Disappointed with my K10D Today

Local marathon on today so went down to the start for some pictures.
Had some small problems before with speed of AF when doing the Bournemouth airshow but overall it was not bad but this time I have to say it was total rubbish. The AF just could not keep up with the runners as they came towards me (they weren't exactly belting down the course) and all I got was a load of blurry and OOF images.

Was using the DA* 60-250mm.

Have to say the pictures where people were just wandering came out really nice but otherwise ... nope.

Not looking for a war here .. just sharing my thoughts.

Is this the lens that's supposed to be the same optics(?) as the Tamron 18-250 jessops had on offer last month?

No. It's the DA* 60-250 not the DA 18-250.

Mentioned this before Mike, but the focussing on the DA* 60-250 is terribly slow and very frustrating. Tried it on:-

K10D GP Via SDM
K10 Via Screw Drive
2x K20D via SDM
2x K-7 via SDM
3x K-7 Pre-production models

Fastest of all the bodies I've owned was the K10 via screw drive!

Even faster was one pre production model of the K-7 that was tried at the SRS open day that was really rapid, the other 2 were (are) just plain slow.

Not sure if it's supposed to be this way or not or wether I (we) have faulty lenses, but I know it can go a lot faster, but it just doesn't.

Sorry my mistake.

Nope, I dont think we all have faulty lenses, that would be too much of a coincidence. All my three DA* lenses are so slow with my K20D that I am getting frustrated now. And the more I use it and interchange with my other non DA* lenses the more I notice the slowness of the lenses and it just frustrates me. I was looking to upgrade to K7 and speed was one of the aspects I was looking for but after reading various problems regarding this I am hesitating now.

I am so close to putting all my DA* lenses for sale now and just keeping the normal screw focus ones that at any moment you will see a thread on the classified listing them.

So far the macro 100mm I have is the one keeping me sane, oh and the smoke puffs too

I thought you had already gone past the hesitation stage.

The sad thing is that for static shots I really don't think Pentax can be beaten.

Yes I have.
After spending so much money on the DA* lenses I didn't want to dive in and get the K7 without at least trying my hands on it for a good few days. Its a shame we can't hire or borrow one because that would have helped me decide completely whether to go or not for the K7. I did have a play with the K7 for a few minutes at SRS and also at Unlocker's, but its just so difficult to come to a decision unless I have had the oportunity to really try it in the field. One week would have been really brilliant, just one week. I would have really paid a week's rental to test it but just couldn't find a place where to get one. Plenty of Canons and Nikons, but no Pentax. Had a friend who had a D700 who let me borrow it for a week and although brilliant it just helped me conclude that it wasn't for me, so decided to look somewhere else.

I know slow focusing might not be a big issue for many of the members here, but for me it is. That was one of the reasons I stashed a lot of cash for the DA* lenses also. Of course other reasons such as great IQ too but definitely the fact that SDM was the big thing really nudged me towards it. Three lenses and disappointment in focusing speed. Great for lots of other things no doubt about it but definitely slow.

Oh by the way, I met one of the photographers yesterday who came to buy the 12-24 and we got chatting, ended up finding that he does a lot of commissioned work for the BBC and in between conversation he took out his GX20 so I asked him to try the DA*50-135 in his camera and guess whaty? yup, slow too,

I bought the DA*60-250 at the same time as the DA*300. The initial impression was that the 60-250 focussed significantly faster than the 300. After a bit of use, I found that the 300 took a little longer, but focussed more accurately.

I have also found that all my SDM lenses like well charged batteries.

True, the DA*300 does focus more accurately, mine too.
With regard to batteries I use them constantly fully charged, with the grip also.

I think the slowest one for me is the DA* 50-135

So how did you find the 7D today?

Looks like being pretty fast in fact. At first I thought it was a lot of hype about that new AF system they have been flaunting about in the media but having played with it for a good few hours it seems that it does what it says or what it is meant to do. Remains to be seen if other aspects also justifies all the hype. But if fast focusing is really something that one wants, and after trying the D700 for a good full week also my first impression was that the 7D is going to blow the legendary AF system of the Nikon into dust. What I did like also about the 7D was the optional grip that it comes with that allows the 802.11 connection and the ability to remotely control it using HTTP.

Hey Mike, I better stop this, I do not want to fall into the bad books with our forum members here and this is paving the path for me to get a PM any moment now telling me off . Or even a comment that might spark something nasty and we don't want that, do we?

How about you Mike? Ordered that D700?

This kinda fizzled out Amin, what were you going to say about the K7 af speed?

I was at a bicycle meet here in Plymouth yesterday and gave up with AF on cyclists coming towards me. I just used manual.
But my biggest problem after a day of shooting is my own (very close range) panning skills. This is the only shot out of a 4gig card that I consider worth keeping. BTW, this was the 16-45 whoohoo! at soaking range ha ha.


There was a pro there next to me at one point in the woods, with 4 Nikons and an assistant. She was very good (9 years practice at bike events) and very helpful - I learnt so much in just 10 minutes.
Significantly, she had disabled the machine gun setting Nikons default to and just took one perfect shot after another (from what I saw).

There comes a point where no AF system can cope. Try shooting TT bikes at close range.

All you can do is pre-focus and hope you press the shutter at the right moment. I eventually found I could do it by ear with a 50/50 chance of success.

G

Full frame is no good for the sort of stuff I want to shoot Amin.

That I would like to see