[CarterFoto]

I am gradually learning about the K-1 that continues to amaze and impress. Here's a question about focusing that someone may be able to answer.

Shooting two people side by side, heads and shoulders, the autofocus went for a wall behind and the subjects were out of focus.

Is there a way to aim for the off-centre subject using a spot area in the centre, hold on the half-pressure to lock that focus, move back slightly to the main composition and then fire the shutter.

I'd rather do all this in the viewfinder rather than holding the camera away from the eye, especially with candid and/or hand-held shots. I'm sure that this situation applied to many shots.

[biz-engineer]

Shooting two people side by side, heads and shoulders, the autofocus went for a wall behind and the subjects were out of focus.

Using the optical viewfinder, at least three ways:
-> Using the back buttons AF for focusing, recompose and press the shutter button for shutter only (you may still have a little focus error after having moved the camera)
-> Using single point selection AF: using the 4 ways controller, you move the AF point to where you what the camera to focus (you can also use 9 AF points and move this 9 AF point group around, but using 1 single point is better if you want to focus on a small area).
-> Using the IR remote (if the camera is on a tripod) having two separate buttons: 1 AF button for focusing, recompose, press the 1 button on the remote for shooting

In Live View mode (press LV button), at least two ways:
- Use face detect AF frame (you can resize the AF zone in which the camera seeks a face), it will show you a yellow square on the face of the person, press the shutter button fully, it will focus on the face, the yellow square will turn green when focus is achieved and the camera will take the shot.
- Use the AF tacking mode (still in LV mode), have the little center square on the face you want to focus by half press of the shutter button, keep the shutter half pressed and move the camera to recompose, the AF square will stay on the face you want to focus on. Once you have move the camera to recompose, release the pressure off the shutter button and then press it down again fully, the camera will correct any missfocus at target and take the shot.

I like the face detection, I took portraits of myself with the IR remote, the camera figured out where my face was, focused on it and took the shot. I even wanted to use the interval shooting for capturing multiple posses withou me having to hold the IR remote, and using LV face detection but face detection doesn't work in interval shooting mode. So, I use the normal interval shooting mode with refocus for each frame option and the camera did the job of the photographer, I was the model.

Maybe there are other ways to guarantee good focus, other pentaxians to comment/correct/complete.

[MarkJerling]

I am gradually learning about the K-1 that continues to amaze and impress. Here's a question about focusing that someone may be able to answer.

Shooting two people side by side, heads and shoulders, the autofocus went for a wall behind and the subjects were out of focus.

Is there a way to aim for the off-centre subject using a spot area in the centre, hold on the half-pressure to lock that focus, move back slightly to the main composition and then fire the shutter.

I'd rather do all this in the viewfinder rather than holding the camera away from the eye, especially with candid and/or hand-held shots. I'm sure that this situation applied to many shots.

As long as you're set at AF-S, then, yes, no problem with focus and recompose. I do it all the time and have done so since the days of one single AF point.

[CarterFoto]

Using the optical viewfinder, at least three ways:
-> Using the back buttons AF for focusing, recompose and press the shutter button for shutter only (you may still have a little focus error after having moved the camera)
-> Using single point selection AF: using the 4 ways controller, you move the AF point to where you what the camera to focus (you can also use 9 AF points and move this 9 AF point group around, but using 1 single point is better if you want to focus on a small area).
-> Using the IR remote (if the camera is on a tripod) having two separate buttons: 1 AF button for focusing, recompose, press the 1 button on the remote for shooting

In Live View mode (press LV button), at least two ways:
- Use face detect AF frame (you can resize the AF zone in which the camera seeks a face), it will show you a yellow square on the face of the person, press the shutter button fully, it will focus on the face, the yellow square will turn green when focus is achieved and the camera will take the shot.
- Use the AF tacking mode (still in LV mode), have the little center square on the face you want to focus by half press of the shutter button, keep the shutter half pressed and move the camera to recompose, the AF square will stay on the face you want to focus on. Once you have move the camera to recompose, release the pressure off the shutter button and then press it down again fully, the camera will correct any missfocus at target and take the shot.

I like the face detection, I took portraits of myself with the IR remote, the camera figured out where my face was, focused on it and took the shot. I even wanted to use the interval shooting for capturing multiple posses withou me having to hold the IR remote, and using LV face detection but face detection doesn't work in interval shooting mode. So, I use the normal interval shooting mode with refocus for each frame option and the camera did the job of the photographer, I was the model.

Maybe there are other ways to guarantee good focus, other pentaxians to comment/correct/complete.

Many thanks for the swift reply; I will give these a go.

[Dericali]

You can also set the shutter half press for focus, and the AF back button to put the camera into manual focus.

This prevents the camera refocusing after you have made the initial focus selection (e.g. if you want to use AF-C).