[Wingincamera]

I have a question about the shake reduction of the K-5 II. My only experience with SR is using a Canon with shake reduction built into the lens. With the Canon/lens SR when you half press the shutter button while looking through the view finder the image would noticeably become steady and then the picture was taken.
With my Pentax I don't see anything like that. Is the difference because the SR is in the body of the Pentax? How do you tell if the SR is actually working?
And yes, I have the SR turned on in the rear lcd menu.

[SpecialK]

Is the difference because the SR is in the body of the Pentax?

Yes.

How do you tell if the SR is actually working?

The hand symbol will come on.

[Wingincamera]

The "hand" symbol does come on. I guess I was thinking the image in the view finder should change slightly, kind of lock in place.
Thank you for the reply, I am still learning about the Pentax.

[Bestzoom]

For a while i have doubts if SR works.
Then i was shooting an event in dim light with K5 at close to FL 300 and Shutter speed 1/50. I could visibly see the shake.
The final image was sharp. The SR worked.

[elliott]

The "hand" symbol does come on. I guess I was thinking the image in the view finder should change slightly, kind of lock in place.

If you use live view you will notice this effect, but since the optical viewfinder is not dependent on the sensor and it is the sensor that does the shake reduction, you won't see it in the viewfinder.

Also, there are optically stabilized lenses available from Tamron and Sigma that work the same as they do on other brands that don't have in body stabilization. You turn off the in body stabilization when you are using these.

[hcc]

The pictures will be sharp only if the SR confirmation comes on. You must wait 1-2 s for SR confirmation (hand icon). If you don't the picture may be blurry.

[SenorBeef]

The "hand" symbol does come on. I guess I was thinking the image in the view finder should change slightly, kind of lock in place.
Thank you for the reply, I am still learning about the Pentax.

Think about how an SLR camera works. With in-lens stabilization, there's an actual moving piece of glass inside the lens that compensates for movement. Because the light path goes from the lens, to the mirror, up to the viewfinder, it affects what you see in the viewfinder.

However, in-body stabilization has the sensor move to counteract camera shake. While you're looking through the viewfinder, all the light is going there - none is hitting the sensor. You're not looking through the sensor. Therefore you don't see any change in the viewfinder.

If you were to use live view (in which the sensor is seeing the light and displaying it on the LCD), you'd see the effects of the stabilization.

Just wait for the little hand to appear, once that's lit then the sensor is stabilized.

[Wingincamera]

Thank you all for the information, and it makes sense the way you explained it. My K5 is working as designed.
Again, thank you.

[kh1234567890]

The pictures will be sharp only if the SR confirmation comes on. You must wait 1-2 s for SR confirmation (hand icon). If you don't the picture may be blurry.

0.58 sec on the K-7 to be precise Other bodies may be slower or faster. The SR half press time and result are stored in maker notes in the image file EXIF.

[SteveB]

The hand symbol stays on for several seconds after a shot on the K-30. It does seem to work OK on subsequent shots taken quickly.