There's quite a bit of discussion of jpeg settings in this thread. IME, high ISO NR and Image Tone (Bright, Landscape, sharpness, contrast, etc) have no effect on the camera's responsiveness. "Lens Correction" however, slows the camera down and should be off for action shots.
Shake Reduction needs to spool up before the shutter is released, otherwise the sensor is in motion and will blur the shot. The K-3 has programming to shut off SR when panning is detected, then restarts when panning stops. Again, if it is cycling while you shoot, you will have motion blur. Pentax clearly intends SR to be off for panning, and action shooting requires high shutter speeds to freeze motion. SR can hurt and is not needed with a high shutter speed, so should be off for birds in flight. (You may want to use it for panning shots like racing, or sports, where a lower shutter speed is used to deliberately show motion blur.) I do not use Horizon Leveling for action shots, for the same reason as SR. I don't want the camera moving the sensor while I am taking a shot. Of course the blur filter should be off for sharpness and speed. There's no reason, nor time, for these sensor features during action shooting.
Originally posted by C_Jones "Spot" AF Point,
Confining AF to a single point in AF-C mode prevents the camera from tracking the subject, and a bird in flight moves too quickly to keep a single point directly on its head. Expanded Area must be used to enable the camera's tracking algorithms and Real Time Scene Analysis. With Expanded Area AF, you only need to ensure that the first shot is spot on your intended target, and the camera will step in to ensure that point remains the target, even when it wanders from the center.
Select-area expansion* Choose one of 27 AF points to focus on the subject, and the K-3 automatically tracks the subject and refocuses on it with the help of the neighboring points, even when it moves away from the initial point Auto tracking** to trace the subject’s movement in tandem with the new scene analysis system The PENTAX Real-time Scene Analysis System accurately detects the color, shape and movement of a subject, and keeps monitoring it throughout the imaging process. With the help of this innovative system, the K-3 automatically shifts the AF point to trace the subject’s movement with great speed and precision. Thanks to a wide AF area covered by 27 AF points, it maintains the sharp focus on the subject, even when it’s moving at high speed or when you are using the high-speed continuous shooting mode. Feature 2?K-3 | RICOH IMAGING Originally posted by C_Jones "Spot" metering
IMO spot metering is best confined to AF-S mode, and used with AE-Lock. Shooting a white bird with spot metering will underexpose, a black bird will overexpose. I suggest Matrix metering and +0.5EV as a default, but may require brightness adjustment in post-processing. I was formerly using Center-Weighted metering, but someone suggested to use Matrix metering to fully enable the camera's 86K RGB sensor and Real Time Scene Analysis for predictive tracking. I believe that advice has merit. (Thanks rawr
)
86,000-pixel RGB light-metering sensor for extra-accurate detection of the subject’s shape and color An image captured by the K-3’s RGB light-metering sensor with approximately 86,000 pixels resembles a Live View image. Unlike conventional metering sensors which measure the subject’s light level only, it even measures the subject’s primary color and its motion with great precision, then feeds the obtained data instantly to the PENTAX Real-time Scene Analysis System. Feature 1?K-3 | RICOH IMAGING Originally posted by C_Jones "FPS-Priority"
I only use Focus Priority for BIF. In sports shooting, a slightly misfocussed shot of a critical goal etc, would be better than nothing, but I delete out-of focus bird shots. I'll probably get a dozen or so in-focus shots as it flies by. Also, I want to ensure that my target is being tracked. If my first shot is on the background clouds or trees, and I am using AF Hold, the camera will track the background instead of the target.
Sorry C_Jones, I am not trying to pick on you or your choices. I just wanted to present my reasoning so people would understand why I choose these settings. I have shot thousands of BIF images. I've spent hours in practice, throwing bread to gulls and ducks and shooting them as they fly around me. I've researched settings to use on the net and tried them in the field. You will not hear me complaining about K-3 tracking, these settings work acceptably well for me. Of course having a lens that can focus with speed and precision like my DA*300 and HD DA 55-300mm PLM helps. Results were less satisfactory with previous versions of the 55-300mm. Then again, how many images of a bird in flight does one need? I usually only keep one or two from each sequence.
I would like to see an improvement in initial focus acquisition speed for the next flagship body.