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Forum: Pentax KP
04-30-2018, 03:44 AM
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It surely is! At least I love it :)
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Forum: Pentax KP
04-28-2018, 05:33 AM
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Forum: Pentax KP
04-24-2018, 05:32 AM
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KP + FA 77 ltd. = my favourite set.
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Forum: Pentax KP
04-21-2018, 12:16 PM
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With Sigma 70-200 (latest model) at f/2.8 (no matter what the exif says, the apperture lever was jammed so I shot everything at f/2.8 that day :-) )
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
04-15-2018, 07:26 AM
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Hi,
I shoot running dogs as very often. Which is why I upgraded from Pentax 60-250 to Sigma 70-200. And also from K-50 to KP. I have already shot thousands photos of running dogs. Your shutter speed with this very fast action is OK, you could go even further to 1/3200s of for superfast dogs (one of our three dogs also belongs to this category) 1/4000s. If the light is OK, you should go to at least f/4, better to f/5.6. K-5 should handle ISO up to 1600 in good light very well (same as my K-50).
Very important thing is that the focus point is MUCH larger than it appears to be in the viewfinder (the red square is just the center that serves as a guideline). You can find out the real size when you draw a black dot on a white paper and focus when approaching the point from many directions. That helped me a lot. In the photos you posted it is clear that the focus point caught something in the background. Which is exactly the effect of having such a large focusing point. You have to compose more tightly. If it was just the slow AF-C of the K-5, it would have focussed on the dogīs tail or somewhere just behind the dog, but definitely not 4+ metres behind. You just have to make sure that the real size of the focusing point does not exceed the size of the subject you want to track.
Once you master the right composition to allow the camera track the dog, you will probably still see that the camera just canīt keep up with the dog and focuses slightly behind. For such a case there is a trick - set the microadjustment so that it frontfocuses (I donīt remember if -10 or +10). With bigger depth of field (f/5.6 or even more) with right tracking technique and right composition this should work OK for dogs running towards you.
But K-5 is an older camera and the AF (I had similar generation of AF module in my K-50) is slow. So if it still doesnīt work for some reason, I believe you will have to prefocus precisely onto some of the fences and then wait until the dog gets into the depth of field and fire a burst. I shot some good photos when shooting dog coursing with K-50 and 50-135.
The KP would help you significantly with this type of action (but you still have to be extremely precise with the KP). And a guy I know just bought the new K-1ii and it seems to track running dogs (towards the camera) VERY well (better than the KP) so I believe that we are now experiencing the dawn of good Pentax autofocusing:-)
mike
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Forum: Pentax KP
03-29-2018, 08:33 AM
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Debi and Matilda having fun with each other, me having fun with KP and Sigma 70-200.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-27-2018, 01:32 PM
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I believe position 1 is complete 4-axis and position 2 is for panning. With the monopod and a subject not so brutally changing direction I felt better with the complete 4-axis IS in position 1 despite it jumped a bit sometimes, of course. But nothing that could affect my tracking. I havenīt tested it really properly yet but it seems to me that unless the subject is extremely erraticaly moving (like BIF, for example) then position 1 should not be a problem (for soccer, basketball etc.). But try for yourself what works best with your shooting style.
mike
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-27-2018, 03:20 AM
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Hi,
I believe monopod can really help the AF.
A few days back I read some interview with a Canon technician explaining that lens stabilization ON helps autofocus precision in challenging situations as it stabilizes the picture and helps the AF sensor - I believe this is similar to what monopod with steady hands can do.
I have no great results with shooting dogs when running really fast - when handholding the lens. Especially not with our fastest dog that I never shot precisely focused when running other than perpendicular to the camera. However, yesterday I was shooting my dogs with KP and Sigma 70-200/2.8 (latest version). I have a cheap Rollei tripod that can be converted into monopod. I mounted the camera onto the the monopod, and also I turned OFF the in body stabilization and turned ON the in lens stabilization (just to add even more stability to the AF. The light was really bad and I must admit the black dog is VERY fast (much faster than looks on photos) and erraticly moving even when running at full speed so the 1/2000s I used was not really fast enough and I can see some motion blur in all the photos. Nevertheless, I was trying to focus on the black dog's head. I used expanded area S and AF Hold OFF. These are just converted from raw, nothing done to them. High ISO does not help either but I hope you will get my point. I mean, I have to improve my technique further to get better but I consider this is not that bad focusing at all for such an extremely difficult subject (if only you could try shooting this particular dog to see what I mean ;-) ).
mike
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-20-2018, 03:07 PM
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I will just add that knowing the real size of the af points helps A LOT. It is not just the red square that appears in the viewfinder, the actual size of the af point is much bigger. The focus can catch literally anything within its size so it is important to know. If you have not found it out yet, just make a simple test - draw a black dot onto a white paper, switch the camera to AF-C, SEL-1 mode, half pres shutter and slowly move towards the dot. Once the camera manages to focus onto the dot, you have found the edge of the af point. Then try it from many directions and with different af points and thatīs it. Once I found out the real size, my keeper rate went instantly up.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-20-2018, 01:55 PM
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I believe jpzk managed to explain it better than I did. The last three seem preciesly focussed to me. The in-flight ones seem to have a tiny little bit blur to them, probably a bit slow shutter speed? In the first two it seems to me you focussed just behind the eagle, which could be either that the lens is backfocussing and would need microadjustment, or you by mistake focussed on the cones behind the eagle or something.
The shots are great anyway, no doubt about that!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-20-2018, 07:18 AM
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Those are beautiful shots!
However, aren't they a bit backfocussed? Have you calibrated AF microadjustment for the lens?
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Forum: Pentax KP
03-19-2018, 01:27 PM
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Hi guys, I am almost new to this forum. Recently upgraded from K-50 to KP and quite happy so far. Especially with the cleaner and sharper high ISO. Here is one shot with ISO 5000.
77mm
f/3.5
1/1250s
ISO 5000
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-07-2018, 01:55 AM
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I had the DA 35/2,4 and now I have Sigma 30/1,4 Art. I must say the 30 Art is a great lens, optically excellent, good enough at f/1.4, brilliant at f/2. Wide open there is some purple/green fringing but once you stop down to f/1.8 or more, it is mostly gone. The look the Sigma 30 Art photos have is much more refined than that of the DA 35/2,4 (which tend to look somewhat 'basic').
I read some dreadful stories about the autofocus of the Sigma 30 Art. Well, if you buy it and let a Sigma authorized service adjust it for your body (I did, they did it for free), you will have no issues at all. Yes, it is a wide lens so you have to be more careful where you place the autofocus point (I mean its REAL size, not just the red cofirming point, because it the real AF point can catch for example something just on the odge of it) but if you know your gear, you will be very happy with the performance of the lens. Without a hood it is reasonably small, easy to handle. And with the hood attached it looks pro :)
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