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06-18-2022, 07:31 AM   #1
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Autofocus not working once in a while

Hello guys,

How are you with these crazy temperature ?

For those who own a K3 marklll :

Is your AF not working sometimes ?

It's not often but mine is having this issue...

I bought it in February and since I bought it, it did this maybe 20 times...

I have to say that I am a professionnal and right now (like this winter ) I am taking like 2000-5000 pictures per day (sport photography) so maybe that's why...

Things like this are not possible when you are a professionnal so if this an issue of this camera, I think I will change brand, even if I love Pentax

Thank you so much for your help


Bye

06-18-2022, 07:57 AM   #2
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Hard question to answer because there are quite a few possible causes. Lack of light, motion of the subject while auto-focusing, small aperture when auto-focusing (low speed lens), confusing foreground (e.g. screen wire), and dirt on AF sensor to name a few. Sports photography is pretty demanding to begin with and it's not uncommon to have a few "out of focus" shots when so many are being taken under these conditions. And, yes, I have had some blurry shots with my K-1 (usually my fault) and I'm not doing sports.
06-18-2022, 09:39 AM   #3
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Some years ago I had my K1 refuse to focus on occasions, but still would display lens information, I cleaned contacts and never had an issue since. No idea if the problem is the same on K3 III. I believe the K mount is more sensitive to dirt and moisture than other lens mount, due to camera-lens contacts being flush and not recessed, that's why I believe K mount contacts should be cleaned regularly either with dry tissue or light alcohol to remove metallic/oxide residue.

Last edited by biz-engineer; 06-18-2022 at 09:51 AM.
06-18-2022, 10:54 AM   #4
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I haven't got that camera and will have little insight. But I will point you to this somewhat recent thread, which seems closely related. Maybe you can get something useful from there.
Also, although I doubt it will solve your issue, it might be worth checking out this article from the front page, and the related thread, by knowledgeable member @Kobie . They are all about autofocus on the K3iii.

06-18-2022, 01:01 PM   #5
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Not knowing your combo that you are having a problem with I will relay my issue. I discovered that while using the K3m3 with the DA 1.4 TC with the DA* 60-250, I will very occasionally have AF failure. Cleaning the contacts or remounting the lens got everything working again, but I have decided this was a red herring. After fiddling with the lens I was able to recreate the problem. Apparently when I twist the zoom ring if I put too much twist on the overall lens (ie if you twist the lens body and not the ring) and TC I must put enough twist to have at least a temporary disconnect the contacts on on the two sets of contacts. I cannot cause the problem with the TC and my 55-300 PLM (or any other combo I tried). I can only assume that there is some manufacturing tolerance issue with my specific combo only. Jiggling the lens gets everything back working without remounting or cleaning. Now I just make sure I am not sloppy and grabbing more than just the zoom ring.

Bob
06-18-2022, 01:50 PM   #6
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It does not seem to be an ongoing occurrence if it has happened only 20 times within thousands and thousands of pictures as you mentioned you take as a sports photographer. As has been mentioned the circumstances can be possibly related to which type of lens you may be using or contact conditions or may not. I use a Sigma 150-500 for Pentax with my K-5 IIs and in some circumstances depending on how much contrast is in the subject area, if there is not any contrast, the lens does not have very much to look for, so it will not make a move until I try to take a shot with some contrast in it. If you shoot in Winter as you mentioned, the snow will sometimes give that effect. For example, I was on a beach one day and was taking some shots of a large bird by the shore. When I tried to AF on its side where the feathers were like a brown mass, the lens would not do anything, and when I focused on where the scene presented more contrast the lens operated fine. If you test on some simple subjects with normal contrast in near normal light and you do not experience AF freeze, I would say that you do not have a problem with your camera, and that it is just subject area circumstances as I mentioned and have experienced myself. Especially in Winter when the white blowout areas are present a lot and the snow is reflecting a lot of white light, the contrast is just not there. It is like focusing a white cloud which does not show much differentiation. So, if you test as I mentioned and do not have a persistent problem, I would say that what you are experiencing is normal and you do not have an ongoing problem with your equipment. Another example of AF not focusing on a subject may be when a user tries to focus on a uniform that is a mass of one color, which causes the lens to not have much of a contrast subject to look for. I use "Spot" AF and that happens to me once in a while, but definitely is normal, and I continue to use "Spot" AF and find no fault in my equipment.

Last edited by C_Jones; 06-18-2022 at 02:07 PM.
06-18-2022, 07:03 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rikoo Lah Quote
Hello guys,

How are you with these crazy temperature ?

For those who own a K3 marklll :

Is your AF not working sometimes ?

It's not often but mine is having this issue...

I bought it in February and since I bought it, it did this maybe 20 times...

I have to say that I am a professionnal and right now (like this winter ) I am taking like 2000-5000 pictures per day (sport photography) so maybe that's why...

Things like this are not possible when you are a professionnal so if this an issue of this camera, I think I will change brand, even if I love Pentax

Thank you so much for your help


Bye
A good bit more information from you might help some of us help diagnose your problem. For instance how do you have your autofocus set up? Continuous I assume since you say you are taking 2000 to 5000 shots per day. The way you have your autofocus active area setup can make a tremendous difference in how your camera responds. 20 misses in even just 2000 to 5000 shots is actually a very good miss rate even for most cameras. More setup information would really help.

Larry

06-18-2022, 07:55 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rikoo Lah Quote
For those who own a K3 marklll :

Is your AF not working sometimes ?

It's not often but mine is having this issue...
I'm still learning my K3 III, but I find it is much too easy to toggle/move/select the focus areas by bumping the joy stick. I assume/hope (I have not looked this up yet) that this can be disabled - but make sure you have not set/bumped your focus areas to somewhere you are not expecting!
06-18-2022, 08:29 PM   #9
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The auto focus on my K-3iii flaked out all the time. The camera doesn't even select an auto focus point yet still takes a photograph. With the Focus Priority selected and drive lens to acquire focus. Seems to happen the most when the subject falls in the huge gaps between the auto focus points. But it also just doesn't even know what to focus on sometimes and either randomly assigns an auto focus point or it defaults to the closest object to focus on.


Don't even use my K-3iii anymore. Went back to the KP if I have to shoot Pentax and I swap between Fuji and Nikon for daily carry cameras and both of those are way behind Canon and Sony in terms of autofocus and they still make my K-3iii seem like ancient technology.
06-19-2022, 04:40 AM   #10
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Make sure you have the latest firmware in the camera. You can find it here: Software Downloads : Support & Service | RICOH IMAGING
06-19-2022, 08:02 AM   #11
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So if you take 2000-5000 shots per day, you got around 250000 shots, and you missed just 20? I would call this exceptionally good. Getting that many shots I would think is also testament for the quality of the camera, since you indicated that you still use it.
06-19-2022, 08:26 AM   #12
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Would help if you let us know what happens when the autofocus doesn't work.
Sounds like several members are taking you to mean that just it misses focus on some shots. I'm guessing that's not what you mean.

Obviously if you're a pro trying to capture important moments that you can't get back, the camera/lens freezing randomly is unacceptable. I don't think people here would really tell you just to live with that.

More info about specifics of your problem might help us better figure out what's going on.
06-19-2022, 03:24 PM - 1 Like   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by biz-engineer Quote
Some years ago I had my K1 refuse to focus on occasions, but still would display lens information, I cleaned contacts and never had an issue since. No idea if the problem is the same on K3 III. I believe the K mount is more sensitive to dirt and moisture than other lens mount, due to camera-lens contacts being flush and not recessed, that's why I believe K mount contacts should be cleaned regularly either with dry tissue or light alcohol to remove metallic/oxide residue.
Thanks,

This seems to be like the issue I have because it's not that the focus is not on my subject lke other people think ( I must have describe the issue in the wrong way) but more that the camera won't focus at all. The knob is not responding so I need to turn it off and on again!

I will clean my contacts

Thanks again
06-20-2022, 01:05 AM   #14
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The DFA150-450 and the DFA70-200 will under certain circumstances loose contact with the body. The lens mount on these lenses had a slightly different design than the rest of the lenses.
What lens/lenses do you have the issue with?
06-20-2022, 02:13 AM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Tjompen1968 Quote
The DFA150-450 and the DFA70-200 will under certain circumstances loose contact with the body. The lens mount on these lenses had a slightly different design than the rest of the lenses.
???? Do you have a link to this so that I can read more about it?
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