----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom C"
Subject: Re: On FF but without intent to start a flame
On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 9:23 AM, William Robb <war...@gmail.com> wrote:
Unfortunately, the common wisdom seems to be that if you can't make the
photo with a Pentax you are a crap photographer who needs to gain more
skills,
I'm a crap photographer who needs to gain more skills.
Yes well we read it here first... <gdr>
or that epic fail of apologism, that being the Pentax sits several
hundred dollars under the price of the competition, so the comparison
isn't
a valid one.
I want a Ferrari at the price of a Fiat.
I don't mind paying for the Ferrari as long as I am getting better than Fiat
performance.
I've run into this attitude a number of times with the no mind fanbois on
PentaxForums and to both of these pearls, I call bullshit..
Pearls before bulls?
Swineshit doesn't read as good.
With the K7, they've come part way in that the exposure system can now
mostly be trusted (a first for Pentax), with the K-x they seem to have
solved some of the noise issues, but they had to walk away from Samsung
to
do it, but they still haven't addressed their really big technological
failing, which is the AF system, which was lifted bodily out of the *ist
film camera and has seen, at best, a few minor tweaks over the past
decade
or so since it was released.
The AF is still slow, and it's accuracy is dodgy at best. In my portrait
work I find that I have to shoot at f/8 to have any hope of securing
something close to being in focus most of the time.
You are right, going forwards, these issues must be resolved before going
to
a 135 format camera, as there is absolutely no point in putting an
expensive
sensor into a camera that performs at the level that the K7 is capable
of.
Agreed. For what I do I generally find the AF accuracy adequate. I
was down at the Snake River several months ago and there was
paragliders jumping off the bridge (this is maybe a mile from where
Evel Knievel attempted the infamous motorcycle jump over the Snake
River Canyon). From about 100 yards away, using the DA 18-250 (when it
used to work) on the K7, it focused accurately and achieved focus in
time, about 90% of the time.
I suspect for a few dollars more, a D300 would give you 100%.
Shooting scenics or shooting slow moving objects at distance, it's a no
brainer that Pentax AF is good enough. The shooting style is more
methodical, and apertures are generally small enough to cover any focus
inaccuracy.
Your 18-250 wide open is what? Around f/6.3?
However, when you put a fast lens such as the DA*55/1.4 onto a K7 and start
shooting from 15 feet, you realize very quickly that the camera is missing
focus more often than it is aquiring focus.
The shoot I did on Saturday had about 50% missed focus shots, and this was
with the lens well stopped down.
I don't even try to use AF with that lens above f/2.8 because I won't have
anything usable.
William Robb
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