Style/Pentax

It’s no secret that when it comes to autofocus (AF) accuracy and speed, Canon far surpasses its competitors. Pentax is no slacker on that front anymore – with the K-5 and K-r’s release – but it can still be somewhat hard to shoot sports with a Pentax and an SDM lens.

It’s a two-fold problem here:

1. Pentax’s AF accuracy and speed has improved considerably and is comparable to Nikon and such, but it’s not fast enough for a point-and-shoot approach to sports photography.
2. Pentax’s high-end zoom lenses, the DA* 60-250mm and DA* 50-135mm, both utilize the SDM drive. Which, while silent, is significantly slower than traditional whirring-loud screw-driven lenses.

But it’s not an insurmountable problem at all. In fact, it’s these things about Pentax that makes me love the brand even if it sounds a little like a backhanded compliment. To take good sports photos with Pentax requires less of a lightning-quick reflex, but more of a smart contemplated approach to photography.

I’ve shot with a Canon 5D Mk2 and it’s very much possible to set the camera on AF-C and simply track the action. The K-5 isn’t much slower – perhaps just by a fragment of a second – but that fragment means everything when a 7 feet tall basketball player goes for a jump-shot.

How then do you catch the shots if AF-C isn’t fast enough, and AF-S requires lightning-fast response times?

Trick 1: Pre-focus.

Watch the game, and predict the location. I enjoy shooting on the ground level, or shooting upwards from a lower angle. For those shooting sports, you’ll know this provides a fair bit of challenge. Action blurs-by much faster and if you’re shooting tightly (I shoot at about 90-135mm crop, or 135-202mm on full frame). But I’ve shot both hockey – which is blazing fast – and basketball on the ground level. I shoot throughout the games, but I spend the first few minutes (or at times the first quarter) observing the team I’m shooting.

Watch the game, not just the action. There’s a general “area” that hockey players and basketball players shoot from. Team strategy varies, but it can still be predicted enough for shots.

Aim at the floor and pre-focus the shot when you see action coming on the way. I’ve found many shots after that pre-focus requires barely a twitch in AF to get it sharp, instead of the fraction of a second it normally takes.

Trick 2: Shoot first aim later.

This works best if, well, you pre-focus. Set the camera to release-priority instead of focus-priority. Your camera will then fire as long as you click the shutter, even if focus isn’t spot-on. If you’ve employed pre-focus, the chances of “missing” that shot is far lower. Less likely of focusing to the background or foreground because your lens was already prepared – and so are you.

For pre-K-5 shooters, there may not be a release-priority setting at all. In those cases, set it so that there’s a dedicated AF-button, and disable the half-press focus setting for the trigger. It works for the K20D, but your mileage may vary.

Trick 3: Shoot downwards.

Shooting on the ground level, or shooting upwards, can make very interesting shots. It lets the viewers feel as if they’re part of the action, up-close-and-personal. It makes the players look grand if not larger-than-life. But it’s easy for a person to zoom by the depth of field, or jump/run/skate out of the field of view.

While shooting from a higher level makes players look smaller, and may hide the faces from view, it works much easier and makes a safe fall-back for sports photography. Shooting for newspapers and publications, I’m forced to deliver photos on every assignment. Shooting from the stands gets decent action and sharp focus, even if they’re not the most engaging shots in the whole game. I make it a point to shoot a few fall-back photos, and then I work to get the “oooh” shots later.

Trick 4: Crowd reactions.

When people think of sports they think of the sport itself. What if you missed that last shot that pushed a team to a win 51-50? Or your focus was just off when the man fired the last puck into the goal?

Win or lose, crowds are always good to shoot at the end of the game. From the disappointed frowns to the ecstatic screams, they make wonderful photos. Find the rowdiest group of fans in a game and quickly shoot photos of them at the end of the game. It’ll be a nice post-game shot even if you missed the winning/losing moment.

Also, photos of the coaches when they’re having time-outs or when they’re shouting against the referees make very emotional and powerful photos.

The Pentax photographer is a photographer that has to plan and anticipate – much like photographers in the film-days. Before the dawn of autofocus and burst-fire of 10fps, photographers have to plan where they stood to get the most action and know where action will be when it comes. It’s not psychic prediction, it’s training.

And hey, good skills work in all conditions. Train yourself to plan and anticipate, and when Pentax releases a full-frame camera with autofocus as fast as Canon, you’ll find jobs a breeze while the newer generation of photographers struggle with their equipment.

Anticipate, not react

First of all, let me begin by giving a brief history of Pentax. This is by no means meant to be a historical analysis of the company or a detailed look into its cameras, but simply to provide a general background on Pentax. This company, these days barely recognized, has influenced SLRs in a way that few people these days realize.

Brief history
The name “Pentax” wasn’t originally the name of the company, in fact it was originally known as the Asahi Optical Company. Asahi produced one of the most influential SLRs in the early 60s with the “Asahi Pentax,” which its compact body and control layout was to be later emulated by Nikon and other companies that manufactured SLRs.

With the success of the “Asahi Pentax” camera, the company decided to rename itself into Pentax, and followed up with many a number of Pentax cameras.

In the earlier years of 35mm SLR photography, Pentax was a name as well known as Nikon – which was another company that rose to prominence in the same time period with its Nikon F series of SLRs.

The early Pentax cameras used the m42 screw-mount, and Pentax’s very own line of lenses that came out around the same period of time – the Takumars – were well known for its sharpness and color rendering. Pentax later moved on from the m42 mount in the 1970s and developed its very own K-mount – which is often believed to stand for the “King-mount”.

With the exception of the Nikon F-mount, Pentax boasts the second longest line of lens compatibilities. Current Nikon cameras still use the F-mount, allowing Nikon shooters to purchase antique Nikkor lenses for relatively cheap prices. The same applies for Pentax, as even the latest Pentax models uses advanced versions of K-mount with backwards compatibilities to the early 1970s lenses.

The “Pentax” style
Every brand of SLR manufacturer has its specific style and approach to its cameras and lenses. Nikon, for example, is renowned for its spectacular Flash systems. Canon is known for its powerful zoom lenses and rapid autofocus systems. Sony’s known for using alternative approaches to its technology – though much of it was adapted from Minolta.

Pentax was known for its landscape, prime lens mentality and with the advent of DSLRs – its spectacular ability to control noise.

With that in mind, it comes as no wonder that while Pentax is no pioneer or competitor in terms of flash systems or autofocus systems, it still retains itself as a professional and respectable brand amongst serious professional photographers. Pentax boasts itself as the company with what could possibly be the most distinctive autofocus primes (without comparing itself to Zeiss or Leicas, those are considered luxury brands).

While other brands typically offer the basic 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm prime lenses, Pentax takes it a step further and offers more; knowing full well that traditionalist photographers seek more than just the typical focal lengths.

The Pentax FA77, FA43 and FA31 lenses are three of the most spectacularly sharp prime lenses. The FA43 was even made as Leica screw-mount lenses.

And of course, it offers the traditional prime focal lengths as well as telephoto primes such as a 300mm. Its discontinued series of A lenses even offered 600mm primes – available in second hand markets for thousands of dollars.

Not for everyone
The typical consumer would find the brand suiting their needs perfectly – but then they would find Sony, Nikon and Canon perfectly suited as well.

The Pentax series of DSLRs and lenses isn’t meant for every professional. It’s not a matter of quality – of that, make no mistake, Pentax stands as good as Canon or Nikon – but simply a matter of the aforementioned “style” or “approach” they have.

Nikon has set itself apart with its flash system and its full-frame cameras.
Canon has set itself apart with its L lenses and superb autofocus system.

Pentax has, well, a very traditional approach. Its high-end zoom lens – the DA*16-50 and DA*50-135 for example – is designed with the traditional full-frame shooter in mind. While most other companies opt for 24-70mm or 70-200mm, Pentax offers the odd 16-50mm and 50-135mm instead. The reason behind it lies with Pentax’s consideration of the crop factor in modern APS-C cameras (1.5-1.6x magnification).

The 16-50mm and 50-135mm, with the crop magnification, turns into a 24-75mm and a 75-200mm. Which covers the generally used focal lengths in full frame or 35mm cameras. Whereas other companies’ offering of 24-70mm and 70-200mm would turn into 36-105mm and 105mm-300mm lenses.

That’s a lot of technical talk, but it’s something that professional photographers take into account when they purchase lenses. Pentax understands this and sets itself apart by offering lenses that while seem odd to the average consumer, makes perfect sense for the traditionalist.

What else?
Beyond that, Pentax is known for its Medium Format cameras. Its 645D digital medium format camera is one of the best in the market, and its compatibility with older 645 film lenses also makes it one of the medium formats with a larger lineup of lenses. Amongst landscapists and some studio photographers, Pentax remains a very well known brand due to its medium format cameras.

With the advent of affordable DSLRs, it’s become fairly common to see most everyone owning a camera. And with the mentality of the general consumer market, it’s become almost a greeting to hear this question:

“Canon or Nikon?”

or this question:

“Why Pentax?”

It’s absolutely understandable though why a person would ask such a question. Canon and Nikon has catapulted itself into the forefront of the consumer DSLR market after their success in marketing – not pioneering – the digital revolution in the early 2000s. Sony has increasingly done so as well, with their Alpha line of cameras. But Canon and Nikon has become household names – with Canon ambassadors and Nikon’s renowned studio flash system – it’s no wonder that most people assume professional photographers shoot with Canon or Nikon.

So, why Pentax?