DA 55-300 hunting backwards

I'd like to know if anyone else is bothered by this.....if the subject is almost in focus, half pressing the shutter causes the lens to whirr all the way backwards then forwards again to focus when it could have just zipped forward a couple of millimetres, by which time the subject has disappeared! This is particularly evident at full zoom. Surely Pentax can sort out this glaring fault on what is otherwise a superb lens... for the price. I find it extremely frustrating!!!!!!!

It's the reason I rarely use my 55-300mm lens.

IQ is superb tor what it costs but the focus hunting is very frustrating when using it on anything moving faster than a hedgehog.

I seem to remember a tip to deal with this; always leave the lens on infinity focus between shots (I think :roll

The 55-300mm is a superb lens. Mine has a 1.7x Jessops TC on it
permanently and I never have problems auto focusing.

Your problem is almost certainly user error. You have to hold
any tele lens very steady and point it at an area with decent
contrast. Start with the lens set at infinity or roughly focus
just beyond the subject. It then focuses very fast.

'

Young Blackbird with 55-300mm AF with Jessops 1.7x TC
K-5 from JPG






'

Thanks Algi for the tip, I'll try it next time....


You're probably right about 'user error' This is taken using 'Catch-in-focus'.

Nice shot of the Blackbird by the way...especially considering it's with a converter