Just Shoot

[morgan lee]

I purchased the Pentax K10D four months ago and have never enjoyed photography

more. I started out with a Spotmatic which was handed down to me from my

grandfather. The Spotmatic was stolen and, after a brief interlude with a Sony

Mavica, I became hooked on digital photography. With the release of the K10D it

was time to go back to SLR. The one thing I miss about the Spotmatic (besides

the great Asahi lenses which were also stolen)is that it was a machine and did

exactly what I told it to do; even if what I told it was wrong.

I've missed some great shots with the K10D because of the "user friendly"

feature programmed in the computer that will not let me take a shot outside of

its programmed parameters or if it does not think it is in focus.

Please tell me how to maintain automatic functions (especially autofocus since

I mostly do aperture and exposure manually)while disabling the computer

deciding not to shoot.

I'm hoping I'm a dunce and missed that section in the user's manual.

Thank you all for your time and sharing your expertise on this great forum.

[davemoss]

if i am getting this right, you want to be able to shoot, even if the subject isn't in focus. is that right? you need to set it to manual then.

 

on my d200, i can set it to AFS and it will shoot at any time, but if i recall with the K10d, that was not the case.

 

sorry if i misinterpret your intentions.

[davemoss]

you'd have to pre lock the focus on something either distant, or nearer the subject. it is a pain, but it looks like the only way (after reading the manual pdf online).

[mr. sullen]

I just looked at the manual for this camera and as Dave said you want to set it manual, which is the letter M on the Mode Dial which is called Hyper-manual by Pentax page 156 of your manual.

[mr. sullen]

oh just in case you need it, http://pentaxlife.com/pentax-k10d-manual-download

[celasun]

I had the same problem with K100D. Uncoupling the "shutter button" and "autofocus" resolved the problem. Now I can shoot with/without focus confirmation. Otherwise, when you press the shutter button the camera shoots only if it "thinks" there is something properly focused. It must be somewhere in the menu.

[peter_schluter]

On the k 10D you must set the focus selector on the front of the camera to manual in order to take a picture irrespective of whether the camera thinks it is in focus or not.

 

It doesnt matter what exposure mode you are in.

[matt miller cambridge, ia]

Bulent has the right idea. You can move autofocus from the shutter button to the AF button on the back of the camera. This is done with one of the custom functions. After setting this, you'll be able to autofocus with your thumb and trip the shutter with your finger.

[andrewg_ny]

Either disable AF from the shutter half-press and rely on the rear 'AF' button, or use AF.C (continuous) autofocus mode, from the front AF mode switch. When in AF.C, AF will continuously try to re-focus during the half-press, but more importantly for your purposes, it becomes "release-priority" and will allow you to shoot without confirmation.

[thebs]

I closing in on 10,000 shots with my Pentax K100D I bought in late April and it's been so much fun! I did my first American football game from dusk to night with the "slow" DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6 (as well as the DA 16-45mm f/4 and Zenitar 16mm FE f/2.8) and I'm planning to put up a blog entry shortly on all that I've learned.

[morgan lee]

I've been playing with the ideas you all gave me. I like that in AFC the camera will release no matter what. I also went into the custom settings as recommended and turned off the Auto Focus on the shutter release button and like the best of both worlds: Able to have the shutter release when I want it to and still having autofocus available with the AF button. Thank you all so much for your help!

[michael_kuhne]

Here is another very simple solution. Leave all settings on normal as before. For very selective focus, switch to center-only spot focus. If there is an area in your composition you want to focus on other than where the focus sensor is centered, move the camera so the sensor is now centered on that area. Press the shutter release half way down, or hold the focus button, which will freeze the focus on your desired area. Then move the camera again to recompose your shot and fire. All of this takes but a second.

 

Some of the latest Pentax lenses also provide instant "quick shift" manual-focus over-ride of AF- a unique feature.