Hello there,

been looking in various places and can't seem to find a definitive answer as some website say yes and some say no.

Does the Pentax SMC DA 50mm f1.8 prime lens have Quick Shift focussing i.e. you can focus the lens manually either before using AF or after acquiring AF without having to switch the AF/MF switch on the camera ... and most importantly it does it without grinding or crunching the focussing mechanism as happens if you try with a non quick-shift lens?

Thanks

I've used my 70-300 Tamron for taking to the Zoo and taking pictures of the moon, but don't use it at any other time.

Luckily it was incredibly cheap, bought it when Jessops were chucking out all of the Pentax stuff

I'll be waiting until there's a drop in price though! As much as I'd love to just run out and buy one now OH wouldn't be too pleased.

Hello there, hope everyone has had/is having a good Christmas.

I've been looking into buying a new camera. Got my K20D back in 2008 and had a lot of fun with it but fancy an upgrade. I'm happy with the quality of the pictures but certain aspects of the camera have always felt a bit slow and clunky - these are becoming more obvious as the technology has improved in more recent Pentaxes.

My Dad got a K30 last year and I've had a bit of a play with it - just to see how some of the Pentax features have changed.

Pros:
Much better screen - I've found with mine that it will often present a picture I've just taken as only being worthy of the delete button, but when I put it onto the computer it's actually much better than I'd expected. The newer screen on K30 seems much better.
Better metering? - Pictures seemed to be a more accurate reflection of the lighting conditions, whereas 90% of my pictures on K20D are underexposed, sometimes by quite a large amount. I know that's better than overexposing but I don't like having to faff around with every single picture in post processing. Wouldn't be so much of an issue if the underexposure was at least consistent but it isn't so can't just leave Exposure compensation on.
Much less noise at high ISO and higher ISO options
Live view much quicker and responsive.
Movie mode
Menu interface - although I found it confusing for the first 5 minutes - it is quite quick and more modern looking
AF seems faster
Distortion and Aberration correction in camera

Cons:
It Didn't feel as good to hold - felt nasty, plastic and angular in comparison to the K20D - which I think is wonderful to hold
No top LCD screen


SO considering the improvements, and that the K3 is meant to improve on those areas further PLUS seems to be a similar size and construction to the K20D - I'm thinking that would be the best upgrade option.
Main areas I want to improve are high ISO noise, metering, dynamic range, Auto focus speed, but without losing the good ergonomics and feel of the K20D.

Has anyone moved directly from K20D to K3? Or can remember the K20D well enough to compare with the K3?

I know the difference in the technical specs but I'd like the views of people that have had hands on experience with the cameras. Thank you

I've always found it to be very fast and accurate. The only lens I have that can take a while to find focus in low light is my Tamron 70-300, but that's usually because I've forgotten to put the focus limiter on. So it's got a huge range to cover. Even on a cloudy day it's usually almost instant.

But then the only other camera I've had was a bridge camera which was obviously considerably slower. If the sound and speed really bother you then you could always invest in some SDM lenses.

It does actually say in the manual that the camera can make these sort of noises and explains that it's to do with SR. It says it very clearly actually within the first couple of pages if I remember correctly. Personally I've never noticed it, apart from when I'm in live view with SR turned on.

It's a lot of money if you can only use it for manual.

You're right; all this faffing around doesn't exactly inspire confidence

You could still use the lens. But it would be Manual Focus only. The HSM focussing system will not work with a K100D, it would with the super.

Pentax SDM lenses would work using screw drive from Camera, but the K100D couldn't utilise the sonic drive motor.

However the sigma doesn't even allow a screw drive. So Manual only.

Sorry

Ian

There isn't a firmware version 1.03 for K100D, only up to 1.02.

Ah, I see. Makes sense now. Thanks for explaining it John.

Ian