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04-09-2009, 05:46 AM   #1
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K20D firmware 1.03 - faster AF?

Has anyone else noticed having faster AF on their K20 after the 1.03 firmware upgrade?

My FA77 seems faster, as does my F70-210. Less double checking before locking at times too.

I know the announced change is an SR improvement, but I'm sure the AF has sped up.

Ben


Last edited by Damn Brit; 04-09-2009 at 09:25 PM. Reason: Correct thread title
04-09-2009, 06:13 AM   #2
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Neat, that would be a nice added bonus; waiting a little longer to see other feedback before I upgrade.
04-09-2009, 08:12 AM   #3
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well the placebo effect cant hurt either :P

im going to try mine out...... hrmmmm maybe im not convinced that its not just because you said it was though :P

maybe someone needs to do a proper before after test, with a stop watch or something.
04-09-2009, 09:13 AM   #4
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I updated mine to 1.03, i tested it with Tamron 28-200mm and 70-300mm, both are slow and hunt for focus at low light. after the update, 28-200mm takes less than 1 second to focus, and didn't hunt for focus as much, also looks faster on the 70-300mm as well. Over all the AF is like 2x faster. so it's great update. They also mention the 1.03 will improve the SR, but not as viable as the AF update.

Firmware update link:
Latest K20D Firmware Update : Software Downloads : PENTAX

04-09-2009, 09:26 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by LuzArt Quote
Has anyone else noticed having faster AF on their K20 after the 1.03 firmware upgrade?
Yep... and AF accuracy seems better, too.

Cheers...
04-09-2009, 10:04 AM   #6
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Hmmm, seeing no difference with my A70-210/4.

Honestly don't know how to do any empirical testing now that I've upgraded and can't objectively compare to "before".
04-09-2009, 10:10 AM   #7
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No, DA* are as before. Noticable quicker SR Lock-In though.

04-09-2009, 11:11 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by sixstring Quote
Noticable quicker SR Lock-In though.
Sorry, but how does one notice that?

I have shot only about 1600 exposures with my K20D and I have to say that I notice no AF difference with the kit lens. Hunts in low light like before and doesn't feel faster.
04-09-2009, 11:24 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by emr Quote
Sorry, but how does one notice that?

I have shot only about 1600 exposures with my K20D and I have to say that I notice no AF difference with the kit lens. Hunts in low light like before and doesn't feel faster.
SR not AF

shake reduction is only on when the little hand symbol in the viewfinder pops out, and it does so after a noticeable time delay.

if they increased its speed, its good, means less blurry pictures from "snap shooting"
04-09-2009, 11:31 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gooshin Quote
SR not AF
Thanks. Yes, I noticed the comment was about the SR but thought that perhaps there's another way of noticing it in addition to the hand. And my further comment was about AF as in the thread subject.
04-09-2009, 05:23 PM   #11
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I don't think the AF is faster. I upgraded to v1.03. & went outside with my 3 AF lenses:

F 35-105/F4-5.6
DA 16-45/F4
DA 55-300/f4-5.8.

They all seemed pretty fast, so I thought it might be more niffy after the upgrade. So I decided to test further.

I put v1.01 on one SD card & 1.03 on another so I could upgrade or downgrade quickly. I went outside with a Zoom H4 audio recorder to record the sound of the AF mechanism to compare AF speed. The test subjects were:

Leaves in a bush - 2.5m away
Top of a palm tree - 30m away

I found that the lenses find't have much problem, at full-open apertures, as I switched back & forth between the two targets, but sometimes had more problems (as expected) with F8. Gernerally all three lenses seemed fairly direct & confident at getting AF.S.

The biggest difference, when using wide-open apertures, was the 55-300 at 300mm FL & F5.8. It would sometimes not get focus at the top of the palm tree at 30m. Perhaps the contrast between the leaves moving in the breeze & the clouds in the sky made it a more difficult. A 2nd half-press of the shutter release button usually got focus.

But I could not say that v1.03 was faster. There seemed variability that was probably due to a change of target as the top of the tree swayed in the breeze.

While I was in the mood I also tried the same lens on a K100D Super, both with RCR-V3 rechargable Li-ion batteries & Sanyo AA Eneloops. As expected the K20 was faster than the K100DS, with the RCR-V3's a bit faster than the Eneloops due to their higher voltage.

Dan.

Last edited by dosdan; 04-09-2009 at 06:57 PM.
04-09-2009, 05:47 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by dosdan Quote
I don't think the AF is faster. I upgraded to v1.03. & went outside with my 3 AF lenses:

F 35-105/F4-5.6
DA 16-45/F4
DA 55-300/f4.5.8.

They all seemed pretty fast, so I thought it might be more niffy after the upgrade. So I decided to test further.

I put v1.01 on one SD card & 1.03 on another so I could upgrade or downgrade quickly. I went outside with a Zoom H4 audio recorder to recordr the sound of the AF mechanism to compare AF speed. The test subjects were:

Leaves in a bush - 2.5m away
Top of a palm tree - 30m away

I found that the lenses find't have much problem, at full-open apertures, as I switched back & forth between the two targets, but sometimes had more problems (as expected) with F8.

Dan.
great idea to test like that, we also know now that it is possible to downgrade back at will. i was about to say "okay, that settles it", but... what do you mean with f8? none of the lenses you mention are f8 wide open i should think (except maybe with a tc), and the aperture you set for taking the shot is irrelevant for the AF. am i misunderstanding something?

anyway, the idea to use a sound recorder is very good and simple to replicate. the idea of using moving tree tops.. i'm not sure
04-09-2009, 06:49 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by nanok Quote
great idea to test like that, we also know now that it is possible to downgrade back at will. i was about to say "okay, that settles it", but... what do you mean with f8? none of the lenses you mention are f8 wide open i should think (except maybe with a tc), and the aperture you set for taking the shot is irrelevant for the AF. am i misunderstanding something?

anyway, the idea to use a sound recorder is very good and simple to replicate. the idea of using moving tree tops.. i'm not sure
I tried AF performance at wide-open apertures (F4 at wide angle - F5.6-F5.8 at max zoom) and also at F8. AF becomes more twitchy as you close down the aperture.

Dan.
04-09-2009, 07:33 PM   #14
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eek..there's a thread in the news forum about this too... anyways, to duplicate this:

I posted this on DPR, but I might as well post it here as well. A japanese review of the K-m did this technique for focus speed testing using a video camera:
- pick a bunch of points in your room at varying distances and number them
- go through the entire sequence of points and focus on each one (center focus point only), wait for the beep, then go to the next one
- at the end of the sequence, take a photo
- repeat for various levels of light
- repeat for SDM and screwdrive lenses
- obviously, video yourself doing the above
In that K-m review, it was *very* obvious the K-m didn't do the double focus check as much as the K20D w/ the same kit lens.
So if someone has two K20D (one w/ the latest firmware) and a video camera, we can get this answered once and for all. Post the video on youtube so we can view it side by side. Put time markers on the video.
04-09-2009, 07:52 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by kenyee Quote
So if someone has two K20D (one w/ the latest firmware) and a video camera, we can get this answered once and for all. Post the video on youtube so we can view it side by side. Put time markers on the video.
You don't need two K20Ds. Just load either v1.03 or v1.01 (you can load an older version again if you wish).

Listening to both versions performing, I didn't notice a change in the AF steps.

Dan.

Last edited by dosdan; 04-09-2009 at 08:36 PM.
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