[builttospill]

The K30's AF is already accurate, is it not?
Improve on that. And regarding accuracy and speed... AF-C has neither :P.

Compare what the 5DIII AF can do. Pentax is far from that. Do you want a Pentax FF camera to be compared to the 5DII?

I haven't had the opportunity to use the K-30 yet, but don't get me wrong, I'd love to see AF improvements, but most everyone talks about speed being the problem. If I had a choice between improvements to speed or accuracy the choice is easy.

Pentax is far from the 5DIII focusing ability, and I have no expectations for them to match it on their next model. Canon is far from Pentax WR capability, and I don't expect them to match it anytime soon. There are benefits to different brands. If Pentax could release a FF model to be compared to the 5DII I'd be a very happy customer. The 5DII has been a benchmark for Canon and has done very well for years. I only wish Pentax could release something that lasts that long in this day and age with similar sales and popularity trends. And don't forget Canon doesn't have the FA Limiteds!

[Clinton]

If the Pentax FF comes out at 2-2200 it will be a grand less than the 5D3 so i doubt i would compare them on every level. there will be things the Pentax will do better and things not as well as you would expect with the price variance, i wouldn't compare with a D4 either

Look, unless the Pentax FF exceeds the competition in every way, includes a free 16-300mm lens that is optically superior to anything Zeiss can come up with, weighs less than 1/2 lbs, and Pentax pays us to use it, it will be deemed a failure in every way.

For the love of Pete, just make us a $3000 camera that's FF and reasonably top notch.

[philbaum]

Many engineers changed from Ricoh to Pentax. And it's not like Ricoh has no know-how with AF.
Depending on what they have on the hardware side, a lot of improvements could be achieved just by software.

I agree that they're certainly not up to what Ricoh has in mind, which is also why I doubt they'll release FF this year.

Humans are not machine parts. I think the Ricoh designer expertise with electronics will be useful in combination with the Pentax designers - but it takes time for new teams to become efficient at the task. I agree with you - probably many of us are being too impatient with Pentax - i include myself by the way.

the 7d AF is fast, however it don't have such a high keeper rate. I used it twice and i must say i was impressed by speed (maybe the 70-200 USM II was for something i it), but not by it's precision.

I think, that Pentax AF isn't that bad, but the lens are not fast enought to push it to the limits. The 70-200 USM II seemed to go from one focus end to the other in half a sec. The DA*55 takes almost a sec to do this !

If PENTAX-RICOH could improve DC motor and put it in all lens, then Pentax can start competing.

I agree that Pentax AF isn't that bad. A few days ago, i took 800 plus pics of an outdoor play over a 2 hour period. I then sorted through them and only noticed 1 that was OOF, although there were probably a few more- i looked at them pretty fast in finding the good ones. With reasonable light, Pentax nails it pretty consistently.

My favorite Pentax lens is the 50-135, but the Pentax 17-70 is faster in focusing. Folks criticize the 17-70 because it's short throw is not advantageous to manual focusing - but it works wonders for AF speed. So you make a good point in that its the lens/camera body combination that affects speed.

I haven't had the opportunity to use the K-30 yet, but don't get me wrong, I'd love to see AF improvements, but most everyone talks about speed being the problem. If I had a choice between improvements to speed or accuracy the choice is easy.

Pentax is far from the 5DIII focusing ability, and I have no expectations for them to match it on their next model. Canon is far from Pentax WR capability, and I don't expect them to match it anytime soon. There are benefits to different brands. If Pentax could release a FF model to be compared to the 5DII I'd be a very happy customer. The 5DII has been a benchmark for Canon and has done very well for years. I only wish Pentax could release something that lasts that long in this day and age with similar sales and popularity trends. And don't forget Canon doesn't have the FA Limiteds!

I tried the Nex 5n out in the store. 2 cool features regarding AF. You designate your focus point on the screen with your finger, and once designated, you can move the camera around to change framing slightly and the focus point shifts to follow the subject. The point is: there are many software aids to focusing that the electronics engineers are finding. Pentax needs a team that can work in that kind of programming environment.

[LamyTax]

Humans are not machine parts. I think the Ricoh designer expertise with electronics will be useful in combination with the Pentax designers - but it takes time for new teams to become efficient at the task. I agree with you - probably many of us are being too impatient with Pentax - i include myself by the way.

[...]

I tried the Nex 5n out in the store. 2 cool features regarding AF. You designate your focus point on the screen with your finger, and once designated, you can move the camera around to change framing slightly and the focus point shifts to follow the subject. The point is: there are many software aids to focusing that the electronics engineers are finding. Pentax needs a team that can work in that kind of programming environment.

That's exactly my point, for AF-C you need good software. Which doesn't require as much time to get into than designing the hardware, especially if you have top notch software engineers. Now let's assume they have a good hardware platform ready... .

[maxfield_photo]

For the love of Pete, just make us a $3000 camera that's FF and reasonably top notch

Amen! Now don't get me wrong, I don't want it to be expensive just to be expensive, if I wanted that I'd shoot Leica, but I don't mind paying a professional price for a professional camera.

[mee]

Does this mean if a Pentax FF is released soon, more people will be ditching their K-5s and K-30s in droves.. thus we will see a boatload of them in the want ads... with people begging us to just take them away for dirt cheap pricings??? That would be wonderful

[TomTextura]

For the love of Pete, just make us a $3000 camera that's FF and reasonably top notch

Amen! Now don't get me wrong, I don't want it to be expensive just to be expensive, if I wanted that I'd shoot Leica, but I don't mind paying a professional price for a professional camera.

I'm with you guys!

[Alizarine]

As far as AF is concerned, I'm pretty content seeing the accuracy of the K-5 and K-30. With speed though, that could have some improvement, at least for sports and outdoor shooters (which the WR is best paired to, I think?). Thinking twice though, AF speed can't really increase much with screw-drive lenses right?

has there been any AF speed test between the DA*16-50 and the DA 18-135 yet? (are they even comparable?)...

[fikkser]

As far as AF is concerned, I'm pretty content seeing the accuracy of the K-5 and K-30. With speed though, that could have some improvement, at least for sports and outdoor shooters (which the WR is best paired to, I think?). Thinking twice though, AF speed can't really increase much with screw-drive lenses right?

has there been any AF speed test between the DA*16-50 and the DA 18-135 yet? (are they even comparable?)...

It might be pretty accurate, but the center focus point is way too big. I tried a 350D and was surprised how small and nice the AF points are on that old camera, IMO it beats my k-5 because I can choose exactly where to focus. With Pentax the center point is all over the screen and focuses on random things (almost). :-)

[Cannikin]

I would have to disagree with several people here and say that my K-5's AF speed is very fast under most conditions (even when I accidentally send it hunting through the whole range), but the AF accuracy, particularly for screwdrive lenses, leaves much to be desired.

While my K-5 has perfect accuracy and blistering speed with the 18-135 (don't recall a single missed shot with it under any condition), the hit rate of screwdrive lenses (and my DA* 55) ranges from mediocre under sunlight to abysmal under low light, depending on the lens, even with moderate contrast targets at or near infinity. It also has an annoying tendency to insist that the image is in focus when it is clearly not, refusing to budge, necessitating Quick Shift/MF or finding another target to force it to refocus.

That combined with the enormous size of the center AF point means Pentax still has plenty of room for improvement there IMO. That and make future lenses with DC or new generation SDM.

[philbaum]

I would have to disagree with several people here and say that my K-5's AF speed is very fast under most conditions (even when I accidentally send it hunting through the whole range), but the AF accuracy, particularly for screwdrive lenses, leaves much to be desired.

While my K-5 has perfect accuracy and blistering speed with the 18-135 (don't recall a single missed shot with it under any condition), the hit rate of screwdrive lenses (and my DA* 55) ranges from mediocre under sunlight to abysmal under low light, depending on the lens, even with moderate contrast targets at or near infinity. It also has an annoying tendency to insist that the image is in focus when it is clearly not, refusing to budge, necessitating Quick Shift/MF or finding another target to force it to refocus.

That combined with the enormous size of the center AF point means Pentax still has plenty of room for improvement there IMO. That and make future lenses with DC or new generation SDM.

Your experience is different than that German AF test about a year ago, when Pentax AF statistically rated higher than even Canon and Nikon for static focusing in what seemed to be a pretty careful lab test. That test was reported both on dpreview and here.

I don't have a problem with my K5 focusing even in low light. I took 800 shots last Saturday of an outdoor play rehearsal, and only found 1 that was OOF. There may have been a few more but even the 60 i looked at in detail - i never found one that was OOF even when enlarged. But then i don't use SR for shooting like that - its a problem when not used correctly.

[RonHendriks1966]

Maybe we can pimp our Full Frame K-1?

www.pimpyourcam.com

The D4 looks awesome:

[thibs]

Two little things:

* I tried the K30 at my usual (small) shop, which means less than ideal light, and was very surprise by nervousity of AF-S. Also, LiveView speed was very fast. Quite faster than K5.

* Little bird told me (and no, can't tell you who, yes I know, I'd like to share but can't) that cheap dslr was indeed coming very soon. What's strange was the name, 4 numbers (no K-something). Maybe that's leak detector trick, though...

[Wired]

Does this mean if a Pentax FF is released soon, more people will be ditching their K-5s and K-30s in droves.. thus we will see a boatload of them in the want ads... with people begging us to just take them away for dirt cheap pricings??? That would be wonderful

nope!

you may never see my K5 on the marketplace, or used for that matter. The K5 replacement, be it FF or not, will just be a new primary body. the K5 will be reduced to backup, second body, or whenenver I want to be with a good old friend. I've never been as connected to my other DSLRs/SLRs as I am my K5.

[bossa]

Two little things:

* I tried the K30 at my usual (small) shop, which means less than ideal light, and was very surprise by nervousity of AF-S. Also, LiveView speed was very fast. Quite faster than K5.

* Little bird told me (and no, can't tell you who, yes I know, I'd like to share but can't) that cheap dslr was indeed coming very soon. What's strange was the name, 4 numbers (no K-something). Maybe that's leak detector trick, though...

By this statement are you saying that a cheap FF DSLR is coming or another cheap APS-C DSLR?