Thanks Matty and Alan, and thanks again to Mike, your post has raised a few smiles in our household!

Regards
David

Hi Gavin, welcome to the Forum, it's good to have another overseas member and don't worry about your English, I am sure we will understand you!

Regards
David

I don't know the technicalities of how it works Alistair, but it uses Contrast AF to highlight the edges of areas of an image that are in focus. As you move the focus in and out, you can see the highlighted areas moving. Once you get used to this, it makes it very simple to get accurate focus almost every time, even when using apertures of F1.4 or similar. It also allows you to do this quickly, which is the most important factor.

It is present on the K-01, K-30 and K-3, not sure if it is on the K50 or K500 (someone will be able to advise). I think the version on the K30 is slightly inferior to that on the K-01 and K-3, but I may be wrong about this.

I've said quite a few times on this Forum that the K-01 revolutionised the way I use MF lenses, it really does make a huge difference. Interestingly, I've also noticed something with the K-3 that is an advance over earlier bodies. The 'Focus Confirmation' in the viewfinder when using MF lenses seems to be a lot more accurate than it has been on any of my other cameras.

Hope this helps.

Regards
David

Thank you to Mike and Darren for the supportive responses. I realise I made a mistake by naming a person in my post yesterday, but I didn't expect World War Three to start as a result!

Not sure this is quite right now Algi, there are some very clear differences in the low light focussing performance / accuracy, both within the Pentax range and also when comparing Pentax to other cameras. The K-5II range and the K-3 are extremely good for low light AF and easily outperform the K-5 Mk1 in this area.

Regards
David

I think the problem here is probably with the lens. All my 'A' lenses work no problem on the K-3, with the lens set to 'A', camera set to 'AV' and the menu setting for 'using Aperture Ring' set to 'Permitted'. I know this won't help the author of this post, but it does confirm that the K-3 has no problems with 'A' lenses.

Regards
David

This is a bit of an unusual post, I hope the mods will allow it to remain as I just want to issue an open apology to all of the PU members that read some odd comments made today on a post on the Forum from yesterday about low-light focussing on the K-5iis.

The post I made on there referring to the AF Light illuminating on a D7100 is accurate. This was happening in the daytime in a room that was a bit dim, I gave this information not for any personal reasons but to illustrate how good the K-5IIs is at focussing in poor light, there were no other reasons for me referring to this. In hindsight, I probably should not have named the owner of the camera as this is what appears to have created the response, I apologise for doing so if it has caused offence.

What followed was surprising to say the least and has been taken out of context. It should not have been posted on an open forum, especially as there were comments made directly about me which are not true and which should have been addressed to me personally if there was any concern. I hope that everyone will accept this apology and will understand that I have not fallen out with the person concerned, I have no reason to post anything derogatory about that person and I will never do so.

There's no need for anyone to respond to this post, the only reason I've put it on is to say sorry for what you might have read and that there was never any intention on my part for this to occur.

Many thanks
David

That third shot is superb Alistair, a real testament to your camera skills.

Regards
David

Hi Nigel, you can have the AF Assist lamp switched on if necessary but it doesn't need it, so no, generally not. I noticed at my 25th Wedding Anniversary celebrations where it was quite dark, that Shaun Wilson's Nikon D7100 was struggling to focus and the AF Assist light was constantly illuminating, which was annoying to say the least. My K-5iis was locking on straight away and the light never came on once.

Regards
David

I would say 'yes' it's a significant improvement. My K-5 Mk1 was inconsistent in AF even on static subjects. The MkII is far more accurate and also has the added benefit of being able to lock focus in near darkness.

Regards
David

I would imagine that it would be counter-productive having the anti-shake turned on when panning / moving the camera quickly as the mechanism wouldn't adjust quickly enough to the movement of the camera and this would result in every shot being wasted. I'm sure Alistair will correct me if I'm wrong!

Regards
David

Edit: Alistair was too quick for me!