[LFLee]

As I said...I don't like having 30-40 percent of my images not able to focus where I point my camera. I had enough! I was literally suffering from Pre-Production Blur Neurosis, where before every shoot I wasn't sure which images that I really would have loved to present to the magazine would be out of focus and my retoucher would have to comp another head on to the body because, when I focussed on the eye of the model the feet would be sharper than the face. I would literally go in to a minor depression before each shoot, not feeling secure that I would get the kind of results I wanted.

When I say blurry, I mean less sharp on the area I focus on than the area I am not focussed on. Now, if you don't believe me, you are at liberty to speak with some of the retouch artists I have worked with. The results were really haphazard. One day I would get 10-20 percent just okay where I expect to be in focus and other days 30-40 percent. I twas never consistent. Even after calibration, my system would not focus as set under different lighting conditions. When I used Canon, the thought of being out of focus was never even a consideration as so few images were out of focus, I would chock it up to pilot error.

No, my new reality is that I showed up to my shoot for ELLE magazine with my Nikon D600, having never used it professionally, set my focus point and shot over 700 images for a 10 page editorial and none of the images were out of focus. I mean "Zero"...

That is all expect of my material. No excuses. No rationals..Just being able to get on with what I was hired to do in the first place.

If Pentax were able to give me that, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I stayed with them through thick and thin and the event that broke the camel's back was when our primary re-touch artist said..."why are so many of your images not very sharp on the face? That's not bad as it makes my job easier..." That is when my Producer said..."enough is enough, you are getting another system. I don't care what, just get something that works! I mean everything is shot at optimal aperture between f5.6 and f11.0 at optimal shutter speeds as well for flash. What else do I have to do? Use a tape measure to execute my focussing? There you have it...That's all folks...Sorry...really very sorry...Ben.

PS...You are an incredible bunch of very, very talented photographers and better than most I have seen on other forums. So do what you do and do it with love, passion and deliberation.

Thanks for stopping by, Ben.
It was just ironic that you are one who shows that "camera is not important, photographer is", and then you switch because the camera is inadequate. Although this is not the words from you but rather the quality of your work that speaks for themselves.

Anyway, hope you continue to share your experience with D600 here, and maybe comparing Nikon and PENTAX system with your experience using the two.
(Also, if you have a chance, try the K5IIs, it is the K5 on steroid)

[snake]

So he was shooting at apertures of 5.6 - 11 in what I guess was perfect lighting conditions... and he was still getting blurred faces... !?
I'm afraid I have to call BS as well.

I respect his choice, but don't put dirt on something that doesn't deserves it...

I'm not a what you might call pro... but even I in less perfect conditions I managed to get a proper focus with my K5...

Before you condemn him and even slander him on behalf of a camera company you don't work for, why not ask the particulars? His answer seems very grounded, but no matter how he answers, he's being beaten up by a bunch of people upset a well-established, highly talented professional photographer left their "team"?

There is no team. These are products, these are toys for the majority of us and a tool for people like him.

There's a chance to turn this around, get info from Ben on the K-5 and how to do what he did and how he finds the D600, but instead, it's a sad insultfest, often fueled by overt, undeniable jealousy.

If Pentax doesn't care, why should anyone else? Especially those that don't work for them?

[mrNewt]

Before you condemn him and even slander him on behalf of a camera company you don't work for, why not ask the particulars? His answer seems very grounded, but no matter how he answers, he's being beaten up by a bunch of people upset a well-established, highly talented professional photographer left their "team"?

There is no team. These are products, these are toys for the majority of us and a tool for people like him.

There's a chance to turn this around, get info from Ben on the K-5 and how to do what he did and how he finds the D600, but instead, it's a sad insultfest, often fueled by overt, undeniable jealousy.

If Pentax doesn't care, why should anyone else? Especially those that don't work for them?

I don't condemn him with anything... I'm sharing my experience and based on those conditions presented, I see almost impossible to miss the shot as I have never had issues with focusing in worse conditions with most probably worse lens... that is all... it just sounds fishy to me.
Maybe something was wrong with that particular camera or lens? Don't know...

As for him choosing a different brand, by all means I have nothing against it nor am I a Pentax brand maniac. In the end what it matters is that he still enjoys his work.

What I was trying to say is not to put dirt on a brand just because of one specific camera. Duds are in all brands and cameras do go bad after hours and hours of abuse/work.
That's all...

[Parallax]

I'm sharing my experience and based on those conditions presented, I see almost impossible to miss the shot as I have never had issues with focusing in worse conditions with most probably worse lens... that is all... it just sounds fishy to me.

What I'm, having trouble with is not claims of "40% missed focus", but with the idea that he would put up with it for 5 (that I know of) years. Maybe it was 40%, maybe it was 4 percent; doesn't matter. I think there's another component to this. We all like getting new things. We all like a change once in a while. Every vehicle I have ever bought was the greatest motor vehicle ever made; the day I bought it. It was of course the biggest piece of junk in existence the day I traded it (for the newest greatest vehicle ever made).
My K20D works exactly as it did the day I replaced my K10D with it; of course it is now a complete piece of junk. After all, if it weren't why would I be wanting K-5 iis?

[mrNewt]

What I'm, having trouble with is not claims of "40% missed focus", but with the idea that he would put up with it for 5 (that I know of) years. Maybe it was 40%, maybe it was 4 percent; doesn't matter. I think there's another component to this. We all like getting new things. We all like a change once in a while. Every vehicle I have ever bought was the greatest motor vehicle ever made; the day I bought it. It was of course the biggest piece of junk in existence the day I traded it (for the newest greatest vehicle ever made).
My K20D works exactly as it did the day I replaced my K10D with it; of course it is now a complete piece of junk. After all, if it weren't why would I be wanting K-5 iis?

I could perfectly understand that as well! Been there, done that...

[Rondec]

What I'm, having trouble with is not claims of "40% missed focus", but with the idea that he would put up with it for 5 (that I know of) years. Maybe it was 40%, maybe it was 4 percent; doesn't matter. I think there's another component to this. We all like getting new things. We all like a change once in a while. Every vehicle I have ever bought was the greatest motor vehicle ever made; the day I bought it. It was of course the biggest piece of junk in existence the day I traded it (for the newest greatest vehicle ever made).
My K20D works exactly as it did the day I replaced my K10D with it; of course it is now a complete piece of junk. After all, if it weren't why would I be wanting K-5 iis?

Absolutely. After so long, I usually get excited about either getting new camera body or new lenses if I haven't gotten one for awhile. But it is fine if Ben wants a D600 or even a D800. I would imagine he can afford the upgrade and truthfully, a couple of lenses is probably all he needs. Nikon has a lot better flash support and would be better for a studio photographer anyway, I would think.

[Parallax]

I would imagine he can afford the upgrade

He is also fortunate to be in the position that few are; the position to legitimately justify the upgrade.

[Nesster]

He is also fortunate to be in the position that few are; the position to legitimately justify the upgrade.

The rest of us have to come up with illegitemate reasons... or as our spouses mutter 'Bastard!'

[Parallax]

or as our spouses mutter 'Bastard!'

And for any of you young, newly married guys out there; "Go ahead, do what ever you want" does NOT mean what it sounds like.

[benjikan]

Benjamin, my daughter is at the other end of photography -- she's takend college courses and now is a photo major at Pace University. Her two complaints about the Pentax K-x were the unreliable focus, and the difficulty she had in exposing with studio lights (even her teacher couldn't figure that one out)... She has been agitating for a Nikon for a while now. Perhaps I was overly brand-loyal, or perhaps I just wasted some dollars, but I bought a K-30 to swap with her -- I use the K-x - to see if that helps.

Unfortunately your experience seems to point the way to Nikon for us as well. My main problem is that if it were just for her a D7000 would be fine (for me, really, also); but as this may be my one opportunity for some years to go full frame, and as I have manual focus (plus film era AF) Nikkors, I'm really tempted to reach for a D600.

If you're not going to be posting here any longer, please let us know your new hang out, as I've always enjoyed your posts and articles.
thanks

You can always communicate with me at Benjamin Kanarek Blog or directly at info@benjaminkanarek.com. As I still own a K5 and K-01 and a couple of lenses (one of which I am selling the venerable Ltd 43mm), that will be used for more leisure oriented photography, perhaps we can chat on occasion.

[the swede]

Good for you Ben! The D600 is fantastic camera...

I switched to D600 with 28/50/85 1.8G lenses a year ago, for reasons very much like yours... except that i photograph my family, a task to important to me that i could not stay with Pentax.

Though, in my enthusiast heart, Pentax still rocks!

[K-9]

Pentax is able to give you that.

In the form of a K-5 II.

Perhaps not for free. But the K-5 II represents excellent value for money and would have been a lot cheaper than a D600 with three new lenses.

It wasn't really necessary to repeat the same story again. It would have been more interesting to learn what happened to the "Medium format" plans, whether the K20Ds caused the same issues, and why you didn't at least try a K-5 II. And why you've put up with this allegedly atrocious AF performance for years and years.

I don't believe he mentioned the autofocus was the issue. He mentioned setting the focus point with his new Nikon, so I infer that he means he set it manually and set those apertures, and still had faces that were not as sharp as the feet. Being a studio portrait photographer, I wouldn't believe he uses autofocus much.

[JinDesu]

I don't believe he mentioned the autofocus was the issue. He mentioned setting the focus point with his new Nikon, so I infer that he means he set it manually and set those apertures, and still had faces that were not as sharp as the feet. Being a studio portrait photographer, I wouldn't believe he uses autofocus much.

"As I said...I don't like having 30-40 percent of my images not able to focus where I point my camera."

It'd be REALLY weird if he was manually focusing given the above statement.

[JimmyDranox]

Frankly, i am not interested at all in mister Karanek character. Neither in his photographic skills. But I know something.

If I were the Pentax manager, I would have given 2 new Pentax to that photographer with no problem. Now, Pentax has made a short-term savings of 2500$, and a long-term loss in front of many potential consumers. For me it is very hard to understand such decisions.

[jsherman999]

Yes I read the entire thread over at DPR and I hold to my comment that no internationally renowned fashion photographer would suffer 30-40% of their shots being OOF and risk losing high profile clients. That's just BS.... But I suspect this guy is a tight-assed Prima Donna that just chucks a dummy spit when he wants to get noticed and/or can't get what he wants. I find his attitude very strange considering that I am not a professional photographer and yet I still don't mind paying for my own gear.

I think this ^^ is going too far.

The original K-5 often did have gross AF issues, IIRC Mike Johnston complained about them, as did a not-insignificant percentage of K-5 buyers on this forum and dpreview. There seemed to be quite a few units that were performing sub-par. Do folks have short memories, all of a sudden?

I took his post as a 'straw that broke the camel's back' moment. Sometimes an event will occur that will make you take inventory and see things as they really are - or admit to yourself how things really were. I suspect he probably has not had a "40%" failure rate through the entire period of time that he owned the K-5, but that last session may have been a bit worse that usual, and his editor/retoucher making the comment broke said straw. Nothing odd about that, and the only tie-in with Pentax's lack of sponsorship we can safely make is that his trial of the K-5II would have been funded by him - and it's completely understandable if he didn't want to take that chance on his dime.

I know it's fashionable here to jump on someone when they badmouth Pentax, but I think some folks need to keep in mind that calling someone an outright liar when their account of something is completely within the bounds of reasonable possibility is a bit course.

.