[beholder3]

Some cute stuff (sorry, no kittens here ):






























All shot using the DFA 150-450mm lens on the K-1.

Maybe you like it.

[TER-OR]

ACTION! Cool shots.

[monochrome]

Man. That Pentax action autofocus is really bad. :sarc:

[ffking]

Man. That Pentax action autofocus is really bad. :sarc:

he obviously hasn't read the reviews... ;D

[UncleVanya]

Great shots!

[amoringello]

Man. That Pentax action autofocus is really bad. :sarc:

I would love to hear the personal experience on capturing these with regard to how well the K1 seemed to auto focus to catch these.

- A lot of the direction of action is staying along the plane of DOF.
- They appear to be at a significant distance which makes a huge difference focusing.
- Many have a static point on which to pre-focus, so AF may not have been a factor.

Regardless, the shots are amazing and more likely due to the person's skill and familiarity of the activity than the ability of the camera to do the "heavy lifting" that a less skilled photographer might need.

What amazes me most is that it looks like some of the images are taken in over-cast conditions which would have forced even my K3 into creating a high-ISO noisy-mush on the fine details of the hair and fur in order to keep up the shutter speed.

[ntrao]

WOW! great shots.. like them.

[pearsaab]

great shots...what lens did you use and autofocus conditions like AFC etc

[beholder3]

I would love to hear the personal experience on capturing these with regard to how well the K1 seemed to auto focus to catch these.

Good enough. I spent less than one hour there and had enough images I found nice to keep. Technically the photographer and the camera failed about 60% of shots. I tend to be happy when I have a dozen or two keepers. It's not a slide show after all.

The biggest issue is actually keeping the dogs in the frame for a second or two and focussing on the dog, not the owner. A dog constantly disappearing behind the owner is not a fun subject to focus on. And they do that all the time in freestyle.

- A lot of the direction of action is staying along the plane of DOF.

Not really. I stood close to the corner (80/20) of a long drawn rectangular field on the long edge. I only shot images when the dog was visible nicely and when he was about to grab the frisbee (in non freestyle): that implies seeing it from the side because that is where we stood.

- They appear to be at a significant distance which makes a huge difference focusing.

Mixed bag. If you use the 150-450mm lens you better have some distance. Actually I couldn't take some shots because the dog was too close. Long lens means very limited DoF also.

- Many have a static point on which to pre-focus, so AF may not have been a factor.

50% of the shots were in the discipline "free style" where nobody in the audience has the faintest idea what is going to happen next and every contestant does something different. That event is probably the very last place where I'd suggest pre-focussing.
The other 50% is a discipline where the frisbee is thrown long way and the dog races after it to return it as quickly as possible. Again no pre-focussing - at least for my limited skills.

Regardless, the shots are amazing and more likely due to the person's skill and familiarity of the activity than the ability of the camera to do the "heavy lifting" that a less skilled photographer might need.

I just tried something new here - that is the whole fun. I probably have not taken more than 20 images of dogs in my life before. I prefer horses; but still that was an interesting dogfrisbee world cup there.
If I find a camel race or donkey frisbee cup I'll try that, too.

What amazes me most is that it looks like some of the images are taken in over-cast conditions which would have forced even my K3 into creating a high-ISO noisy-mush on the fine details of the hair and fur in order to keep up the shutter speed.

Yep, actually 3/4 of the time there there was a heavy overcast sky only. I do show disproportionally more pictures from when the sun was out as that obviously gives nicer images. Sadly the people from the event set up the audience to stand and shoot directly against the sun which is a pain with all the dark dogs.
But given the fact that the images here all are LR postprocessed JPGs L* sooC (so no raw latitude available) I find them quite ok.

[FantasticMrFox]

Man. That Pentax action autofocus is really bad. :sarc:

Will you be doing that under every action shot on this forum for the next 5 years now?

[btnapa]

Some cute stuff (sorry, no kittens here ):






























All shot using the DFA 150-450mm lens on the K-1.

Maybe you like it.

Excellent action pics. The combo would be great for any sport or action photographer.

[monochrome]

Will you be doing that under every action shot on this forum for the next 5 years now?

No.

Only when the autofocus is clearly outclassed by Nikon and Canon.

[beholder3]

Two jumping off the lady's leg:





And here racing towards the photographer who gets unhappy as his lower 150mm zoom limit is crossed (and feared the dog might run him over ):

[biz-engineer]

Well, the dogs are not coming toward the photographer. Nikon are able to track focus when the dog jumps at the photographer and he get hurt.

[MJKoski]

Okay. Next challenge: swallows in flight against forest background.