Pentax 645N autofocus speed

[pete_gregar1]

Can anyone comment on the speed of the pentax 645N with autofocus

lenses?

 

I was looking at the 75mm and 150mm/3.5

 

Can you compare to a 35mm camera?

 

Minolta maxxum 9000 (painfully slow)

Minolta 9xi 7xi (good, hunts)

Maxxum 7 excellent

 

Or the Canon EOS series.

 

thanks!

[miles_hecker]

Under most bright conditions prefocus and lock take about 1/2 second.

Under low light it can hunt for a second.

 

I use manual focus 100% of the time so this isn't issue.

An EOS 1V it's NOT!

 

Reports say the CONTAX 645 is better, probably about 2X as fast.

[miles_hecker]

The above comments apply to my 45-85MM lens and the body I have is the 645NII the newer model.

[douglas_benson]

Actually in my experience, having owned both the Pentax 645N

and the Contax 645, I would humbly disagree with Mr. Hecker; I

would rate the Pentax as significantly faster than the Contax, but

would agree that neither is nearly so quick as the 1 V. The

Contax autofocus system is essentially useless for anything

other than still life photography in bright light and even then it will

tend to "hunt "relentlessly at times when asked to shoot an in

camera dupe on a motionless object that was previously in

focus...that is if the batteries hold up long enough!

 

DAB.

[douglas_cummings]

I tested the Pentax vs my friends Contax. CLEARLY the Pentax is

faster, predicts postion better and is more accurate in dim light.

The Contax shutter lag is slightly shorter than the Pentax. The

645N is plenty fast for surfers.

[raymond_valois]

Agree ... Pentax a CLEAR winner in speed. Comparing it to a 35mm AF ... well, it's a VERY close second.

 

I use the 645N for my wedding shoots and never had a problem because of slow autofocus. When the bridal party is coming down the aisle nd the B&G are exiting after the ceremony, I use the predictive autofocus mode and it performs beautifully .. never had an out-of-focus shot.

 

Ray

[miles_hecker]

Thanks for the hands on Doug. My info was from a regional Contax dealer who tried to switch me to the Contax. I am very happy with my Pentax system and love the razor sharp zooms. Being a landscape photographer, the increased speed of the Zeiss fixed lenses on the Contax was meaningless.

Mountains don't usually move too fast, unless of course you're shooting Mt St Helens at the wrong time of year. : )

[rich long]

I have a P645N (not the N2) and the normal 75mm FA lens. The autofocus reminds me very much of the Canon EOS system before the USM lenses. It's slower, louder, and hunts a little more than Canon's USM, but is still quite useable. Of course, I mostly use manual focus since my other lenses aren't the FA version...

[p_l_jensen]

The AF of the Pentax 645N is plenty fast enough for most situations. The camera is used around here by some of the most well know wildlife and nature photographer. The UK wildlife photographer Andy Rouse switched from the EOS 1V to the 645NII and rely on AF and auto exposure for wildlife subjects. It's certainly usable for more than stationary subject and battery consumption is low compared to the competition.

[matthew chan]

I would say Pentax 645N had a fast AF speed. I own 645N and 120mm/4 the speed is comparable to 35mm Nikon AF macro.