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08-06-2009, 04:42 PM   #1
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Any sports/action shots with K-7?

It's been five weeks now, and despite scouring this site and the Pentax section on dpreview daily, I've yet to see any action shots with the K-7 proving its AF-C ability. I've seen Falk's test on his blog site and have followed Bunny Gear's thread about AF-C of K-7 being a marketing trick, but so far that's been about it. Surely in this length of time someone has given it a try????

CN

08-06-2009, 06:59 PM   #4
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I am pretty sure that I saw a few of Dimo's shots on the challenge gallery!

Steve

08-06-2009, 07:06 PM   #5
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Arpe and Nostatic:

Thanks for the links.

CN
08-13-2009, 03:46 AM   #6
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@ Arpe

Would it be psooible for you to tell us how you feel the K7 performs better than the K20 or indeed K10d. I'm an avids sports photographer and need lots of reasons to get one or my Mrs will never give in.

Thanks
08-13-2009, 05:17 AM   #7
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I don't know if it was shot in AF-C but our own Mel just won the Pentax Sports Challenge on dpreview with this photo shot with her K7...

Right Hook: Challenges: Digital Photography Review

Mike

08-13-2009, 08:18 AM   #8
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A quick shot I took yesterday evening while playing with the K-7 and my new 360FGZ flash. I had just bought the flash earlier that day.

Not a great shot but it was my first ever try with a flash. I'm looking forward to using this combo for more biking shots.

I think the AF-C works well.



Hopefully I'll get some more action shots this weekend.

Richard
08-13-2009, 05:37 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by mike3legs Quote
@ Arpe

Would it be psooible for you to tell us how you feel the K7 performs better than the K20 or indeed K10d. I'm an avids sports photographer and need lots of reasons to get one or my Mrs will never give in.

Thanks
I haven't used K10D so this is in relation to the K20D.

The main one, and the biggie, is faster AF. It's impossible to zoom and focus at the same time, so AF is a must for what I do.

The higher fps is a bonus, not a must, a bonus. I have definitely got more usable shots because of it. Combined with the faster AF it's great.

Those 2 reasons alone were enough to upgrade for me. But other bounuses are that its smaller and lighter - carrying it sideline is easier, especially for a whole game. I prefer to carry and not use a monopod if the light is good.

You can go through the other specs and see what you would use to add weight to your cause!
08-14-2009, 02:17 PM   #10
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i'll be busy for the next few days so I won't have a chance to write it up properly with examples for a while but the Predictive AF definitely works on the K-7. I tested it against K20 with a bicycle coming down at hill at 20mph. I used both bodies and I used DA*200/2.8, FA*300/2.8, and DA*50-135/2.8. The results are not 100% perfect but the K20 had almost 0% in focus shots while the k-7 had anywhere from 50% - 100% in focus shots depending on the lens and the particular run. The fps takes a huge hit in this mode but it is sufficient - I need to double check but I think k20 and k7 had almost the same frame rate during these tests.

Although 20mph is not super fast, the closing rate (distance between rider and camera) on the tight crop shots I was taking is extremely fast. Remember camera focusing is not linear so tight crops focused all the way down to minimum focus distance is quite difficult. People shooting race cars and motorcycles do not stand directly in front of the vehicle so closing rates are usually significantly less and the DOF is usually greater.

edit
here's a quick and dirty look - all shots wide open (F2.8) at ISO 100
K20



K-7


Last edited by cwood; 08-14-2009 at 02:33 PM.
08-14-2009, 03:20 PM   #11
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I can't testify to the K-7, but I've shot drifting events with a K100D mostly, and a K20d once

the AF-C has always worked great, only drawback has been the lense speed, not the camera.

08-14-2009, 10:06 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gaelen Quote
I can't testify to the K-7, but I've shot drifting events with a K100D mostly, and a K20d once

the AF-C has always worked great, only drawback has been the lense speed, not the camera.
]
I have to disagree with the statement on lens speed. The DOF in your shot is huge and the closing rate on that car relative to you is not that great. Look at how far the lens has to move to go from Infinity to 5 meters on your lens (not very far). You don't need a fast lens or a fast camera to make that shot work - you just need a skilled photographer. People have always said that Pentax lenses were slow because of the example I showed with the K20 (any target approaching you at moderate speed will ALWAYS be OOF on k20 using AF.c if the DOF is narrow). I have always believed that the Pentax lenses were "fast enough" (I would not call them fast) but that the lack of predictive AF in the camera was the weak link in the system. My tests with the k-7 prove my point. The DOF in that shot is about 12 inches and it still came out razor sharp.
08-14-2009, 11:00 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gaelen Quote
I can't testify to the K-7, but I've shot drifting events with a K100D mostly, and a K20d once

the AF-C has always worked great, only drawback has been the lense speed, not the camera.

That's with the K100D??

That's hawt.
08-15-2009, 04:09 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by MRRiley Quote
I don't know if it was shot in AF-C but our own Mel just won the Pentax Sports Challenge on dpreview with this photo shot with her K7...

Right Hook: Challenges: Digital Photography Review

Mike
AF-C, burst mode.
08-15-2009, 07:37 AM   #15
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Richard & Kunik: Thanks for posting your samples of the K-7 in action in AF-C.

Mel: Congratulations on your win.

One question to the three of you: I seem to recall having read somewhere that the K-7 slows to about 2 fps when using AF-C in burst mode. Does that sound about right? I don't know which is better (or worse?). Getting 50% in focus at 2 fps or 20% in focus at 5 fps. I guess it's the old "Is the glass half full or is it half empty" quandry.

CN
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