K-3 EXIF update

[dosdan]

Phil, would it be possible to update the Pentax AFPointSelected tag in  Exiftool so it interprets differently sized Extended Area AF, Auto 27-point & Auto 9-point AF:

Extended Area
Centre; 5   27 point (L)
Centre; 3   25 point (M)
Centre; 1     9 point (S)
Centre; 0     1 point (Spot)

Auto; 0                   Auto 27-point
Unknown (264); 0  Auto 9-point centred on Upper Middle
Unknown (270); 0  Auto 9-point centred on Centre
Unknown (271); 0  Auto 9-point centred on Right
Unknown (276); 0  Auto 9-point centred on Lower Middle
Unknown (275); 0  Auto 9-point centred on Bottom Near-left


Dan.

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for this input.

Sure.  It sounds to me as if you want to add the following conversions for the first number of the K-3 AFPointSelected:

Code Select Expand

            264 => '9-point Upper-middle',
            270 => '9-point Center',
            271 => '9-point Right',
            275 => '9-point Bottom Near-left',
            276 => '9-point Lower-middle',

and these for the second number:

Code Select Expand

            0 => '1 point (spot)',
            1 => '9 point (S)',
            3 => '25 point (M)',
            5 => '27 point (L)',

Is this correct?  If so, it would be nice to have a complete set  of conversions for the first number with the 9-point, 25-point and 27-point extended areas.  Would it be possible for you to obtain these?

- Phil

Edit:  No.  Looking at this again I don't think I understand because the second number in your "Unknown" 9-point examples isn't 1.  So I'm confused about how this should be decoded.  Part of my problem is that I don't know how the K-3 extended area works.  I'll download and read the manual when I get a chance.

[Phil Harvey]

Looking at this again, I see the first 9-point number is 256 greater than the normal value.

I have read the manual.  I think I understand a bit more now.  The second number is only non-zero for "Expanded Area AF", where the camera will track the AF point within the selected area.

Also, when you say "Auto 9-point", I think this is what Pentax calls "Zone Select", correct?  Is it possible to set any of the 27 AF points as the center of this zone?

- Phil

Edit:  The +256 holds for all of the points you gave except for 275 = "Bottom Near-left".  Should this possibly be "Lower Near-left" instead?

My current thinking is this:

first number:

Code Select Expand

            257 => 'Zone Select Top-left',
            258 => 'Zone Select Top Near-left',
            259 => 'Zone Select Top',
            260 => 'Zone Select Top Near-right',
            261 => 'Zone Select Top-right',
            262 => 'Zone Select Upper-left',
            263 => 'Zone Select Upper Near-left',
            264 => 'Zone Select Upper-middle',
            265 => 'Zone Select Upper Near-right',
            266 => 'Zone Select Upper-right',
            267 => 'Zone Select Far Left',
            268 => 'Zone Select Left',
            269 => 'Zone Select Near-left',
            270 => 'Zone Select Center',
            271 => 'Zone Select Near-right',
            272 => 'Zone Select Right',
            273 => 'Zone Select Far Right',
            274 => 'Zone Select Lower-left',
            275 => 'Zone Select Lower Near-left',
            276 => 'Zone Select Lower-middle',
            277 => 'Zone Select Lower Near-right',
            278 => 'Zone Select Lower-right',
            279 => 'Zone Select Bottom-left',
            280 => 'Zone Select Bottom Near-left',
            281 => 'Zone Select Bottom',
            282 => 'Zone Select Bottom Near-right',
            283 => 'Zone Select Bottom-right',

second number:

Code Select Expand

            0 => 'Single Point',
            1 => 'Expanded Area 9-point (S)',
            3 => 'Expanded Area 25-point (M)',
            5 => 'Expanded Area 27-point (L)',

[dosdan]

Phil, that's getting there, but in the manual "Zone Select" seems only to refer to the centre-point of the zone in "Auto 9" mode. (p.44 of the manual.) In  Auto-9 mode, two presses down direction takes the centre-point to 276 - Lower-middle. Whereas in  Extended Areas, you can use 3 presses down, with the centre-point on Bottom and only the top 6 of the 9 points in use.  So with EA you can move the 9-point area partially off the edge.

"Zone" seems only to be used for Auto 9, otherwise the manual uses "area".  I don't know if the difference in terminology is important. What do you think?

Dan.

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Dan,

I think I have a different version of the manual because I don't see anything about Zone Select on page 44, and no mention of "auto 9" in the entire manual.  (The Zone Select description is on page 46 of my manual.  My manual shows document number OPK300201-EN and date FOM 01.10.2013 on the last page.)

In  Auto-9 mode, two presses down direction takes the centre-point to 276 - Lower-middle. Whereas in  Extended Areas, you can use 3 presses down, with the centre-point on Bottom and only the top 6 of the 9 points in use.  So with EA you can move the 9-point area partially off the edge.

OK.  I think I understand.  So some of the +256 codes are not possible.  If you can tell me which ones these are, I'll delete them.

"Zone" seems only to be used for Auto 9, otherwise the manual uses "area".  I don't know if the difference in terminology is important. What do you think?

I'm still confused.  The Pentax manuals really don't explain things very well, and without a camera to play with I'm a bit lost.  And we haven't even gotten into the live view focus modes yet.

- Phil

[dosdan]

Thanks for your interest, Phil.  I've been photographing a athletics carnival today and tomorrow (and also processing shots from the same carnival, but from 2 days earlier), so I've been a bit busy the last couple of days. But I will take a sequence of shots as soon as I can and get you those possible  AF selections. 

Dan.