Oh look, another Pentax AF thread ...
Originally posted by FantasticMrFox but even if they put their best tech in there they wouldn't reach Nikon's AF (and probably flash system too) ...
As an owner of two Nikon DSLR's, I don't understand all this mythologizing of Nikon's AF. Depending on the lens, the light, the subject, Nikon AF can perform better, or worse, or the same as Pentax AF.
Plus I'm sure Ricoh's engineers are as clever as Nikon's (probably went to the same universities). If it was a management priority, and the resources flowed, Ricoh could probably blow Nikon's AF right out of the water.
Originally posted by FantasticMrFox: Pentax' major problem is that when a subject comes towards the camera the latter acquires focus, waits until the subject has left the focus plane, jumps ahead to acquire focus again, loses focus again.
Performance there can depend on your AF settings. If you shoot with centre-point AF, for example, you can't rely on the other surrounding AF points to assist you with depth information needed for predictive tracking. Similarly, if your metering has been set to spot with a K-3, you can't rely on the 86k RGB metering sensor to feed colour movement information as an input into your AF tracking algorithm either. Same problems are evident in Nikon '3D tracking' or Canon's 'AI Servo AF'. Predictive motion tracking is hard, and relies on multiple camera inputs to help make it work.
Originally posted by bobbotron I think that a lot of photographers don't appreciate there's also a lot of skill to operate AF well. Tracking your subject, getting a good lock, waiting until focus is acquired before taking the shot.
Indeed. Even Nikon D500 shooters will get poor results if they don't do the basics.
Originally posted by adjutant I'm not sure, will need to do some research into what they mean exactly.
Study a Canon 1DX (and newer) auto-focus settings guide or white paper. The K-3/K-3II/K-1 options and concepts will look familiar.
Not that Pentax AF is perfect. Their technology certainly needs to keep evolving, and it would be nice indeed if Ricoh could more aggressively apply their corporate resources to make Pentax AF work a lot better.