure, she is using whatever the top end camera was from a year or so back, which is quite a bit out of Pentax's price league, but the fact is, the best Pentax has to offer is only on par with the mid range stuff from everone else.
It would really be nice if they would release a camera to compete with the pro boy's cameras rather than over specc'ed toys that are nowhere near as good as the current lens line-up, which is very good, and getting better.
If you think Pentax AF is world class, I suggest you try a top end Canon or Nikon and see what real high end performance is.

OPTMEKX& · 05-21-2008, 08:25 PM

A test of continuous autofocus on k10d: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

PLS. check the above link.

Cheers,

Rene

sklathill · 05-21-2008, 08:43 PM

Sorry to have set this off.

Having already used the *ist D and the K10D, I kind of knew what I was getting into... but there are a few little things (some might call them quirks, some might call them bugs) that I just needed to relearn and rethink about. Heh, relearning how to do wireless flash on Pentax after doing it on Sonolta has been fun, and little things like the focus rings are in the opposite direction now...

Ah well, no better way to relearn all this then by doing a fun Memorial Day weekend full of shooting...

*Wheatfield* · 05-21-2008, 08:47 PM

Apparently a Belgian Shepherd can run faster than an English Setter. They can certainly outrun a K10 in continuous AF mode with a 77mm LTD lens attached.
I think the AF will keep up with my Rottie, but they aren't the fastest runners either.
Of course a Terveren has to be able to run circles around a herd of cattle, a Setter only has to outrun a dying partridge.
Seriously Rene, go to whatever passes for a real camera store in your neck of the woods and take a top level camera out for a spin. It will open your eyes regarding the AF performance of what we are using.
Or, be a happy fanboy.

jeffkrol · 05-21-2008, 09:30 PM

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

Apparently a Belgian Shepherd can run faster than an English Setter. They can certainly outrun a K10 in continuous AF mode with a 77mm LTD lens attached.
I think the AF will keep up with my Rottie, but they aren't the fastest runners either.
Of course a Terveren has to be able to run circles around a herd of cattle, a Setter only has to outrun a dying partridge.
Seriously Rene, go to whatever passes for a real camera store in your neck of the woods and take a top level camera out for a spin. It will open your eyes regarding the AF performance of what we are using.
Or, be a happy fanboy.

To put it politely, I have a corvette that can't keep up w/ my lambroghini.
Actually I have neither but the point holds.

Honestly you just bought the wrong camera, or right brand, wrong time.
And you have to entertain the notion that your friend may (please take this as constructive criticism) just be better at tracking then you are.
I like to shoot pictures of mushrooms so what do I know...
If a $1000 camera was equal to a 2000-5000 one the high priced ones couldn't survive for any length of time.
The fact that Pentax themselves announced that they would concentrate on the sensor at the expense of AF may have tipped you off... can't remember where I heard this and my sentence is only a paraphrase of the actual statement...
AND some lenses are faster than others. Just based on the inherent contrast characteristics of the lens.

**Ole** · 05-21-2008, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by sklathill

I used to have a K10D and one of the really bothersome things about it was AFS was always focus priority. Which was rather annoying for low-light shooting. Yeah, I know AFC has release priority, but I want the focus to just lock in and stay. And I want it to take a picture when I tell it. I know about using the AF button on the back to cancel the AF so that I can actually fire the shutter, but really, losing about half a second for that is somewhat frustrating.

So yeah... still can't configure release priority in AFS mode?

On the K10D (I assume on the K20D as well) you can through a custom function set the AF button on the back to CANCEL autofocus. So when you press that button you can fire in AF-S even when not in focus. Wouldn't that be a solution for you?

*morfic* · 05-21-2008, 10:39 PM

The contrast in attitudes in this forum is mind boggling, did someone really just compare a $1100 camera's performance with a $4000 camera?
The guy with the $4k camera would also likely shoot with a USM lens.
So, don't expect wonders from a 40D w/o USM lens either. (although i can only for sure say that the 30D AF is nothing to knock your socks off, i am sure the 40D AF is not that much better) (Tip: Not every portrait lens Canon made is meant to be suitable for sports either (Re: 77 Limited))

....Maybe i shouldn't even reply to any such comments, i just couldn't help it.

*Wheatfield* · 05-21-2008, 10:52 PM

No, I bought the right camera, and the right brand, at the right time. Don't let your hubris presume otherwise.
You can rest assured that I am capable of keeping an AF spot on something coming directly at me, and that I can see the camera failing to lock focus.
No, somewhere between Rottweiler running at full sprint towards the camera and a Belgian Shepherd doing the same thing, the AF falls off in it's ability to keep up.

I haven't been on this forum for long. Is there an unwritten rule about being critical of shortcomings of the equipment here?
Face it, if the Pentax users base has perpetually low expectations regarding camera body performance, there is very little incentive for the company to build cameras that meet or exceed what they are presently building.