K20D + grip AE-L as AF button?

[morfic]

Is there a way to abuse AE-L as AF button when using the grip on a K20D?
My thumb just is not long enough to reach the AF Button, after checking the manual I'm afraid I am SOL, just hoping i missed something here.

Thanks,

Daniel

[Venturi]

You just identified the #1 most frequent complaint of the D-BG2. I'm pretty sure just about anyone that owns/uses one feels the same.

[morfic]

Originally Posted by Venturi

You just identified the #1 most frequent complaint of the D-BG2. I'm pretty sure just about anyone that owns/uses one feels the same.

I must have searched too specific, since i came up without any result

I can't fault Pentax for much, mostly it's me being too picky, but the lack of an AF button on the grip breaks their otherwise superior ergonomics, the second i fault them for is having a half baked LV.

I actually enjoy holding the cam on the vertical grip, so i'll just have to stick to focus with the shutter half-press.

Thanks,

Daniel

[Miserere]

Originally Posted by Venturi

I'm pretty sure just about anyone that owns/uses one feels the same.

You are correct, we do. Why bother including an AE-L and EV comp button but no AF? I don't get it

[morfic]

Originally Posted by Miserere

You are correct, we do. Why bother including an AE-L and EV comp button but no AF? I don't get it

I am sure the grip designer was someone who had just recently defected from Canon and when they asked him if it had everything it needed he said yes.
Poor guy didn't know any better, at least Pentax should give us a firmware in which we can choose other buttons for AF.

I guess unlike others i am lucky here, i am not that used to the AF button yet and will just keep on using shutter half press, but i'd hate to be a die hard AF Button user who was in love with that until that grip was purchased :/

On a positive note, it really feels good to hold the K20D with that grip.

[Venturi]

Unfortunately I don't think a firmware update can do anything. I'm pretty certain that the grip buttons are tied directly (hardwired) to their body counterparts so if you made a button on the grip "programmable" it would affect the correlating button on the body too. Don't even know if there's an available pin on the connector should Pentax decide to offer a "D-BG2AF" version. hehe

I never owned a camera with an AF anything before I got the K10D but fell in love with it pretty quickly. And yeah, it's rather frustrating to not have it on the grip.

[morfic]

No, i do mean make the AE-L buttons body+grip take over AF if i so wish, this would work for *me* since i don't use the AE-L for anything. Exposure if locked on half press would allow the use of AE-L for AF, of course it should remain an option to not lock exposure on shutter half press if you do want to use AE-L For AF w/o shutter half press locking exposure.

That i think CAN be done in firmware.
And a AF button on grip if no unused pins are available could trigger a green+evcomp+ae-l combo that the long (and unbeknownst to us) updated firmware understands as "AF button pressed"

Don't limit your imagination, cameras are pretty much programmable computers specialized at taking pictures, and that's how i see them , and to me firmware additions are merely a matter of "Do we want to add this? We already sold the cam......is it going to cost us not adding it?" (Like customers leaving the system and future customers not coming)

[Zebooka]

Yepp. That's a serious disadvantage. I don't buy BG only because there is no AF button.