RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Live View AF Speed Comparison: D600 Vs K-5 Vs NEX-7 (YouTube Videos)

Friday, October 05, 2012

Live View AF Speed Comparison: D600 Vs K-5 Vs NEX-7 (YouTube Videos)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuj7GnQjhWA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYg_OY-V6Jk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGYHC9biqUM

And the following are posted by the same person, which are Pentax and K-30 related:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDRuzvcR310

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RB8DQUSFPk

Related:-

The Pentax Sex Party Continues..

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Tomasz Worek · 649 weeks ago

Well, no surprises here: NEX-7 is faster than both DSLR...

... but why wonderful D600 is so slooooow...? ;-)

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Jaz Johal · 649 weeks ago

Wow , thanks for the post, thats hard hitting stuff.... and why is the D600 so slow, I was contemplating purchasing it ,as its is full frame. Now I dont know what to do...

3 replies · active 648 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 649 weeks ago

Owing to the shallower DoF, the contrast detection AF of a FF DSLR should be slower. Ditto for m4/3 cameras are focusing faster than NEX and NX for the same reason.

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jaad75 · 649 weeks ago

No, they are focusing faster, because they have much faster AF sampling rate and more responsive in lens mechanism.

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zosX · 648 weeks ago

Yep. This is why screw drive is so slow ultimately. Though I have to admit, as long as focus takes place in under a second in good light I'm happy. The k-5 really breaks down at low EV and that's something that would be a welcome change if they improved it. cdaf is always going to be more accurate. RH does have a point that they AF systems have to work less hard on m43. Even an f2 lens has the same dof as a lens at f4. They are still way faster than anything that uses cdaf should be. cdaf is slow on dslrs because they are not optimized for it. I imagine that in the future hybrid approaches will slowly win the day. The OM-D is horrible at tracking and I don't think there is any way to fix that with a cdaf only approach at this moment in time. Nikon's pdaf will track objects in 3d. That's fairly impressive.

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n/a · 649 weeks ago

I think your reasoning does not hold true. Depth of field is no determining factor in the speed of an AF system, neither phase detected nor kontrast detected. Contrast detected AF and phase detected AF both depend on of the mecanical ability to move the lens system as fast as possible while measuring the variation in contrast and optical phases. That determines the boundaries. That said every of todays cameras may be able to focus very quick, but nevertheless does not, why? Maybe the company does not want to, in order to differentiate its product lines. Maybe the developers were inexperienced or lazy or even worse unable to lift the potential of the hardware. I think a camera with a processing pipeline fast enough to process full frame video in real time is fast enough to process a contrast detection algorithm for a snappy AF.
I can see the end of phase detected AF because of the inherent production problems with the precision of the light path unmanageable by all companies not only Pentax.

4 replies · active 648 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 649 weeks ago

You're wrong then. Just think about a pin-hole camera which has a super long in-focus distance range and the time required to focus it! It's all about the span of different focuses and the amount of run required to achieve the focus after all.

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n/a · 648 weeks ago

As a matter of fact most AF systems work with an open diaphragm, so DOF is no variable in the AF process: even a wide 1.4 lens has a DOF albeit very small. The AF mechanism has to work even without or a very small DOF and its (AF) regulation is one of the most important speed factors. I found SDM lenses to focus very slow in contrast AF vs phase detect AF compared to non motor lenses. My Tokina 2.6-2.8 28-70 on the other hand focuses incredibly fast with both AF systems, if manual focus is decoupled. The DA 200, a f2.8 sdm lens, in comparison focuses incredibly slow with contrast AF vs phase detected AF.

I also think the coupling of the lens to the body is very sloppy with Pentax, making fine movements difficult: for instance the adjustment of the AF of my K5 seems to depend on the direction of the focus movement i.e. coming from nearest distance or infinity. My cameras phase detecting focus system simply does not work by design. I tried to adjust the focus indicator for my manual A lenses and found it to be not possible to adjust. The AF correction either standard or the debug menu option seem to not adjust the detection system but the drive system of the lens. The focal length to the phase detect sensors is very different compared to the sensor and i would guess even to the focusing screen. The only way to focus manual lenses on my K5 is by using the sensor in liveview. On the other hand i could adjust the my AF lenses to focus satisfactory albeit not optimal with phase detect using the debug menu. Due probably to the sloppy coupling even using contrast detect AF the lens sometimes does not focus satisfactory, compared to careful manual focus using liveview.

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jaad75 · 648 weeks ago

As a matter of fact, there is a difference in DOF between FF, APS-C and let's say FT with equivalent focal lengths and the same f-stop (with an open diaphragm) and that difference definitely has some impact on the AF systems. Maybe not that crucial as Rice seems to think, but always.

BTW, it looks like your K-5 needs a service repair.

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n-a · 648 weeks ago

I am too timid to send the camera to a service technician, since i have seen one working and his workshop years ago. The camera as it is, is clean and the main functions (ISO, aperture, timing and exposure metering) work. Focusing is possible using liveview for manual lenses and adjusted AF. :I do not run the risk of worsing the situation, even if many functions dont work as expected. The great image quality i bought it for is there. I am everytime very impressed by the results of this imaging system.

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jaad75 · 649 weeks ago

Depth of field matters but not as much as you think - especially not if you compare MFT to APS-C.

1 reply · active 649 weeks ago

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jaad75 · 649 weeks ago

it should be in reply to Rice's post above.

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Wider · 648 weeks ago

http://youtu.be/K1GwD1XMtnU

K-30

3 replies · active 648 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 648 weeks ago

Nothing special. The performance is similar to that of the K-01 and the old K-5. Unlike the K-5 and K-r, the LV image is not zoomed in during focusing, though.

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Wider · 648 weeks ago

WRONG. In tests K-30 has times better CDAF's speed than K-5. http://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax-k-30-r...

LV could be zoomed, but it could be switched on or off. K-5 can't.
RTFM.

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RiceHigh 110p · 648 weeks ago

The LV AF speed in your last youtube video is not that impressive. As for the PF measurebation results, the K-30 did not win all the tests.

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gregorylent · 647 weeks ago

found this post via google and a d600 auto focus problems .. there are several .. and i have them ... especially in live view video mode, where it is useless. 5d mkiii sales should increase i would think

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Friday, October 05, 2012

Live View AF Speed Comparison: D600 Vs K-5 Vs NEX-7 (YouTube Videos)

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