[jie88]

some shots are OOF , or rather the DOF is just too thin , try stop down a little when its needed
If thats the case , i dun tin jumping ship would solve the problem , just my 2cent

[Andi Lo]

In some of those the AF is definitely off, or speed is too low like some mentioned

IMGP2621 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
This one you can see that the bud on the right if focused, while the main flower is not

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42220695@N02/5726523925/in/photostream
This one the speed is too low. You shot this at 0.5 seconds. Pentax SR is good but not THAT good If you definitely need to shoot at this speed you need a tripod or something stable to shoot on

IMGP8822 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
This one seems properly focused and shot at a decent speed. Are you expecting anything sharper than this? If yes try to get a better lens such as one of the DA 35 primes. They have much better resolution than the Sigma. If that's not sharp enough for you, you probably do need to step up to a bigger sensor, but first you should get off auto mode first!

my 2c

[JohnBee]

here is the link I posted some pics. will add more later. thanks for the feedback.Flickr: dr_romix's Photostream

First thing is, have you noticed the shutter speed on the blurry pictures vs the sharper ones?

Having said that the sigma 17-70mm has a very good reputation for being sharp. And so it sounds to me like you'd benefit from sitting down and figuring-out what makes a sharp image(attributes) and working on that.

As for the MKII question, I'd say there's no doubt the K-7 will be outpaced against a FF equivalent. To which I'd add, there is always better out there.
But if you're goal is to come as close to FF as possible without the price tag, then I'd say look into a K-5. - But I wouldn't recommend that until you've gained a better understanding of the camera and it's functions first.

Hope this helps.

[dr_romix]

Thanks for all the feedback..Greatly appreciated.

[dr_romix]

but first you should get off auto mode first!

my 2c

thanks Andi. You mean switch off AF and do manually?

[Andi Lo]

thanks Andi. You mean switch off AF and do manually?

The exif recorded that you used auto exposure mode instead of M / Av / Tv. If you're still using Full Auto mode, I recommend getting used to shooting while knowing the settings on which you shoot (ie Av / Tv / M). If it's incorrectly reported I apologize though

[dr_romix]

I usually shoot Aperture priority mode and in some instances, manual when i need to control the shutter speed. I'll post more photos for feedback.. thnx

[dr_romix]

some new pics posted.Flickr: dr_romix's Photostream

[rfortson]

Can you post some crops here? The Flickr shots are too small to really assess sharpness.

[jstevewhite]

some new pics posted.Flickr: dr_romix's Photostream

As rfortson says, we can't tell from these images if your originals are critically sharp, but these are certainly sharper than the other images I looked at before.

[dr_romix]

anyone knows how I can post a pic on the forum?

[cats_five]

I have a K7 with the kit WR lens and a 55-300mm DA. No problems with focus sharpness, but I take care that I'm either using a fast enough shutter speed, or a tripod. I don't do a lot of the sort of photography that will find back/front focus issues e.g. not much closeup work. However the ones I did of the gliding club trophies are fine - I did manual focus for those.

Pentax K7 - a set on Flickr


From your photostream:
IMGP8498_exposure
Looks sharp where it's in focus, has a very shallow depth of field. See below for more on depth of field.

IMG
Has a 1-second exposure, will not be sharp unless you used a tripod but looks fine on the bright posts.

IMGP8654
Lenses are generally not at their sharpest at f22 - f8-f11 usually wins hands down. 1/25 is fairly slow and the faster shutter speed from a bigger aperture would help if you were hand-holding. The building looks soft, the camera looks to have focussed on the bushes in front of it.

IMGP8807
IMGP8787
Again 1/25 might be too slow for handholding, again the nearer bits of the image look sharper.

IMGP2677
Do you take everything at 1/25? Nothing is sharp here, camera blur might be the problem.

IMGP2673
1/30th! And it looks sharp to me, but with a very shallow depth of focus. I put the values into the following URL, had to guess how close you are but reckon you are right on top of it so put in 1 foot (~30cm) and you have almost no depth of field. Somewhere round f8 would have given you about an inch, but of course you would have needed a tripod.

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Didn't think there is much to gain from looking at more and I can't bear the idea of looking at the food shots large.

So I think maybe it's a user problem - where you are focussing - *maybe* the lens you used for the long shots is focussing a bit too close, and with the close-ups you quite possibly have camera shake and/or too shallow a depth of field. Remember to use shutter delay if you use a tripod, and that automatically turns off the shake reduction.

(edit)
PS I suspect this should be in a different forum - 'General Technical Troubleshooting' maybe - it isn't a K5 question really, it's a question about image quality from a K7.

[timh]

IMGP8498_exposure
Looks sharp where it's in focus, has a very shallow depth of field. See below for more on depth of field.

It's got some motion blur - due to 1/10 sec speed with a 29mm focal length. ISO 400 or 800 (maybe not a good idea on the K7) would help, or opening up the aperture.

In A mode you have to keep a careful eye on the shutter speed - if the camera can't increase the ISO it'll reduce the shutter speed below 'safe' levels and you'll get motion blur a lot.

I suggest letting auto-ISO roam to at least 640 in normal circumstances (you might need to enable 1/3 stop exposure changes to get the smaller increments). Also, make sure you haven't told it to increase ISO 'slowly' (strange option, seems like a recipe for disaster.)

You could also try TAv mode where you select aperture and shutter speed yourself, and the camera auto-selects ISO (within the range you specified). At least then it'll flash the ISO number at you as a warning if you're pushing things too far.

In answer to your original question, a K-5 will help because you can go to much higher ISO values (I let mine roam up to 2000, normally) without introducing a lot of noise to your image. That said, the K-x and K-r are nearly as good as the K-5 in that respect. Switching to a DA* zoom will still give you a F2.8 max aperture so it won't help with this problem. Your most expensive option is switching to a full-frame Nikon or Canon body and buying suitable lenses, which would indeed help - but I suspect if you had that much cash to throw around you'd already have the K5.

If you don't have a fast ( F1.4, F1.7) prime you can pick an old manual-focus one up very cheaply. They're very small too, so pretty easy to carry around as a companion to your main lens for when things get dark and difficult.

[dr_romix]

ok.. this is very frustrating. I put mine on Neutral setting, increased the contrast and sharpness. ISO 100.. still I'm not getting sharp and crisp images as I see people take with this lens on pixel peeper.. is it my lens or my camera...? what am I doing wrong? I'm started to hate my K7... pls help... ( look at the first 3 photos )

Flickr: dr_romix's Photostream

[Rondec]

Honestly, your issue in those photos is your shutter speed. Shutter speeds of under 1/10 second seldom produce sharp photos, even when you have good shake reduction because it is just hard to be steady that long (and hard for your subject to be statue like as well). Probably would have been better shooting at iso 400 and having a little shorter shutter speed.

It is possible to take sharp photos with the K7 (I'll inflict a photo of my son on you here):