K5 Lowlight AF good enough for Nightclub Photography?

Hello,

As the title says I'm wondering if anyone has used the original K5 for nightclub photography and found the AF to be acceptable.

I'm currently a student and will be looking to try and get occasional work taking photos in nightclubs. Last term I was living in student halls and so had plenty of opportunities to practice taking photographs of parties etc.

I had no real problems focusing, but as most of these parties were held in reasonably lit flats, that was to be expected.

On some occasions the lights were turned off and I had to switch to live view to use the green AF assist light of the K5 body to find focus - the one on my flash couldn't cope. It was almost pitch black however.

I have heard very good things about the K5 II low light AF but am reluctant to upgrade if my K5 could cope with focusing in an average nightclub.


Cheers,

Keir.

K-5II is far, far better. The original K-5 is a little hit and miss in low light from my experience.

I have both K-5 and K-5IIs, I trust the IIs in low light as it nails the focus almost every time.

Regards
David

ii(s) is awesome in low light

mki is terrible for club photography, I ended up using MF most of the time, mkii however isa total game changer. No problem with af even in the darkest corners of the club

As a K-5 MKI owner I concur with the comments about it being hit and miss.

The IIs is fantastic in low light

+1

Pleeeeeeeeeease bring out a new body sooooooooooon......

MkI - hit and miss indeed.

MkII - +1 total game change. Easily focuses at f/2.8, ISO6400, 1/2s (I can't even see at that level!). Behaves like a new body to me!

Matt

Stop taunting me Matt

It seems that the "hit and miss" AF of the K5 is the reason why Benjamin Kanarek has stopped using Pentax! And he was a real assset to Pentax

Yeah, he's now in the Nikon forum, quite a lot on the big SUN readers site.
Pentax France apparently sponsored him for a bit but were none too helpful during his time with them, I think he was also sponsored by Canon for a while too? Maybe now he's sponsored by Nikon???
That said if your in a studio set up and the camera is continually focusing on peoples feet rather than the face it doesn't sound too good really?

If that was happening I'd seriously be looking at my photographic skills. There's absolutely no need for that to be the case.

The Mk I K5 is really dreadful in low light, and has seriously made me consider changing to another brand. However the ii seems to have solved that problem, so when they bring out a new body that will probably keep me happy

I think all Pentax dslr focus systems have been poor until the k-5 mkii and k-30 came out.

Thanks for all of the responses!

It looks like I'll have to upgrade after all - I had feared this might be the case.

Think I'll have to wait until the new body is released and see if there's any K5 IIs going cheap as I really can't afford to buy a new one!

Edit - forgot to ask - does anyone think the K30 AF system would be able to cope in a nightclub situation?


Thanks again,

Keir.