Originally posted by er1kksen If you check the most detailed EXIF data you can find, you'll find that Pentax DSLRs are in fact aware of the focus distance they're set at. When the lens cannot find focus, infinity is the logical point for the camera to reset the lens to (not just for pentax, I used this trick with my olympus as well).
Thank you for clarifying that -
that's very useful information.
EDIT to ADD -
sorry to come back - but I think we're both wrong in certain aspects.
Because I was still somewhat dubious I did an experiment.
I used the K-x with 18-55mm kit lens (mk 1)
First I tried your method used AF on the featureless sky and the K-x obviously could NOT focus and stopped - flashing the green hex sign indicating inability to focus. Being careful not to touch anything on the lens I flipped the switch to MF to be able to take this shot - crop shown:
EXIF still attached (caveat: PhotoBucket can drop metadata)
crop from PhotoME on this shot:
note the highlighted distance.
Now I focused on the tree in the center:
EXIF attached - clearly this is "different"
crop from PhotoME of this shot:
notice the distance info looks exactly the same as the shot above - and yet clearly the shots are different - and quite noticeably.
The first shows that the K-x managed to set the lens to something other than infinity - probably
PAST infinity - the AF sounded like it stopped at the end stop (at the infinity end).
So I had to check - set the K-x on MF (Manual Focus) put the focusing ring to the infinity end stop, and took this shot:
EXIF attached
crop from PhotoME of this shot
notice the distance info looks exactly the same as the two shots above
Yet all three shots are different - this one is only very slightly different from the No Focus shot - so I would hazard a guess (and it is only a guess) that the K-x when it cannot focus places the lens at or near the infinity end stop?
So I was wrong my kit 18-55mm Mk 1 seems to be able to focus past infinity -
BUT the K-x does not seem to be able to find true infinity when it cannot focus -
and stops at or near the infinity end stop.
So coming back on topic -
advice now to the person who could not set or focus on infinity -
is to flip the K-x to MF and look for a distant object like the stars in the sky
and use one's eyes to manually focus the lens.