[jpzk]

I don't see why back button focus will be useful. Its main purpose is a quick change from AF-S to AF-C. With the User mode set for AF-C, there's no need to switch back and forth with anything but the Mode dial.

I have a severe bias against BBF. It's unnatural for me. I've been using half-press for focus for many years. Now that I can switch from AF-C to AF-S on the mode dial, BBF has lost its advantage and kept its disadvantages.

Thanks Dan.

That's what I thought but it seems that some can get more (better) results using the AF back button: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/38-photographic-technique/236970-perfect-...everytime.html
but I too feel more comfortable using the shutter button .... more "natural" to me.
However, if this is going to help nail the focus better, I might as well give it a go ! If I don't like it, it'll be easy enough to revert to the other way.

So, I was just wondering if this back AF button configuration was saved in the User mode ... or not?

[clackers]

I don't see why back button focus will be useful. Its main purpose is a quick change from AF-S to AF-C.

But that's not its main purpose.

It separates focussing from shot-taking, even in AF-S.

After you've half-button pressed, got the shot, you release the button but now have to go through the focus routine again.

Not with BBF - it's right where you left it.

[audiobomber]

But that's not its main purpose.

It separates focussing from shot-taking, even in AF-S.

After you've half-button pressed, got the shot, you release the button but now have to go through the focus routine again.

Not with BBF - it's right where you left it.

I do the same thing in AF-S with CF&R. No advantage.

In AF-C, I absolutely want to marry focus with shot-taking. That is critical with Pentax tracking. if your first shot misses focus, you're screwed, the whole sequence will be off.

[clackers]

I do the same thing in AF-S with CF&R.

No, you don't, Audiobomber.

You have to keep your finger half-pressed on the shutter button - no slipping, no interruption - or you can't take the second shot. Doesn't happen with BB.

In AF-C, I absolutely want to marry focus with shot-taking. That is critical with Pentax tracking. if your first shot misses focus, you're screwed, the whole sequence will be off.

??

Why is the shutter button more likely to get the first shot in an AF-C burst in focus than the back button?

[audiobomber]

Why is the shutter button more likely to get the first shot in an AF-C burst in focus than the back button?

Finishing the half-press needs no thought or action except to move my index finger down a fraction of an inch. Coordinating a second button and another digit with the shutter release is more likely to miss IMO. It's definitely more likely to miss for me, because half-press is ingrained. I've done it for years, it's become an automatic reaction.

I have no objection to people using BBF if it works for them. What I object to is that people still think it is an advantage for action shooting. I grant that was true with previous Pentax bodies, but ever since the K-3, User modes have surpassed the advantage that BBF had, which is to quickly change from AF-S to AF-C. With a user mode, I can change focus method and many other things with a couple of clicks on the Mode dial.

[clackers]

. It's definitely more likely to miss for me, because half-press is ingrained. I've done it for years, it's become an automatic reaction..

Okay. That is, as you say, an individual thing - talking about the photographer rather than the camera.