Originally posted by Zafar Iqbal Yet I think it pretty clear the 3rd pic hows the focus is in the air somewhere between the street light and bus stop
The scene tell is so complex, there are just way too many variables to know what happened. That's what I mean about a basically flawed methodology. There is simply no way to know where the camera tried to focus, and hence no way to evaluate the results.
Quote: The K-5 was back focusing by so much, that I couldn't bring the focus in front of the building or even just right on it
Absolute nonsense. Again, the effect of focus adjustment is to move the focal plane by a matter of millimeters - maybe an inch or two t that distance. But the DOF would completely cover that effect. If an object at that distance is out of focus, it is not and can never be due to any sort of focus error that adjustment can fix - it is simply a case of the camera not reading your mind about where you *wanted* it to focus. Again, completely flawed testing methodology. Any change you saw after focus adjustment is not evidence of the success or lack thereof of your adjustment - it is evidence of how poorly controlled your tests were.
Basically, you realy need to come to grips with how to control where the camera is trying to focus - merely pointing in the general direction of something is never a guarantee with any camera. Sometimes the camera guesses right, sometimes not. Such is life with autofocus.
You also need to come to grips with DOF and field curvature, as these two effects explain why your efforts at focusing and decomposing are not always successful. Again, not due to any flaw in the camera, but just simple physics.