K5ll & K5lls Focus Tip BBF

I posted the below post on my wordpress blog, but just thought i would share it with Pentax users. Most of you may know about this, but i only recently discovered it. Takes focusing with a K5ll to a higher level in my opinion.

BBF Why would you use it?

Simply because it separates your focusing from your shutter. Instead of asking your index finger to deal with two different things one after the other, you give it one single task (pressing the shutter at the perfect moment) while your thumb will deal with focusing.

I’ve become a huge advocate for making the switch to (BBF) back button focus as a result of shooting equine events. I think it is one of the most beneficial changes I have made to how I now focus and take pictures and I personally think it makes a huge difference and improvement

This BBF technique takes some getting used to, mainly because you will be used to your focus being set to your shutter button when you pressed the shutter half way down, then the shutter being tripped when you fully pressed the button. By using the BBF button to focus and focus only, you will be free to use your shutter button as just that, a shutter to capture the action.

Check your camera manual to learn how to set this up on your camera and try it out, I am sure you will find it useful.

Applies just as much to my K-x as to my K-5. Seems odd to suggest it as a specific tip for the K-5II or IIs. It is the way to go for action photography IMO

Alan, I know it has been around for some time, but as the K511 has better focusing I just though people who may not have known or used BBF might be interested. I really works well for Sports and fast moving subjects from my experience of using it.

I use back button focussing regularly, but I don't think there's anything wrong with using the half press on the shutter button either.

One of the benefits of the half press method is that your finger is already half down on the button and thus you can get less camera shake when actually taking the shot.

That's a good point and one I'd not thought of. I had a feeling the SR wasn't quite as good in my K30 as my Kr but that coincides with when I changed to BBF. Makes me wonder.
Dave

When i used to use older bodies, i admit i shot a lot with bbf, however with the k-5 mkii i just dont feel the need anymore....

Shake reduction is also activated on the shutter button half press, I think.

It seems that SR is activated when auto-focusing, regardless of which button is being used.

I think the point being made is that, if the shutter button is already half-pressed, it might result in less physical movement of the camera when completing the press to fire the shutter.

Personally, I prefer to use the back button most of the time, with just the centre focus point activated. It then just feels easier to me when using the focus-recompose method for off-centre subjects.

Philip

Yes that was my point.

Interestingly the process of firing the camera shutter with the least amount of "judder" is very similar to a sniper triggering his rifle to get that kill at 1km away.

Slow breathing, and on the 3rd breath out, pause the breathing and gently pull the trigger between heartbeats.

The sniper won't jerk the trigger, he'll already be pressing on it gently ( akin to a half press on a shutter button ) so only a slight extra gentle squeeze is required to fire.

Ever since reverting back to digital SLR's a couple of years ago, I've always used the back button exclusively for focussing, I find that it gives so much more control. I agree with Smeggy on the process of firing the shutter; it should not be a 'press', it should be a gentle squeeze with the breathing paused. You can always 'half-press' the shutter anyway, even if back button focussing is used it does not exclude this method.

It's also important to hold and support the camera correctly and with everything done right it should be possible to get shake-free images at shutter speeds down to about 1/10 or even lower, depending on the lens used.

Regards
David

I have to profess a level of ignorance on this subject. Until I read this thread it never occurred to me to use anything other than the shutter button to activate autofocus but can see a huge amount of sense in using it when you focus & recompose.
What I don't understand - and can someone help with this - how it is beneficial for a moving subject ? Is it simply to stop the autofocus hunting for the subject ? I have an 'old' DSLR [K10] and for a moving subject would use the AFC setting and the centre point focus to track the subject. This makes sense [to me anyway] and can't see why I would want to lock the focus using BBF in this situation.
I guess I've missed / not understood something ?

Regards, Gary

Gary

My original intention of this post was to highlight BBF as I had never used it until recently. Personally when I shoot moving subjects I use different techniques, sometimes I use focus tracking, sometimes I pre focus. What I have learnt is tat BBF has really increased my keep rate for certain types of shot. I have been doing a lot of equine work recently and using BBF and I just thought I would share my findings. Different techniques work for different situations and peoples needs, I just like this way of shooting, but appreciate it may not suite everyones style of shooting. Off topic slightly can anyone recommend a reliable wireless shutter trigger that will enable me to shoot at 7 FPS?

You can forget all about AF-S and AF-C with the back button. Just leave it on AF-C all of the time. Using the shutter button for focus on AF-C would mean the focus constantly changing as you keep the shutter half pressed. With the back button, just take your thumb off the button and it stops focusing. You can still have the shutter button half pressed, ready to squeeze to take the picture

I find it easier to use the back button as focus defeat...

I'll be honest here Lads, I see no advantage at all to using the back button for focusing. Its not the 1st time this has come up and it's not the 1st time I've tried to see it from your point of view. If anything my thumb is hovering between the green button and the AE-L button so adding in another button seems daft while I can half press and focus.