KP with 50 1.8

Hello Chijeff5

ChiJeff5 wrote:

Yeah, I was shocked when I went from k5 to k50 by the louder shutter sound. The buttery flicker of the KP will be nice if i go that route.

As far as contrast detect go... Do you have any experience with Panasonic or Olympus m43? I don't have any problem with my Panasonic GX9 autofocus in these dark live music venues.

I have no experience with this two Brands, but I know, that you can not compare a LV contrast AF with the contrast AF from Panasonic. Normaly, with a contrast AF the camera focus....analyse the contrast....focus a little....analyse the contrast and compare: is it better now or worse....than, if it got worse, the camera focus a little in the other direction, or, when it goes better, the camer do a next little focus step....and compare it again: is it better now or worse. That's why we can notice that the camera send the lens sometimes at the beginning in the wrong direction. A Phase AF system know the direction, the lens has to be focused at the beginning and even when the focus is way off at the beginning.

Now Panasonic had a great idea: I think they analyse not only the contrast, they analyse also the size different. On that way and knowing there lens, Panasonic know after some tries where the focus point is and do run the lens in one big step to the very... very near to it....like a phase AF can do.

So, the KP has this normal contrast AF like some other brands....and that takes time, much more time than in the phase AF. That's why I do not use, or better I say, I never tried it out in such a low light scene.

What I like, and here is a big different to my K5, is that when I use AF-C in LV, I can focus to a prone pattern in the scene and can recompose. The pattern recognition of the KP (Face AF is a special one) let the AF frame stay on my pattern when I recompose.

That is nice and I think you should try it out if this can be helpful for you too, because :

-I can have a focus point nearly up to the boarders

- That is way quicker than sending the phase AF via the arrows from one needed AF area to a next one.

But: the KP's contrast AF has, like the K5 had, a very big threshold before it start in AF-C a new AF on the object when your object was moving a little. That mean: My KP focus and the focus frame get green when the focus is achieved. Now I or my object move....the KP still show the focus frame green and do not force a new focusing....when my object get unsharp, so that even I can see it on this little display...my KP focus again...but on that way I can do pictures where the focus is off. Solution ? I do always, before I take the picture, let free the shutter release and half press is quickly again. On that way the KP do always force a new focusing ! And I get sharp LV pictures when my object is not a still 😀 An other way is: like on the K5, you can configure the AF button. For my LV use I have the AF button to: focus when the button is pushed. OK, that sound stupid, because when I half press the shutter release button, the KP do focus anyway in this AF button setting. But it is helpful for the problem above: I hold down the shutter release button...my KP focus in LV...my object moves but do to the threshold my KP do not focus quickly again (remember I use AF-C !) ....all what I do now is pushing also the AF button and voila, the KP do focus at once again on my object. I, personally find this addition AF button pressing much more relaxed that this up and down of my finger.

BTW: when you use the hold time in the AF-C mode (a new function introduced (I believe) in the K3) this AF button setting is also helpfull, because, when you use for example hold time = long....you can wait really long until the camera focus again. That is good when, like with a bird, you lost your object on your focus point and when you have your AF back on it the camera focus again on it....but sometimes it's hard for the camera to decide if you lost the object, or that the object is so quick that the camera now think that you did lost it.... Than it is helpful to brake the hold time via a additional short push on the AF button, because it's the same as above: the camera focus at once.

I wonder if the KP will be just as ok in live view with contrast detect. After all... Dark scenes with stage lights might provide good sharp contrast.

Best regards. KPM2