Am I asking too much...doing something wrong...or is this normal operation on a DSLR?
I have been shooting Raccoons on my back deck for a couple of weeks, and have alternated between the K5 and my Fuji X10 in shooting them. I have a tungsten light on the rear deck that is motion activated, and it goes off after 5 minutes, often leaving me in total darkness within a few feet of the Raccoons. When this happens, I can't even make out their outline, and with the Fuji, if I half press the shutter the green assist lights up (every time) and I can see if the pose is worth a full press of the shutter. If not, I wait a few seconds and try again. When I do fire the shutter, the focus is almost always well within the decent to very good range, using the built in flash. .
The K5 is a hit and miss at activating the focus beam, sometimes yes, most of the time no....and the darkness is identical every time. When it does light up, an I fire the shutter almost 100% of the shots are very out of focus, even with a 1.4 lens at 1.4 or 2.8 or 4.0 using the built in flash. In fact, I haven't been able to get one decent shot under these conditions with the K5.
Now I''m not complaining, I did not buy the K5 to shoot black cats in a coal mine, and it is a fabulous camera in almost every regard. However, I would expect a flagship DSLR to perform as well as a small Toy Camera?
If there is some way to force the assist light to light up every time it is needed, I haven't found it? However, even when it does, the results seem to be unusable? Any comments on this or is it just par for the K5 in this situation?
Here is a X10 shot I shot tonight in Total Darkness...couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I shot several, and all were as good or better than this one for focus.
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Again...I'm not bitching, the K5 is superb.....if I am doing something wrong, or even if I'm not, the K5 is the best camera I have ever owned and a joy to use. Not a lot of people shoot Raccoons in total darkness, I realize this...I'm not out of touch with reality!
Regards!