[PentaxBro]

Well I purchased the K1 as a smaller walk around camera to my 645z.

I am currently on a trip in France using the K1 and 15-30 lens.

I can say that it is the most frustrating and angering experience ever with a camera. The K1 autofocus is in my view absolutely a joke for a 2016 camera.

It can not focus in the same spot either at infinity or 10m time after time, just ruining shots. I am having to AF and shoot multiple times to get a good result, even at 15mm.

The only safe bet has been to enter live view, use live view AF and then exit live view and shoot. The results then are satisfactory.

Even with AF fine tune, it is still inconsistent and when attempting infinity focus it will land in a different spot every time. I can focus using live view, then using the mirror and the results are so far away from each other, sometimes spot on, sometimes way off. It's like a lucky dip.

This is most likely going to cause a stir but I am so over the K1. My initial decision was between a Sony A7 series or the K1 and I feel I have made a huge mistake.

Before anybody decides to question my knowledge, I have been using a 645d and 646z with great success for years, along with a Leica M9 (manual focus) and Sony A6000, previously other Canon bodies as well with none of the issues I am seeing here, so I welcome only positive ideas on how to look for a fix for this, other than selling the camera and moving on.

Cheers, Scott

I have had similar problems with my K-X in the Past ..
Then I have exchanged the 16-45 lens and it was much better but still not perfect.

[Tan68]

Using the 15-30 lens.

I am at the Mont St Michele Abbey on the west coast of France now, tried to focus on a large stone tower at infinity and every time it lands somewhere different. I have tested it in manual focus and found the perfect point of sharpness, but then move over to AF and its clearly not going to the same spot, it will do it 1 in 5 maybe.

Also latest firmware 1.10

Go Mont Saint Michel !

I haven't read the thread, but are you using auto AF point select ?
I also am confused how you have great success with other Pentax AF but not K-1...
My K-1 seems happy enough to focus where I put the point (manual point select

Did you try the camera out before heading to France...

[dsneedmd]

I have problems making my K1 focus on the center object often. It will focus to the side. Is there a way to make it use only the center object? For example if I focus on an object thru a door it often will focus on the door instead. Are there settings to prevent this?

[jatrax]

I have problems making my K1 focus on the center object often. It will focus to the side. Is there a way to make it use only the center object? For example if I focus on an object thru a door it often will focus on the door instead. Are there settings to prevent this?

What AF mode are you using? Try single center point, called 'spot'. Press and hold the button marked AF mode then rotate the rear dial.

[2351HD]

Just reading responses from everybody and maybe I have not been quite clear enough in my description of the problem. The issue isn't that the focus is landing on another object in the frame, it's that it is locking onto my intended target but is not fully in focus, it's either front or back focused.
It's nothing to do with AF point selection, but AF point accuracy and consistency of arriving at the same point every time i.e. Infinity

Sorry for any confusion.

[jatrax]

It's nothing to do with AF point selection, but AF point accuracy and consistency of arriving at the same point every time i.e. Infinity

Do you see the same behavior with any other lenses? I've run about 30 lenses through testing so far and all have shown repeatable auto-focus. This has been against focus targets at relatively short distance though, not infinity. However, I just got back from a trip with about 2,000 images, still sorting through them but so far I see no focus issues with any of the lenses I used.

But I don't have the 15-30 so not sure how much all that helps you.

[Venom3300]

Sounds like a lens issue. Weve seen similar problems with sigma lenses.

[turff]

I am having the exact same issues and am at a loss. I have been using Pentax cameras for the past 7 years and have never had a problem until the k1. I only ever use AF.S with my focus point set in the center of the frame.

I purchase the Pentax 24-70 and 15-30 and they both either front focus or back focus pretty severely both with subjects closer up and further away. The problem is that it is so inconsistent that setting the fine tune adjustment does not resolve the problem. The lenses work fine on my k5 leading me to believe it is an issue with the camera. Granted these are tests done at 2.8 and I usually stop down a bit which give passable results but I am still at a loss as to what could be going on. I really want to love the K1 but until I figure out why the focusing is so erratic it is certainly tough to do so. Focus in Live View works perfectly nearly every time by the way.

[FantasticMrFox]

I can say that it is the most frustrating and angering experience ever with a camera. The K1 autofocus is in my view absolutely a joke for a 2016 camera.

[...]

This is most likely going to cause a stir but I am so over the K1. My initial decision was between a Sony A7 series or the K1 and I feel I have made a huge mistake.

I think you need to have a little break from raging and flip your prefrontal cortex back on. Approach the issue logically.

Your camera/lens combination is showing horrible focusing consistency. The same camera has an improved AF system over another camera that you have been using and enjoying, and the same camera is getting jubilant reviews across the board, including positive remarks on the AF.

Now what do you logically make of this?

...

You've got a defective camera or lens, mate. Send them in for repair under warranty and check again when it comes back. No need to get a heart attack.

[turff]

Have you updated the firmware? I know that AF performance was not mentioned as a fix in the newest release but it is possible there was just something buggy in your camera. Read my post that I just made a few minutes ago as I was experiencing awful results with the AF just as you were. I just now updated to version 1.10 and AF is seriously spot on. I am trying various lenses and focusing at various distances and have had almost no misses. I can't explain how or why this newest release fixed my issue but it certainly did some how.

At least give it a try. I was debating sending mine back but the past few minutes of experimentation after the update have been positive.

[Digitalis]

Sorta sixties technique but it works for me.

No shame in that.

With some of the medium format cameras I work with having only a handful of AF points, I often have to do the same.

The AF also has to deal with field curvature on a lens like the 15-30. Plus at the corners, (as Lenstip observes of the Tamron), things can get pretty soft on FF, meaning contrast gets reduced, and AF accuracy may thus be unreliable if the selected focus point is in a corner area.

You should also consider the possibility there is a centering defect with your copy of the lens - if it is severe enough it could indeed affect AF precision.I have had one 15-30mm f/2.8 that was de-centered. I'm currently in the process of assessing and testing my second copy, But at this point I am not haveing the difficulties you are experiencing.

In my typical usage I use AF-S, Select mode, using the center point.

[Tan68]

Until you get home, maybe use manual focus to set infinity.. would that work ?

[Digitalis]

Setting the focus to infinity does not guarantee the lens will stay there, there aren't many Full format UWA lenses that are classified as parfocal, there is always some degree of focus shift. Often it is masked by the inherent depth of field with such wide lenses though the resolution of the K-1 sensor will reveal things the eyes fail to detect.

[carolina_sky]

Setting the focus to infinity does not guarantee the lens will stay there, there aren't many Full format UWA lenses that are classified as parfocal, there is always some degree of focus shift. Often it is masked by the inherent depth of field with such wide lenses though the resolution of the K-1 sensor will reveal things the eyes fail to detect.

Some observations from my initial experience with K-1 shooting a horse show with 150-450mm. I have done hundreds of hours shooting horse shows with K10D, K5, K-3 and K-3ii. In daylight, the camera focus is significantly better than the K-3, very fast and accurate, not confused by smaller obstructions. I mostly used AF.C with center 9 area focus, this worked exceptionally. I was positively giddy. UNTIL it started to get darker, then a behavior that I frequently encountered on previous Pentax models returned. I had to switch from AF.C to AF.S with single center point focus. This combo is reasonably reliable and I actually had no problems with AF itself, but sometimes the camera will have a material delay (perhaps half second) from pressing the shutter to taking the picture, and about 1 time in 10 it just refuses to take the picture. I have the priority set to release priority. I had another thread on this subject on the K-3 and someone suggested I have might been in AF.A. Today there was no doubt I was in AF.S. I'm going to have to do some more rigorous experimentation. Thought I'd share my experience that in daylight (from heavy cloud to bright sun) the AF was superb with with K-1 and this long lens. As dusk came on, I started having occasional problem getting the shot to go. I will say it mostly had no trouble focusing in low light, it's just the slowness or failure to snap the photo that is frustrating. My technique is usually to pre-focus on the jump the horse is heading for and then full shutter press in the instant the horse goes up over the jump. I even tried pre-focus and then switch to Manual Focus and I *still* get this occasional failure to take the shot issue. It is very, very possible that this is user error and that I'm missing some critical setting. I can think of no setting that would affect whether it takes the shot even in manual focus, so there is a mystery there. If anyone knows how correct this, or if anyone has encountered the same problem, I would love to know. This has been consistent across all Pentax bodies I've owned, with some improvement between K-5 and K-3.

[Digitalis]

Some observations from my initial experience with K-1 shooting a horse show with 150-450mm

we are talking about the Pentax D-FA 15-30mm f/2.8 on the K-1 here - a completely different lens.