Pentax K-x

Speed and Timing

Pentax promises a high burst rate of approximately 4.7 fps, and our testing proved they’re not far off the mark. Shooting full-resolution, large JPEGs, we clocked the camera at 4.22 shots per second, the fastest speed in our comparison group.

There are two settings for continuous shooting, Hi promises 4.7 shots per second up to 17 frames in a row, and came very close. There’s also Lo, which shoots at about 2 frames per second, but can continue at that rate until you’ve filled up the SD card. RAW shooting is also speedy, but you can only shoot 5 shots continuously in high-speed mode before giving the buffer time to clear.

There are two self-timer modes: 2 second and 12 second. An optional wireless remote control is available, which can be used to trigger the shutter immediately or after a 3-second delay.

Focus Speed

The K-x incorporates a significant autofocus system improvement over the K2000 introduced earlier this year. The camera now uses 11 autofocus points (versus 5 for the K2000) and offers four AF point selection modes: the camera can choose from 5 or 11 points, the user can select one of 11 points manually, or the center point can be set in spot mode.

Autofocus speed isn’t lightning-fast, but it’s not bad — certainly up to the task for day-to-day shooting, and even sports photography works reasonably well, particularly when using continuous focus mode.

If you’re trying to snag a sharp shot of a moving subject, catch-in focus is available. You set the focus on a point that the subject will pass and hold the shutter button halfway. When your quarry appears and is in focus, the shutter trips automatically.

The camera doesn’t have a dedicated autofocus assist lamp, relying instead on a brief burst of light from the pop-up flash to help achieve focus in dark environments. Fortunately, the system works quickly enough in most low-light conditions even without the flash assist, so you’ll be able to take your indoor candids without being branded a flasher.

When focusing manually, the viewfinder focus confirmation indicator lights when the subject comes into focus. However, the focus ring on the kit lens has very little friction, making manual focusing a chore, and hitting the precise point where that indicator light blinks on is awfully tricky.