Focus peaking - how are you finding it?

Well I now have focus peaking on my K-30 and Q. To be honest I'm struggling with it a bit and although I know what I am supposed to be looking for it doesn't seem that clear cut to me. It's not like the highlighted outline snaps in like a more useful beep. It seems difficult to see where there is brighter contrast and where there is an outline. Yes, it clearly shows when you are close to focus but to nail the exact thing you want doesn't seem too obvious to me. Anyone else agree with this, if not a few tips would be good.

I have to confess that I looked at this horrible shimmering mess on my Q screen and after a few moment just switched it off. You are not alone!

Tips: works best with longer lenses; use the OK button to zoom in to 6x; if it's a horrible shimmering mess then clearly - in that instance - it's not needed !

hello to everyone,
have not been around for a while but I've kept informed thru visits to this forum.
just received my K-30 from SRS (what a good service I've received from them again!! ) in reference to focus peaking, my set up to achieve some sort of visibility in focus areas I've instigated AF AUTO ZOOM in live view mode and this seems to give a more informed view to focus peaking, but must admit though it is suppose to outline the contrast areas the outlines are very minute, perhaps we should be given some other colour options e.g as per nex cameras which I have tried and colours do improve the outlines.

regards to all

I'm glad it's not just me because the old eyes aren't what they used to be!
I have to say while I was trying to choose originally between the K5 and the K-30 this was a big selling point for me. Not now. Luckily an even bigger selling point occurred - the ridiculously low price of a K-30 body!

You wouldn't believe the time I've spent trying out the focus peaking on the k30s in Jessops! While it works (as you focus you can see the in focus area move across the screen) it's not very easy to see precisely which point is in focus. On the Q it must be hideous because that camera has such a deep dof.

I tried a NEX camera on a whim, and the peaking is much much clearer, and can be displayed in colour (it looks like the under/overexposure warning on Pentax DSLRs). It pains me to admit it, but the NEX cameras are much better for using MF lenses than Pentax bodies, if you like shooting with narrow dof at least. So I'm going to go dual-system, with a Pentax DSLR for AF lenses and flash photography, and a cheap NEX for travel and use with M lenses.

Yes -- I am geeting fed up with being let down by manual Focus on my K10D -- I did some floodlt footbal using my 135mm f2.5 SMC Takumar because of the wider aperture f2.5 and all were OUT -- I have to focus much futher forward than normal and hope it hits the right spot -- then last night I was using my 50mm f1.7 A-Series on my K10D at f4 and they were out and the background was sharper !

Well, I've just used focus peaking on my K-01 to take some product shots with my 50mm f/1.7 for a filter I'm about to post in the classifieds, and it worked splendidly. Using the 6x zoom I was able to nail focus precisely on the words on the filter ring, with the highlights crawling back and forth as I focussed. (Notice subtle plug for my next sale :wink

Spooky! I was typing my last post before Peter's had appeared - both using the SAME lens!!! Time to open the beer!

Focus peaking helps, but I can't imagine using it for sports! I suspect you'd be better off stumping up for an AF lens and possibly upgrading to a K30 becuase then you get improved AF and the (albeit not perfect) focus peaking.

I think this may be key. I tend to use focus peaking on lenses that will give a shallow dof (50mm 1.7, 90mm 2.8, 200mm 3.5).

The K01 implementation is good, almost like a dof button, showing in/out of focus areas clearly.

Why would they make the K-30 version worse than the K-01 if it is?

It's exactly the same with both (have tried both side by side in Jessops). I took my own 135/2.5 lens, and the peaking worked better with that than the kit lenses.

I'm glad to read that it appears I'm better off with my Katzeye screen. But focus peaking doesn't cost an extra 100 quid or require shimming...