Report K-1 bugs/issues here

@ SteveEveritt

Exactly my kind of experience, the amount of times continuous focus just stops and won't restart is enough to warrant a refund under the sale of goods act as not fit for purpose!

My experience testing the K-3ii and K-1 with both the 150-450 and 250-600 was interesting for Fiona as I gave her a running commentary of exactly what was happening, her response was along the lines of why do you keep doing this to yourself?

We we're at the reservoirs sat 90 degrees to a reed bed with arctic terns constantly flying back and forth along the edge of the reeds hunting for fish, after 2 hours or so of trying every setting on both cameras, here are all of the images that we're crisply in focus........

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A fellow photographer walked up, saw what I was shooting, picked up his consumer Canon with a consumer third party 70-300 pointed, took a shot, looked at the back of the camera and said wow, it's got a fish in it's mouth. He got in 2 seconds what I couldn't get in 2 hours.

No. Reason? It's 2016, not 1976. The technology is available, we just don't have it and I just don't have the patience for excuses anymore, I just want results.

My style is very reactionary, if I see something out of the corner of my eye I wan't to turn, point and shoot. Other kit can do this, mine can not. In the above example whilst shooting the arctic terns a coot fight happened about 20 feet in front of us, I got the camera on them within a second, the fight lasted about 5-6 seconds, here are all of the in focus shots of that coot fight...

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As you can see, there is a consistent pattern here and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, so I'm now going to do something different and I will get a different result.

My main issue is that I own an F* 250-600mm and I just don't want to sell it, I want to use it, but my level of frustration is so high that I've almost stopped wildlife shooting completely because of the autofocus performance of my kit. If you go through all my very best wildlife shots, more than 90% of them are stationary, I want that to change, so I've got to change.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Pentax kit, it's all I've known but I just need the right tool for the job. The K-1 and 24-70 stays as it's awesome for landscapes (and weddings as I've found out, just not if there are kids running towards you!), the DFA 50 & 100WR macros stay as well along with the 60-250 (after modding for FF) but only for landscapes. This lot:-




and the 250-600 have gotta go to fund the right tool for action wildlife shots.

Birdfair is on in three weeks time and we will be going along for one reason and one reason only, to spend a lot of time testing kit on the Canon and Nikon stands, I don't want to but for my sanity, I have to.

That's fine, but doesn't help those of us who want to do things with the kit we have. You have your own requirements, so go for it.

The only question mark I have is whether the old F* lens is a good indicator of current AF performance. The 150-450mm with the K-1 is a pretty snappy combination.

Which is exactly why I bought one to find out, then found out, then returned it.

Quite simply, by using this 1988 lens, (a near 30 year old design) you are not giving your Pentax camera a chance.

(I wonder how fast the focussing would be on a Canon camera with a 1988 film era lens?)

OK it is reputed to be beautifully sharp, optically outstanding, and 'professional grade' but it is the old film era screw drive autofocus, and just doesn't have a chance, whatever camera you use it on.

On the Pentax Full Frame Facebook page, one of the members is posting results from series of tests on focusing on moving objects with different lenses, and that is showing very interesting results.

I wouldn't personally change systems just because of one lens, but then I am a biased Pentax user since the 1970s, and don't think I have ever wanted to take a picture of a bird in flight.

See exactly where Danny is coming from. I bought the K1 expecting to see some incremental improvement on AF on the K3. Still waiting to see it. May be worse actually. Looking at my K5, K5iis, K3, and K1, each bought for the perceived small incremental AF gains, I'm wondering why I didn't go for a Nikon D500. When people are making suggestions like manual focus, etc, etc. they don't consider that Danny is a very experienced wildlife photographer. And he does have good understanding of his tools. Probably a better understanding than most of us.

The other man's grass isn't always greener

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4029466

Other tests have shown that Pentax AF focuses closer than some other marques.
You would moan if you had a Sony that packed in at about 13M

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4027736

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Fair comments, and it seems most specialised wildlife photographers have already chosen other systems (mainly Canon?) as the "best tools for the job".

Pentax is clearly NOT the best tool for the job of photographing swift moving wildlife, all reviews have tended to highlight this to a greater or lesser degree.

I am following the Facebook Group trials and tests to see what the best combinations of technique and settings provide optimum results with the K-1, as it will be handy to know for the rare occasions I will want to use the techniques.

K-1 is just brilliant for what I want a camera for, thankfully!

Fully understood.

That's why I bought the 150-450 when it went down to £1349 for a week, hoping that it would be a dramatic improvement, but it's not the handheld lighter option that I wanted it to be, it's just as frustrating and inconsistent. It's not that either lens can't move the elements fast enough, it's that the bodies are not intelligent and decisive enough to do the job as well as it could.

If I could order a D500 with a K-mount I would!

Did anyone try the sigma 50 150 2.8 with the latest firmware? the camera stops working once it's on. Any advice?

if you have tried cleaning the contacts and there is no joy then contact Sigma ... your lens will probably need a firmware upgrade like one of the older HSM 70-200mm f2.8s

thank you. I Did clean the contacts and I have also looked for the firmware, but I couldn't find any link....help?

Which camera, which exact lens? Does it work for a time before it stops?
You say have also looked for the firmware, but I couldn't find any link so how do you know if its the latest?
A little more detail would be helpful to help you resolve this.

My 50-150 (not updated) works ok on my K1. It's my 150-500 that won't work at all on the K1 - everything locks up.

Well as its a K-1 bugs thread I would hazzard a guess the camera is a K-1 and he clearly states the lens is a Sigma 50-150mm f2.8 and the camera stops working when it's attached. The same thing was happening with certain models of the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 and it was cured by a lens firmware update which can only be done by Sigma

If I remember correctly this was the same with the 70-200mm f2.8, some worked ok and some didn't.
Strange but I suppose lenses have a different version of the firmware.