[Dan Rentea]

I discovered the focus mode button on my KP only yesterday. That alone makes it faster to change from single point to others compared to my K70. Just 2 seconds to change from single point auto to single spot select to all in between.

I don't know that Af-S to Af-C is deserving of a dedicated button. I have to stop to think or look now for some of the less used ones I already have, but then again the KP controls are pretty closely packed. Heck I hadn't noticed elves had visited and added the focus mode button to my Pentax until yesterday morning.

A precise and fast Af will always help. But having a customizable body will also make a difference. On entry level cameras or even on middle level cameras (APS-C or full frame) you don't have certain options when comes to customize the buttons in order to change settings fast. You will see that even the joystick alone on the new Pentax camera will help getting shots faster.

Here is an image I took today. I was using single point af, but not the one from the center. This image wasn't cropped and it was taken with a prime lens. I could have used the center af point, but the composition would have been different and I wouldn't have had much room to crop it in Photoshop. Knowing the direction of the biker it was easy to choose a more suited af point to get the composition. Here I also changed the shutter speed because the background became busy and I didn't wanted to freeze action so I went from 1/2000s, f1.8, ISO 100 to 1/60s, f16, ISO 100 to isolate a little the biker.



Same here... I saw through viewfinder that the cubs started to look up and I realized that one of the parents is coming to the nest, usually bringing food. I was in a small boat shooting with a tele prime, without the option to back up and I changed the af point I was using to the one placed bottom right to get this composition. If I would have used the center point af or center 9 af points, I would have missed this composition. That's why I say that I don't use much the center point af as long as my camera has other af points I can work with.



---------- Post added 10-13-19 at 03:24 PM ----------

I know Dan. I picked up a lot of techniques here in PF and I can live with it. It's just that people just simply put down a good system.

It's hard on a forum to know the intention of the one you speak with. It's enough that a single person misinterpret something and a simple discussion can become a debate.

Though I believe that there should be new developments for it to be competitive. The younger people can't dig what we like.

Yes, younger people were born with technology available and they are used with modern gear from their phones so they want similar modern things when comes to cameras. They will dictate the market in a few years even if we like it or not.

[Mistral75]

I think you are right, but their complaints are likely similar to the ones on this forum. C-AF tracking and video... lenses etc. I dont care about video and others dont AF tracking. I think this new camera will be the best Pentax dslr in both of those regards, especially AF.

Do you remember what Enzo Ferrari said when requested to point out the best Ferrari ever made? 'The next one".

[reh321]

Pentax has been committed to improving it's AF algorithms for a long time now.
MY feeling is, if you're not using a K-P with a DA 55-300 PLM, you don't even know how good Pentax AF is.

We have a lot of opinions formed when people with really old gear switch to something newer, but they didn't try out what Pentax has that's newer. It get's old real quick.

As you might remember from my posts here over the past six months, I’ve been using 77-420mm PLM {55-300mm + 1.4X TC} during that time, which is a fantastic improvement over the K-30 which I had before. I am waiting ‘with baited breathe’ to see what besides the “flag-ship” improvements Pentax adds to the next camera.

The point of my previous post is that they will not ‘improve’ solely based on comments here - and I’m OK with that.

[Class A]

If it was that simple, I think Pentax would have created such a switch to improve their reviews from DP Review, even if most folks just left it set to the "on" position.

Perhaps there was no such firmware update because if the "accelerator" unit suddenly became optional, it would not longer allow some people to entertain the idea that it is some special technology that is intricately intertwined with the imaging function of the sensor.

I can see how making the "accelerator" unit optional after the fact, was rejected by Ricoh on the basis of such a step implying an admission that they weren't happy to make.

Maybe it is indeed just not possible with the chip they used, that's certainly a possibility.

I don't guess that they would abandon it and it seems likely to show up on this and other new cameras, but perhaps more fine tuned and user adjustable (which I think would make you happier).

Yes, user-adjustable with the option to turn it off completely would be fantastic!

I might use the in-camera processing myself for some of my work. It creates nice results and saves time in post-processing.

It's just for some applications or some work that it would be nice to get just what the sensor delivered, nothing more, nothing less.
And, of course, it would shut up our friends at "photography's effete, millennial saturated (dis)information commerce site". (Kirk Tuck)

---

Last edited by Class A; 10-13-2019 at 02:42 PM.

[MarkJerling]

A precise and fast Af will always help. But having a customizable body will also make a difference. On entry level cameras or even on middle level cameras (APS-C or full frame) you don't have certain options when comes to customize the buttons in order to change settings fast. You will see that even the joystick alone on the new Pentax camera will help getting shots faster.

Here is an image I took today. I was using single point af, but not the one from the center. This image wasn't cropped and it was taken with a prime lens. I could have used the center af point, but the composition would have been different and I wouldn't have had much room to crop it in Photoshop. Knowing the direction of the biker it was easy to choose a more suited af point to get the composition. Here I also changed the shutter speed because the background became busy and I didn't wanted to freeze action so I went from 1/2000s, f1.8, ISO 100 to 1/60s, f16, ISO 100 to isolate a little the biker.



Same here... I saw through viewfinder that the cubs started to look up and I realized that one of the parents is coming to the nest, usually bringing food. I was in a small boat shooting with a tele prime, without the option to back up and I changed the af point I was using to the one placed bottom right to get this composition. If I would have used the center point af or center 9 af points, I would have missed this composition. That's why I say that I don't use much the center point af as long as my camera has other af points I can work with.



---------- Post added 10-13-19 at 03:24 PM ----------



It's hard on a forum to know the intention of the one you speak with. It's enough that a single person misinterpret something and a simple discussion can become a debate.



Yes, younger people were born with technology available and they are used with modern gear from their phones so they want similar modern things when comes to cameras. They will dictate the market in a few years even if we like it or not.

Lovely images Dan.

Though, as a road cyclist I'm shaking my head when I see a cyclist without a helmet!

[totsmuyco]

A precise and fast Af will always help. But having a customizable body will also make a difference. On entry level cameras or even on middle level cameras (APS-C or full frame) you don't have certain options when comes to customize the buttons in order to change settings fast. You will see that even the joystick alone on the new Pentax camera will help getting shots faster.

Here is an image I took today. I was using single point af, but not the one from the center. This image wasn't cropped and it was taken with a prime lens. I could have used the center af point, but the composition would have been different and I wouldn't have had much room to crop it in Photoshop. Knowing the direction of the biker it was easy to choose a more suited af point to get the composition. Here I also changed the shutter speed because the background became busy and I didn't wanted to freeze action so I went from 1/2000s, f1.8, ISO 100 to 1/60s, f16, ISO 100 to isolate a little the biker.



Same here... I saw through viewfinder that the cubs started to look up and I realized that one of the parents is coming to the nest, usually bringing food. I was in a small boat shooting with a tele prime, without the option to back up and I changed the af point I was using to the one placed bottom right to get this composition. If I would have used the center point af or center 9 af points, I would have missed this composition. That's why I say that I don't use much the center point af as long as my camera has other af points I can work with.



---------- Post added 10-13-19 at 03:24 PM ----------



It's hard on a forum to know the intention of the one you speak with. It's enough that a single person misinterpret something and a simple discussion can become a debate.



Yes, younger people were born with technology available and they are used with modern gear from their phones so they want similar modern things when comes to cameras. They will dictate the market in a few years even if we like it or not.

Great shots Dan. The Bird shot is fantastic. Yep Pentax can do action shots.

[troenaas]

The unmarked button. What can it be? Let me trove a speculative suggestion into the discussion.

It is to activate a blocking filter / closing of the viewfinder in order to avoid light-leaks during long exposures.

[Mistral75]

The unmarked button. What can it be? Let me trove a speculative suggestion into the discussion.

It is to activate a blocking filter / closing of the viewfinder in order to avoid light-leaks during long exposures.

There is a dedicated sliding part/shutter that does just that for each and every Pentax camera, including the K-New.

[troenaas]

There is a dedicated sliding part/shutter that does just that for each and every Pentax camera, including the K-New.

I know that. I do a lot of long exposure photography.

Instead of fiddling with a loose sliding part that can be easily lost, I currently use gorilla tape to cover the viewfinder.

It would be much easier if this could be handled by the press of a button....

[Mistral75]

My point was that, since the K-New's viewfinder is designed to use the same sliding part as its predecessors, the probability that there is also another device with the same purpose, activated by the mystery button, is very slim, to say the least.

[troenaas]

My point was that, since the K-New's viewfinder is designed to use the same sliding part as its predecessors, the probability that there is also another device with the same purpose, activated by the mystery button, is very slim, to say the least.

I know that the chance is slim, but we are here to speculate, aren't we? The viewfinder is also designed in order to facilitate the Pentax O-ME53 Magnifying Eyecup, not just a sliding viewfinder cover...

[Sandy Hancock]

we are here to speculate, aren't we?

Strictly speaking, this thread is about information rather than speculation, but most of us seem to have forgotten that

[TwoUptons]

Strictly speaking, this thread is about information rather than speculation, but most of us seem to have forgotten that

I think that’s inevitable in general but will be much worse over the next few months...

-Eric

[troenaas]

Strictly speaking, this thread is about information rather than speculation, but most of us seem to have forgotten that

I'm happy to learn that I'm not the only one. Without any new information, this thread and others in the news and rumours section would taper off fast without any speculations. I promise to stop speculating. From here on, I will call it a rumour. Then I'll be safe.

[Not a Number]

It would seem to me that speculation and rumour are better suited for the "under development thread".