Happy to announce the new Pentax K-r and K-5 has already arrived in Singapore! So over dinner with my good friend and resident Pentax guru
frank we had the opportunity to test the new Pentax K-r (the K-5 test will come later). Yeah it's in pink!!!
If you think the K-x was good, the new K-r is simply amazing. AF is really fast and locks positively without hesitation. I would say it betters the K-7 and K-x, and I have been told the K-5 is even better still. Live View is a breeze to use and fast, dare I say a notch better than the K-7. When set at Continuous Shooting (Hi), you'll get approximately six images per second and every one of the exposures were sharp and spot on. Anyone having doubts about the camera not being suitable for action shooting should work on their technique because the camera is plenty fast and accurate.
Thumbing though the different ISO settings, the images are simply astounding. Doubts about shooting at high ISO, having to invest in FF or other brands can be laid to rest because the images are jaw droppingly stunning. Available light shooting without flash is just dead easy. I'm waiting for my buddy frank to post more images and give his input on the K-r. I'm also looking forward to his Pentax 35mm lens match-up that he's preparing.
Bottomline is the K-r is a quantum leap ahead in image quality.
Junk your existing cameras and upgrade. As a former K-7 user, I'll honestly say there is no reason to keep it any longer because it has just been outclassed where it counts - image quality. So here's some quick and dirty images from the new Pentax K-r. Test images shot handheld in RAW, opened in Adobe Camera Raw, resized with no sharpening or post processing or noise reduction. Camera's default High-ISO NR set to Auto. Lens used was the DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited. Available light from the coffeeshop (mix of fluorescent and incandescent ambient lighting). Photos of the K-r taken with the Lumix LX-3. Image exifs are intact.
Last edited by creampuff; 10-13-2010 at 09:38 AM.