autofocus on K-5

vanyagor · 12-29-2014, 04:01 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by bleuwater

Thank you everyone for your responses. I have not tried doing any tests on my camera or lenses yet, so I will look into that. I also plan to take it into to get cleaned. My lenses are, 18-135mm, 50mm 1.8, and I just recently purchased the 43mm, and the 77mm lens. I have 3 examples I quickly took out of my iPhoto trash, they all happen to be taken with the 43mm, but I have the same issue with whichever lens I am using which is why I've been thinking it was a camera issue, or of course a photographer issue haha, as I've still got a lot to learn. I have definitely played with all the autofocus points, and that helps, but when I'm just hoping to trust my central autofocus , for a quick photo. I really find I can't.

bleuwater, the mis-focusing in your pictures is extreme, judging from the EXIFs your focusing point was on AUTO if I am not mistaken. My guess is that the camera just focused on the background like in the first pic. I never let my K-5 (or any other camera of that generation or older) choose the focusing point, it is not good at guessing where I want it to focus. Try to set your focus point always to the center (like I do) or use manual selection of the focus point and see if you still get any mis-focused shots.

r0ckstarr · 12-29-2014, 02:17 PM

I have a K-5 and have absolutely no complaints about the AF. Learn how to use it properly, and you won't either.

**savoche** · 12-29-2014, 02:45 PM

Originally posted by vanyagor

bleuwater, the mis-focusing in your pictures is extreme, judging from the EXIFs your focusing point was on AUTO if I am not mistaken. My guess is that the camera just focused on the background like in the first pic. I never let my K-5 (or any other camera of that generation or older) choose the focusing point, it is not good at guessing where I want it to focus. Try to set your focus point always to the center (like I do) or use manual selection of the focus point and see if you still get any mis-focused shots.

I think you're onto something. I have never had any issues with the AF on the K-5 - under any conditions, really, although tungsten lights are rare these days. The focus points could have been smaller (the main improvement with the K-3 IMO), but I don't think that's an issue in this case.

aleonx3 · 12-29-2014, 03:37 PM

Originally posted by vanyagor

bleuwater, the mis-focusing in your pictures is extreme, judging from the EXIFs your focusing point was on AUTO if I am not mistaken. My guess is that the camera just focused on the background like in the first pic. I never let my K-5 (or any other camera of that generation or older) choose the focusing point, it is not good at guessing where I want it to focus. Try to set your focus point always to the center (like I do) or use manual selection of the focus point and see if you still get any mis-focused shots.

A common mistake that beginners usually make is to let the camera choose focus point(s), and complain that the camera is not focusing on the subject that was intended. There is a lot to be learned here but it is not always the camera/lens to be blamed because like many things cameras/lenses are manufactured within certain tolerance.

We all know that k-3 has better AF system than k-5, but that is not the point here.... even if you (the OP) get the latest and greatest (even a Nikon D810), you may still run into problems such as these. The OP needs to determine if there is a FF or BF issue with the lens/camera.

jonlg · 12-30-2014, 07:11 PM - **2 Likes**

For what it's worth I had a K5 and upgraded to a K3 a week ago. I just shot 250 pictures of my wife in the studio this evening on the K3 and every single one was spot on for focus on her eyes using centre point/spot focussing. That was never the case when I used the K5 in the same room and I would expect perhaps 5-10% to have missed focus even using center spot focussing.

I have no real explanation for why but here's some thoughts:

K5 is less positive at focussing generally and the rear screen isn't always clear enough to spot the fact focus is slightly out.
K5 central focus point is apparently bigger so in fact lining up on the eyes the camera might actually focus on something nearby like the nose and wide open that can be an issue

The main reason I upgraded was in fact my annoyance at some great shots blighted by poor focussing. I also suffered big problems with a brand new Pentax 12-24 DA F4.0 with constant hunting so bad that I resorted to manual focussing on the K5. Happy to report that the lens behaves perfectly so far on the K3. I also think that the K3 images look quite a bit sharper than the K5 in studio when pixel peeping. Now the K5 is a really good camera which can take superb pictures so I'm certainly not dismissing it out of hand and in fact I'm keeping mine as a back-up body. I do think it has glorious colour reproduction, excellent metering, great handling and in areas like that it's a match for the K3. It's probably better than the K3 at revealing shadow detail - especially when pushing shadows in Lightroom but in my limited (1 week) experience with the K3 it is in a different league in the area of focussing.

Hope that's helpful,

Jonlg

Flugelbinder · 12-31-2014, 06:40 AM

Originally posted by jonlg

...Hope that's helpful,

Jonlg...

In a way...

Sometimes I can see the focus snapping somewhere else, and I will correct for it, but it's still not ideal...

kadajawi · 01-01-2015, 09:54 AM

Originally posted by robthebloke

Live view autofocus doesn't really help (unless someone knows of a way for it to use anything other than the central point?). Certainly zooming in makes any problems clearer, but it doesn't solve the accuracy issues in my experience.

Not sure if it has been answered in the past 2 pages, but you change it just the same way you do with the regular focus points.

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12-29-2014, 04:01 AM - 1 Like	#31
vanyagor Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Boston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 177	Originally posted by bleuwater Thank you everyone for your responses. I have not tried doing any tests on my camera or lenses yet, so I will look into that. I also plan to take it into to get cleaned. My lenses are, 18-135mm, 50mm 1.8, and I just recently purchased the 43mm, and the 77mm lens. I have 3 examples I quickly took out of my iPhoto trash, they all happen to be taken with the 43mm, but I have the same issue with whichever lens I am using which is why I've been thinking it was a camera issue, or of course a photographer issue haha, as I've still got a lot to learn. I have definitely played with all the autofocus points, and that helps, but when I'm just hoping to trust my central autofocus , for a quick photo. I really find I can't. bleuwater, the mis-focusing in your pictures is extreme, judging from the EXIFs your focusing point was on AUTO if I am not mistaken. My guess is that the camera just focused on the background like in the first pic. I never let my K-5 (or any other camera of that generation or older) choose the focusing point, it is not good at guessing where I want it to focus. Try to set your focus point always to the center (like I do) or use manual selection of the focus point and see if you still get any mis-focused shots.

12-29-2014, 02:17 PM	#32
r0ckstarr Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Texas Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,507	I have a K-5 and have absolutely no complaints about the AF. Learn how to use it properly, and you won't either.

12-29-2014, 02:45 PM	#33
savoche Master of the obvious Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Lowlands of Norway Posts: 18,311	Originally posted by vanyagor bleuwater, the mis-focusing in your pictures is extreme, judging from the EXIFs your focusing point was on AUTO if I am not mistaken. My guess is that the camera just focused on the background like in the first pic. I never let my K-5 (or any other camera of that generation or older) choose the focusing point, it is not good at guessing where I want it to focus. Try to set your focus point always to the center (like I do) or use manual selection of the focus point and see if you still get any mis-focused shots. I think you're onto something. I have never had any issues with the AF on the K-5 - under any conditions, really, although tungsten lights are rare these days. The focus points could have been smaller (the main improvement with the K-3 IMO), but I don't think that's an issue in this case.

12-29-2014, 03:37 PM	#34
aleonx3 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Brampton, Ontario Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,996	Originally posted by vanyagor bleuwater, the mis-focusing in your pictures is extreme, judging from the EXIFs your focusing point was on AUTO if I am not mistaken. My guess is that the camera just focused on the background like in the first pic. I never let my K-5 (or any other camera of that generation or older) choose the focusing point, it is not good at guessing where I want it to focus. Try to set your focus point always to the center (like I do) or use manual selection of the focus point and see if you still get any mis-focused shots. A common mistake that beginners usually make is to let the camera choose focus point(s), and complain that the camera is not focusing on the subject that was intended. There is a lot to be learned here but it is not always the camera/lens to be blamed because like many things cameras/lenses are manufactured within certain tolerance. We all know that k-3 has better AF system than k-5, but that is not the point here.... even if you (the OP) get the latest and greatest (even a Nikon D810), you may still run into problems such as these. The OP needs to determine if there is a FF or BF issue with the lens/camera.

12-30-2014, 07:11 PM - 2 Likes	#35
jonlg Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: West Sussex Posts: 128	For what it's worth I had a K5 and upgraded to a K3 a week ago. I just shot 250 pictures of my wife in the studio this evening on the K3 and every single one was spot on for focus on her eyes using centre point/spot focussing. That was never the case when I used the K5 in the same room and I would expect perhaps 5-10% to have missed focus even using center spot focussing. I have no real explanation for why but here's some thoughts: K5 is less positive at focussing generally and the rear screen isn't always clear enough to spot the fact focus is slightly out. K5 central focus point is apparently bigger so in fact lining up on the eyes the camera might actually focus on something nearby like the nose and wide open that can be an issue The main reason I upgraded was in fact my annoyance at some great shots blighted by poor focussing. I also suffered big problems with a brand new Pentax 12-24 DA F4.0 with constant hunting so bad that I resorted to manual focussing on the K5. Happy to report that the lens behaves perfectly so far on the K3. I also think that the K3 images look quite a bit sharper than the K5 in studio when pixel peeping. Now the K5 is a really good camera which can take superb pictures so I'm certainly not dismissing it out of hand and in fact I'm keeping mine as a back-up body. I do think it has glorious colour reproduction, excellent metering, great handling and in areas like that it's a match for the K3. It's probably better than the K3 at revealing shadow detail - especially when pushing shadows in Lightroom but in my limited (1 week) experience with the K3 it is in a different league in the area of focussing. Hope that's helpful, Jonlg

12-31-2014, 06:40 AM	#36
Flugelbinder Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Toronto - missing the ocean Posts: 466	Originally posted by jonlg ...Hope that's helpful, Jonlg... In a way... Sometimes I can see the focus snapping somewhere else, and I will correct for it, but it's still not ideal...

01-01-2015, 09:54 AM	#37
kadajawi Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 2,799	Originally posted by robthebloke Live view autofocus doesn't really help (unless someone knows of a way for it to use anything other than the central point?). Certainly zooming in makes any problems clearer, but it doesn't solve the accuracy issues in my experience. Not sure if it has been answered in the past 2 pages, but you change it just the same way you do with the regular focus points.