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01-02-2012, 12:24 AM   #61
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QuoteOriginally posted by piotro Quote
Don't discard Canon as well. 7D has great AF system, it locks and track very well, lens USM focus drive is very fast. If you get a chance try this combo, your frustration with Pentax AF issues will just grow even more .
I do think of that as option too! And of course 5D and 5D Mk II

01-02-2012, 12:55 AM   #62
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QuoteOriginally posted by Raffwal Quote
axl, having read your posts in this and other threads I have a feeling you've been considering to switch brands for quite some time now. And I also suspect that no matter what you end up doing now, in the long run you won't feel content until you've switched (most likely to Nikon). Life is short, go ahead.
Yes, I have been looking into my options over last 6-7 months as my unhappiness steadily grew.
I know life is short but so is the budget one good reason to stay with Pentax
01-02-2012, 01:51 AM   #63
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User enoxantep has been considering a change to Nikon as well.

He decided to get a K-5 and concluded
"Needless to say, any frustrations I had are now out the window. Specifically, I refer to the frustrations I had with the K20D autofocus (speed and accuracy), especially in low light situations, plus noise at levels much lower than what I experience on the K-5."
No guarantees, but you may want to read his story.
01-02-2012, 02:14 AM   #64
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QuoteOriginally posted by axl Quote
With K-7...well, as I said, I never liked the strong AA filter. Per pixel sharpness is horrid compared to K10,...
The K-7 does not have a strong AA filter. The K10D has a very weak filter. Vertically, it is extremely weak. This helps with apparent sharpness but is of course highly problematic regarding moiré.

With the K-7 and K-5 you just need to apply higher capture sharpening. You thus can regain any real details (but of course not the false detail a non-existent or very weak AA filter will create).

Also, obviously when comparing K10D & K-7 images at the pixel level, you need to resize one of them first so that they both have the same number of MP. Unless you do this, you are making an unfair comparison as the magnification will be ~1.2 times higher for the K-7.

QuoteOriginally posted by axl Quote
I always prefered K50/1.2 to DA* but lately even with split prism I couldn't focus it so I sold it, ...
You may want to try a Sony NEX with focus peaking. Apparently this works really well for manual focusing.

QuoteOriginally posted by axl Quote
It's the shots that matter, not loyalty to a brand...
Of course!

01-02-2012, 03:40 AM   #65
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I have been a Nikon shooter for more than 20 years.
Three years ago, i happened to have D700 plus 24-70 zoom together with a new Leica M8 plus 50 Lux. After using the D700 for 7 months, i sold my Nikon gear - the D700, 24-70 zoom and SB900. The combo was of such bulk that i hardly used it but kept using the manual M8 instead.

I purchased a K5 7 months ago. I have no problem with its AF after using manual focus for 3 years. Pentax has a much better user interface than Canon and Nikon. K5 is an awesome camera.

I am not a Pentax fanboy... I just love photography!

All the best with your decision and enjoy photography!
01-02-2012, 10:14 AM   #66
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QuoteOriginally posted by Class A Quote
User enoxantep has been considering a change to Nikon as well.

He decided to get a K-5 and concluded
"Needless to say, any frustrations I had are now out the window. Specifically, I refer to the frustrations I had with the K20D autofocus (speed and accuracy), especially in low light situations, plus noise at levels much lower than what I experience on the K-5."
No guarantees, but you may want to read his story.
Thanks for that!
That's the sort of info I'm looking for..
01-02-2012, 10:15 AM   #67
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bestzoom Quote
I have been a Nikon shooter for more than 20 years.
Three years ago, i happened to have D700 plus 24-70 zoom together with a new Leica M8 plus 50 Lux. After using the D700 for 7 months, i sold my Nikon gear - the D700, 24-70 zoom and SB900. The combo was of such bulk that i hardly used it but kept using the manual M8 instead.

I purchased a K5 7 months ago. I have no problem with its AF after using manual focus for 3 years. Pentax has a much better user interface than Canon and Nikon. K5 is an awesome camera.

I am not a Pentax fanboy... I just love photography!

All the best with your decision and enjoy photography!
Thanks,
Another usefull post for me, appreciate it.

01-02-2012, 01:16 PM   #68
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Well, I know which ever camera you get, you'll get good results cause I know you're an awesome photographer. You've been pushing the k-7 so much, you know its limitation and it's capabilities, you know what you need and you know what you want(I wish I can be in that stage, well I'm kinda at that stage already with my k-r but I know I can still push this lil baby.), I'm excited whichever camera you get, please let us know what happens. But I'm pretty sure if you switch to canikon you'll miss pentax' cheap and awesome lenses (;
01-02-2012, 08:44 PM   #69
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Just to keep things interesting (and perhaps balanced): User ll_coffee_lP has been a happy camper, after having switched to Nikon D700 / D300s.
01-03-2012, 05:03 AM   #70
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Comparing the older pentax bodys, k10d to the k5 there is a massive improvement in AF speed and accuracy, and I used it a while ago to shoot some kids at the local skate park

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While the AF is not as good as the FF nikon I had, its still very good and I find the image quality to be better.. High iso is similar, lower iso has more dynamic range and detail (the AA filter is too strong on the FF nikons).

I'm more than happy moving back to pentax and although I do miss the shallower DoF at times the k5 body is nothing sort of wonderful to use and I haven't had much problem with the AF tbh even in low light venues.

The only thing I don't like about the k5 is the default focus screen, manual focusing fast glass is very tricky and much easier to do on my gf1's lcd.. where as the FF nikon was simply wonderful to MF on due to its large size as well as better coating.
01-04-2012, 07:25 AM   #71
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Saw this on FM and thought about AXL :-)
Low Light Wedding Focusing Arrgghh! - FM Forums
Apparently, the only body that has good AF in low light is Nikon's $5000 D3s :-)

I'm surprised he thought (and someone else in that thread concurred) the Canon 1DmkIII sucks in low light...it's supposed to be the best for sports and have the best AF-C currently available :-O

So there ya go...you just have to spend 5x the price of a K-5 to get the best low-light AF...but at least you only have to do it once ;-)
01-04-2012, 08:17 AM   #72
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I think Axl made his decision, I saw his K-7 tread on the market place.

Axl you there? What was your conclusion?
01-05-2012, 10:15 AM - 1 Like   #73
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QuoteOriginally posted by piotro Quote
Don't discard Canon as well. 7D has great AF system, it locks and track very well, lens USM focus drive is very fast. If you get a chance try this combo, your frustration with Pentax AF issues will just grow even more .
I've used a 7D (not mine) and a K5 side by side on pro event shoots - I have not noticed a major difference at all.

QuoteOriginally posted by pinholecam Quote
AF speed and decisiveness has significantly improved on the K5 and Kr.
Those who don't have one should try it out to see for themselves. Basing on K7, K20 etc just isn't a good comparison anymore.

Axl, I've found AF assist with the flash to be even slower than relying on on-camera AF assist. I shoot more often with a wireless trigger which 'gets round' this problem.
I've read all the way through this thread and just some observations :

Firstly is this really a camera issue ? The 55 Ltd is known to be just about Pentax's slowest focusing SDM lens - maybe this is influencing the number of mis-focused shots. Maybe a lens like the Sigma 30/1.4 or 50/1.4 would lock on much quicker. That said I know the K7 to not be the fastest focusing camera on the block.

Agree with PHC (sorry Jay) - I can see no point in comparing a K20D with a D700. The K5 is two generations on and certainly there was a massive jump from the K7 to the K5 - probably the most improvement of any generation on from the last. I had the K7 and whilst it is an excellent camera it is let down badly in a number of critical areas - the K5 is miles & miles ahead, it is the camera the K7 should have been.

I don't see the point of the Nikon shooters in here posting shots that show staged, static portraits - some with flash even ! Virtually any DSLR can do that. We are debating low light, short distance, low DoF shots of active subjects.

The K5 has won admirers, camera of the year awards and highly recommended commendations across a whole spectrum of photography centres journals, magazines, observers and testers .... for a reason.

I switch off the K5's focus assist on both of my cameras, because I don't find any problems focusing in even near darkness and subjects find it distracting. Does anyone else do this ? I do not find it limiting in any way whatsoever, does anyone else ?

Finally Axl, and please don't take this the wrong way as I do not know - or want to know, your financial situation, but maybe buying the K5 and testing it for a couple of months before selling it on (at a $200-300 loss) and switching systems if that is what you conclude you need to do, is better than jumping ship before trying out the camera that may solve your problems without having to sell all of your Pentax kit.

These were from a very active 3 year old a couple of days ago (K5 and 77 Ltd at f2.0). At a dinner in a Chinese restaurant (so very low light), child is no more than one metre away (so low DoF). I took about 50 shots (ca. 10 misfocused, 20 binned - not keepers, and 20 kept for PP).






Last edited by Frogfish; 01-05-2012 at 10:20 AM.
01-05-2012, 10:41 AM   #74
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QuoteOriginally posted by axl Quote
Hi all,

These days I'm shooting with gripped K-7 and DA*55, FA*24 and FA*28-70. I started to use my AF500FTZ quite a lot too (bounced) to get the shots I wanted these days as the good light in winter UK is sparse..

Anyway, I want to upgrade the body. Main needs:
-noise control with higher ISO
-AF speed and accuracy in general

So, with my existing equipment, one would naturaly think og going for K-5 right? Much better higher ISO results, faster AF, bigger dynamic range..etc but! I read quite a bit about AF issues, especially in lower light. And that is a concern, especially when price of Pentax bodies is going off the cliff when compared to CaNikon. Besides, I'd most probably still have to sell a lens (FA*28-70 is top spot candidate) help financing it.

This got me thinking. If my kit would only be 24/2 + 55/1.4, then I could easily just sell it all and get similar CaNikon kit using Sigma 24/1.8 as a substitute for the uber expensive 24/1.4s or cheap 24/2.8s...

So how does K-5 compare to Canon 7D and Nikon D300s or 7000 in low light situations in terms of AF speed and accuracy and Nosie control? From what I've seen so far it seems that higher ISO nosie is better than that of 7D and 300s and on par with 7000, but does the Pentax's Safox system implemented in K-5 hold it's own against the other systems AF? I had a chance of trying D7000 with 50/1.4G and while not really faster in moving the elements than K-7 + DA*55, the lack of stuttering and second guessing itself before locking on target was amazing. And the same goes for EOS60D + EF50/1.4 that I tried, but on top that combo was noticeable faster to AF compared to my existing Pentax setup.

So, would K-5 help me to sove my problems or......?

Any input appreciated.
Thanks Peter
The Nikon D300 has without doubt the best autofocus system here, although I dont think the K5 is bad with latest drivers downloaded.
My K5 doesnt seem to have a problem focusing in dark situations. In fact I took a pic with the K5 while it was so dark there was no way
in a milion years could i manual focus. And to be honnest, im not so sure my D300 would have focussed in the same light.
I use both cameras though, and where quality of pic is concerened the k5 wins hands down everywhere by a notable and veiwable margin.
Most cameras have some kind of flaw somewhere though. the D300 is a dependable workhorse, but it can badly overexpose your pics in
bright contrasty conditions. I had a few probs myself with the focusing on the K5 until i fine tuned the lens in body. Made a hell of a differance.
I did think it was odd, having to do that, but it works. Take into account what the K5 is selling for at the mo, and its bargain of the century.
01-05-2012, 02:28 PM   #75
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QuoteOriginally posted by TOUGEFC Quote
Define static?
Sitting completly still or frozen? They cant do that even when asked! They fidget more than a baby.

Almost everyone shot wide open, and moving (swings, shoveling sand, running,walking, tennis, balancing on wall, river rafting)
Very very nice.
May I ask what lens you are using?
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