Live view autofocus on Pentax cameras

Thanks very much for your detailed and helpful response.

MaKeR wrote:

You ask "which of the recent Pentax cameras offers the best AF via the LCD". I can't answer which one offers the best. I do use AF via the LCD when shooting landscapes on my KP, and it works perfectly well. The AF area is a square of fixed size that can be positioned almost anywhere in the frame, or locked to the centre. It is white, and turns green when achieving focus, or red if focus cannot be obtained.

Other AF Active Area options for Live View, which I do not use, are Face Detection, Tracking, and Multiple AF Points. For the latter, the sensor is divided into 35 areas (7 horizontal by 5 vertical), from which you can select and position a rectangular array of 1, 9, 15, 25, or 35 of those AF areas.

I also do not use face detect and am more concerned with the ability of the AF system to acquire focus on the subject under the focus rectangle and take the photo quickly.

The one drawback I would point out is poorer battery life when using Live View on the KP, compared to the K-5 and K-3 lines of cameras.

The KP is discontinued, unfortunately, but available on the used market.

The KP is the camera I am targeting and I am aware of the limited battery life. The only reason I need a second camera is for events (such as horse festivals in Spain and the UK) where I would use the AF camera with a telephoto (eg 55-300)  and either a wide (FA 31) or portrait (zeiss 85mm) on the S1R. The fact that I would also be able to AF using the FA 31 is an added bonus.

Thanks again.