[JohnBee]

Hello Pentaxians,

I am pleased to announce that progress has been on a steady incline since dgaies and I began our little case study almost three days go.
It's a funny thing how things like camera's always require a measure of time to become familiarized with, before getting the most out of it.

In this case, the K-5 is no exception, as dgaies has been honing his low light/high ISO skills, I've had the opportunity to improve file handling and output as well.
And the combination works to give us an early preview of the good things to come...

Having said that, I must say that the K-5 has not only proven to run with the best in terms of low light performance, BUT... its also proving to be one of those things, that leaves you scratching your head in confusion saying... 'is this right...' or 'I must have misread...'

The short story is, that I cannot match this output with my D700:

UNPROCESSED RAW: ISO12800, f/4, 1/500s


FULL SIZE: UNPROCESSED RAW EXTRACTION JPG HERE...

-

PROCESSED RAW: ISO12800, f/4, 1/1500s

Click image for full size

PROCESSED RAW CROP: ISO12800, f/4, 1/500s


This image was processed with minimal NR(single pass) and very little PP(if any).
The files are proving to have amazing latitude in both shadow and highlight recovery.
I am completely awestruck at the high ISO performance of the K-5 system.

[B]Next up... ISO25600

---

Last edited by JohnBee; 05-01-2011 at 10:48 AM.

[Adam]

Awesome!!

[NaClH2O]

Thanks John the more I see high ISO output from this camera the more I want it NOW
!!! Screw this waiting for christmas nonsense! Gimme gimme gimme

NaCl(please do not publish any DR tests unless they are bad!)H2O

[Cambo]

What was the shutter speed at that iso?

Cheers,
Cameron

Hello Pentaxians,

I am pleased to announce that progress has been on a steady incline since dgaies and I began our little case study almost three days go.
It's a funny thing how things like camera's always require a measure of time to become familiarized with, before getting the most out of it.

In this case, the K-5 is no exception, as dgaies has been honing his low light/high ISO skills, I've had the opportunity to improve file handling and output as well.
And the combination works to give us an early preview of the good things to come...

Having said that, I must say that the K-5 has not only proven to run with the best in terms of low light performance, BUT... its also proving to be one of those things, that leaves you scratching your head in confusion saying... 'is this right...' or 'I must have misread...'

The short story is, that I cannot match this output with my D700:

UNPROCESSED RAW: ISO12800


FULL SIZE: UNPROCESSED RAW EXTRACTION JPG HERE...

-

PROCESSED RAW: ISO12800

Click image for full size

[B]PROCESSED RAW CROP: ISO12800


This image was processed with minimal NR(single pass) and very little PP(if any).
The files are proving to have amazing latitude in both shadow and highlight recovery.
I am completely awestruck at the high ISO performance of the K-5 system.

Next up... ISO25600

[JohnBee]

Sorry guys, the extractions didn't publish EXIF.
I'm working to fix those asap.

Update....

Okay I wasn't able to maintain EXIF due to the RPP exchange(I wasn't aware of that).
So I manually updated the image tags to reflect the meta data

[dopeytree]

Looking very very good! Is there a noticeable improvement with sdm over a k7?

[Steelski]

Sorry guys, the extractions didn't publish EXIF.
I'm working to fix those asap.

Update....

Okay I wasn't able to maintain EXIF due to the RPP exchange(I wasn't aware of that).
So I manually updated the image tags to reflect the meta data

You seem to be getting up to speed with the RPP software. You wanna try a K20D file? Or a D700 file??????
Very impressive piece of software. Very neutral rendition.

EDIT: I just say you said that you can not match this with the D700.
I would really like to see an unprocessed file from it at 25600 vs the K-5.

[dgaies]

Looking very very good! Is there a noticeable improvement with sdm over a k7?

John doesn't have the K5 (yet ). I actually sent him these shots to work with. In answer to your question regarding the SDM speed, I have found that the K5 does lock focus quicker than the K7. I haven't really made an effort yet to fully quantify it, but some quick tests I did support that assessment.

[kenyee]

John: quick request on my part, since you have Denoise and LR3, could you do the NR using both and post results? I'm curious if Denoise is worth the price or whether the much publicized LR3 NR which I've tried is close enough...
Thanks for doing these tests. I'm surprised your D700 can't do this kind of ISO12800 portrait even w/ NR in post...

[JohnBee]

John: quick request on my part, since you have Denoise and LR3, could you do the NR using both and post results? I'm curious if Denoise is worth the price or whether the much publicized LR3 NR which I've tried is close enough...
Thanks for doing these tests. I'm surprised your D700 can't do this kind of ISO12800 portrait even w/ NR in post...

The two are a pair in what I would call the ultimate NR system.
Though neither of them can replace the other(unfortunately).

As for the D700, they are close.
However, it's in the shadows at 12800 that the D700 starts to fall appart, whereas the K-5 seems to have much more to give.

In terms of detail, the issue is the same.
It's in the shadow areas that the D700 looses detail, whereas the K-5 seems to render more detail(pixel per pixel). This in spite of the low level NR of the Pentax system.

[sweetpapa]

Wow! Can't wait to get my hands on a K-5.

[mokey]

Very impressive results......I want my K5 now!

[RolloR]

JohnBee, can you show us how the images look like by just pumping up the color NR slider in Lightroom 3? Thanks!

[JohnBee]

JohnBee, can you show us how the images look like by just pumping up the color NR slider in Lightroom 3? Thanks!

By this, do you mean seeing what the file looks like prior to Denoise?

WORKFLOW: ...ACR(chroma NR) -> DENOISE (luma NR).

[kittykat46]

This is one serious piece of madness

The child has flawless skin, but I was thinking for typical portrait shots with adults, I'd probably have to "dumb down" the processed K-5 shots even at ISO 12800.

This camera's resolution is just too brutal....
I've never imagined an APS-C camera can do this.....not the Canon 7D, my previous "best in classs" experience.