[ManuH]

Had the K-5 for two days and here are some of my first impressions. For the record, I had at one point or another all released Pentax DSLR since the K10D. My comparisons are against the K-7.

- Shutter sound is different. I would say quieter, I almost thought that something was broken as the click is really muffled.

- AF speed.
In liveview it's dramatically faster but not with all lenses. FA 77mm is not as fast as the DA 21 or DA 40 for example. Not sure why exactly.
With phase detect, there's a slight improvement. There's still the hesitation sometimes at the end of the cycle. But less than K-7. In a lot of cases the lens just find the correct focus point in one pass.
I didn't test AF-C yet.

- IQ is of course improved, but there's enough threads about that already.

- There's many small improvements that makes the camera even more enjoyable than the K-7, among them:

- Now ISO is displayed below the pictures, no need to cycle with the info button.
- Shutter AF can be disabled only for the liveview just like pre-1.10 K-7
- Not sure about that but it seems to me that reviewing the pictures at 11-14x, the images look sharper and you can judge better the sharpness.
- LCD panel illumination now allow for a low illumination.
- You can save the menu location, useful when you have to go back often like the AF adjustment.
- The OK button allow to get the focus point back to center
- The SR ready stays for a few seconds after pressing the shutter. This will avoid some blurry shots due to SR not ready, great improvement.

And of course the HyperProgram is now fixed. I wish that some of these improvements make their way into a K-7 firmware update but I'm holding my breath although the HyperP is clearly a software issue.

---

Last edited by ManuH; 11-20-2010 at 02:30 PM. Reason: typos

[Ash]

Thanks for sharing this Manu.
Good practical insights.

[Raybo]

Thanks Manu!

[Mystic]

great observations. thanks.

[PhilippeG]

I don't have the K-7 anymore to compare, but I noticed a few differences too:
- a double push on the OK button centers the focus point. May be it was possible on the K-7 and I wasn't aware of it;
- the green button is different, softer, it doesn't "click";
- push the OK button for 1sc to switch to images modes (WB, timed shots, etc.) and push OK once to switch back to focus point selection;
- the mode dial is a bit higher and much easier to operate.

[ManuH]

- a double push on the OK button centers the focus point. May be it was possible on the K-7 and I wasn't aware of it;

It's new on the K-5

- the green button is different, softer, it doesn't "click";

Yes it's true for me too. OTOH, the play button click on the K-5, not as much on my K-7. Maybe differences in copies.

Other small differences:
- You can now have 3 user manual settings for WB instead of one.
- An option for 2 shots only in auto bracketing mode.
- Intervalometer goes to 999 shots instead of 99

---------- Post added 11-20-10 at 10:14 PM ----------

Composition adjustment is also improved with an option to recall the previous position. The adjustments are now shown numerically.
It's also much easier to use because now we have an option to call this feature from the raw/fx button.

[Rick Clark]

Manu HI; I was wondering what card you are using I have my K5 coming on Tuesday and I have a Digital Film 4 GB class 6 says it is 60 min. video but no read or write on it.
I don't want to buy cards that are to big but I want to do video, have you done any video yet? Later Rick

[pxpaulx]

Well class 6 should be fine, but the designation of 60 mnutes of video will definitely not apply to hd recording. You might want to pick up a couple of 16gb cards, even the jpegs are 10-12 mb from the k5, with 4 gb you'll only have room for a few hundred photos, let alone hd video which can run 10-20mb per second.

[ManuH]

Manu HI; I was wondering what card you are using I have my K5 coming on Tuesday and I have a Digital Film 4 GB class 6 says it is 60 min. video but no read or write on it.
I don't want to buy cards that are to big but I want to do video, have you done any video yet? Later Rick

No video yet. I'm using good cards like the Sandisk Extreme III or the Panasonic Gold or Class 10.

For a 4Gb card, if you choose best JPEG quality (***) and full HD 1920x1020 @25 fps, the recording time is about 5 mins. This would suppose a data rate of about 13Mb/s. And not all cards may sustain that speed. But you have the possibility to lower the JPEG compression and HD quality to 720p/25.

[Rick Clark]

Thank you Gentleman I will pick up some of 16's and maybe a 32 for the video.

[PhilippeG]

- The SR ready stays for a few seconds after pressing the shutter. This will avoid some blurry shots due to SR not ready, great improvement.

I just discovered it's even smarter that this: the SR remains engaged as long as you stay relatively still, and until you reach the meter operating time (by default 10sc, setting in menu C 1). If you start to move or pan it disengages immediately.

[ManuH]

I just discovered it's even smarter that this: the SR remains engaged as long as you stay relatively still, and until you reach the meter operating time (by default 10sc, setting in menu C 1). If you start to move or pan it disengages immediately.

You're right, I also just realized that. But it seems if you stay steady enough, it will stay on while panning horizontally.

[Pentax Lover]

Thanks Manu.

[RonHendriks1966]

Thank you Gentleman I will pick up some of 16's and maybe a 32 for the video.

For video I can recomment the 32 Gb cards from SanDisc. In FullHD you have at maximum quality 5'23" videoclips that are like 3 GB easy.

- Now ISO is displayed below the pictures, no need to cycle with the info button.

Funny to read. Just now noticed that the K-7 doesn't. Already a very good thing.

In movie mode the green button also has the function for setting good iso/shutter/apperture wich didn't in K-7.