on 30.10.03 21:30, Alexandru-Cristian Sarbu at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I was curious - how good is the new SAFOX VIII (on *ist&*istD) in low light? > In the Phil's review, it looks dissapointing; 0,1EV with a 1.4 lens, as > opposed to -1EV for the 10D. I made some dirt & quick tests of SAFOX VIII last weekend, comparing it to SAFOX VII in MZ-S. And while in good light, *istD was able to lock faster on very low-contrast subjects, but in poor lighting it was hunting and getting very slow. It needed about two times more "hunting" that MZ-S did and thus was two times slower. Also it seems, that it had more problems with strongly defocused image (with long lenses), than SAFOX VII did - it spinned first in the wrong direction, then in the right to obtain proper focus. MZ-S had less problems with it, but a winner was... Z-20 and SAFOX II with one wide AF sensor, which followed in the right direction even with very defocused image from my Sigma 180/3.5 almost all the time. Otherwise, SAFOX VIII proved to be very fast and sure, but it simply needed more light. I hope Pentax will solve these small problems with SAFOX IX or anything to come. Mentioned problems are not important for me, and as a matter of fact, AF slowed down at light levels that made even iso3200 hardly useable, and you could use in these conditions flash, which provides AF assist lamp anyway, but people who use long telephoto lenses with AF would like probably to have more effective SAFOX.
-- Best Regards Sylwek
