K3 II Continuous AF

Now that the new K3 II's are out in the wild, has anyone been able to put its improved AF to the test? I'd be very interested to hear how it tracks objects moving towards and away from the camera and if it is significantly better than the K3. As a K3 owner, it is continuous AF tracking that frustrates me the most, so if the my II offered a good improvement, I could be tempted to go into negotiations with the boss (aka my wife) on a potential upgrade.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Cheers,

Simon.

Hi Simon

I can`t answer your question but I can agree with your findings for continuous AF on a K3. It really doesn`t work terribly well.

There is a thread floating around on how best to set this up. Some have done an awful lot of research on how to configure this to track as advertised/hoped etc.

It's disappointing it's not clearer out of the box how to make this work. There are many configuration options for this, but no real overview of what the best combo is for various situations. There ought to be a guide on how to set your camera up, ideally from Pentax themselves rather than a 3rd party provider.

It's disappointing from a potential K-3 customer to hear that this isn't very good though.

examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALBx6FfwAec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmX_ITruMk4

I find the manual not much better than useless, Richard. Gone are the days of a properly thought out manual that explained the particular uses of various functions and how to set them up properly. Someone has taken the trouble to find a solution to a photographers problem and built it into a nice piece of kit which we then have to pay for, and then omit to explain in the manual how and when to use it to its best advantage. It's great having AFS, AFC and AFA with spot, selective spot, 9-point (+selective), 27-point etc etc etc, and easy enough to press a few buttons until you fathom out what you're doing, but just what works best in what situation and are there any hidden adjustments in the menus that might offer an improvement? I can't say whether there is an improvement over the old K-3 in the K-3 II as I had the K-5 before, and there is a big improvement over that, but there is a drop in quality of the supplied manual in both content and print quality (unable to distinguish between some of the setting depictions in the manual).

Regards,
Dave

Not withstanding our latest spammer trying to help I have had little luck with any of the complicated AF modes and myriad of permutations of hold AF, focus priority etc settings that go with them. Given there appears to be no official UK advice source on such matters we do seem reliant on stateside geeks trying to explain their methodology! It does this old head in! I'm guessing the menu options on the Mark II will be similar.

For now I'll stick to centre point single AF with focus priority and centre weighted metering for my 300 star on my few months old K3. We're off to Pembrokeshire in a week so I'll see how much moving wildlife i can capture. Perhaps Alan Wennington can share his methodology for his superb dawn low flying owls?

Looks like we need a new Magic Lantern guide book for the K3 ...Peter Burian's book on the K7 is excellent and does exactly what people on here have been asking for - putting settings and configurations into practical shooting contexts and considering the likely effects in differing scenarios.

Obviously the K7 doesn't have the same AF complexities, but that matter on the K3 is ripe for the same kind of treatment. I wonder how we can persuade the publishers to do a book for the K3?

There is a very big consensus on this now. All we need now is a definitive solution!

I've had mixed results with the Pentax K3 while set on the continual autofocus setting.

I've found that the CF setting works best with better aperture lenses and also preferably not SDM lenses. So what lenses does this leave exactly?

One of the best CF lenses that I've ever used on an interchangeable camera of any sort (with the exception of 4/3 sensors) is the Sigma 300 f2.8... I've used it with a Porsche 918 coming basically directly at me at full speed. Both the camera and the lens were able to keep up with the vehicle in less than ideal lighting, even when the car was beyond the close point of being full framed into the viewfinder.

Have found that most of the Pentax FA's work well in the CF setting, with the most definite exception of the FA macros. Also any of the Sigma EX DG series, as long as they also retain the above average starting apertures.

Other camera settings to consider... For some unknown reason the Pentax K3 also works best for continuous focus photographs while also set in the narrowest focusing (basically spot focusing) and also spot metering - better even if one can either lock in the metering setting or go full manual except for focus,

I didn't start this thread to bash the the K3 - I have a genuine interest in understanding if the K3 mk II has made any meaningful improvements. I have a very active 3 year old son, and anything I can do to improve my photos of him tearing around, the better!

Of course AF performance is a combination of camera and lens. While the K3's predictive / tracking algorithms aren't as advanced as its peers, the slow SDM motors hamper things further. Hopefully these newer DC motor lenses will move things on again.

Anyway, if anyone can provide some real world experience of the AF capability of the K3 mk II, I'd love to hear it.

Cheers,

Simon.

I don't think people are bashing it if they say it's very complex and there is next to know overarching guide from Pentax as to how best to configure the myriad of settings available for different situations. That's simply how it is.

Knock them or not, but the scene modes can be excellent for this sort of thing. Eg chasing an active but erratic 3 year old.

In a lot of ways it is pointless to have a modern DSLR if you are not going to put it to work, and you revert to spot focus and non continuous focus, and full manual mode.

Agree a guide book would be ideal, but at the same time it's disappointing the manufacturer delivers such a technical manual, but skips how best to combine all the settings for different subject matter.

I agree. Regards Bob.

I agree something akin to the Magic Lantern book I had for the K-7 would be great. Also if the manual was more useable it would be a step in the right direction, most of the symbols look like black squares to me, even when magnified. I wonder if the other makes have this problem. Everyone I know uses either C N or S with a couple of O and Pa, thrown into the mix so more chance of someone with an answer.. Yes there is always advice etc on here but it's not a lot of help when out in the field and "Connection Unavailable" My next camera will be a ….

Has anyone tried the "other" K-3/K-3 II manual available on pentaxforums.com - I'll try to find a link later on.
Edited: there is a whole series of e-books for recent/current pentax DSLRS from http://ebooks4cameras.com/ including one for the K-3 & K-3 II, and you buy then through pentaxforums.com (although I don't know if that would be any cheaper).

Where did you buy the 'Time Machine' from
Is it mirrorless?
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I get a "Not Found" response to that link