Originally posted by faworange the AF to AF.C, 5 point. Focusing Area is set to Auto and centered
AF.C and 5 point I understand, but 'focusing area set to Auto and centered' has me puzzled.
It's either 5 (or 11) point, or centre point, or a manually selected individual AF point, if you use the AF switch at the back. You can't have them all working at the same time (ie Auto and centre-point), at least on the K-5 Classic.
If you swing the AF switch at the back of the camera to centre-point, 5 (or 11) point AF won't work, just the centre point. If you manually select an individual focus point, it alone stays active, not any of the other 5/11 points, so your AF.C will be working from just one focus point.
Better to just select 5 points Auto AF via the Info button, then flick the switch at the back to select Auto to confirm that you want to use Auto AF. That way all 5 points will be used under AF.C and maybe your subject tracking will be improved. Using 1 point AF to track a subject (either via the centre-point or an individually selected AF point) is not ideal.
I'd also suggest using centre-weighted exposure metering too for telephoto under poor light. You don't need the whole frame to be exposed correctly (including all the dark areas). You want the camera to mainly meter the area where the action is, which is usually close to the centre of the frame.