[deadwolfbones]

Would love to see a review of the cats. They are generally quick to focus and track moving objects well. However, they can generate a lot of noise, and the output always stinks.

^_^

Well played.

[PaoloG]

They are usually very soft around the edges too but their low light performance with the aperture wide open is simply brilliant.

[creampuff]

Outsourcing a review... then a thread asking for ideas to do tests... how credible and comprehensive is all that going to be?

[deadwolfbones]

Outsourcing a review... then a thread asking for ideas to do tests... how credible and comprehensive is all that going to be?

Well, to be frank, we don't have a laboratory and we're not DxO. We're doing what we can with what we have, and our tests are probably as credible as any other user review on the internet or on these forums. Maybe we're a bit more rigorous/serious about it, but we're essentially writing a hands-on field test that also includes some staged testing.

As for asking for ideas: as I stated, this is a review for our community members, who might be considering buying this camera. I don't think it's silly or un-credible to ask them how they'd test the K-30 if they had it.

[luftfluss]

Outsourcing a review... then a thread asking for ideas to do tests... how credible and comprehensive is all that going to be?

I don't see what the problem is... if you've seen DWB's photos you know he is "the goods" regarding his photographing capability, and if you read the OP his request for "any fun, creative, interesting ideas for how to test AF accuracy" is in addition to standard tests. Seems like a good idea to me.

[crewl1]

Creampuff your handle is deceptive.
Rather than appreciating the op for taking the time and effort and asking for input to make it valuable for the comm. you choose to poo poo it?
Feel free not to read the resulting review.

[gtl]

Deadwolfbones like jay is one of the best photographers on this forum and his experience with the Nikon d700 will help in determining how Pentax has improved on their AF system. We should be grateful that he is willing to take his time to help review the k30 and not question his credibility.

[Fl_Gulfer]

I wish you lived a little closer I'd ship you my Metz 58 AF1 Flash.
Any dusk shots of the Cats or Dogs running around the back yard would be a great test.

[Pheo]

My suggestion - Just use the camera as you would an alternative brand and comment on how you feel.

I think there will be plenty of DxO type places with clinical reviews of the camera!

Maybe a few focus card test shots under the lighting conditions you have available to you.

PS Ignore the haters. Thanks for taking the time - I used to write Technology reviews - its a thankless task

[luftfluss]

PS Ignore the haters. Thanks for taking the time - I used to write Technology reviews - its a thankless task

Yup, years ago I wrote technical training documentation, you hear the complaints but never the praise.

[deadwolfbones]

My suggestion - Just use the camera as you would an alternative brand and comment on how you feel.

I think there will be plenty of DxO type places with clinical reviews of the camera!

Yeah, this was my thinking as well. Leave the lab tests to those who have labs and try to use the camera like an actual person.

PS Ignore the haters. Thanks for taking the time - I used to write Technology reviews - its a thankless task

Creampuff is usually a pretty reasonable, friendly guy, so I'm not taking it personally. Still, thanks for the votes of confidence, everyone.

[Docrwm]

Yeah, this was my thinking as well. Leave the lab tests to those who have labs and try to use the camera like an actual person.



Creampuff is usually a pretty reasonable, friendly guy, so I'm not taking it personally. Still, thanks for the votes of confidence, everyone.

Best of luck, looking forward to it.

[coreyhkh]

Some testing with wildlife like small birds.

[cfraz]

Outsourcing a review... then a thread asking for ideas to do tests... how credible and comprehensive is all that going to be?

I think the collaborative aspect in asking for test scenarios is a good thing. The review can be stronger if testing draws from PF community knowledge. No one person knows about all the "corner cases" where AF may stumble - or be particularly good.

The reason I'm responding is so that I can bootstrap the collaborative aspect idea to a pet peeve: Pentax could be a stronger company if it would engage its customers and draw on their experience and resourcefulness, rather than treating them, at least as it seems to me, as a necessary evil.

[Class A]

I see you have a K-5. It would be great if you could use the variety of light sources you have access to, in order to create a situation in which the K-5 displays its infamous front-focus issue.

It would then be most instructive to see what the K-30 does in the same scenario.

Note that for low-light Tungsten AF test, it could be useful to not only use the fastest lenses you have. One of the K-5's issues was that the AF compensation based on the colour temperature of the light source dropped out too soon. The slower the lens, wide open, the quicker the drop out occurred.

So if you have difficulty to provoke the K-5 low-light AF issue, try to use low-light Tungsten light and a slower lens. The DOF will be deeper than with a fast lens but one should still be able to observe a focus shift on an AF chart, in particular with some post-processing, e.g., over sharpening to provoke halos in the sharpest areas.