Pop Photo K20d review

jms698 · 02-13-2008, 07:42 AM

someone in that other forum has posted the text of a Pop Photo review of the final version of the K20d

Pop Photo K20D review - March 2008: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

pareto · 02-13-2008, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by jms698

someone in that other forum has posted the text of a Pop Photo review of the final version of the K20d

Pop Photo K20D review - March 2008: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Thanks for the link! I don't know how they use to measure the noise levels. But, if you take their K10D test as a comparism (link), they say K20D's ISO 400 is worse than K10D's ISO 800. Having seen several K20D samples and knowing how high ISO looks on K10D this is a somewhat surprising find.

Concering their AF speed test I think it's another surprise that the focusing speed of the K20D is exactly the same as the K10D's. On every light level, down to the second decimal place! I wonder if they really tested this or just said: "well, it's the same AF system, so let's copypaste the old results."

Bye.

jms698 · 02-13-2008, 08:30 AM

Someone mentioned that the K20d has high ISO noise reduction turned off by default. So, popphoto didn't bother to test it with anything but the default noise reduction mode.

0.5 stops better shake reduction is nice.
Better battery life is also good.
Lots of detail (and they probably only used the kit lens).

Interestingly, they don't seem to concerned about the relatively slow fps.

Jodokast96 · 02-13-2008, 11:22 AM

A few things I noticed:

1) 5% Spot metering? Isn't that nearly double the K10D? And I thought Canon was bad.

2) The D3 was also reviewed in this issue. From ISO 100-1600, the K20D edges it out in IQ, and is only a hair under at ISO 3200. Resolution and Color Accuracy was also better on the K20D.

3) With regards to noise, I found it funny that on the D3 test they jacked the NR as high as it could go (and got some pretty impressive results), yet nothing is mentioned about NR on the Pentax.

mattdm · 02-13-2008, 11:36 AM

Ouch, that comparison vs the Sony A700 is gonna hurt.

Tbear · 02-13-2008, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by jms698

someone in that other forum has posted the text of a Pop Photo review of the final version of the K20d

Pop Photo K20D review - March 2008: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

As an added bonus, there is a DA* 16-50 review at the end of this article.

d.bradley · 02-13-2008, 11:49 AM

By the way, if this is your thing, read it while it's hot and save the images...I'm sure DPR will take down this copyright infringing post relatively quickly.

roscot · 02-13-2008, 12:18 PM

The review doesn't really tell us anything we did not already know, or at least suspect. Nice to have everything independently confirmed though.

This body has a lot of potential. Nice upgrade to the K10D. I am still undecided whether I will upgrade or not though.

nosnoop · 02-13-2008, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by Jodokast96

1) 5% Spot metering? Isn't that nearly double the K10D? And I thought Canon was bad.

That of course, is wrong.

The correct specs should be 2.5%

jshurak · 02-13-2008, 02:21 PM

uh...I can't figure out how to read the actual article.....whooop nevermind....stupid work firewall.

Tom M · 02-13-2008, 02:24 PM

Two things come to mind after fully reading that review and checking it against reviews of the other cameras mentioned in it..

A) The review at dpreview is a ruse, a fake, an attempt to poke fun..

B) PopPhoto is the most irresponsible reviewer out there.

What is Pentaxes' recourse? It's obvious that this review is wrong but, is it malicious?

lol101 · 02-13-2008, 03:01 PM

Originally Posted by jms698

someone in that other forum has posted the text of a Pop Photo review of the final version of the K20d

Pop Photo K20D review - March 2008: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

If I read this review correctly, and compare it to D300, 40D or A700 from the same site, the K20D has considerably more noise at all ISO (heck, it has even more noise than K10...), slower AF, less color accuracy and jpeg quality at all ISO, a less efficient SR than the other stabilized body, a less interesting LV than the other cameras offering LV, a smaller screen, and it goes on...

The only thing they give it is a small advantage in resolution...

That's not a cold shower, it's a debacle... or a murder attempt...

Oh well... Pop Photo won't help sell K20D... next in line!

Tbear · 02-13-2008, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by lol101

If I read this review correctly, and compare it to D300, 40D or A700 from the same site, the K20D has considerably more noise at all ISO (heck, it has even more noise than K10...), slower AF, less color accuracy and jpeg quality at all ISO, a less efficient SR than the other stabilized body, a less interesting LV than the other cameras offering LV, a smaller screen, and it goes on...

The only thing they give it is a small advantage in resolution...

That's not a cold shower, it's a debacle... or a murder attempt...

Oh well... Pop Photo won't help sell K20D... next in line!

I wonder what firmware version the camera PopPhoto tested has? Is it the final production version? I doubt it. I imagine the results would be somewhat better with the best possible firmware.

lol101 · 02-13-2008, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Tbear

I wonder what firmware version the camera PopPhoto tested is? Is it the production version? I doubt it. I imagine the results would be somewhat better with the best possible firmware.

They indicate it's one of the first "production camera" so I imagine it's firmware 1.00.

I think that the default combination 'bright mode" (==>colors off) + NR off (==> high noise) goes along way into explaining the rather poor notations...

These are just settings of course, real potential won't appear in any review, I'll wait for experienced photographers getting there hands on a production K20 to see how this baby sings (and make a purchase decision eventually).

But I am afraid that tests and charts won't show it's true potential (if any).

Kaimarx · 02-13-2008, 04:43 PM

The root of all evil....

Hrrmph...something strange must've happened in Dubai to these journo's they flew over. Im guessing they were informed after the fact that what they speculated to be roast potatoes over dinner at the plush hotel was in fact roasted camel nuts...that could definetly leave a bad taste in the mouth.

We've all been privy to reviewers skills before...this could be another case of Pentax choosing silly default settings again. You'd think they'd learn after Phils notorious review of "soft" jpegs.....time to incorporate a "Silly" mode especially for reviewers with a little retarded icon on the dial.