[DeadJohn]

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I remember seeing a programme on TV where they were having various things cut in half using some kind of high-speed saw, including quite delicate things. They showed a workshop where you could bring anything in to be cut in half for 5,000 yen.

I'll break your stuff for half that price

[rawr]

Love the K3 and K5 for that matter

One of the reasons the D610 would struggle was low-light and poor contrast. The K-3 AF isn't as troubled by that as much as the D610 is.

[JibbaJab]

I like it, but why aren't they showing where they're going to place the big fat Ricoh logo?

[goodnight]

I like it, but why aren't they showing where they're going to place the big fat Ricoh logo?

That's cause this time they're gonna condition us subliminally by etching it onto the mirror. Ricoh learns.

[ofer4]

I hope that the mock-up of the flippy screen isn't set in stone yet. One of the K-S2's selling points is that the screen is embedded in the shell, rather than protruding from the body and affecting "nose space". The mock-up shows a viewfinder port which is, instead, flush with the screen.

[repaap]

IMO saying that K-3 AF system is not good enough is not correct. It is light years ahead of K-7. I can nail shots in dim room even with my DA*55. No problem. And if you think that they are not going to fine tune it for new model, that is silly too. It is going to be really well polished. As anyone can see they are taking their time. It does not have to be the best. But just as good as rest of them. And it will be. As K-3 is, if you can use it properly. And let's see these tests with that new 70-200...I'm sure that it will be fast.

[philbaum]

IMO saying that K-3 AF system is not good enough is not correct. It is light years ahead of K-7. I can nail shots in dim room even with my DA*55. No problem. And if you think that they are not going to fine tune it for new model, that is silly too. It is going to be really well polished. As anyone can see they are taking their time. It does not have to be the best. But just as good as rest of them. And it will be. As K-3 is, if you can use it properly. And let's see these tests with that new 70-200...I'm sure that it will be fast.

In static low light focusing, i believe the K3 is better than most cameras out there. When i've tried AF tracking, it works fine when tracking flying birds at a distance, but up close, the K3 fails and other cameras would fail at some point as well. I don't believe there's been any hard repeatable testing of the K3 or any camera's tracking ability - its mostly annecdotal or limited comparisons for a certain situation.

If a lens is going to quickly follow the focusing commands from the camera body, the internal lens adjusting mechanism has to be lightweight and the lens motor must be very strong. With the new FF lenses and the new FF body, Pentax has a chance to improve the AF tracking of its flagshift camera.

For static low light focusing, the K3 will beat its Nikon and Canon APS counterparts hands down. I can't believe the K3 is as cheap as it is today - between $600 to 700 i believe. What a bargain.

[repaap]

Exactly!

[jatrax]

In static low light focusing, i believe the K3 is better than most cameras out there. When i've tried AF tracking, it works fine when tracking flying birds at a distance, but up close, the K3 fails and other cameras would fail at some point as well.

+1 on this. I used to take 3 or even 4 shots with the k-5 to make sure I got a good solid keeper. I continued to do so with the k-3 until I realized I had NO badly focused shots. I was still taking three, but could not tell the difference. For static shots I honestly do not know how it could get any better. Tracking is another issue, though. I don't do much of it and I'm sure my inexperience there is part of the problem but I could not get good results with birds in flight. But there are lots of options there that I have not looked at. And since 98% of my shooting is static objects or fixed landscape on tripods, the k-3 is just fine.

One thing that I would like to see improved is the spread of the points. On the tripod it would be very nice to have some AF points closer to the edge of the image. Might help with tracking too I suppose.

[Erictator]

In static low light focusing, i believe the K3 is better than most cameras out there. When i've tried AF tracking, it works fine when tracking flying birds at a distance, but up close, the K3 fails and other cameras would fail at some point as well. I don't believe there's been any hard repeatable testing of the K3 or any camera's tracking ability - its mostly annecdotal or limited comparisons for a certain situation.

If a lens is going to quickly follow the focusing commands from the camera body, the internal lens adjusting mechanism has to be lightweight and the lens motor must be very strong. With the new FF lenses and the new FF body, Pentax has a chance to improve the AF tracking of its flagshift camera.

For static low light focusing, the K3 will beat its Nikon and Canon APS counterparts hands down. I can't believe the K3 is as cheap as it is today - between $600 to 700 i believe. What a bargain.

You touched on, but didn't really hit on a point I also wanted to try and make...


And that is...I think the speed of the lens effects the camera's ability to do continuous AF tracking well, because even though it is the camera CPU & software doing the tracking by reading off the sensor or Fresnel, it only has what it gets through
the lens glass as "data" to work with.


So for example, if the little crumb cruncher is running at you fast, and you have perfect focus on the first step, but the lens motor doesn't re-focus fast enough on the second step towards you, then the computer now has a less sharp, lower contrast image in its field of view and if it doesn't reacquire a high contrast sharp image in the next focus step, then by the third step towards you it will be so soft that the acquisition will be lost and it will be too late and have no chance of catching up then it starts hunting. At least this is what I see in practice.


To drive my point home, what I guess I'm trying to say is that perhaps newer faster lenses will make the existing CAF work better, and the problem might not be with the CAF software or hardware in the camera. The speed of the screw drive in the camera of course could effect CAF as well, but I've always thought screw drive had already pretty much reached it's limit of performance and there is nothing more to be really gained there and that any real improvement in AF speed will have to come from in-lens motor electrickery.


Eric

[jatrax]

Will be very interesting to see AF speed with new 70-200 on the k-3.

I also suspect the lenses are holding back the camera.

[Dieseler]

Here you go:

Water jet cutter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you!

[noser]

When the K3 Safox XI was tested in the forum it had a keeper rate of 67% coupled with the Da* 60-250 as compared to the 96% on the Nikon D610 which used the 70-200mm f2.8. The D610 AF is said to be comparable to the D710 (not the best in the Nikon lineup) Adam should reexamine the AF performance of the K3 once he gets his hands on the new D-Fa* 70-200mm f2.8. I expect the Safox XI + 70-200mm f2.8 keeper rate to plateau at 80-85%. If this was the case, this still puts Pentax behind the competition by a considerable margin. Upgrading the image sensor over the K3 (and puting NFC, Wifi) should be reason enough for the upgrade. I hope that Ricoh/Pentax start investing more in R&D and shorten the cycles of their AF module updates in the future.

In the video interview didn't the Pentax rep mention that AF was improved in the K-S1, and then again in the K-S2, over the K-3? Or was that in the comments below the video post... hmm...

Anyway... I get an ok keeper rate from my K-5 and Sigma 70-200, so any improvement I get on that lens is just a bonus.

[banep]

Sorry, used too much 70-200mm lenses and forgot FA*'s somewhat unusual focal range .
Not a big deal, there is only one Pentax AF model (until now) in that class and everybody knows it's focal range despite my little mistake.

---------- Post added 02-03-15 at 02:13 PM ----------



I already explained that theory in one of the previous posts, but this is just fine example (if the figures are correct):
I expect new DFA* 70-200mm to cost around 2000$.
FA*80-200mm is already around 1400$ for a lens in a mint condition.
With 50% up FA* will costs equal or even higher than a new DFA*.
And who will buy that good old FA* ?
Nobody, even for 1400$.
So price will go down, after DFA* starts shiping.
Most owners and active users will sell FA* because they will be tempted with a new lens.
Buyers just have to be patient long enough for the price to drop below 1000$ which is a reasonable price for this out-of-guarantee non-stabilized screwdrive autofocus lens with very good optics and weather resistance.

p.s. Maybe it sounds bizzare in context of Pentax FF camera, but patience is sometimes a virtue

It is almost there, currently at 1007$ mark:
Mint Pentax FA Zoom 80 200mm F2 8 Star Refno 97279 | eBay

[jatrax]

It is almost there, currently at 1007$ mark:

Actually saw a number of buy it now's over the weekend in the <$900 range. Not sure of condition though.