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02-23-2020, 05:07 PM - 1 Like   #1606
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Would be nice if there was something regarding selling date.

02-23-2020, 05:12 PM   #1607
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QuoteOriginally posted by Mistral75 Quote
Exactly two years ago, at this very hour (22:00 UTC), Ricoh Imaging announced the K-1 Mark II.

Since then they have announced the KP J Limited and the KP IR.
I had to go look up with a KP IR was. I don't remember hearing about this camera. Eh.
02-23-2020, 05:28 PM   #1608
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QuoteOriginally posted by pres589 Quote
I had to go look up with a KP IR was. I don't remember hearing about this camera. Eh.
Prolly a B2C Institutional camera. Not marketed to Consumers.
02-23-2020, 06:14 PM   #1609
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K-P IR got it's own thread here a few months ago.

PENTAX KP IR online - PentaxForums.com

The K-P IR was preceded by the 645Z IR a few years earlier. Must a few institutional customers for IR.

02-23-2020, 10:04 PM   #1610
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QuoteOriginally posted by rawr Quote
K-P IR got it's own thread here a few months ago.

PENTAX KP IR online - PentaxForums.com

The K-P IR was preceded by the 645Z IR a few years earlier. Must a few institutional customers for IR.
And others before. Pentax regularly comes with IR cameras specific for japanese institutional business.
02-24-2020, 05:36 AM   #1611
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QuoteOriginally posted by Kunzite Quote
I do not think the now not so new AF improvements were publicized enough.
And yes, it was assumed that the "expanded area AF" works the same, except it doesn't as there's no scene analysis by shape color on the older cameras...


Isn't a good thing to know that Pentax attempts the same thing?
QuoteOriginally posted by deus ursus Quote
Exactly. My point was, the K-5II/IIs might do better with 27 focus points than just 11, but of course not as good as the K-3/K-3II, with their newer SAFOX engine. But for all we know, adding focus points to the K-5 wouldn't do any good. It might anyway go looking for things to focus on all over the frame except for were you want it to focus.
QuoteOriginally posted by Kobie Quote
From my K200D, then K-30 and now K-3 there have been steady improvements in Autofocus tracking, I'm sure it holds true as well from K-5/II/IIs, to K-3/II, to K-70, to KP, to K-1/II.
The K200D was just slow across the board. The K-30 was much snappier and I never had an issue using expanded AF in AF.C whether using Center/Spot focus or select. It always tracked without issue unless something got between the subject and the camera, however, it would re-acquire just fine. I can't count the number of times, I saw a bird in flight, grabbed the camera, powered it on, panned or pointed and fired with perfect focus.
The K-3 just has more AF points to use with tracking compared to the K-30 but they cover the same field of width. The K-3 just has narrower AF points plus AF hold to maintain the subject distance when panning with things that come between you and the subject. I haven't had any issues with using expanded AF on either the K-30 or K-3. It's proven to be very reliable in use. Between the K-30 and K-3, the K-3 seems quicker to track however, that could just be because there's more AF points to use so it appears to be faster. But at the end of the day, it works for me to get the images I want without issue.
Everyone has different techniques and maybe that's the fundamental difference.
Yesterday I shot a bunch at my kids' preseason soccer scrimmage. Just for the heck of it I changed from center/spot AF to 9-point SEL for part of the afternoon. Just going through the pictures now I think my focus hit rate is something south of 50%. With center it's 80%+. 9-point focuses on the background (or not much at all) as or more often than the players moving around in the foreground. When the real games start back up I'll be using center/spot focus exclusively.
02-24-2020, 05:44 AM   #1612
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QuoteOriginally posted by ThorSanchez Quote
Yesterday I shot a bunch at my kids' preseason soccer scrimmage. Just for the heck of it I changed from center/spot AF to 9-point SEL for part of the afternoon. Just going through the pictures now I think my focus hit rate is something south of 50%. With center it's 80%+. 9-point focuses on the background (or not much at all) as or more often than the players moving around in the foreground. When the real games start back up I'll be using center/spot focus exclusively.
The question is, if user behaviour has its part or not.
In outdoor soccer I usually can hit more than 50% with 9 grouped points and AF-C, as long as z movement is not too much.


Last edited by WorksAsIntended; 02-24-2020 at 06:04 AM.
02-24-2020, 07:37 AM   #1613
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QuoteOriginally posted by ThorSanchez Quote
Yesterday I shot a bunch at my kids' preseason soccer scrimmage. Just for the heck of it I changed from center/spot AF to 9-point SEL for part of the afternoon. Just going through the pictures now I think my focus hit rate is something south of 50%. With center it's 80%+. 9-point focuses on the background (or not much at all) as or more often than the players moving around in the foreground. When the real games start back up I'll be using center/spot focus exclusively.
I would not recommend testing an unfamiliar feature at the real game anyway.

How does it fail though? At initial focus - you have to make sure it's correctly acquired initially, with the central point of the selected area? It fails to track the subject? It is confused if the target is briefly obscured by something else (and here, there's the AF hold setting to play with)?
02-24-2020, 09:24 AM   #1614
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QuoteOriginally posted by Kunzite Quote
I would not recommend testing an unfamiliar feature at the real game anyway.

How does it fail though? At initial focus - you have to make sure it's correctly acquired initially, with the central point of the selected area? It fails to track the subject? It is confused if the target is briefly obscured by something else (and here, there's the AF hold setting to play with)?
With all cameras, using more focus points at least doubles focus acquisition time. Using multiple points you really have to wait and make sure you've locked focus before starting the shutter. If you shoot the way you do with single focus points, you're going to trip the shutter before it's acquired focus.

With AF.c I wait until I actually see the tracking working before I start the shutter sequence.
02-24-2020, 09:52 AM   #1615
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QuoteOriginally posted by Kunzite Quote
I would not recommend testing an unfamiliar feature at the real game anyway.

How does it fail though? At initial focus - you have to make sure it's correctly acquired initially, with the central point of the selected area? It fails to track the subject? It is confused if the target is briefly obscured by something else (and here, there's the AF hold setting to play with)?
I aim the camera at the player or group of players I want to photograph. I hit the back button to autofocus, I see the little red square in the viewfinder. I hit the shutter. I don't necessarily wait for focus confirmation, I just kind of feel the camera focusing and I take some pictures. With center-point that works reasonably well. With 9-point SEL, not so much.

I'm open to the idea I'm doing something wrong. But that technique works pretty well with the single center point.

---------- Post added 02-24-20 at 11:56 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
With all cameras, using more focus points at least doubles focus acquisition time. Using multiple points you really have to wait and make sure you've locked focus before starting the shutter. If you shoot the way you do with single focus points, you're going to trip the shutter before it's acquired focus.

With AF.c I wait until I actually see the tracking working before I start the shutter sequence.
How do I know that the tracking is working? Also, is the proper technique to hold down the AF button during the whole sequence, or repeatedly hit it? I repeatedly hit it using back-button/AF-C/single-point and get good results. Is there a different method I should be using with multiple point SEL?
02-24-2020, 10:55 AM   #1616
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Use BBF and AFC, and your preferred SEL; 2 for 9-point and 3 for 25-point - I get good results with SEL3. Activate the AF via back button with the subject you want to stay focussed on, under the centre point red square as otherwise the camera doesn't know what you want tracked. Your selected focus subject should then remain under a focus point within the square of points that the AFC is using for tracking. Keep the back button pressed while you trip the shutter. An easy way to see it working is to focus on a static subject and then move the camera so that the subject isn't under the centre point - the static subject should be followed by the points in your SEL area.


Just hitting the back button repeatedly effectively gives you AFS as the AFC system doesn't have time to react before you take your thumb off. As Kunzite said, you might also need to adjust the AF hold setting to cope with players running in front of the one you've focussed on.
02-24-2020, 11:21 AM - 2 Likes   #1617
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The whole auto-focus debate/analysis/process whatever it is, is what has me clamoring for an updated APS-C flagship (hopefully with improvements in this area).

Yes, we can all advance our technique and find the optimal settings, but even then to me it still feels like a struggle sometimes. Others have probably been at it longer so it's just muscle memory for them and that's great. But the technology is out there to make it simpler and more intuitive.

Case and point, I borrowed a friends Sony A7 iii over the weekend to shoot the birthday for my 3 year old triplets. The difference in auto-focus performance just blew me away. I know it's not a fair comparison, because Pentax hasn't released anything to compete with it - but that's sort of the point here.

Maybe we don't all need latest and greatest sensors and auto-focus mechanisms, maybe they are a crutch. Who knows. What I do know though, is that I had a far more time enjoying when I didn't have to worry if I had the exactly right buttons pushed at exactly the right times while predicting the next movements at the exactly right times all of the time. It made me enjoy shooting more, and made me enjoy the festivities more.

To me, new technology isn't about being lazy or losing touch by letting the computers do all the work. It's about knowing that if I'm not on point or performing 100% myself, I at least know the camera is going to do something more to help hold me up a little bit.

Again, I love my Pentax gear and I'm heavily invested in some of the best glass they have to offer so I'm still holding out hope on what's to come, but I've walked on the grass on the other side of the fence and it felt good on my toes.
02-24-2020, 11:41 AM - 1 Like   #1618
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I've mainly been using the K1-II recently because of its improved autofocus abilities, but after seeing the discussion on autofocus using 9-point SEL option I decided to pull out my K3-II and give it a try. I have previously just used a center select with BBF and AFC approach. I did find that the K3-II did better at keeping the focus on moving subjects using the 9-point SEL option. This brown creeper was in full shade and quickly foraging. It is a bird that I've always struggled to get in-focus shots of with the K3-II with my previous technique. However, I would still love a K3-II replacement with improved low-light IQ performance and any news from Pentax on the K-new would be greatly appreciated. My K3-II has seen some heavy use and is starting to show its age (i.e., occasional mirror flat and loss of date/time at startup).
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02-24-2020, 11:46 AM   #1619
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QuoteOriginally posted by jcleary47 Quote
To me, new technology isn't about being lazy or losing touch by letting the computers do all the work. It's about knowing that if I'm not on point or performing 100% myself, I at least know the camera is going to do something more to help hold me up a little bit.
For me it's about knowing what works and what doesn't and working with it. The problem with photography is that no camera can cope with real world variety of situations. For example, shooting hand held 1/100s exposure time in the dark doesn't give good image, it going to be either very noise or dark (underexposed). Shooting in the sun at ISO800 f2 also doesn't work. The sensor capability to record light levels is finite, the real world range of light level is larger. For autofocus, I can't track gun bullets in flight, so I just won't do it, as a photographer I'll plan the shoot in a way that I know the result will be good. This is true of many things in life, work, etc. it's our ability to do more with less that sets us appart from others. Now if money can buy improvements, why not, the struggle was on the engineers who make money out of making people's lifes easier: who solves other's problems make money , and who gets his problems solved by other spends the money.
02-24-2020, 02:30 PM - 3 Likes   #1620
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Aren't we far, far off-topic?
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