[Digitalis]

i found that if i used live view to focus on a the eye, by the time i'm ready to hit the shutter, either the subject moved, or i moved, or a combination, and no longer is the pic in focus. really frustrating.

You really should have tried using PDAF with the catch in focus technique. Live view is only really suited to scenarios where the camera is tripod mounted. Only yesterday I saw a portrait photographer using some lovely Elinchrom flash equipment, a classic Zeiss portrait lens on his Sony camera....and when he was working, he only used the rear screen on his camera to compose. ugh.

[Leumas]

Hi Leumas

Why do you wish for more choice as you cannot pick one of whats available now..?

77...85....77...85...7777777777777

Dave

HAHA Good point. Though sometimes more choice can make the choosing easier.

[dbs]

HAHA Good point. Though sometimes more choice can make the choosing easier.

Hi Leumas

In a ideal world you would just buy all of them and move on what doesn't float your boat.


Dave

[Leumas]

I'd strongly advice against this. I had the lens, and it was decently sharp, however, with manual focus at 1.4, it was almost next to impossible to get a sharp enough shot. Increase the shutter to 1/8000th to reduce shutter shake. Stop it down to maybe F4 and you can start getting decent shots in focus.

However, you have a 1.4 for a reason. Its dreamy and beautiful. Yet manual focus on K1 at that aperture is almost next to impossible.

on portraits, i found that if i used live view to focus on a the eye, by the time i'm ready to hit the shutter, either the subject moved, or i moved, or a combination, and no longer is the pic in focus. really frustrating.

you could use that lens for still life on a tripod, and you'll be doing great. But if there is ANY potential of movement of more than 1 millimeter, i'd steer clear.

Hmmm Yeah, that is always a concern. I have plenty of manual glass as it is, and I know how it can be a pain sometimes compared to autofocus.

---------- Post added 10-21-19 at 02:15 PM ----------

You really should have tried using PDAF with the catch in focus technique. Live view is only really suited to scenarios where the camera is tripod mounted. Only yesterday I saw a portrait photographer using some lovely Elinchrom flash equipment, a classic Zeiss portrait lens on his Sony camera....and when he was working, he only used the rear screen on his camera to compose. ugh.

I never had a lot of luck with the catch in focus actually nailing it very well. Perhaps I should revisit that

[bdery]

So unfortunately we're lacking a lot of choice when it comes to options for auto-focus portrait lenses.

Wait, what???

How many choices do you need?

There's the FA77 of course, and some would look no further. The Sigma 85 is also fine. The 70-200 is the go-to portrait lens for many, independent of the system they use. The 24-70 is also useful, as is the DFA 50, the FA43 if you're willing to get closer to your subject, any of the 50s, the DA*55, the DA*70, the 60-250 which can be very good studio lens (and can be modified for full frame), the older FA*85 if you can find it, the DFA100 macro, and I'm probably forgetting quite a few.

I need to add a FF one to my kit at some point and it looks like the older Sigma, and the legendary 77 are pretty much my only choice.

With the 77 you don't really need other choices, honestly.

[UncleVanya]

I'd strongly advice against this. I had the lens, and it was decently sharp, however, with manual focus at 1.4, it was almost next to impossible to get a sharp enough shot. Increase the shutter to 1/8000th to reduce shutter shake. Stop it down to maybe F4 and you can start getting decent shots in focus.

However, you have a 1.4 for a reason. Its dreamy and beautiful. Yet manual focus on K1 at that aperture is almost next to impossible.

on portraits, i found that if i used live view to focus on a the eye, by the time i'm ready to hit the shutter, either the subject moved, or i moved, or a combination, and no longer is the pic in focus. really frustrating.

you could use that lens for still life on a tripod, and you'll be doing great. But if there is ANY potential of movement of more than 1 millimeter, i'd steer clear.

I tend to agree - my old eyes couldn't make the A* 85 f1.4 make as many keepers as I wanted. That's why I sold it on and got the FA 77 and FA 31 and some change with the money from it. (I got the FA 31 on a steal and the FA 77 was a very very good buy). With patience and practice and a tripod and live view you can make it work but it is slow going at first.

[UncleVanya]

You really should have tried using PDAF with the catch in focus technique. Live view is only really suited to scenarios where the camera is tripod mounted. Only yesterday I saw a portrait photographer using some lovely Elinchrom flash equipment, a classic Zeiss portrait lens on his Sony camera....and when he was working, he only used the rear screen on his camera to compose. ugh.

With my A* 85 at f1.4 catch in focus was not the best but it certainly worked better than just eyeballing it.

As for rear screen composing - I'm with you. The viewfinder is so much more natural unless I'm on a tripod. On the pod I'm not moving around and seeing the scene as I compose in the same way. I do this before putting the pod up or at least before mounting the camera to the pod. The rear screen works but it feels more constrained. When not on a pod the only time I have done this much is with a camera without a viewfinder.

I suspect one can become proficient at using the rear screen - ask our K01 users...

[Batman_]

At least with the KP it has face-detect AF in Liveview. Doesn't work so well that well in AF-C but in AF-S it is actually very good and worth a try with fast lenses.

I was pleasantly surprised with how effective it is to use.

[Leumas]

At least with the KP it has face-detect AF in Liveview. Doesn't work so well that well in AF-C but in AF-S it is actually very good and worth a try with fast lenses.

I was pleasantly surprised with how effective it is to use.

This is actually the specific reason I want auto-focus. The Face-Detect is great

[clackers]

At least with the KP it has face-detect AF in Liveview. Doesn't work so well that well in AF-C but in AF-S it is actually very good and worth a try with fast lenses.

I was pleasantly surprised with how effective it is to use.

There is no AF-C mode for Live View, Batman.

[clackers]

This is actually the specific reason I want auto-focus. The Face-Detect is great

Yeah, as Biz-Engineer has pointed out, it's a defacto Eye Detect AF. It puts a box around the face it identifies then focuses on the highest contrast area, which is almost always going to be an eye.

Here's one I took like that with the K-1 and Sigma 85mm. I just compose using the back of the screen (I wanted in three layers the edge of the window frame, Claire in the middle and the illuminated wall at the back) but I do have a Hoodman style loupe I could attach if I got serious and wanted to turn it into an EVF.

[Leumas]

Yeah, as Biz-Engineer has pointed out, it's a defacto Eye Detect AF. It puts a box around the face it identifies then focuses on the highest contrast area, which is almost always going to be an eye.

Here's one I took like that with the K-1 and Sigma 85mm. I just compose using the back of the screen (I wanted in three layers the edge of the window frame, Claire in the middle and the illuminated wall at the back) but I do have a Hoodman style loupe I could attach if I got serious and wanted to turn it into an EVF.

Awesome, perfect focus, capture.


You're right about it being defacto eye focus, and sadly I've never seen any video reviews of Pentax cameras ever mention it. In fact, they often say things like "lacks eye focus of mirrorless" etc.
But that is the same with a lot of Pentax features that go unmentioned, honestly.

[clackers]

Awesome, perfect focus, capture.


You're right about it being defacto eye focus, and sadly I've never seen any video reviews of Pentax cameras ever mention it. In fact, they often say things like "lacks eye focus of mirrorless" etc.
But that is the same with a lot of Pentax features that go unmentioned, honestly.

We're used to it right?

We let the Canikony people think what they think, that doesn't affect the next picture we take.

[gatorguy]

You really should have tried using PDAF with the catch in focus technique. Live view is only really suited to scenarios where the camera is tripod mounted. Only yesterday I saw a portrait photographer using some lovely Elinchrom flash equipment, a classic Zeiss portrait lens on his Sony camera....and when he was working, he only used the rear screen on his camera to compose. ugh.

I've watched several Sony guys do the same thing. They've spent $thousands on their camera's and gear but don't understand how to use it effectively. Eye focus doesn't fix everything. :/

[Batman_]

There is no AF-C mode for Live View, Batman.

Thanks. I actually meant high frames per second mode. Lots of misses doing this but I believe it's also because the Sigma 85mm is a big lens and difficult to hold steady with live view mode on for lots of continuous frames.

I no longer do high frames per second mode now for these types of liveview shots.