Few more with DFA 21/2.4

[MarBa]

Hi everyone,

I enjoy walkarounds with the DFA 21/2.4 quite a bit! Well .. one small downside .. it's a bit tricky to focus properly as the AF has a tendency to miss time to time (both ways, front and back focus). But it's OK and I don't think it is worse than DFA 15-30/2.8.

I really like the FOV, and close focus capabilities. Here are some images taken recently ... (all just a bit of exposure compensation and exported from LR as 50% size).

Best,

M

 

[Lessiter]

Nice depth to the images! Regarding the AF people have mentioned the K-1II misfocusing but you're using the og K-1 right?

Interestingly people are having focusing difficulties with the newish Sigma "I" lenses. Those lenses also appear to leave spherical aberrations for improved bokeh. They actually render a bit in the vein of the dfa21 imho. Anyway it seems like you pay a af price for the great bokeh. The recent Fuji primes don't seem to suffer though.

 

[flektogon]

Beautiful pictures! Yes, the lens has to be exquisite (no more than the photographer ). You are complaining/mentioning occasional miss-focusing. Does it happen even if you use only the central AF point?

 

[MarBa]

Beautiful pictures! Yes, the lens has to be exquisite (no more than the photographer ). You are complaining/mentioning occasional miss-focusing. Does it happen even if you use only the central AF point?

 

[flektogon]

Beautiful pictures! Yes, the lens has to be exquisite (no more than the photographer ). You are complaining/mentioning occasional miss-focusing. Does it happen even if you use only the central AF point?

Yes it does happen even with the central AF.

I think that the problem is that the AF points are kind of large. So you never know where exactly the AF is actually measuring. Other problem is sometimes with a very "busy" repetitive subject .. for example trees in a distance with many branches.. it could also be my K-1. And of course .. also user error.

It is not too serious. One obvious missfocus in tens of images where it is something clear like missing focus on a flat subject at "infinity".

Best

M

Yes, for the same reason I use exclusively the central AF point only, and in spite of it all my Pentax bodies (K-x, K-S1, KP) occasionally miss-focus as well. Regardless which lens I use. So, it's a problem of the Pentax cameras (bodies), not the lenses.

--
Regards,
Peter

 

[TomWret]

MarBa, very nice series.

Tom W

 

[JL Salvignol]

…Kirk Tuck - VSL Blog - yesterday:

« I've shot with Sony cameras and I've shot with the Pentax K-1 and, from a photographer's point of view, the K-1 is a hands down more fun and more rewarding photography generator than any of the five or six Sony A7xxx cameras I've owned. The K-1 felt just right in my hands, the finder was beautiful, the performance of the camera, when it came to image quality, was fantastic. Sure, the Sonys locked focus better and faster and they could track stuff. But they also seemed to suck the fun out of shooting for fun.«

 

[flektogon]

…Kirk Tuck - VSL Blog - yesterday:

« I've shot with Sony cameras and I've shot with the Pentax K-1 and, from a photographer's point of view, the K-1 is a hands down more fun and more rewarding photography generator than any of the five or six Sony A7xxx cameras I've owned. The K-1 felt just right in my hands, the finder was beautiful, the performance of the camera, when it came to image quality, was fantastic. Sure, the Sonys locked focus better and faster and they could track stuff. But they also seemed to suck the fun out of shooting for fun.«

Well, we were trying to find out the source of occasional miss-focus with the Pentax bodies/lenses. I doubt that your reply will bring this problem closer to the resolving :-( .

 

[M R Padmaraju]

Nice series .

Regards ,

mrp .

 

[TBLF]

…Kirk Tuck - VSL Blog - yesterday:

« I've shot with Sony cameras and I've shot with the Pentax K-1 and, from a photographer's point of view, the K-1 is a hands down more fun and more rewarding photography generator than any of the five or six Sony A7xxx cameras I've owned. The K-1 felt just right in my hands, the finder was beautiful, the performance of the camera, when it came to image quality, was fantastic. Sure, the Sonys locked focus better and faster and they could track stuff. But they also seemed to suck the fun out of shooting for fun.«

Well, we were trying to find out the source of occasional miss-focus with the Pentax bodies/lenses. I doubt that your reply will bring this problem closer to the resolving :-( .

Well, the usual suspects are why usually we ask "Are you using any kind of filter threaded onto the lens?" and "Have you taken your Rocket Blower and made sure the A/F sensor area in the body is dust free?" Those seem to both be common causes on Pentax bodies for random focusing weirdness.

Hope that's more like what you're looking for, keep us posted what you find.

 

[MarBa]

…Kirk Tuck - VSL Blog - yesterday:

« I've shot with Sony cameras and I've shot with the Pentax K-1 and, from a photographer's point of view, the K-1 is a hands down more fun and more rewarding photography generator than any of the five or six Sony A7xxx cameras I've owned. The K-1 felt just right in my hands, the finder was beautiful, the performance of the camera, when it came to image quality, was fantastic. Sure, the Sonys locked focus better and faster and they could track stuff. But they also seemed to suck the fun out of shooting for fun.«

Well, we were trying to find out the source of occasional miss-focus with the Pentax bodies/lenses. I doubt that your reply will bring this problem closer to the resolving :-( .

Well, the usual suspects are why usually we ask "Are you using any kind of filter threaded onto the lens?" and "Have you taken your Rocket Blower and made sure the A/F sensor area in the body is dust free?" Those seem to both be common causes on Pentax bodies for random focusing weirdness.

Hope that's more like what you're looking for, keep us posted what you find.

No filter .. and I did clean the AF sensor.

As I say ... it is not a major problem.

I wonder if others have similar issues ..

 

[LightBug]

Very nice set of images. The last one is my favorite with the dreamy background that’s nicely blurred, yet visible enough to give context to the subject.

 

[Abbazz]

Hi everyone,

I enjoy walkarounds with the DFA 21/2.4 quite a bit! Well .. one small downside .. it's a bit tricky to focus properly as the AF has a tendency to miss time to time (both ways, front and back focus). But it's OK and I don't think it is worse than DFA 15-30/2.8.

I really like the FOV, and close focus capabilities. Here are some images taken recently ... (all just a bit of exposure compensation and exported from LR as 50% size).

Thank you for the beautiful pictures that illustrate perfectly well the great imaging capabilities of the lens.

Like you, I encounter the occasional misfocus with this lens. It seems to happen randomly and not always with "difficult" subjects, like tiny objects in front of a distant background. I always use single point AF and shift the focusing target according to the subject but it doesn't help. Even landscape shots at infinity can be out of focus.

And yes, I know that's easy to use hyperfocal on a 21mm lens! But it's no piece of cake to set this lens to hyperfocal distance as its distance scale is very imprecise. Add to this the lack of an infinity stop (the focus ring goes way past infinity), and you end up with a lens that requires the user to switch to live view and zoom into the image in order to use manual focus (focusing on the mate screen is too imprecise). That's why it would have been conveninet to be able to rely on autofocus.

But yeah, it might be the price to pay to enjoy this otherwise magical lens...

Cheers!

Abbazz

 

[MarBa]

Hi everyone,

I enjoy walkarounds with the DFA 21/2.4 quite a bit! Well .. one small downside .. it's a bit tricky to focus properly as the AF has a tendency to miss time to time (both ways, front and back focus). But it's OK and I don't think it is worse than DFA 15-30/2.8.

I really like the FOV, and close focus capabilities. Here are some images taken recently ... (all just a bit of exposure compensation and exported from LR as 50% size).

Thank you for the beautiful pictures that illustrate perfectly well the great imaging capabilities of the lens.

Like you, I encounter the occasional misfocus with this lens. It seems to happen randomly and not always with "difficult" subjects, like tiny objects in front of a distant background. I always use single point AF and shift the focusing target according to the subject but it doesn't help. Even landscape shots at infinity can be out of focus.

And yes, I know that's easy to use hyperfocal on a 21mm lens! But it's no piece of cake to set this lens to hyperfocal distance as its distance scale is very imprecise. Add to this the lack of an infinity stop (the focus ring goes way past infinity), and you end up with a lens that requires the user to switch to live view and zoom into the image in order to use manual focus (focusing on the mate screen is too imprecise). That's why it would have been conveninet to be able to rely on autofocus.

But yeah, it might be the price to pay to enjoy this otherwise magical lens...

Cheers!

Abbazz

It is good to know that you have similar problems .. yes, it would be great if AF was more consistent. Maybe some future FW update will solve this? Let's hope ...

I also don't like the fact that the focus ring goes beyond infinity .. if at least one had a line to know where the infinity is for manual focusing .. because the infinity sign is quite large and I have no clue how to set the lens manually for infinity!

I think they just don't want to bother with calibrating these things in the factory .. it's a shame .. that was one clear advantage of older manual lenses!

 

[Lessiter]

Basically all my lenses with hard infinity stops either goes beyond or never reaches infinity.

For film the accuracy was OK but it doesn't work for high res digital. In addition thermal expansion means that your lens is only ever calibrated at a specific temperature.

In other words hard stops don't work.

 

[MarBa]

Basically all my lenses with hard infinity stops either goes beyond or never reaches infinity.

For film the accuracy was OK but it doesn't work for high res digital. In addition thermal expansion means that your lens is only ever calibrated at a specific temperature.

In other words hard stops don't work.

good points ... so maybe we just have to accept this...

 

[Abbazz]

Basically all my lenses with hard infinity stops either goes beyond or never reaches infinity.

For film the accuracy was OK but it doesn't work for high res digital. In addition thermal expansion means that your lens is only ever calibrated at a specific temperature.

In other words hard stops don't work.

All my Cosina made Voigtländer Apo Lanthar lenses have a very precise infinity stop and they are pretty darn sharp on a Sony A7Riv. But you are right: they are also very good on film!

Cheers!

Abbazz

 

[Abbazz]

Basically all my lenses with hard infinity stops either goes beyond or never reaches infinity.

For film the accuracy was OK but it doesn't work for high res digital. In addition thermal expansion means that your lens is only ever calibrated at a specific temperature.

In other words hard stops don't work.

good points ... so maybe we just have to accept this...

I can accept this in a cheap kit zoom but not in a pricey Limited lens. The Limited lenses have always been praised for their precise focusing with depth of field scale and infinity stop.

Cheers!

Abbazz