I don't have a K20D, so can't advise you, but I'd be very interested to hear why you changed from Nikon to Canon, and why you were disappointed with Canon.

Sorry if that sounds like the Spanish Inquisition, but most of us here have a fairly substantial investment in Pentax bodies and lenses, so making brand comparisons is not easy. So it would be great to hear from someone with relatively recent experience of the others.

http://www.stofen.co.uk/Products/Index.html

Google search on: stofen omnibounce AF360

Any chance you could fix the issue with PMs without subjects being inaccessible, if you have a spare moment?

Just been having a play about with the 540 and the AF assist light (Edit: on the K10D).

Nothing too scientific, but the results were pretty consistent.

Dark ordinary sized living-room, with the 540 set to SB, and the Mark I 18-55 on the front, the red pattern punched out was consistently bright enough for it to get focus lock. It took almost exactly one second each time, and 3 chirrups of the AF drive, before the hexagon came up.

I tried it with the flash on and off camera (either in the hot shoe, or on a bracket, and tied on with a 5P cord), and it was very much less reliable on the bracket - not surprisingly parallax became an issue with the flash further away from the lens axis.

My tentative conclusion is that on camera, for static targets, reasonably close, it's not at all bad.

But I would guess that for moving targets, you can pretty much forget it, and pre-AF with the button on the back would be a lot better.

I'd be interested in how quickly it focuses with the much faster 16-50 (or faster still the FA50 1.4), and the AF-assist beam. Maybe with all that extra light getting in, it's a lot better.

I did try it with the FA28-200, which normally focuses quite quickly in decent light, and that was a lot worse.

This is not necessary.

That custom setting only refers to an additional AF cycle after you press the remote, but before the shutter opens.

If you leave "AF in remote" off, the shutter will release with the remote, even on AF-S, and even if the subject is not in focus.

Yes it does.

Also K10D behaviour (it beeps during the 3s too).

No it doesn't.

I don't recall whether mine came with a removable plastic battery protector.

The only thing I can think of to try is set the custom menu so that AFs again before releasing the shutter.

But with mine, it works if it's not set like that, and I focus on something close, and then point the camera at something a different distance away.

Sounds like one or the other is faulty - hopefully it's the remote. I can't see anything you're doing wrong.

One thing I've noticed, maybe not relevant at all, is that setting it in the Custom Menu to AF again before releasing the shutter, only works in AF-S, not AF-C

The shutter still releases remotely though, just without focusing.

Nevertheless (clutching at straws) it might be worth ensuring that the AF/MF switch is set properly.

Sadly, this shortcoming remains unfixed, even with the latest firmware (1.3), although some seem to have cured it by changing the focusing screen.

It's been well-documented (although not, as you say, in the manual) and discussed here - search for "stop down metering" and you'll find several threads.

I was considering changing focusing screens myself, but in the end decided to get rid of my pre-A lenses - with A-series lenses and beyond, setting the aperture from the body is fine, and all the exposure problems go away.


I do agree with you that strobing the flash for AF-assist is a serious design error - at the sort of events where you'd need it it's usually completely inappropriate.

But Matt's technique at relatively dark events does make a huge difference - I use my K10D quite often at dance events, and with a bit of practice it's not too bad.

Low light AF is an ongoing criticism with Pentax DSLRs, though, it has to be said.

It also comes with Elements 5, which is how I got it.

I only use it for doing the download, though - for previewing I use Picasa. It imports the new folders very quickly - pretty much in real time if you've got it open - and it's quicker to scroll down the list of folders and view the thumbnails than it is to read the folder names.

Picasa 3, which is out now in beta, also lets you view the EXIF for PEF files (well, K10D ones, I don't know about K20D ones), which it didn't before.

Well worth upgrading, if you like Picasa. Evolution, not revolution, but some good steps forward nonetheless.

I think the reality is that the more pictures posted at a time, the less in-depth any critique is going to be.