Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
05-03-2021, 08:03 AM - 3 Likes   #1
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2012
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,787
K-3 Mark III Sports Settings

I've been posting some of my initial attempts at photographing dogs running, boys running, and soccer matches with the Mark III. I thought I'd start a thread where we can discuss optimization of settings for things like this.

My typical sports setup from the K-3 II and 55-300PLM was shutter of 1/1250th, f/7.1, TAv, shake reduction off, drive speed high, AF-C, back button focus, single/center point focus. This is the starting point for a sunny day. If it's cloudy or a night game shutter speed goes down, and aperture as wide as it'll go. Very interested to see if I get better results with 12800+ ISO at night.


For the K-3 Mark III I changed some things, or tweaked some new settings:
  • Autofocus from center point to Expanded Area AF. I tried small, then I tried medium (originally I thought I was using medium and large). I think large medium was better at ensuring something was in focus, but not necessarily the player in question.
  • I left shake reduction on. I think my next experiment will be with shake reduction set to the new Panning mode, then perhaps off.
  • I left Autofocus Hold on low. I'm going to try with it off.
  • 1st Frame Action in AF.C is set to focus priority
  • Action in AF.C Cont is set to focus priority
  • I set the camera to Highlight Weighted Metering. My thought here is that I'm often in bright sunlight, high dynamic range, with white uniforms and field markings that will sometimes blow out, and this will help?
  • I think everything else is set to defaults
On the autofocus settings I have a question. In the manual on page 63 it lists options under AF Active Area, and the third one down is called "Tracking" with a note that it's not available in movie mode. On the camera there's no such mode, or at least I can't figure it out. I can cycle through Auto, Zone, the various select sizes, spot, but nothing called tracking? Is tracking automatic, if so why does tracking appear to be a mode in the manual?

My first attempts over the weekend were very promising, but I'm sure with some help here I/we can fine tune settings to optimize the performance of the camera for sports.

05-03-2021, 08:14 AM - 1 Like   #2
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
c.a.m's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 4,170
QuoteOriginally posted by ThorSanchez Quote
third one down is called "Tracking" with a note that it's not available in movie mode. On the camera there's no such mode, or at least I can't figure it out.
Thanks for posting your thoughts about your sports settings. It will be interesting to hear how your settings evolve.

For the "Tracking" function, this seems to be specifically for AF in Live View. As you cycle through the AF modes while in LV, it's indicated as "AF" on the rear monitor screen. I tried it as I panned across a static subject while in LV, and the tracking works.

- Craig
05-03-2021, 08:45 AM - 1 Like   #3
Veteran Member




Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Sioux City, IA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 938
I would definitely turn AF hold to off and give that a try. I found that my sequences of baserunners coming directly at or directly away from the camera didn't track as well with AF hold turned on at all. (I tend to shoot 1/2500 and wide open or stopped down just one third of a stop for lenses that are weak wide open for baseball and lacrosse.) I'm thinking of using AF on the smart function with maybe off and medium available so that I can quickly toggle depending on what sort of action I'm working with, but it may just be easiest to deal with losing focus because someone gets in the way of what I want to track and refocusing again, rather than having some not so sharp images because of the AF hold not keeping up with fast moving objects.

Highlight weighted metering definitely seems the way to go, although I didn't really give it a good trial when I was out last weekend. Too busy trying to muck about with the AF settings.
05-08-2021, 05:12 PM   #4
Senior Member




Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Drayton, Ontario, Canada
Photos: Albums
Posts: 264
QuoteOriginally posted by c.a.m Quote
Thanks for posting your thoughts about your sports settings. It will be interesting to hear how your settings evolve.

For the "Tracking" function, this seems to be specifically for AF in Live View. As you cycle through the AF modes while in LV, it's indicated as "AF" on the rear monitor screen. I tried it as I panned across a static subject while in LV, and the tracking works.

- Craig
Thanks for this. I was also confused by the manual. So the camera does tracking, but only in LV? Seems odd for a camera that has promoted the viewfinder so much. They were able to pull off face detection through the veiwfinder. Tracking would have been nice as well.

05-08-2021, 06:10 PM - 1 Like   #5
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
c.a.m's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 4,170
QuoteOriginally posted by SimplyCreativePhotography Quote
So the camera does tracking, but only in LV?
Oh, I see how my earlier post, which you quote, could be confusing.

What I meant, in response to @ThorSanchez, is that the specific item he referred to on page 63 of the operating manual, called "Tracking," actually applies to the Live View mode. I think that's why he couldn't find it in the actual camera menu.

The camera also tracks in viewfinder mode.

- Craig
05-09-2021, 12:36 PM   #6
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Central Florida
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 6,029
Slightly related, I was doing a sky dance shoot yesterday, essentially "sport mode" settings, and somehow managed to hit some button that completely turned off my touchscreen display other than for menu. I really did not have a lot of time to figure out what I did and how to correct it. Thank goodness for the "Reset" option.
05-09-2021, 12:42 PM - 1 Like   #7
Veteran Member




Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Sioux City, IA
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 938
I ran into a similar thing when I first got the camera. Reset was the only thing I found that got around it. I did have it happen one other time, but instead of a reset, I adjusted the sensitivity of the eye sensor that turns off the back display. That seems to have solved it; my hypothesis being that when nit was acting up, I was casting a really strong shadow that was triggering back display to turn off.

05-09-2021, 08:11 PM - 1 Like   #8
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Larrymc's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Mississippi, USA
Posts: 5,245
QuoteOriginally posted by gatorguy Quote
Slightly related, I was doing a sky dance shoot yesterday, essentially "sport mode" settings, and somehow managed to hit some button that completely turned off my touchscreen display other than for menu. I really did not have a lot of time to figure out what I did and how to correct it. Thank goodness for the "Reset" option.
Sounds familiar, I was shooting some of my wife's flowers and decided to try focus peaking which I really like with my Mk I but I quickly realized that I didn't have focus peaking set up on the Mk III. Futzing around outside without the manual I pushed some buttons and the back screen went blank, the monitor worked when reviewing images but nothing I did to get the display back worked so I did a reset and quickly found that the reset had menus too, good grief!! You can reset Still Image settings, Movie settings, Playback settings, Customization settings and Setup first I tried the customization reset and still a blank back screen then the dreaded Setup reset and I got my screen back in pristine factory default setup. The only problem I had was I had forgotten some of my setting from the past week or so. I think I have finally gotten the camera configured like I had it before the problem that I think I created. My advice to anyone setting up their Mk III is to write down every setting that you have made while deciding how you want the various features to operate. I used pages 22-35, the pages that show the default settings, to pencil in my settings after the reset but stupidly I didn't do that in the beginning like I had done with my K-50 and K-3 Mk I.
05-09-2021, 10:17 PM - 1 Like   #9
Otis Memorial Pentaxian
Otis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis Fan
Loyal Site Supporter
clackers's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Melbourne
Photos: Albums
Posts: 16,394
QuoteOriginally posted by ThorSanchez Quote
On the autofocus settings I have a question. In the manual on page 63 it lists options under AF Active Area, and the third one down is called "Tracking" with a note that it's not available in movie mode. On the camera there's no such mode, or at least I can't figure it out. I can cycle through Auto, Zone, the various select sizes, spot, but nothing called tracking? Is tracking automatic, if so why does tracking appear to be a mode in the manual?
You're looking at the Live View section of the manual, Thor. Tracking has *always* been one of the options.

In the OVF, 'Expanded Area' has always been the tracking method. It's what I use for sports and action.

Here's a gentleman running past me a couple of months ago with the K-1:

05-10-2021, 04:58 AM - 1 Like   #10
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2012
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,787
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by clackers Quote
You're looking at the Live View section of the manual, Thor. Tracking has *always* been one of the options.

In the OVF, 'Expanded Area' has always been the tracking method. It's what I use for sports and action.

Here's a gentleman running past me a couple of months ago with the K-1:
Yes, c.a.m. explained that previously. But the manual could be clearer. The OVF section doesn't mention the word "tracking" until the third page, and even then doesn't tie it to any specific AF Active Area.
05-10-2021, 05:31 AM - 2 Likes   #11
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Dec 2012
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,787
Original Poster
Yesterday I tried a few different things from the opening post. Shake reduction to Panning. AF Hold to Off. It was a 6:30pm kickoff and overcast so the light was rather poor, especially as the game went on.

But here's a sequence I think I would have missed with the K-3 II. I'm standing on the sidelines, probably having a conversation, and suddenly my kid is right there, coming at me fast to play a ball. I throw the camera up to my eye, hit the back button and fire off three quick shots. I'd already lowered shutter speed from 1/1250th to 1/800th because of the light. The first frame has a bit of blur (the forum has posted them backwards in time), might be motion blur. But frames two and three are pretty tack sharp on my son. The K-3 Mark III actually kept or caught up using continuous autofocus. I think my older cameras would probably have missed the first frame and had no chance at two and three.
Attached Images
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
05-10-2021, 06:14 AM   #12
Veteran Member




Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 1,727
Interesting thread. I'll come back to this once I have mine. I expect wildlife action setting would be similar.
05-10-2021, 07:30 AM - 2 Likes   #13
New Member




Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 16
I took my K3 Mark III out for a track event with my 55-300 PLM attached. I've attached the untouched photos. I was very happy with the focusing and the hit rate was much better than my K-70. I probably could have done with lower ISO I assumed it would use a range but it seemed to stick to the top end of what I set, I'll need to figure that one out. Next time out I'll set WB to Auto and Exposure to multi-segment. I had received the camera only two days before so not a lot of practice time. Here's the camera setup:

JPEG
Shutter priority 1/1000
center-weight exposure
AF-C Expanded AF(S)
Continuous Shooting (M)
WB-Cloudy
Attached Images
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-3 Mark III  Photo 
05-10-2021, 08:33 AM   #14
Pentaxian
red5isalive's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 659
I just had the pleasure to test one in the Monaco E-Prix 2021, just made a post about it with tones of images

Here it is:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/210-pentax-k-3-iii/424769-pentax-k3-iii-...co-2021-a.html

Last edited by red5isalive; 05-11-2021 at 08:09 AM.
05-10-2021, 09:20 AM - 1 Like   #15
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Belnan's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Nova Scotia
Photos: Albums
Posts: 1,090
QuoteOriginally posted by jdplante71 Quote
I took my K3 Mark III out for a track event with my 55-300 PLM attached. I've attached the untouched photos. I was very happy with the focusing and the hit rate was much better than my K-70. I probably could have done with lower ISO I assumed it would use a range but it seemed to stick to the top end of what I set, I'll need to figure that one out. Next time out I'll set WB to Auto and Exposure to multi-segment. I had received the camera only two days before so not a lot of practice time. Here's the camera setup:

JPEG
Shutter priority 1/1000
center-weight exposure
AF-C Expanded AF(S)
Continuous Shooting (M)
WB-Cloudy
These look good, I can see getting the timing of the long jumper would be a challenge for older af systems.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
af, af-c, aps-c, auto, autofocus, camera, dslr, eye, focus, k-3, k-3 iii, k-3 mark 3, mark, medium, mode, pattern, release, sensor, settings, sports, subject, success, target, track, values
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Albert Siegel tests AF and High ISO for K-III Mark-3 superpowerpinger Pentax K-3 III 19 04-24-2021 10:42 PM
K-3 Mark III -- Images across the full range of ISO settings c.a.m Pentax K-3 III 15 04-19-2021 03:36 PM
Albert Siegel | K-3 Mark III Hands-On Andrej Pentax News and Rumors 578 02-14-2021 06:35 AM
[New product story on 27 November] Product Stories of New APS-C “K-3 Mark III” Vol.6 Mistral75 Pentax News and Rumors 304 01-14-2021 08:54 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:46 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top